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Floor Speech

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Mr. TUBERVILLE. Mr. President, November 5, 2024, that is the day that the American people sent shock waves to the swamp in DC when they overwhelmingly reelected Donald John Trump as President of these United States of America. And 77 million Americans didn't just deliver a mandate for President Trump, they also wanted his ``America First'' agenda.

I come to the floor today to remind my Senate Republican colleagues that a critical part of the ``America First'' agenda includes prioritizing the safety of our women and girls in sports and protecting their privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms.

I am here to call for a vote on my legislation, S. 9, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, that would save title IX and save women's sports.

Today is National Girls and Women in Sports Day. That is today. To celebrate, President Trump will sign an Executive order this afternoon in the White House ending Democrats' intentional destruction of title IX and saving women's sports. I am very thankful for his leadership on this.

President Trump's Executive order will make sure women's sports are protected for at least the next 4 years. But, unfortunately, Executive orders can be reversed.

Congress needs to act on this to make sure the next Democrat administration, whenever it is, can't take the same steps to destroy title IX that the Biden administration took.

For the past 4 years, the Biden administration waged an all-out assault on gender. Since the beginning of time, people have agreed that sex is assigned at birth and determined by God. But under the Biden administration, you had people claiming that men can get pregnant. Here on this floor, I heard that. Pure insanity.

But it didn't stop there. They weren't content to just erase gender norms that have been accepted for thousands and thousands of years. No, they wanted to allow transgender men to participate against women and girls in sports.

This has been happening in schools all across the country. Young women have been forced to compete against men and even share locker rooms and showers. On top of that, your taxpayer dollars are paying for this nonsense.

Over the past several years under the Joe Biden administration, 900 women's medals have gone to men--900. That is absolutely wrong.

This one is personal for me. My first coaching job was in women's basketball years ago. Title IX was just starting to be implemented when I took that first job. I saw firsthand the immediate difference it made.

Before title IX, at a lot of schools, college women's athletics didn't really exist. Back then, there were more than 10 times as many male athletes in college as female athletes. After title IX, that quickly changed. For the first time, the young women I coached had equal access to facilities, resources, and competition.

I saw these hard-working young women go on to earn college scholarships, start careers, and become leaders of our country. I still keep in touch with many of these young women today, and I am deeply proud of them.

Looking back on it now, I wonder if they would have had the same opportunities without title IX. Would they have had the same success if they had to compete against males 40 years ago?

This really shouldn't be controversial. It is just common sense.

A recent poll from the New York Times, of all publications, showed 79 percent of all Americans believe men should not compete in women's sports--79 percent.

President Trump campaigned largely on this issue. If you remember his campaign, he spent nearly $20 million on TV ads about the importance of keeping men out of women's sports.

So on November 5, 2024, the American people didn't just elect President Trump; they also decisively rejected this ridiculous notion that men can get pregnant and boys should compete against women's sports--ridiculous. And they definitely didn't want their tax dollars funding schools that allow boys to share locker rooms with girls.

My bill would prevent a school from receiving any Federal funding if they let boys compete in women's sports. It also defines gender as male and female for this purpose.

I was glad to see President Trump sign an Executive order defining gender during his first few days in office. The President also made it clear under that Executive order that he wants Congress to take action on this as well because he understands it can go away with the signing of an ink pen.

That is why today, I am also reintroducing a bill to prohibit men from competing in women's Olympic sports because men competing against women at any level is dangerous.

We are all deeply disturbed--all of us were deeply disturbed this past summer to see videos of boys and men boxing against women.

You know, when I was growing up, we were taught to never hit a girl. But I guess that is over now because of the Democrats.

One study found out that males can punch up to 162 percent harder than females. Somebody is going to get killed or seriously injured if we don't stop this absolute nonsense. It is unsafe, it is unfair, and it is just plain wrong.

The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act will make sure men aren't allowed to compete against women in any sport but especially not in a violent sport like boxing. This bill will restore fairness for the American women who train their whole lives to represent our country on the world stage. Their entire lives, they train.

I know we are all looking forward to the United States hosting the Summer Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles. I hope our bill has been passed and signed into law long before that so we can all enjoy some healthy, safe women-against-women or men-against-men competition during those Olympics.

But this issue goes way beyond politics. I have heard from parents, students, teachers, and coaches all over the country about this. These are people who have personally seen the benefits of title IX and are very concerned about Democrats' attempts to take these opportunities away from women and girls.

There are countless stories of girls who have benefited from title IX in my State of Alabama. This includes athletes like Rachel Argent of Thorsby High School in Chilton County, AL. Rachel's athletic ability and good grades drew the attention of college coaches across Alabama. Rachel's athletic ability and her good grades drew the attention of people from everywhere.

Because of her talent and work ethic, she received a basketball scholarship to Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette, AL. After competing for 2 years and getting her degree, she got a softball scholarship at Samford University. That scholarship put her on the right direction to be able to buy her own uniform or her own equipment like she did in high school. It was all done because of title IX, and it was all paid for, which, years ago, would not have happened.

She didn't have to worry about landing a full-time job while she went to school and participated in sports to pay her bills.

After college, Rachel returned to Thorsby High School as a teacher and a coach. She wanted to give back to the school what she had gotten from title IX. She taught health and physical education for grades K- 12. She coached girls softball, basketball, track, and volleyball. She made an impact on hundreds of girls across the State of Alabama. It was all made possible, again, by title IX.

Rachel's daughter Addie played softball, tennis, golf, and basketball at Chilton County High School. She got a gold scholarship to the University of Mobile, where she graduated with a degree in nursing. Her athletic scholarship was a key part of her getting a degree and becoming a nurse.

There are countless other young women like Addie and Rachel across Alabama and every other State across the country. More than 50,000 young women in Alabama alone competed in high school sports this past year--50,000. Every single one of them deserves the full benefit of fair competition.

I am grateful that every Member of the Senate Republican leadership is a cosponsor of my Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. They have been very supportive. Leader Thune is a proud cosponsor of my bill, and I am glad to have his support. Leader Thune is committed to scheduling a vote on this bill and putting every Democrat on the record on whether or not they support men competing in women's sports.

We brought this bill to the floor for a vote during the last Congress--really, we brought it twice--and every single Democrat always voted against it. What does that tell you?

Leader Thune has not rescheduled it for a vote this Congress. Right now, we obviously have a lot of things to do with President Trump's Cabinet. Then we can get started on the reconciliation process and get the American economy jump-started again. We have a lot to accomplish in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, and I hope this bill is part of that 100 days.

President Trump will sign an Executive order again today banning men from competing in women's sports. Let's lock that commitment in. Let's lock it in for young girls and women all across this country.

Let's bring this bill to the floor for a vote very soon so the Senate can send it to the President's desk and make this permanent.

To my Senate colleagues who are on the fence about this, I would ask: Do you have daughters? Do you have granddaughters? Do you have nieces? Would you want them competing against men in sports? Would you feel comfortable with them sharing a locker room with a biological male?

I am excited to welcome my first granddaughter in a couple of weeks, Rosie Grace. I would raise hell if she was forced to compete, dress, or use the same showers as men. American taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for any schools that are allowing this to happen.

The days of woke, swamp politicians running our government are over. Common sense has been restored to the White House, and Congress needs to get back to work and let President Trump work on this bill. This isn't about politics; this is about right and wrong. The American people have delivered a verdict. They want men out of women's sports and women's locker rooms. President Trump is 100 percent with us on this.

The time to act is now. It is time to restore title IX protections and save women's sports.

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