[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 48 (Thursday, March 13, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1727-S1729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk
about how my delusional Democratic colleagues have tried to poison our
country's young people with what I call a woke mind virus.
Before I got into politics, I spent 40 years working with young
people, from the high school level to the college level--higher
education, we call it. I coached, recruited, and mentored young people
all over the country--thousands of them. I saw firsthand how hard work
and a quality education can change a person's life, no matter where
they come from, what they look like, or how much money they have.
I used to tell my players that, if they work hard, there is no limit
to what they can achieve. It is called the American dream.
Our Founders came here because they envisioned a country where the
sky is the limit and people aren't bound by the circumstances that they
were born in. But, unfortunately, the Biden administration and the
Democrats have spent the last 4 years communicating a much darker
message to our young people.
This country was founded on merit, but instead of focusing on hiring
the best and brightest, Biden, Harris, Obama, and the ``woke mind
virus'' Democrats have spent the last 4 years dividing our country
based on diversity, equity, and inclusion--or, better known to all of
us, what is called DEI. This poisonous ideology says that people should
be hired based on their skin color or sexual preference, not because of
how they might do in a job.
And to make matters worse, the Biden administration used 1 trillion
American taxpayer dollars to pay for DEI programs in the Federal
Government--1 trillion. You heard that right. American taxpayers are
footing the bill, and they were paying for things that were racist,
divisive, and woke--a woke propaganda.
So I don't know about you; I want a refund. I want my money back. We
all pay taxes. Why in the world would we do that?
Let's call DEI what it really is: a fundamentally racist, prejudice,
and anti-American ideology that is designed to divide and oppress
people. That is exactly what it is. It is baffling to me how Democrats
don't see this. Or do they?
They claim to be a very tolerant, inclusive party rooted in equality,
but as we have all learned, Democrats are only tolerant as long as you
agree with them. I thought we left the stain of discrimination and
race-based hiring practices behind in our country a long, long time
ago, but apparently not. It is clear that Democrats would rather divide
Americans based on their race, gender, creed, or sexual orientation
than live in a world where people are hired based on intellect,
experience, work ethic, and merit--what a thought.
So let's set the record straight. This country owes you nothing
except for the opportunity to succeed. That is what is great about this
country. And if you don't succeed, you can get back up and go again. We
are the only country that allows that. For generations, Americans
understood this--all Americans: an opportunity to pursue your dreams,
to use your God-given talents to contribute to making this country the
greatest place to live in the world.
I have always said this: If you were born in the United States of
America, you hit the lottery, 100 percent. And I guarantee you, the
other 7 billion people in this world would give anything to take the
place of any of us, from the poorest to the richest.
To my new granddaughter of just 2 weeks, Rosie Grace, if there is any
one thing I can teach her as a grandfather, it is the value of hard
work and determination. There is nothing that takes the place of that--
nothing. With a strong work ethic and a commitment to excellence,
opportunities will open up for her, or anybody, to live a happy,
successful life. And that is all a grandfather like me now can ask
for--hard work and determination.
So what kind of message is it if we are teaching our young people
that they are victims of their circumstances and the American dream is
only for people who have a certain skin color? That is the opposite of
the American dream.
But Democrats don't care one bit about that--not one bit. I have
listened to it for 4 years. Obama started a horrible trend that
Democrats carry on to this day. He used racism to divide the Americans
and politically enrich themselves. Look at the money they have made.
The woke mind virus has taken hold of them. They have lost their ever-
loving mind. They would rather promise racism and promote it--sexism,
divisiveness--than support solutions that empower, unify, or uplift our
country and our people.
Democrats are obsessed with hating this country and tearing it apart.
They want a different United States of America. If it is anything that
is pro-American or pro-traditional values--it doesn't matter--Democrats
will attack it, demonize it, and demonize us for supporting it.
These people have zero respect for human life. They have shown their
true colors in the past few years, ever since Roe v. Wade was
overturned, which sent abortion back to the States, where it could be
voted on by the people, instead of politicians. They have raised Cain.
Since then, Democrat politicians have said the quiet part out loud,
admitting that they think there should be no limits to abortion. How
can you believe that?
That means that they are OK with aborting a baby at 9 months of
pregnancy.
Former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said that he
supports post-birth--after-birth--abortions. Are you kidding me?
And other Democrats, like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz--remember him,
flash in the pan?--signed a law to allow abortions after birth--signed
a law in Minnesota for abortions after birth.
What do they do with that? They cut these babies up and sell the body
parts. It is never talked about too much, is it? Can you believe that
this is who the Democrats picked as their Vice Presidential candidate?
I can believe it. That means that, in Minnesota, a doctor can kill a
baby after he or she is born, right there on the delivery table. It is
evil, and it is absolutely sick.
