END CRT Act
Bill: S.2221 | Sponsor: Sen. Cruz, Ted (R-TX)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
END CRT Act
This bill prohibits executive agencies from acting in contravention of certain provisions of Executive Order 13950, which prohibits programming that contains certain concepts relating to race and sex. It also prohibits federal agencies and recipients of federal funds from advancing certain ideas, such as that one race is inherently superior or inferior to another race.

To restrict executive agencies from acting in contravention of 
             Executive Order 13950, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Ensuring Non-Discrimination by 
Defunding Critical Race Theory Act'' or the ``END CRT Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON EXECUTIVE AGENCIES ACTING IN CONTRAVENTION OF 
              EXECUTIVE ORDER 13950.

    (a) Definitions.--
            (1) EO 13950.--The term ``EO 13950'' means Executive Order 
        13950 (5 U.S.C. 4103 note; relating to combating race and sex 
        stereotyping).
            (2) Executive agency.--The term ``Executive agency'' has 
        the meaning given the term in section 105 of title 5, United 
        States Code.
    (b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) On September 22, 2020, President Trump issued EO 13950.
            (2) EO 13950 was designed ``to promote economy and 
        efficiency in Federal contracting, to promote unity in the 
        Federal workforce, and to combat offensive and anti-American 
        race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating''.
            (3) Specifically, EO 13950, among other things, prohibited 
        Federal agencies from teaching, advocating, acting upon, or 
        promoting in any training to agency employees certain divisive 
        concepts, such as concepts that include a teaching or belief 
        that ``(1) one race or sex is inherently superior to another 
        race or sex; (2) the United States is fundamentally racist or 
        sexist; (3) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, 
        is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether 
        consciously or unconsciously; (4) an individual should be 
        discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or 
        partly because of his or her race or sex; (5) members of one 
        race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others 
        without respect to race or sex; (6) an individual's moral 
        character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex; 
        (7) an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears 
        responsibility for actions committed in the past by other 
        members of the same race or sex; (8) any individual should feel 
        discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological 
        distress on account of his or her race or sex; or (9) 
        meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or 
        sexist, or were created by a particular race to oppress another 
        race''.
            (4) EO 13950 further required that diversity and inclusion 
        efforts of Federal agencies must ``first and foremost, 
        encourage agency employees not to judge each other by their 
        color, race, ethnicity, sex, or any other characteristic 
        protected by Federal law''.
            (5) EO 13950 was issued soon after the Director of the 
        Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, issued a 
        September 4, 2020, memorandum (referred to in this section as 
        the ``September 4, 2020, memorandum'') in which he explained 
        that--
                    (A) millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on 
                training Federal employees to ``believe divisive, anti-
                American propaganda'';
                    (B) training sessions have taught that ``virtually 
                all White people contribute [or benefit from] to 
                racism''; and
                    (C) training sessions have claimed that ``there is 
                racism embedded in the belief that America is the land 
                of opportunity or the belief that the most qualified 
                person should receive a job''.
            (6) In the September 4, 2020, memorandum, Director Vought 
        further explained that the trainings described in paragraph (5) 
        ``not only run counter to the fundamental beliefs for which our 
        Nation has stood since its inception, but they also engender 
        division and resentment within the Federal workforce''.
            (7) EO 13950 and the September 4, 2020, memorandum stood as 
        a direct rebuke of so-called ``critical race theory''.
            (8) Critical race theory, according to Heritage Foundation 
        visiting fellow Chris Rufo (referred to in this section as 
        ``Rufo''), is ``the idea that the United States is a 
        fundamentally racist country and that all of the institutions, 
        including the law, culture, business, the economy are all 
        designed to maintain white supremacy''.
            (9) Critical race theory is, at its core, anti-American, 
        discriminatory, and based on Marxist ideology.
