Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) pushed back this week against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new proposal to add testosterone screenings to service members’ periodic health assessments.

“The U.S. military does not need more testosterone; it needs better leadership,” Kelly said on MS NOW’s “The Briefing with Jen Psaki” on Monday.

This new standard would require testosterone screening for all service members age 30 or above. The military will provide optional testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for those flagged for deficiencies in this hormone on their screening tests, according to Hegseth.

“The president should fire Pete Hegseth,” said Kelly, a former U.S. Navy captain. “He’s making awful decisions, is putting service members at risks that I would not have expected when I served that a secretary of defense would make these sort of decisions, nor a president.”

A group of Democratic senators expressed “serious concerns” about this screening change in a Monday letter to the defense secretary, citing “longstanding medical guidance” opposing routine population-wide testosterone screenings.

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