PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORTS ACT OF 2025

PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORTS ACT OF 2025

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 7 (Tuesday, January 14, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 14, 2025)] [House] [Pages H126-H138] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORTS ACT OF 2025 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. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 5, the bill is considered read. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 28 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025''. SEC. 2. AMENDMENT. Section 901 of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(d)(1) It shall be a violation of subsection (a) for a recipient of Federal financial assistance who operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls. ``(2) For the purposes of this subsection, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth. ``(3) For the purposes of this subsection, the term `athletic programs and activities' includes, but is not limited to, all programs or activities that are provided conditional upon participation with any athletic team. ``(4) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit a recipient from permitting males to train or practice with an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls so long as no female is deprived of a roster spot on a team or sport, opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, scholarship, admission to an educational institution, or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the athletic program or activity. ``(e) The Comptroller General shall carry out a study to determine the meaning of the phrase `any other benefit' as used in subsection (d)(4) by looking at benefits to women or girls of participating in single sex sports that would be lost by allowing males to participate. The study shall document the adverse psychological, developmental, participatory, and sociological results to girls of allowing males to compete, be members of a sports team, or participants in athletic programs, that are designed for girls, including displacement or discouragement from sports participation, deprivation of a roster spot on a team or sport, loss of the opportunity to participate in a practice or competition, loss of a scholarship or scholarship opportunities, loss or displacement of admission to an educational institution, deprivation of the benefit of an environment free of hostility based on sexual assault or harassment, or any other benefit that accompanies participating in the athletics program or activity. Further, the Comptroller General shall submit to the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report that contains the results of such study.''. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill shall be debatable for 1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and the minority leader or their respective designees. The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg) and the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) each will control 30 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg). General Leave Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 28. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Michigan? There was no objection. {time} 1215 Mr. WALBERG. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. 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 [[Page H127]] 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. Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, a bill that will actually do the opposite and make sports more dangerous for women and girls. In fact, this bill will empower child predators, putting students across the country at increased risk. This is a one-size-fits-all bill that would apply equally to every sport, from K-12 schools to colleges. Currently, schools, parents, and communities manage youth sports leagues and write rules about who can participate in different sports at different levels. Many State schools and athletic associations across the country have allowed equal participation for transgender athletes for years, and it is working just fine. This legislation would revoke all Federal funding from schools that include transgender students on girls' and women's sports teams. This is damaging and discriminatory to transgender students who benefit, as all students do, from participating in school sports, and it is also damaging to the entire school that is threatened because Federal funding benefits all students. I remind my colleauges to keep in mind that as of last month, of the approximately 510,000 athletes who play at the NCAA level, 10 are transgender--not 10,000, 10 out of 510,000. Transgender students, like all students, deserve the same opportunity as their peers to learn teamwork, find belonging, and grow into well- rounded adults through sports. Childhood and adolescence are important times for growth and development, and sports help students form healthy habits and develop strong social and emotional skills. Sports provide meaningful opportunities for kids to feel confident in themselves and learn valuable life lessons about teamwork, leadership, and communication. Teams provide a place for kids to make friends and build relationships. Yet, my colleagues across the aisle want to take these opportunities away from certain children. That is discriminatory, and it is wrong. My colleagues are apparently so afraid of people who are different than them that they have manufactured false and dangerous presumptions based on outdated stereotypes about transgendered people, especially transgender women and girls. Additionally, there is no way this so-called protection bill could be enforced without opening the door to harassment and privacy violations. It opens the door to inspection, not protection, of women and girls in sports. Will students have to undergo exams to prove they are a girl? We are already seeing examples of harassment and questioning of girls who may not conform to stereotypical feminine roles. Will they be subject to demands for medical tests and private information? That is intrusive, offensive, and unacceptable, especially from a party of limited government. I want to be very clear: There are real problems harming women and girls in sports, but transgender students are not why. Today, we should be working to solve the real pervasive problems in athletics that deter women and girls from participating, including sexual harassment and assault, lack of equal resources, and pay inequality. We should be working on those issues and also on the issues that improve the lives of the people we represent back home, like increasing access to affordable healthcare and housing, lowering costs for everyday Americans, and fighting the climate crisis. Instead, here we are again. We have seen this time and time again: Republicans fearmonger about the trans community to divert attention from the fact that they have no real solutions to help ev

Referenced legislation: HRES5, HRES5, S9, HR28