[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 138 (Tuesday, August 3, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5757-S5758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 2389. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 2137 proposed by Mr. Schumer (for Ms. Sinema (for herself,
Mr. Portman, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Cassidy, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Collins, Mr.
Tester, Ms. Murkowski, Mr. Warner, and Mr. Romney)) to the bill H.R.
3684, to authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety
programs, and transit programs, and for other purposes; which was
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the appropriate place, insert the following:
SEC. ___. 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
[[Page S5758]]
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.
______