But it isn't just babies Democrats have no respect for. They also
have gone out of their way to attack women and girls. Just last week,
every single Democrat in this body voted against my bill to protect
women and girls in sports.
Oh, we have got to give these transitional boys an opportunity to
participate.
Really? How about giving, in fairness to young girls and women, the
opportunity to compete at a level that they are in; give them an
opportunity not to play for second or third but to play for first. How
about that?
The woke mind virus has struck again. Democrats who claim to be pro-
women would rather protect a few transgender people than protect the
millions of women and girls who make up half of this country.
Oh, we have to be nice. We have to be nice to everybody.
No. We need a mental health program in this country. That is what we
need.
Democrats who claim to be pro-women would rather protect a few
transgender people than protect the entire country of women and girls.
It is backward, it is disgusting, and it is downright wrong.
You would have to be dumber than a box of rocks to celebrate this,
but that is what they did. They celebrated the handful of transgenders
participating against women.
Oh, we knocked it down because it was supported by Donald Trump, who
wrote out an Executive order protecting women and girls.
Thank you, President Trump.
By the way, 79 percent of Americans and 67 percent of Democrats
support that men do not compete against women--a huge majority. Every
single one of my Democratic colleagues went against their constituents
and voted against this commonsense bill to protect women and keep men
out of women's sports.
[[Page S1728]]
Democrats basically are hypocrites--big-time. They claim to be pro-
woman but allow men to dress up as women and take rights away from
actual women.
When we saw this firsthand, during the Biden administration, when
they had actual drag shows at the White House, it made me sick at my
stomach.
But the hypocrisy doesn't end there. Democrats celebrate when Hamas
protectors violently attack Jewish students, but they demonize and
imprison pro-life activists who peacefully protest outside an abortion
clinic.
Whose side are you on?
Democrat colleagues say they are pro-choice but lose their minds if a
parent dares to ask a question about vaccines for infants. I mean, they
go off the deep end when we talk about vaccines.
They claim they are the party of decency--really? Tolerance--are you
kidding me? But turn a blind eye to multiple Democratic mayors being
arrested for being pedophiles. Yes, that is what I said--pedophiles.
The former Democrat mayor of University Park, MD, was arrested and
charged in 2024 with 28 counts of possessing and soliciting child
pornography: in jail, 24, mayor, right down the street.
The year before, 2023, a different Democrat mayor from College Park,
MD, pleaded guilty to 140 counts of possessing and distributing child
sexual abuse images: mayor, leader, Democrat, believes in the way of
life for the Democratic Party, a pedophile.
So two Democratic mayors in Maryland have been arrested in the past 2
years for pedophilia. You can't make it up. The woke mind virus strikes
again. I have yet to hear a single floor speech from my Maryland
Democrat colleagues about this catastrophe, a leader caught doing this.
They don't care. It doesn't bother them.
They seem to find plenty of time to criticize President Trump every
time he breathes, but they don't worry about pedophilia. How about we
all speak out about it?
I have yet to see them take the time to condemn multiple elected
officials from their State who have been arrested and contributed to
all this child pornography. It is sad, but we shouldn't be surprised.
Democrats only pretend to care about the oppressed or the most
vulnerable among us when it benefits their agenda. After all, it was
Democrats in the States like California and Washington who introduced
bills to change the term--the name of it--``sex offenders'' to ``minor-
attracted persons.'' You are not a sex offender anymore if you beat up
a little child, molest a child. You are not a sex offender. You are a
minor-attracted person. We don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, OK?
What a joke. It makes me sick to my stomach.
If it wasn't for the reelection of President Trump on November 5, I
really don't know whether we would have made it. Our country was headed
straight to the gutter--straight to the gutter. I mean, just listen to
all of this. It makes no sense.
Now we have common sense. We are trying to get common sense back in
our country. We have to push for it. Thanks to President Trump and the
ideas he has brought back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, this
administration is working around the clock to get this woke crap out of
our government, our military, out of classrooms--out--get back to
teaching our kids.
President Trump is committed to abolishing the U.S. Department of
Education, a Federal Agency that has failed our students for the past
40 years that I have been in education and especially under Joe Biden
and Barack Obama. President Trump believes and is correct that our
young people are the country's most important, precious commodity that
we have. They are the future.
He understands that under President Biden, the Department of
Education allowed radical leftwing teachers to push radical, hateful
ideologies onto our kids. We don't need opinion teaching. We need to
teach reading, writing, math, science, and history. What is wrong with
that? What is wrong with giving them a chance because they have ruined
the lives of thousands of young people because they have been
indoctrinated.
