[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 19, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H1881-H1884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      REPUBLICANS' FIRST 100 DAYS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Edwards). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 9, 2023, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson) 
is recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the 
majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Louisiana?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, this evening, I have some of 
the most influential leaders in the House Republican Conference to 
address some of the key issues we are addressing this week together in 
the people's House.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield first to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. 
Murphy).
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, this evening, I will be talking on the 
Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
  I have been a physician now for over 30 years and have dealt with a 
lot of different types of individuals, and there is a difference 
medically between men and women. There is a difference biologically 
between men and women. There is a difference chromosomally between men 
and women. There is a difference genetically between men and women.
  At age 5, it is an absolutely normal thing for young children to 
question who they are. It is absolutely normal. We all go through that 
phase. Sadly enough, our left colleagues now want to put pressure, 
either from teachers, counselors, or whatever, that they may be 
disillusioned, that they may not understand who they are, to try to 
push them in one direction.
  What has happened? We now have this huge conglomeration of 
individuals who don't understand their biological sex. We have been 
preached to by the left for 3 years, ``Follow the science. Follow the 
science,'' even though the science was wrong.
  Right now, they don't want to follow the science. It comes down to 
the science of gender, and they refuse to allow that truth to be told. 
They don't want to hear about the true biological and genetic 
differences between XY and XX chromosomes.
  As a physician, I can say there is an absolute genetic difference in 
mitochondria, spindle cell formation, and everything else in a genetic 
XY male from an XX female. It is how they develop.
  Regardless of any type of hormonal manipulation, an XY male has a 
competitive advantage over an XX female--period, point blank. It is 
fact. It cannot be refuted.
  Sadly enough, the left doesn't want to hear that. They want to push 
the fact that the choice of a gender will get to decide a competitive 
advantage. They want to trample over the rights of women and allow men 
to compete in women's sports. It is an absolute absurdity.
  I honestly cannot believe that this is an actual issue that we are 
debating in the United States of America. It is common sense.
  I won't point out any specifics, but what would happen if a male from 
the NBA decided he wanted to compete in the WNBA? Would that be fair? 
Absolutely not.
  What would happen if somebody like Michael Phelps wanted to compete 
in women's athletic sports, in swimming? It would be absolutely unfair, 
but the left is not horrified if something like that would happen in 
high school or college.

[[Page H1882]]

  Ten years ago, I would say Democrats and Republicans would never have 
dreamed we would be going down this path of lunacy, trying to erase 
women's sports, that a young girl who at the age of 5 or 10 would be 
competing so hard for her dream at age 18 or 22 to compete in the 
Olympics for a gold medal or any other medal might have that taken away 
by a biological male.
  However, here we are. It is a sad state. It is time for the adults in 
the room to bring common sense back to this country.
  Now, I am not downgrading or denigrating the desire for those 
individuals to compete in sports. I understand that, but what is fair 
is fair. It is absolutely unfair for a biological male to compete 
against a biological female in high school or any other type of sports.