            (10) Critical race theory relies on a Marxist analytical 
        framework, viewing society in terms of the oppressed and the 
        oppressor, and instills a defeatist mentality in the 
        individuals that critical race theory casts as the oppressed.
            (11) Critical race theory's objective is the destruction 
        and replacement of Western Enlightenment Liberalism with a 
        Marxist-influenced government.
            (12) Critical race theory intentionally seeks to undermine 
        capitalism and western values, such as property rights, free 
        speech, and the very concept of Lockean natural rights.
            (13) At the Department of Homeland Security, Rufo 
        explained, trainers ``insisted that statements such as `America 
        is the land of opportunity,' `Everybody can succeed in this 
        society, if they work hard enough,' and `I believe the most 
        qualified person should get the job' are racist and harmful''.
            (14) At a training session at the National Credit Union 
        Administration, diversity trainer Howard Ross taught that ``It 
        is irrefutable that [American society] is a system based on 
        racism'' and ``good and decent [White] people . . . support the 
        status quo [of] a system of systematized racism''.
            (15) According to Rufo, employees of the Department of the 
        Treasury and Federal financial agencies attended a series of 
        events at which diversity trainer Howard Ross taught employees 
        that all White individuals in the United States are complicit 
        in White supremacy ``by automatic response to the ways we're 
        taught Whiteness includes White privilege and White 
        supremacy''.
            (16) Martin Luther King, Jr., in his ``I have a dream 
        speech'' said, ``I look to a day when people will not be judged 
        by the color of their skin, but by the content of their 
        character''.
            (17) By teaching that certain individuals, by virtue of 
        inherent characteristics, are inherently flawed, critical race 
        theory contradicts the basic principle upon which the United 
        States was founded that all men and women are created equal.
            (18) The teachings of critical race theory stand in 
        contrast to the overarching goal of the Civil Rights Act of 
        1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000A et seq.) to prevent discrimination on the 
        basis of race, color, or national origin in the United States.
            (19) Critical race theory seeks to portray the United 
        States not as a united Nation of individuals, families, and 
        communities striving for a common purpose, but rather a Nation 
        of many victimized groups based on sex, race, national origin, 
        and gender.
            (20) Critical race theory, and its emphasis on 
        predetermining the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of an 
        individual, flouts the guarantee of Constitution of the United 
        States of equal protection under the law to all men and women.
            (21) On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden issued 
        Executive Order 13985 (86 Fed. Reg. 7009; relating to advancing 
        racial equity and support for underserved communities through 
        the Federal Government) (referred to in this section as ``EO 
        13985''), which revoked EO 13950.
            (22) The people of the United States should defend the 
        civil rights of all people and seek to eliminate racism 
        wherever it exists. Critical race theory and its propagation 
        within the Federal Government through EO 13985 desecrates this 
        paramount pursuit to eliminate racism.
    (c) Prohibition.--No Executive agency may act in contravention of 
EO 13950, except as EO 13950 relates to contractors and grant 
recipients.
    (d) Limitation on Funds.--An Executive agency or any other 
recipient of Federal funds may not use Federal funds to teach or 
advance the idea, or otherwise award any grant or subgrant using 
Federal funds to any Executive agency, entity, or individual that 
teaches or otherwise advances the idea, that--
            (1) one race is inherently superior or inferior to another 
        race;
            (2) an individual or a group of individuals, by virtue of 
        the race of the individual or group of individuals--
                    (A) is superior or inferior to another individual, 
                or a group of individuals, who is of a different race;
                    (B) bears responsibility or moral culpability for 
                the actions committed by other individuals who are of 
                the same race as the individual or group of 
                individuals; or
                    (C) is inherently racist or oppressive, whether 
                consciously or unconsciously;
            (3) the race of an individual or a group of individuals is 
        determinative of the moral worth of the individual or group of 
        individuals;
            (4) the United States is a fundamentally racist country; or
            (5) the founding documents of the United States, including 
        the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the 
        United States, are fundamentally racist documents.
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