Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 5, I call up the bill (H.R. 28) to amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. WALBERG. 28.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, authored by Representative Greg Steube.

This bill is about a promise. More than 50 years ago, this country made a promise to women and girls across America. That promise, Title IX, said women and girls would have equal opportunities, both in the classroom and in athletics.

For years, America has kept her promise. Prior to Title IX, only 300,000 women and girls participated in high school and college sports. By the 40th anniversary of Title IX's passage, the number was up to 3 million, and the numbers have continued to climb and grow ever since.

Today, female participation in sports has increased over 1,000 percent at the high school level and over 600 percent at the college level since Title IX went into effect. Unfortunately, these wins for women and girls ushered in by the promise of Title IX have been under attack.

The Biden-Harris administration pushed a radical rewrite of Title IX that would eliminate policies enacted by 26 States to protect equal athletic opportunities for women and girls. Even with last week's court order striking down the regulation and the Trump administration poised to undo the harm caused by it, nearly half of the States have no protections in place for female athletes.

Mr. Speaker, kicking girls off sports teams to make way for biological males takes opportunities away from these girls. This means fewer college scholarships and fewer opportunities for girls. It also makes them second-class citizens in their own sports and puts their safety at risk.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 offers a new promise to America's women and girls. It will strengthen Title IX's protections for women, ensure a level playing field for female athletes, and protect the law from current and future radical regulatory schemes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I would call attention to the fact that, in this bill, we offer no requirement for any type of invasive checks on women or men. They simply have to go to the birth certificate. That will give the answer.
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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I am shocked at that description of this legislation and would ask where in the world that information is found in this bill. There is no requirement for inspections, and there is no necessary effort other than going to a person's birth certificate.

He is also the vice chair of the Education and Workforce Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development.
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Mr. WALBERG. Certainly. That bill doesn't deal with this at all. It deals with men in sports.

Mr. HARRIS of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, in 2022 North Carolina high schooler Peyton McNabb was seriously injured when a teenage boy spiked a ball into her head during a girls volleyball game, leaving her with a concussion and permanent injuries.

Despite stories like Peyton's, the left continues to want us to believe it is totally safe for men to compete against women. In fact, the current administration tried to impose this radical agenda across our Nation.

The truth is, President Biden's attempt to redefine the word ``sex'' in Title IX robs our daughters of opportunity and leaves them vulnerable.

Thankfully, the Biden administration's perverted rule was invalidated at the national level by a Federal court just this past week.

However, I stand today because Congress needs to make it clear that Title IX cannot and will not be weaponized to perpetuate a lie that men can become women.

This bill simply affirms common sense and reflects reality. Men and women are uniquely created by God, and no amount of testosterone therapy can reverse biological design.

On behalf of the women and girls I represent in North Carolina and those across America, I will vote ``yes'' for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and fight to restore sanity. I urge all of my colleagues to do the same.

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Mr. WALBERG. Hageman).

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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I continue to hear the talk about invasion of privacy of young kids. It is just not true. On the other hand, let me explain to my colleagues what is invasive.

Last year, Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer, testified in front of Georgia's State legislature. In addressing Georgia Tech's president, she said: ``We did not give our consent to be exploited and exposed to a 6-foot-4 fully naked man. Because you did nothing, that man walked into the women's locker room at your university and saw me undress down to full nudity. You allowed college women to be traumatized . . . on your campus in this way. Why didn't you protect us?''

I ask the same to my Democratic colleagues, Mr. Speaker. Why aren't they willing to protect the women and girls from this invasion of their privacy?

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Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

Mr. Speaker, it saddens me to hear that my colleagues, who I respect and enjoy working with on most things, are totally not recognizing the fact that the American people, parents, grandparents, and teachers, don't stand with them and organizations that are reported today aren't speaking for the benefit of girls and women.

It is absolutely heart-wrenching to see daughters and sisters lose races. The strides women have made across all corners of the sports world deserve to be celebrated and protected.

Like it or not, sports are based on physical ability. Pretending otherwise is a stark denial of reality.

Erasing sex means ultimately erasing women, especially when it comes to sports. Girls and women lose a fair chance to compete when a biological male enters the field.

We can't let women's sports become collateral damage in the far left's campaign against a traditional science-based understanding of sex. Allowing women and girls to suffer for the sake of the dishonesty of wokeness is inexcusable.

We need to stand for women and girls. I believe that the constituents in overwhelming majority understand what my colleagues are posturing with and that that is not what we are talking about.

We are standing for affirming Title IX, affirming women, affirming girls, and protecting them for their abilities to succeed in the future.

I plead with my Democratic colleagues to join us in celebrating women and girls, the female athlete, and females in general.

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