                              {time}  1830

  We are bringing common sense and a sense of normalcy back to women's 
sports and women's rights against the unscientific madness of the left.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to vote for the Protection of 
Women and Girls in Sports Act.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you, Doctor. I appreciate that. I am 
a proud cosponsor with you of the Protection of Women and Girls in 
Sports Act because we recognize biology is not bigotry, it is reality. 
It is a very good bill, and we will pass it this week.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield next to the gentleman from Utah 
(Mr. Owens), the Super Bowl champion.
  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Protection of Women 
and Girls in Sports Act.
  Since Title IX became law 50 years ago, women and girls have 
shattered records, broken barriers, and blazed a trail for generations 
of female athletes to dream big and to rise to new heights in 
athletics.
  As a former athlete, I know firsthand the far-reaching, profound 
impact of sports participation on physical, academic, and social 
development.
  In a recent survey, over half of the women executives of major U.S. 
companies attributed their success to participating in collegiate 
athletics.
  The regressive, unscientific, and unsound policy of the Biden 
administration to allow biological men to compete against women strips 
the rights and dignity of every woman to safe and fair competition in 
sports.
  The science is clear. Men are physiologically faster, stronger, and 
bigger than women. Biological men develop larger hearts and lungs, 
denser bones, and stronger muscles.
  This is common sense, my friends, and we all instinctively know this. 
Putting a stronger, faster, bigger man against women turns back the 
clock on this remarkable accomplishment of female athletes by half a 
century.
  Who also suffers from this attack on womanhood? Young men who have 
already been damaged for decades of progressive left policies that have 
destroyed the nuclear family.
  Mr. Speaker, 80 percent of these urban men no longer have a father 
who will teach them their primary job as a man is to respect and 
protect womanhood, that his greatest success and legacy will be leaving 
his children and wife a good name.
  Instead, you see in these urban, crime-ridden Democrat cities young 
men who have lost hope and as a result are losing their souls.
  Turn on the TV. In the same cities where these urban city political 
leaders are closing their eyes to sexualization of children as young as 
3 or 4 years old, where confusing our children about gender fluidity is 
at its heights, you will see gangs of young men with no respect for 
women as they bully, use, abuse, and beat up girls and women and, with 
no shame, boast about it as they post their insidious attacks on 
TikTok. No hope, no soul.
  I'll make a request to those on the other side of the aisle; ask the 
urban community of Black women what they think of turning men into 
women, not the elitist Black minority who are married and have a safe 
life inside their middle-class neighborhood bubble, but the 78 percent 
of single mothers who are trying to raise and provide for their 
children solo.
  Ask them how it is for generations to deal with the absence of good, 
God-fearing, honest, hardworking, committed, visionary, and courageous 
men who will stand and sacrifice anything, including their lives, for 
their wives and children.
  These women will tell you that they already live in communities where 
males no longer identify as men. We will not stand by and allow the 
anti-family, anti-women progressive left to add women to their long 
list of hopelessness.
  Our message with this bill is to all women, regardless of your 
politics, creed, color, background, social status, or religion.
  The Republican Party will ensure that you and your daughters will 
never lose hope; that your efforts, your work, and your dreams will 
never be stolen by an ideology that has driven the party that has lost 
its way.
  We promise never to demean your contributions, past and present, your 
efforts and sacrifice, acknowledged or forgotten, that has helped to 
forge this great Nation. We start today by defending meritocracy and 
granting every woman a level playing field of fairness.
  As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce 
Development, I am proud to support the Protection of Women and Girls in 
Sports Act to end the reckless, anti-women, and unfair policies of the 
Biden White House against female athletes.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. I am so grateful for your expertise and 
wisdom and all the years you worked with troubled and incarcerated 
youth. This gentleman knows that of which he speaks.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield next to the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa).
  Mr. LaMALFA. Thank you, again, to my colleague from Louisiana (Mr. 
Johnson), for leading this time for us to further inform the American 
people on these key matters.
  Really, this is what House Republicans have demonstrated so far in 
this majority here in the last 3 months or so.
  The priorities of the American people are our priorities for their 
well-being, their prosperity, and we are achieving that in the 
legislation we are pushing through.
  Unfortunately, that priority is not shared by our President, and a 
lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are focused on a 
lot of other things that are very destructive to our economy, 
destructive to the well-being of what has really made this country 
strong economically and morally.
  Our economic base pivots mainly on energy, continued development of 
it, developing newer, better technologies which in this country, when 
we have the entrepreneurship, the freedom and means to continue to 
innovate instead of getting railroaded into things that don't work.
  A lot of that is this massive bent toward electrifying all of our 
energy-consuming devices, whether they be automobiles or appliances, 
things that we use for manufacturing, industry, what have you.
  I just have to tell you, remind you, that our power grid, our 
electricity grid, especially in my home State, is this close, 
especially on a hot summer day, toward collapsing.
  It is not enough, certainly, to take into account the big ideas there 
are to electrify cars, trucks, leaf blowers, stoves, and this is over 
the protests of the very people who are going to be expected to buy 
them and replace them.
  Have you seen cities and municipalities moving in the direction of 
banning all new gas stoves? Well, gas stoves work awfully well for 
people, for homeowners that wish to have that choice.
  When we see government continuing to take choices away from people, 
you are not seeing it from House Republicans.
  You are seeing it from the left. You are seeing it from this White 
House. You are seeing it from the policies that come from the Democrat 
leadership. People need to realize where this comes from.
  Legislation that was passed in the seventies, NEPA as part of 
Endangered Species Act, as part of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, 
those are good things, were good things at the time.
  They have been weaponized over the last 30 or 40 years to stop 
projects that people want from getting done, whether it is widening 
their highways to have better transportation infrastructure; whether it 
is agriculture. You

