▶ 0:04:44There may Here we are.
▶ 0:06:39Good morning. The committee will please come to order. A quorum is present. Uh the committee meets today pursuant to a notice to consider four bills. Further, we'll consider ranking member Scott's resolution of inquiry.
▶ 0:06:54Before we move any further, let me just uh take a point of personal privilege to um ask that uh all of us would remember in prayer Don Norcross, a member of this committee, good guy who had a uh a medical a significant medical emergency and as I'm told is is recovering now and uh his old spirit
▶ 0:07:24says that he's going to be back with us as soon as possible. But as you think of Donald, uh remember him. Good guy, member of this committee in need of our prayers. Before we move any further, I'd like to welcome Representative Randy Fine to the committee.
▶ 0:07:42Uh without objection, he will be added to the subcommittee on higher education and workforce development, subcommittee on workforce protections, and the subcommittee on health, employment, labor, and pensions. Without objection, Representative Stefanic will also be added to the subcommittee on higher education and workforce development. Um I'd like to recognize Representative F for one minute to make a brief statement. Welcome.
▶ 0:08:12Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think I figured out how to make the microphone work, so I've accomplished one thing today. Um well, well, thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here. It's a a profound honor, particularly to be on this committee. Um education is the reason that I got into politics. I uh grew up a child of two public school educators in the state of in Kentucky. Um and had a reasonably good life because of the education that I got.
▶ 0:08:36um you know uh went off to college, was able to start three companies that all did fairly well and got into politics again because I wanted every child to have the same opportunities I did. So I come here from the Florida legislature where I served until the day before my election. Um and most of my time there I was focused on education. I chaired um both our budgetary committees on K12 as well as higher education for four of my of my eight years.
▶ 0:09:01um and was known for running the largest school chase school choice expansion bill in the history of the United States. Um I believe education is a miracle that can take people from where they are to where they want to go. And so it's a privilege to be here to work with all of you to see that we give that opportunity to every child who does not have those opportunities that many of us have right now so that that next generation can come up and sit in the seats that we're sitting in now. So it's an honor to be here and thanks for having me. Glad to have you here.
▶ 0:09:30you're on the right committee with that attitude because I think most of us believe that same thing about education and the opportunity. Now I recognize my friend and ranking member uh Representative you. Thank you. Um Thank you, Mr.
▶ 0:09:59Chairman, I'd like to again welcome Representative Fine from Florida. Look forward to working with him and continuing um our prayers for Representative Norcross. We assume he's going to do well and welcome him back when he comes. Go back. We look forward to that, especially since he's a Harley rider. Now, we'll turn to the markup portion of today's meeting.
▶ 0:10:26The chair announces that requests for recorded votes as to amendments may be postponed pursuant to clause two of rule uh rule 11 of the rules of the House of Representatives and committee rule 14B. Without objection, the chair may recess the committee at any point.
▶ 0:10:43Good morning and welcome to the Committee on Education and Workforce markup of several bills that will empower students, families, and workers, as well as a resolution of inquiry designed uh to to distract this committee and the Trump administration from the important work of repairing the damage done to our education system by the Biden Harris The first bill we will consider today is 2617.
▶ 0:11:12The Say No to Indoctrination Act. The bill introduced by Mr. Owens would effectively codify President Trump's January 20th executive order on gender ideology as it pertains to K12 education. Across the nation, we've seen a troubling rise in districts teaching a radical leftist view of gender, including that gender is a spectrum, that one can switch between genders, and that one's genders is determined primarily by one's feelings.
▶ 0:11:42Federal taxpayer dollars should not fund these extreme teachings. Receiving federal tax dollars is a privilege, not a right, and schools should use dollars responsibly. This bill would prevent schools from using ESA dollars uh to spread woke ideas about gender. The second bill to be marked up is HR 2616, the Protect Kids Act.
▶ 0:12:10I've championed this bill myself for several years because I believe parents ought never to be left out of important conversations about their children. 21,000 schools have policies allowing or requiring school officials to help a student transition genders while keeping it a secret from his or her parents. That's a travesty.
▶ 0:12:39Parents should be the first to know about major changes in their students lives, not the last. and school officials should never lie to them or hide the truth. This bill would prohibit elementary and middle schools from helping a student transition genders without parental consent. The third piece of legislation we're considering is HRES 237.
▶ 0:13:07This resolution of inquiry is an attempt by the Democrats to derail the work of this committee and gaslight Americans about Democrats decades of failure on education. When the Department of Education was created in 1979, Americans were spending about $2,300 per K12 student. Today, we're spending more than $15,600 per student.
▶ 0:13:35Despite all that spending, fewer than a third of eighth graders are proficient in reading and math. Why would we want to keep failing? Today, we'll also consider two important efforts to modernize the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Miss Henson's bill, HR 2262, the Flexibility for Workers Education Act, cuts red tape that currently hamstrings workers and businesses.
▶ 0:14:04This bill improves the FLSA by ensuring there are no disincentives for employers to offer voluntary professional development opportunities uh to workers. Mr. Mesmer's bill HR 2270, the empower empowering employer child and elder care solutions act will increase access to child care for hourly workers.
▶ 0:14:28This bill would encourage employers to offer child care and elder care benefits that employees greatly value. These bills will unlock opportunities for workers and help businesses in invest in their workers. I'm excited excited to mark up these bills today and dispense with the questionable resolution of inquiry.
▶ 0:14:50Uh the bills we are considering this morning will improve the lives of students and workers and reinforce the central role of parents and other caregivers in the lives of those under charge. With that being said, I now yield to the ranking member uh for an opening statement. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today we'll consider five bills that would impact millions of American students, workers, and families.