You had drag shows that were being performed recently in elementary
schools. I mean, in my day, you would have been arrested for that. Woke
anti-American curriculum taught kids to hate each other--actually in
the classroom teaching them: Hey, you hate them because of who they are
or where they are from, what skin color they are--absolutely a crime.
Schools help children secretly transition genders behind the parent's
back. Oh, you want to transition. You are 8 years old. Don't tell your
parents. We will get it all set up for you--mind-boggling. The woke
mind virus has struck again.
All of this, by the way, on the taxpayers' dime. You are paying for
it. Meanwhile, we are 26 in the world in math, and we are 6 in reading.
That is simply not good enough for the most powerful country in the
world.
When I coached and recruited, I was shocked if anybody was over a
ninth grade reading level. That is everybody. I don't care what color,
where they are from; urban, rural. If you can't read, you can't learn.
If you can't learn, you are going to end up working for somebody or
just scraping to try to make a living.
But instead of teaching our kids to read and write, the Department of
Education under Joe Biden became ground zero for woke indoctrination.
All they were concerned about was bowing to the teachers unions--you
heard that--teachers unions teaching our kids to hate this country, its
government, our Constitution, and each other. What are we doing? I am
thankful President Trump is sending education back to the States where
it belongs. I have advocated this for the last 20 years.
Just this week, the Department of Education announced it was firing
more than 1,000 people right down the street. Thank goodness. They
hadn't been doing anything. They had been working from home, and what
they do, we can do it back in the States a lot better, and we can use
that money to educate kids--what an idea.
Good. The Federal Department of Education needs to be completely shut
down. It is not done yet, but we just got started. I have been saying
it for a long time: We can't have a one-sized-fits-all, top-down
approach to education.
You know, I am from Alabama. We teach kids a little bit different
because we are in a different environment; rural areas, 60 percent
farmers, agriculture, all those things. We don't teach the same things
that you would teach in Chicago or New York. Send it back to the
States. Let them control it. Let them teach our kids to have a chance
in the future. Each child is totally different.
You know, the Federal Government can't do that. I haven't figured out
in my 4 years yet what we can do, but at least we are figuring out:
Hey, it is not working here. Close it down; quit spending money; and
send it back to the States, which is why President Trump's plan to
empower the States makes all the sense in the world.
But, of course, Democrats don't believe in common sense. They are
only concerned about we have to control this because they know that if
they don't control education--education is the No. 1 thing we have in
this country going for us--if you take that away, everything else goes.
If they can't control education, they won't be able to infect the
minds of all these young kids across the country. They want them to
think that the Constitution is bad, that government is really bad, that
your parents are bad, that you ought to listen to us.
You know, a spoonful of common sense goes a long way. So let me sum
this up for you: Merit-based hiring is the only way to make a business
successful--merit-based. When I coached, I had to win games or I was
gone. I didn't care who they were when they played for me. I didn't
care whether rich, poor, rural, urban, Black, White, it didn't make me
a dime of difference. I put the best ones on the field. They were going
to earn it.
That is how this country should be run. That is the difference
between my Republican side and my colleagues on the left. They want
everything given. It ain't going to work, folks. We are not going to
have the country we had the opportunity to grow up in if we continue
down that path.
Merit-based; men are men, women are women. Men cannot get pregnant,
[[Page S1729]]
by the way, but I learned that very, very young in life. Evidently my
Democrat colleagues didn't learn that.
Protecting women and girls in sports is the right thing to do.
Allowing elementary schoolers with undeveloped brains to get
irreversible sex change procedures make absolutely no sense. It is evil
and sadistic.
Teaching kids to hate each other based on what they look like, that
is racist. That is exactly the direction that the Biden administration
was going.
Children shouldn't be forced to watch drag shows. It you are an
adult, you can do what you want in this country, but forcing this woke
agenda on kids is downright wrong.
Making taxpayers pay for abortions in the military--wrong, against
the law, but they did it anyway. I fought it for a year. I lost out in
the end, but you know what, it was worth the fight.
Pedophilia is straight from the pit of hell. And, no, these aren't
minor-attracted persons. These creeps, they are criminals, and they are
sick in the head.
I thank God every day for President Trump and the return of common
sense in this country.
I hope some of my Democrat colleagues will wake up to how the past 4
years of this woke ideology has poisoned our country, especially our
young people. Folks, we have got a long way to go--long way to go.
Our future is in the hands of our kids. Let's give that future back
to our kids. Let's educate them, put them on the right track, teach
them the Constitution, teach them that we have a higher being in God--
put that back in our schools. What a thought that would be.
Let's stay away--stay away--from our young kids, and let them have a
chance to develop.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
(The remarks of Mr. Cornyn pertaining to the introduction of S. 1053
are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills
and Joint Resolutions.'')
Mr. CORNYN. I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Schmitt). The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BUDD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.