[[Page H1883]]

know, incredibly, we are seeing that in this country, we might have 
empty store shelves of certain products that people come to expect; 
certainly we are seeing much higher prices for food.
  What is the key to this? Energy. We don't have low-cost energy, 
reasonable energy, and we have stopped exploring for new oil and gas.
  We stopped building power plants. Indeed, in my district, they are 
trying to tear down hydroelectric plants that make CO2-free 
power.
  We all love CO2-free stuff, and they want to tear out this 
infrastructure. Our only nuclear power plant left in California, Diablo 
Canyon, got a 5-year reprieve by the legislature recently.
  There are people already trying to put a stop to that 5-year reprieve 
of it being shut down--more CO2-free power, 9 percent of the 
grid.
  So the weaponization of the environment has been pretty successful so 
far in stopping important projects. Instead, we get red tape, bloat, 
all sorts of things from the government instead of the projects people 
need in order to continue.
  Western civilization is defined by our ability to produce not only 
what we need but to help others around the world. We are unable to do 
that effectively if we keep going in this direction.
  A bill we passed last week, H.R. 1, was critical toward moving back 
this 2\1/2\ to 3-year funk we had under President Biden and also 
pivoting off of COVID shutting down our lives, largely.
  I can even extend that to the importance of forest management because 
the smoke plume from that affects the whole country when you have a 
million-acre fire like I had in my district.
  H.R. 1 has these key components toward helping with energy. One key 
component to help with forest management is to be able to do the types 
of thinning and work that is going to make the forests healthy. When 
you are talking about the Forest Service lands, they are an asset of 
the American people and they need to be saved.
  The lunacy we have seen with the extremists manipulating 
environmental laws and, of course, court decisions that aren't really 
based so much on what the intent of the law was 50 years ago is really 
harming our country. It is really harming the people, causing 
unnecessarily high costs of everything, and taking choices off your 
table, taking choices out of your garage, et cetera, et cetera.
  H.R. 1 is a good start on that. We need our colleagues in the Senate 
to pass that and get it to the White House and, hopefully, convince the 
President to do the right thing; not just shut down more energy.
  Folks, we have got to have you pay attention to this stuff and be on 
our side on this because we are actually on your side and not trying to 
take away your choices, your livelihoods, and harm you economically.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Thank you for drawing attention to it 
because energy security is national security, as we say all the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield next to my great friend, the 
great gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany).
  Mr. TIFFANY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Representative from Louisiana 
for giving me a couple minutes here.
  I have been here for 3 years now in the House of Representatives, and 
we have seen the other side try to overturn the laws of economics.
  Here is a quote: ``We absolutely cannot go bankrupt because we have 
the power to create as much money as we need to spend. . . .''
  That was Nancy Pelosi's budget chairman.
  Trying to overturn the laws of economics, trying to overturn the laws 
of physics, we are going to make internet power into base load power. 
It doesn't work.
  Well, now it is a sad day because now we are debating basic biology 
on the House floor. Unfortunately, over 50 years since Congress passed 
the landmark legislation of Title IX, we now have Democrats denying 
that basic biology and women's rights.
  Let me be clear: Biological men have no business competing in women's 
sports. It is anti-women and it is anti-science to think otherwise.
  Here is a headline from NBC news: ``Trans women retain athletic edge 
after a year of hormone therapy, the study finds.''
  From The Guardian: ``Trans women retain 12 percent edge in test 2 
years after transitioning.''
  Those are the facts, and we have already seen the results. Over 20 
biological men have won national or international competitions or 
championships in the women's category.
  With the Biden administration seeking to erase women's rights and 
continuing to make a mockery of Title IX's fundamental principle of 
basic biology, Republicans will protect them.
  Tomorrow, House Republicans will defend women's sports when we pass 
the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023.
  This will ensure that school athletics comply with the Title IX 
recognition of a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth.
  As a father of three daughters, I will always stand up to protect our 
daughters. I would hope all Members of Congress, both Republican and 
Democrat, would protect decades of progress we have made in securing 
women's rights.
  That starts by passing this legislation.
  At a time when Democrats would rather erase our daughters' rights, 
let me repeat: Republicans will protect them. Thank you to the 
gentleman from Louisiana.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. From one father to another, I thank you for 
those strong words. We will do that. That is our obligation.
  Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield next to my friend and classmate, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Kustoff).
  Mr. KUSTOFF. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for 
organizing tonight when we can speak directly to the American people.
  Monday marked 100 days of the new Republican majority here in the 
United States House of Representatives.
  Since then, we have been committed and worked hard to fulfill our 
commitment to America. That is our promise; to build an economy that is 
strong, a Nation that is safe, a future that is built upon freedom, and 
a government that is accountable to the American people.
  Our very first vote here in the majority was to defund President 
Biden's army of 87,000 new IRS agents that were to target families and 
small businesses with more burdensome audits.
  We passed the Parents Bill of Rights. Now, House Republicans know how 
important it is to have a say in their children's future, and the 
Parents Bill of Rights ensures that their important voice is heard.
  The Parents Bill of Rights does five things: First, the right for 
parents to know what is being taught in schools and to see reading 
material. Secondly, the right to be heard. Third, the parents' rights 
to see schools' budgets and schools' spending. Fourth, the right to 
protect their child's privacy. Fifth, the right for parents to be 
updated on any violent activity at school.
  I was proud and am proud to cosponsor this legislation that puts 
power back in the hands of parents certainly across our country and 
also empowers them with the information that they need to ensure that 
their children receive the best education possible.
  In addition, for people following at home, we passed a bill, the bill 
number is H.R. 1, the title of the bill is the Lower Energy Costs Act.
  H.R. 1, what it does is it unleashes American energy. It lowers 
energy costs for families across my district in West Tennessee and 
across the Nation.

