[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 9, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S602-S603]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                Title IX

  Mr. TUBERVILLE. Madam President, in my 40 years as a coach and 
mentor, I have witnessed the immeasurable value that sports plays in 
the lives of young adults.
  The lessons learned on the field contribute to an athlete's success 
off the field. For example, there is the value of discipline and hard 
work, how to deal with success and failure, how to be a leader, and the 
importance of putting the interests of the team ahead of the 
individual's. But many of these lessons are only realized when there is 
a fair and level playing field, and that is why title IX protections 
have been so transformational for women's and girls' sports.
  I began my career as a high school coach, coaching boys' basketball 
and football, as well as girls' basketball. This was just a few years 
after Congress expanded title IX, ushering in a new era of 
opportunities for women and girls in sports.
  Title IX provided women and girls the long-denied platform that had 
always been afforded to men and boys. It ensured female athletes had 
the same access to funding, facilities, and athletic scholarships. 
Before title IX, female athletics received less than 2 percent of the 
college athletic budgets, and athletic scholarships for women were 
virtually nonexistent. Since it was enacted, I have witnessed firsthand 
how the expanded provisions in title IX have changed the game for 
female athletes at every level.
  Today, 43 percent of high school girls participate in competitive 
sports. Since the 1970s, when I first started coaching, female 
participation at the college level has risen by more than 600 percent. 
Additionally, America's female athletes are routinely the best-
performing on the world stage in both team and individual sports.
  In the 2016 Olympics, we saw the largest number of U.S. female 
Olympians in history. It is clear we have made important strides. Yet, 
recently, the adoption of policies for transgender athletes has 
negatively impacted the rights, privacy, safety, and achievements of 
women and girls in sports. That is why we need to continue to fight to 
uphold and preserve title IX protections in women's and girls' sports.
  This is a cause I have championed in my role on the Senate Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. When then-nominee for Under 
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, James Kvaal, testified 
before the committee, I pressed on the administration's commitment to 
upholding title IX and protecting the rights of women. As expected, he 
failed to articulate how title IX would be protected under the Biden 
administration.
  In March of last year, when Senate Democrats were pushing through 
their so-called COVID relief package, I led the charge here on this 
floor to prohibit education institutions from receiving Federal 
stimulus money if they failed to uphold title IX. Not surprisingly, it 
was rejected.
  But this is not just a debate we are having here in Congress; we are 
seeing it all across the country. To appease the demands of the left, 
sports organizations--from grade school to professional leagues--are 
focusing on the concept of being inclusive at the expense of being 
fair, but by including biological males in women's athletics, fairness 
is not possible. I can't believe we are even talking about this.

  Just last week, I heard from female Olympic gold medalists who 
reiterated this, and study after study continues to confirm what we 
already know: Male and female bodies have inherent biological 
differences that no amount of testosterone suppression can level. Male 
bodies have larger hearts, bigger bone structure, leaner muscles, and 
expanded lung capacity.
  One study concludes: ``On average, males have 40-50 percent greater 
upper limb strength, 20-40 percent greater lower limb strength, and an 
average of 12 pounds more skeletal muscle mass than age-matched females 
at any given body weight.''
  The latest study published by clinical researchers in Europe finds 
that ``current evidence shows the biological advantage is only 
minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed as per current 
sporting guidelines for transgender athletes.''
  You can't make a level playing field. It is unquestionably the truth 
that biological males have a physiological advantage over females, and 
sports associations across the world are starting, finally, to pay 
attention.
  In 2019, USA Powerlifting prohibited transgender women from competing 
in female powerlifting. In 2020, World Rugby became the first 
international sports governing body to ban transgender women in global 
competitions. Just last September, the UK Sports Councils--the national 
funding bodies for sports across the United Kingdom--issued a report 
concluding that allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's 
sports does not allow for a balanced and even playing field--forbidden. 
These organizations are doing the research and making recommendations 
in the best interests of their athletes while also maintaining fairness 
in sports.
  But then there is the NCAA, better known as the National Collegiate 
Athletic Association. After a transgender collegiate swimmer began 
shattering--and I am talking about shattering--records in swimming just 
in the last few weeks, the public outcry was so loud that the NCAA 
said: Well, we will review this policy.
  The NCAA met, and the board voted in support of a sport-by-sport 
policy that they say ``preserve opportunity for transgender student-
athletes while balancing fairness, inclusion and safety for all who 
compete.''
  In effect, this means they will defer the policy to individual 
national governing bodies and kick the can down the road. These 
governing bodies, in turn, generally adhere to the standards of the 
International Olympic Committee, which permits transgender athletes to 
compete in women's sports.
  The Independent Women's Law Center and Independent Women's Forum both 
have condemned the NCAA for adopting this approach. The NCAA had the 
perfect opportunity to stand up for women and girls in sports, and they 
blew it.

  The NCAA's lack of true action is disappointing and invites more 
questions than it provides answers. By punting the responsibility, the 
NCAA leaves the door open for continued erosion of title IX protections 
at the expense of women's athletics and continues to chip away at the 
great unifier that Americans know and love. We need to do better for 
women athletes all across this country.
  So let me be clear. The question here is not should we be inclusive 
and supportive of all athletes; it is how. There is no pregame speech 
you can give a woman or a girl who feels like they aren't competing on 
a fair playing field. No pep talk can touch title IX's 37 words that 
changed everything for women's sports over 50 years ago. It rightfully 
afforded women and girls the same athletic opportunities that their 
male counterparts have always had, and we should continue to fight for 
all the young girls and the future of this country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.

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