“I think it’s a huge disservice and incredibly unfair to girls and women across this country who have an opportunity to compete on a level playing field and then get chances to get college scholarships and everything that comes with that.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today spoke at a press conference with Senate Republican leadership:
Thune’s remarks below (as delivered):
“Well, good afternoon.
“I had hoped today that we would be voting on the [Protection of] Women and Girls in Sports Act introduced by Senator Tuberville.
“And so we had a procedural vote on that.
“Obviously, the Democrats decided to take it down and not even allow us the opportunity to debate this bill.
“And obviously, I think as most of you know, sports is a big part of my family’s life.
“And I have daughters who are female athletes.
“I now have a granddaughter who is playing soccer and basketball.
“And it’s hard for me to comprehend a scenario where they would have to compete against biological males.
“This is an issue that I think is just a matter of common sense, honestly, first and foremost, and it’s an issue on which the American people agree with us.
“Almost 80 percent of the American people and a majority of Democrats believe that biological males shouldn’t be competing against girls in sports.
“And so – notwithstanding the Democrats’ opposition and their blocking of this initiative – fortunately, the president took action through an executive order to make sure that that is the case.
“But it would have been nice to have had an opportunity, at least a debate on the floor of the United States Senate [on] this legislation, and an opportunity to codify it so that it doesn’t change when a new administration takes power.
“But I just believe fundamentally that this is an example of the Democrats using the filibuster to block a piece of legislation – a filibuster that, just as recently as a few months ago, they wanted to get rid of, you remember, so they could move their agenda forward.
“And now they use the filibuster to prevent us from even getting on and debating the [Protection of] Women and Girls in Sports Act.
“And I think that’s unfortunate.
“I think it’s a huge disservice and incredibly unfair to girls and women across this country who have an opportunity to compete on a level playing field and then get chances to get college scholarships and everything that comes with that.
“And it used to be that the Democrats were champions of and defended Title IX.
“I have never seen such an abandonment of a core principle as what we saw on the floor of the Senate last night when we had this vote.”