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Biden’s Title IX regulation targets Republicans in Congress • Michigan Advance

Posted on by darion

WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress took their efforts to change the Biden administration’s final Title IX rule a step further after the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee approved a measure Thursday that invalidated the updated regulations.

The U.S. Department of Education’s final regulation to protect LGBTQ+ students from discrimination in schools, which is scheduled to go into effect on August 1, has been met with a wave of sharp reaction from the Republican Party. But even if efforts to withdraw the proposal in the House and Senate succeed, President Joe Biden will likely issue a veto.

Nearly 70 House GOP lawmakers are co-authors of the legislation introduced last week by Rep. Mary Miller, an Illinois Republican and vice chair of the committee. The measure seeks to reverse the final rule through the Congressional Review Act, a procedural tool that Congress can use to invalidate certain actions by federal agencies.

The legislation is scheduled for a vote by the full House after a Republican-led committee approved the measure on a 24-16 party-line vote.

“Title IX has enabled our girls to access new opportunities in education, scholarships and sports. Unfortunately, (President) Joe Biden is destroying all that progress,” Miller said during Thursday’s discussion.

During the markers, supporters of Miller’s legislation expressed their opposition to the new regulations, including: committee chair Virginia Foxx, as well as Representatives Lisa McClain of Michigan, Bob Good of Virginia and Nathaniel Moran of Texas.

“To be clear, this policy is not intended to protect LGBTQ students from sexual harassment. Title IX already does this. Let me repeat: Title IX already protects LGBTQ students,” said Foxx, a Republican from North Carolina.

Good said that “with the stroke of a pen, the Biden administration destroyed Title IX’s promises of equal opportunity for women and eliminated sexually protected spaces such as bathrooms, locker rooms and on-campus housing for students in kindergarten through high school.”

Many Republican attorneys general were also quick to question the final rule published in April by the federal agency. This has sparked a number of legal challenges in various federal courts as GOP-led states try to block the rule from going into effect.

U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain at President Donald Trump’s rally in Washington Twp. on April 2, 2022 | Allison R. Donahue

Democratic opposition

Meanwhile, Democratic committee members opposed the Republican-led measure.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon stated that “invoking the Congressional Review Act is not only unnecessary, but deeply harmful.”

Bonamici said the new Title IX provision “strengthens protections for vulnerable student populations, including the LGBTQ+ community, and for the first time Title IX explicitly prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, the committee’s ranking member, said he was astounded that the committee spent six months and more than five years “investigating the existence of a hostile learning environment in educational institutions and then decides to bring the CRA bill to the committee.” for reasons they have given publicly.”

GOP efforts in the Senate

In the Senate, more than 30 Republicans, led by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, introduced legislation this week that also seeks to repeal the final rule, invoking the Congressional Review Act. In the Senate, only a majority vote is required.

At a Wednesday press conference announcing the new rules, Hyde-Smith called the rule “retrograde,” saying it “only harms women and girls by depriving them of opportunities and rights they have enjoyed for decades.” She added that the rule would have “dramatic consequences beyond classrooms.”

“Title IX was about giving women a fair share compared to men. The new Biden administration radically changes Title IX, introducing a progressive gender ideology that removes long-standing protections for women and girls,” Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and lead co-sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement this week.

“This is the death of Title IX as we know it,” he added.

Biden Administration Rolls Back Betsy DeVos Title IX Rules

Department of Education response

In response to the congressional effort, a Department of Education spokesman reiterated an earlier statement, saying the department does not comment on pending litigation.

The spokesman added that “a condition of receiving federal funds is that all federally funded schools must comply with the final regulations.”

The spokesperson also said the department looks forward to “working with school communities across the country to ensure that every student is guaranteed nondiscrimination in school under Title IX.”

The department has not yet decided on a separate rule establishing new criteria for transgender athletes.

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