                              {time}  1845

  President Biden's war on American energy, frankly, has made us more 
reliant on foreign energy sources. Americans know that because they 
have been paying the price for this in higher gas prices, higher 
utility bills, higher energy prices, in general.
  H.R. 1 will unleash American energy and lower costs.
  It does five things: It increases domestic energy production.
  It reforms the permitting process for all industries. That is the 
second thing.
  The third thing, it reverses anti-energy policies advanced by 
President Biden's administration.
  Fourth, it streamlines energy infrastructure and exports.
  Fifth, it boosts the production and processing of critical minerals. 
I think that is so important.

[[Page H1884]]

  That is H.R. 1. Obviously, it is one of the most important pieces of 
legislation that will pass here in the United States House of 
Representatives.
  We as House Republicans have also been doing our part to talk 
directly with Americans, in part by taking our committee hearings 
outside of Washington, D.C. We are talking directly to people across 
the country by having committee hearings outside of Washington, D.C., 
in the heartland of the country.
  I am honored to be on the House Committee on Ways and Means. Under 
the chairmanship of Jason Smith who chairs the House Committee on Ways 
and Means, we have had field hearings in West Virginia and in Oklahoma. 
By taking these committee hearings to places like West Virginia and 
Oklahoma, we have been talking--but more importantly, listening--in our 
committees to people who may not be able to travel to Washington, D.C., 
who could testify directly to our committee and to the other 
committees.
  By doing that, again, listening to issues that are important to the 
House Ways and Means Committee, and certainly to the other committees, 
as well, we really appreciate their valuable input.
  In addition to all this, other things that House Republicans have 
done, we have reopened the people's House. It is great to walk around 
the House Chamber, to walk around the Halls of Congress and see people, 
see our constituents, see school groups.
  Here in the House of Representatives under the Republican majority in 
these 100 days, we have worked to protect the sanctity of life.
  We have worked to counter the Chinese Communist Party and their 
influence.
  We have worked to counter the Biden administration for their 
weaponization of the Federal Government.
  Mr. Speaker, frankly, we are just getting started. We have got a lot 
of work cut out for us, but we are up to the challenge. We are working 
hard for the American people. The Republican majority is committed to 
delivering results for the American people each and every day in this 
body.
  Like you, I appreciate the honor to serve, and I appreciate 
Congressman Johnson for organizing tonight's Special Order so that 
Members like me and other Members in the Republican House majority can 
talk to the people, can talk about the accomplishments and also the 
important issues that our Nation faces.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend who is 
always a voice of great credibility and reason.
  You're exactly right, and I am glad you highlighted that the first 
100 days of this Congress under Republican leadership has been 
remarkably successful. As you said here, this week and in the days 
ahead, our important work has really just begun. We have a lot more to 
do.
  Mr. Speaker, in my remarks this evening, I would speak very briefly 
as a father.
  We have to defend women's sports. My wife, Kelly, and I have been 
blessed with four amazing children. Two of them are bright, beautiful 
young women who were high school athletes themselves. But today, 
radical transgender ideology is threatening the very same opportunities 
that my girls had, and all of our girls have had.
  This week, Congress is going to send a clear message: We will not 
stand by and tolerate the erosion of fair and equal competition in 
women's sports.
  We know that right now women's freedom to play sports at competitive, 
collegiate, and professional levels epitomizes how far we have come in 
breaking down so many boundaries.
  How in the world have we gotten to this point where women's ability 
to compete on a fair playing field is in question?
  Mr. Speaker, this week, Congress will vote, and we are going to pass 
out of this House the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
  We will address one of the major problems stemming from today's 
extreme liberal ideology, all of these activists.
  Just in the last few years, we have seen countless instances of men 
competing in women's sports at all stages of competition. It is not 
fair.
  Our legislation would simply aim to crack down on this backwards 
policy by prohibiting federally funded education programs or activities 
of any kind from allowing biological men and boys to participate in the 
programs or activities designed for women.
  Biology is not bigotry. It is reality. Our legislation will make 
clear that one's gender, their sex, is based on their reproductive 
biology. It is our obligation; it is our duty and responsibility here 
to protect and defend the rights of women and girls across this country 
to compete and succeed in sports.
  I am proud to cosponsor the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports 
Act, and I am glad that that legislation will accomplish that very 
thing.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________