[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 26, 2023)] [Senate] [Pages S1365-S1369] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Date: 2023-04-26
Chamber: SENATE
Mr. TUBERVILLE: last week, the House voted for a commonsense proposal that is supported by a majority of Americans. The House voted to protect female athletes. This week, it is time for the Senate to do the same thing. Before my time here, I spent many years as a coach, educator, and mentor. I have seen how sports can change people's lives. Athletic scholarships open up a lifetime of opportunities for men and women alike. Yet, today, those opportunities for women are being threatened by a radical political agenda that is being forced upon the American people. When I was growing up, there were a lot less opportunities for female athletes. Fifty-one years ago, Congress passed title IX to ensure that male and female athletes both had access to lessons, life skills, and opportunities for advancement that come from participating in sports. It has been one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever to come out of Congress. As a coach, I saw its impact firsthand. One of my first jobs out of college was coaching junior girls' basketball--what a thrill. Title IX was just starting to be implemented when I took the job. I was there to see the incredible impact it had on young girls all over this country. For the first time, young women I coached had equal access to facilities, resources, and competition. I saw those hard-working athletes go on to earn college scholarships, start careers, and become leaders in their own communities. I still keep in touch with a lot of them. I am deeply proud of them. I wonder if they would have had the same opportunities without title IX. Would they have had the same access or ability for success? Before title IX, at a lot of schools, there was no such thing as college women's athletics. Very few collegiate championships for women's sports existed, limiting opportunities for female athletes to achieve greatness. Before 1972, when title IX was enacted, there were only about 30,000 female athletes in college sports and only around 290,000 in high school sports. For comparison, at the same time, 3.7 million males were playing high school sports. However, after title IX's enactment, that changed very quickly. Because of title IX, female participation at the college level has risen more than 600 percent. Yet now female athletes are again being told to give up their ability to compete--and settle for second place. Women and girls are suffering at the hands of an ideology. The Biden administration is taking a sledgehammer--a big sledgehammer--to title IX. A few weeks ago--on Good Friday, of all days--Joe Biden's Department of Education issued a new rule completely reinterpreting title IX. As usual, the Biden administration is trying to legislate from the White House--the executive branch--because they know their radical ideas would not--and I repeat, would not--make it through this Congress. This type of change should require a bill, but Biden, again, wants to change Federal law by simply publishing a new rule. Biden's rule change says schools cannot ban boys from participating in women's sports or else they will lose their funding. I can't believe we are even talking about this. The proposed rule is 116 pages long. It is so vague that schools are not going to know what to do. They are not going to know how to interpret it. The vagueness is going to let the Biden administration selectively enforce rules and intimidate schools into taking the most cautious position. It is a backdoor national mandate to force schools to allow biological males to play in women's sports. Schools that choose to protect female athletes would face punishment from the government if they didn't allow it. The rule is expected to go into effect this coming fall 2023. That means teachers and coaches would have to begin opening their girls' and women's teams, fields, and locker rooms to biological males. It is unfair, it is unsafe, and it is downright wrong. To be honest, it is moronic. As a former coach, I can tell you that coaches will do what it takes to win. Coaches want to keep their jobs. The only way to keep your job as a coach and to deal with the pressure is to win games. College athletics is a big business--a big, big business. There are conferences that make near $100 million per school a year just for television rights. So there is a lot at stake. Under the Biden rules, all of the incentives are for biological males to dominate women's sports. They are only a very small percentage today. One study shows trans athletes make up about 0.00025 of athletes in women's college sports today--a very small percentage. But, frankly, one championship or opportunity ripped away from a female by a biological male is one too many. The Democrats are here to argue differently. If they do that, it is shameful. Ten years from now, I suspect the situation is going to be very, very different. The Supreme Court last year voted to allow college athletes to get paid for their name, image, and likeness. A few years from now, coaches and players would stand to make millions through playing biological males against women. It is only common sense that that is going to happen because winning is the only thing that counts in college and professional athletes. That is the only thing that counts. Biological males will and would dominate in virtually every women's sport. Women's sports, as we know it, would be over. Biological girls would simply drop out of sports or never choose to play in the first place. Is this really what the Democrats want? Is this really their plan? Do Democrats really want to end women's sports? Do Democrats really want to ruin the dreams of young girls whowant to be the next world-famous gymnast, like Suni Lee, or tennis player superstars, like the Williams sisters, or Olympic swimming legend, like Katie Ledecky? Is that what they want? I am grateful that many courageous female athletes are speaking out. I spoke with one of the greatest athletes in history, Caitlyn Jenner, who is fully supportive of this bill for keeping men and boys out of women's sports, because we have all seen women like Riley Gaines, who had to watch her national championship dreams get taken away by a biological male. This was after she was forced to share a locker room with that adult biological male against her will. Riley Gaines was at the University of Kentucky on an athletic scholarship. But what would happen if a young girl is forced to compete against a male in high school? She could watch her dreams taken away. Already 28 championships have been taken away from girls and women at the hands of biological males. You have got to be kidding me. Males have 40 to 50 percent greater upper body strength and 20 to 40 percent greater lower body strength. It is dangerous to put them on the same field with women. This is basic biology. What did we see from the ``Party of Science'' last week? Exactly zero Democrats in the House voted for this bill--zero. The ``Party of Science'' seems to have skipped biology class. Now the question is, Will any Democrat in the Senate show a little bit of courage and stand up for women--just a little bit? Will any Senate Democrat vote to protect their daughters, their granddaughters, or great-granddaughters? I am anxious to see this. Will any of them do that today? Democrats have been talking a lot about women on the Senate floor lately. Democrats seem to think the only thing women care about is abortion, ending the life of a child. What about women and girls who want to be athletes or go to school on an athletic scholarship? Does that matter? Not a single House Democrat voted to protect girls and women in sports. Today, we are going to find out where Senate Democrats stand. The bill the House passed last week would stop this administration from forcing schools to let biological males compete against women. In fact, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act does just the opposite. It prevents a school from receiving funds if it lets boys compete in women's sports. Americans do not want the Federal Government footing the bill for a policy that is a slap in the face to women who have worked so hard to become athletes. A clear majority of Americans support this bill--a clear majority. Poll after poll has proven that. It is time to act before the situation gets worse, and it is going to get much worse. So now I am going to give this body a chance to stand up for women athletes. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 734, which was received from the House; further, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.