Democratic Women’s Caucus and Equality Caucus Condemn Republicans’ Attack on Title IX

**Watch the full press call here.**

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Wednesday, July 10 the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) and Congressional Equality Caucus (CEC) condemned House Republicans’ attack on Title IX and highlighted the importance of safeguarding the Biden administration’s Title IX rule.

On a press call, DWC Vice Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), DWC Policy Co-ChairKathy Manning (NC-06), andCEC Vice Chair Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01) explained the negative impacts of the Trump administration’s Title IX rule and how repealing the Biden administration’s rule would harm women, the LGBTQI+ community, and survivors of sexual assault.

Members remarked on the harmful impacts of the Trump administration’s Title IX rules on students and survivors:

• DWC Vice Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03): “We have one woman who was sexually harassed when she was a freshman. She is presently a senior and has not received a resolution of her complaint. Another woman told us that she was sexually harassed, reported it, and that the trauma of going through the procedures that were laid out in the Trump rule were traumatizing in themselves.”
• DWC Policy Co-Chair Kathy Manning (NC-06): “Under Trump’s Title IX rule, survivors were forced to suffer in fear and students who were experiencing discrimination on campus felt they had no place to go.”
• CEC Vice Chair Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01): “Everybody should be safe and feel safe when they’re at school. At one point [on the Floor], I pointed out that so many students who are being either harassed or bullied don’t even report it because they just don’t feel safe.”

Members asserted that Republicans’ passage of the CRA would harm women, the LGBTQI+ community, and survivors of sexual assault:

• DWC Policy Co-Chair Kathy Manning (NC-06): “For 50 years, Title IX has prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, successfully advancing gender equality in schools and institutions of higher education. It also provided essential protections against sexual harassment and violence. 50 years later, Republicans want to gut Title IX. The legislation put forward by my Republican colleagues this week would undermine the Department of Education’s fundamental ability to enforce basic protections for women, for the LQBTQ+ community, for pregnant students, and for survivors of sexual assault.”
• DWC Vice Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03): “This [CRA] is consistent with the Republican agenda, the Trump agenda, to undermine protections for women, whether that is reproductive healthcare or protections from sexual violence.”
• CEC Vice Chair Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01): “I remember the four long years of Secretary DeVos and all the conversations we had in that administration and the harm that they did, not only to the LGBTQI+ students, but also to survivors of sexual assault on campus.”

Tomorrow, House Republicans are aiming to pass a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn the Biden administration’s Title IX rule and revert back to the Trump Title IX rule. As the Members explained, the Trump era rule was devastating for women and girls, sexual assault survivors, and LGBTQI+ students.

The Biden administration’s final rule, which goes into effect August 1, includes critical updates and clarifications of sex-based protections and institutional procedures to protect students from sex-based harassment and discrimination, enhances reporting measures for sexual assault and harassment, and overall, creates a safer learning environment for all students.