Protecting the Rights and Safety of Women

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans are doubling down on our commitment to supporting and protecting the rights and safety of women and girls across the country. We are doing this by championing bills that fight back against unfair competition in sports and dangerous immigration policies.

Yesterday, we passed Congressman Steube's Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which is now on its way to the Senate. This legislation prevents biological males from competing in school athletic programs for women and girls by requiring that sex in athletic competition be determined by genetics at birth.

House Republicans are also supporting Congresswoman Mace's Violence Against Women By Illegal Aliens Act, which amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to make illegal immigrants inadmissible and deportable from the United States if they are convicted of or have admitted to committing sex offense or domestic violence.

I am grateful to my colleagues for joining me this evening to discuss these important measures and our commitment to delivering for our daughters, sisters, nieces, and granddaughters.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for being willing to carve out time in their schedules to come down and share this message.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, North Dakota, like Utah, definitely hits above its weight, and the gentlewoman from North Dakota's presence is key on all of these particular issues.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. His district has been hit by this several times, and I will say that hearing the stories and conversations he has from his district, it just puts it into perspective. This is tough stuff. He has been down this road before and has been a strong leader on communicating what we need to do to keep it from continuing to happen.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California. Again, we continue to pray that the best outcomes possible will continue to happen for California.

Mr. Speaker, my next speaker from Montana (Mr. Downing) is a brand- new Member and our concluding speaker here today. We consider ourselves, as a Utahn and Montanan, the greatest portion of the country, wouldn't you say, out West? We have a lot to prove that.

The gentleman is a new Member but a very experienced, thoughtful, and strong Member that I look forward to working with. I thank him for being here.

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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Montana. I appreciate all that we have been able to enact thus far.

Mr. Speaker, I close tonight and just thank my colleagues for being here tonight and for taking the time to speak on this important issue.

As I mentioned earlier, House Republicans are committed to advancing legislation that supports our women and girls and gives them a fair chance to excel in their athletic endeavors.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act ensures biological males are unable to compete in female-designated sports, giving women and girls the opportunity to compete on a fair playing field by requiring schools to comply with the Title IX recognition of a person's genetics at birth. This bill withholds Federal funding from schools that facilitate athletic programs where biological men compete against biological women.

To be clear, this is not about disrespecting anyone. Everyone is worthy of dignity and respect. However, protecting women and girls from feeling uncomfortable in their locker rooms, sustaining major sports injuries because of unfair competition, or simply losing out on well- deserved athletic accolades because they are genetically unable to beat a male is not purely political effort. It is simply what is right.

This is a line that we must draw, and we know that Americans agree with this.

I have joked before about a couple of things. I have four boys. I wasn't blessed with a girl. We lament it every day. I do love those boys, though. I push them hard in sports.

I reflect on this about my nieces, and they are dynamite athletes and, candidly, can probably beat me in most of their assigned sports, such as tennis and soccer, across the board. That is what motivates me on this.

The amount of confidence that you get from sports is key. The ability to compete and play and enjoy this, above anything else, with all of the extra pressures that are placed on kids nowadays with social media pressure and everything, the concepts of teamwork that you learn, achieving something, getting better at something, and having the ability to say that you have a shot to win that competition cannot be beaten into my nieces.

They have to be able to say, with a level playing field, they can go win this, not because it is important to win that gold ribbon or this or that or win the track meet. It is because they need to know that the effort they put in can achieve something.

That is going to translate into a career, into anything that they get involved with where they have to accomplish something. It is not just about sports. It is a psychological element that we need to make sure exists.

Sports is such a key, important aspect for growth in people, and that is what we are trying to do here. Let's not make this a political endeavor. At least you won't ever get that from me and my office and the way we communicate about this.

Additionally, House Republicans this week are standing up for women's safety by bringing to the floor Congresswoman Mace's Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act to uphold the U.S. border laws and make illegal immigrants who have been convicted of or admitted to sex offenses or domestic violence inadmissible and deportable.

This bill is about closing critical gaps in our crimes. Last year, over 20,000 illegal immigrants were not detained for sexual assault. As of July, over 650,000 with criminal histories were on the ICE non- detained docket. This must change. This bill takes action to get these violent offenders off of our streets and make our communities safe again.

I am grateful for the work my Republican colleagues have done to push these bills forward. We are wasting no time to get some of the sensible legislation that we were able to get passed and went nowhere in the Senate in the last Congress, and we want to give the Senate an opportunity to vote on this again.

I sincerely believe there will be Democrats who see the sensible approach with this. We are also seeing it with the bill we passed last week, the Laken Riley Act.

Again, I thank Congressman Steube and Congresswoman Mace for their leadership on these critical issues. To my colleagues, again, I appreciate their willingness to spend some time down here today.

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