Home Republicans pushed by sweeping laws on Tuesday to dam transgender girls and women from faculty sports activities, escalating a fierce culture-war battle that places federal training {dollars} on the road.
The invoice handed 218-206 in a vote that noticed two Texas Democrats break ranks to assist the Republican measure. It marks the primary standalone federal laws focusing on transgender rights to clear both chamber of Congress.
The Safety of Girls and Women in Sports activities Act would rewrite Title IX guidelines to outline intercourse as “reproductive biology and genetics at delivery” – successfully banning transgender athletes from competing on groups matching their gender identification at any faculty receiving federal funding.
“All all through humanity, we now have acknowledged as a species that there are girls and there are males, as God created, who’re clearly biologically totally different,” mentioned invoice sponsor and Florida consultant Greg Steube.
The vote comes simply months after the Delaware Democrat Sarah McBride made historical past as the primary transgender particular person elected to Congress. Republicans have already moved to limit toilet entry within the Capitol constructing – a transfer extensively seen as focusing on McBride.
However with Republicans controlling 53 Senate seats, the invoice nonetheless wants important Democratic assist to clear the 60-vote threshold.
The invoice passage additionally leaves query marks on congressional funding for pure catastrophe response for southern California, which continues to be preventing traditionally damaging blazes as the difficulty turns into entangled in broader political maneuvering.
Practically two dozen Home Republicans, together with key appropriators and caucus leaders, attended a Sunday technique session at Trump’s Florida property, the place discussions centered on utilizing desperately wanted wildfire reduction funds – geared toward combating what’s projected to be one in every of America’s costliest pure disasters – as leverage in looming debt ceiling talks.
Greater than 400 civil rights organizations have condemned the laws, saying it represents an unprecedented federal intrusion into faculty sports activities that might set off widespread investigations into college students’ non-public medical info. Republican sponsors say it’s wanted to “protect Title IX’s authentic intent”, although states have struggled to provide you with a path ahead on it.
In 2023, Florida faculty officers deserted a proposal to trace college students’ menstrual cycles following intense public backlash.
The Division of Schooling would oversee the foundations, however though supporters say checking delivery certificates could be sufficient, critics argue the invoice doesn’t clarify how colleges ought to really confirm college students’ intercourse.
“There isn’t a enforcement mechanism on this invoice,” New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mentioned. “And when there is no such thing as a enforcement mechanism, you open the door for each enforcement mechanism.”
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