I applaud Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) for trying to do the right thing for our troops, and ultimately, for the safety of our nation.

Hartzler forced the vote in the House to restrict the Obama-era policy of paying for the surgeries, hormone therapy, and other measures to accommodate those military members stricken with gender dysphoria.

If someone has a known mental illness, they should not be allowed to join the military, period. The battlefield is no place to test the resolve of those who are mentally unwell.

But let’s be clear about what the Obama administration was asking (and what Hartzler was trying to stop): People in the throes of gender dysphoria think an elective, cosmetic surgery will fix something that is ultimately rooted in their mind. Obama, at the risk of every other service member, wanted to test the theory that an outer patch-up could fix the deeper, emotional upset. He also wanted to mix up the way genders interact in the military.

Sure, we’re facing growing dangers abroad and at home, but let’s turn our military into a laboratory for social experimentation. We’ll worry about how that effects military readiness when we hit the field.

And the taxpayers get to foot the bill.

Say, if I want breast augmentation, believe it’s necessary to fix my mental health, but I can’t pay for it, can I just join the military and have them foot the bill?

Just a thought, since breast augmentation is just as natural and reasonable as sex reassignment surgery – and that is to say, it’s NOT.

Hartzler made a strong case to push for an end to payments for catering to the LGBT mob and appeasing mental illness in our military, but, unfortunately, the bill was defeated in the House, with 24 Republicans joining the Democrats in opposing the bill, for a 209-214 count.

“The Obama transgender policy, which was implemented without input from members of Congress, is ill-conceived and contrary to our goals of increasing troop readiness and investing defense dollars into addressing budget shortfalls of the past,” Hartzler said in June. “By recruiting and allowing transgender individuals to serve in our military we are subjecting taxpayers to high medical costs including up to $130,000 per transition surgery, lifetime hormone treatments, and additional surgeries to address the high percentage of individuals who experience complications.”

Her amendment would have barred the Defense Department from “provid[ing] medical treatment (other than mental health treatment) related to gender transition” to members of the military. Proponents of transgender military service argued that her proposal “would reduce military readiness” by discouraging transgender Americans from serving.

Let’s talk about that “serving” part.

First, if they’re only joining to get their surgery, they’re not joining to “serve.” They’re joining to be served. If that is their focus, they’re not military ready, and to suggest it requires a sex change operation to make them ready, then you’ve got a very distorted view of what makes for military readiness.

Also, in regards to military readiness, Hartzler made another fine point:

Hartzler maintained that her amendment would increase readiness, however. “The deployability of individuals going through the sex transition process is highly problematic, requiring 210 to 238 work days where a soldier is non-deployable after surgery,” she said. “This recovery time equates to 1.4 million manpower days where transgender personnel cannot deploy and fight our nation’s wars, therefore relying on an already stressed force to pick up the burden. It makes no sense to purposely recruit individuals who cannot serve.”

That sounded like commonsense. No wonder the House rejected it.

So who are the gutless traitors that sided with the left on this issue?

• California Rep. Paul Cook
• California Rep. Jeff Denham
• California Rep. Steve Knight
• California Rep. Darrell Issa
• Colorado Rep Mike Coffman
• Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo
• Florida Rep. Lena Ros-Lehtinen
• Florida Rep. Brian Mast
• Michigan Rep. Justin Amash
• Michigan Rep. Jack Bergman
• New Jersey Rep. Leonard Lance
• New Jersey Rep. Frank Lobiondo
• New Jersey Rep. Tom MacArthur
• New York Rep. John Faso
• New York Rep. Elise Stefanik
• New York Rep. Tom Reed
• New York Rep. John Katko
• New York Rep. Claudia Tenney
• Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Costello
• Pennsylvania Rep. Charles Dent
• Pennsylvania Rep. Bill Shuster
• Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick
• Virginia Rep. Barbara Comstock
• Washington Rep. David Reichert

Are we appropriately disgusted?

I don’t know what their reasoning was behind this absolute betrayal of conservative principle and our military, but this is disgusting. If you see your representative on this list, be sure to give their office a call and let them know what you think.