▶ 0:15:18three education bills, two of which would continue to wage Republican culture wars in our classrooms, and two labor bills that incentivize people to work more to get paid less. First, we'll consider uh HR 2616, the Protect Kids Act. This bill forces schools to obtain consent from parents before a child can change their pronouns, effectively outing students. While many parents would be supportive, this is not always the case.
▶ 0:15:48Studies show that LGBTQ students are more likely to experience homelessness with family rejection being the leading cause. We should focus on providing quality education and mental health resources, not needlessly bullying some of our most vulnerable students and making them more vulnerable than they are. Next, we'll consider HR 2617, the Say No to Indoctrination Act, which prohibits the use of federal funds to teach whatever gender ideology is.
▶ 0:16:19It is so real that we're even debating these bills. Administration is literally trying to abolish the Department of Education right now. Neither of these bills addresses any of the widespread issues in education. Instead, they're vehicles for my colleagues to continue ranting about culture wars.
▶ 0:16:36That's why my colleagues and I uh and I introduced the next resolution we're considering, HR 23 2237, a resolution requesting documents from the administration about their plans to dismantle the department. This resolution of inquiry is simply a call for transparency and accountability. Didn't gaslighting anything. It's just asking what in the world is going on.
▶ 0:17:02President Trump and Secretary McMahon have actively dismantled the or actively dismantling the department. They've already fired nearly half the staff. This resolution does not ask the administration to do anything.
▶ 0:17:15We're just simply asking the administration to share their plans on how they intend to dismantle the department while still carrying out legislativelymandated duties such as providing support to schools and to ensure that all students have access to a highquality education regardless of their zip code. One of the biggest alarm bells for me was the decision to fire almost half the staff at the Office of Civil Rights and close half the regional offices.
▶ 0:17:43How is it more efficient to give half the staff twice the amount of work? And how will this not impact students abilities to seek recourse if they're victims of discrimination of or harassment? Also, what is the president's plan to transfer the student loan portfolio to the to the Small Business Administration or the Individuals with Education Education Act to Health and Human Services? And how will this move not make it harder for students to repay their loans?
▶ 0:18:12And what expertise does HHS have in enforcing civil rights for students with disabilities in schools? Under the Constitution, we have the responsibility to ensure the executive branch faithfully implements the laws written by Congress. And we can't bury our heads in the sand and allow this administration to undermine almost every program our constituents rely on. So, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution so that we can get this information. Next, we're considering two labor related bills.
▶ 0:18:43Both are based on a cynical flawed premise that to provide workers with certain opportunities or benefits, employers must be able to pay them less. HR 2262, the Flexibility for Workers Education Act, would relieve employers for the responsibility to pay employees for training outside regular working hours.
▶ 0:19:04Specifically, it would allow employers to to hold training for workers jobs after hours and off the clock as long as they do not say that it is technically required. However, they can still lead workers to believe that the training is required and get away with not paying for that time. This reason, I oppose the bill and would encourage my uh colleagues to do the same.
▶ 0:19:28And finally, HR 2270, Empowering Employer, Child, and Elder Care Solutions Act, appears to support families by encouraging businesses help with child and elder care. However, in practice, the bill only incentivizes employers to pressure employees to work longer hours, keeping them away from their families for more hours and increasing their need for care.
▶ 0:19:51The irony is this administration is simultaneously dismantling the Office of Child Care, which made child care more affordable for 1.8 8 million children in 2021 and dissolving the administration for community living completely leaving the future of the older Americans act programs uncertain. This risk this bill risks worsening the challenges families face without addressing the core issue and that is access to affordable care.
▶ 0:20:20Additionally, the problem my colleagues are trying to seem to be trying to address through this bill will only be exacerbated by their proposed cuts in Medicaid to fund tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected. Many Americans rely on Medicaid to re to receive essential care from support for children with disabilities to services for senior citizens. Medicaid covers five and eight nursing home residents.
▶ 0:20:47And Medicaid accounts for more than half of all spending on long-term care nationally. That's why my colleagues argue when while my colleagues argued that concerns over these cuts are merely fear-mongering, the Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that cutting Medicaid is the only option to achieve the goals laid out in the budget resolution. There'd been a change of heart about these cuts. I gladly support that shift.
▶ 0:21:13In the meanwhile, I oppose HR 2270 and would encourage my colleagues to do the same. And before we end, I'd like to make one last point. This is our second markup in Congress, and we still have not taken up our bipartisan bicameal agreement reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. I hope, Mr. Chairman, we can get a commitment from you to bring this bill up as soon as possible since it had been agreed on.
▶ 0:21:39We almost passed it last December and it's one thing we can agree on and actually get something done. So, thank you, Mr. Mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time. Without objection, all other members who wish to insert written uh opening statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk electronically by the end of the day today.
▶ 0:22:07House rules require that a copy of the measures be made available to members and the public at least 24 hours in advance. Pursuant to the notice for today's meeting, a copy of the measures was made available to the members and the public at least 24 hours in advance. The bills being marked up today shall be open to amendment at any point, and the chair will allow members to offer amendments in a manner not prohibited by the House or committee rules.
▶ 0:22:35Without objection, members who have more than one amendment to the resolution or to a bill and wish to offer their amendments unblock may do so. The committee will now proceed to consideration of the bill HR 2617 for amendment. The bill was circulated in advance and printed copies are available. The clerk clerk shall designate the bill.
▶ 0:23:02HR2617, a bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prevent the use of funds under such act to teach or advance concepts related to gender ideology and for other purposes. Without objection, the first reading of the bill is dispensed with. Without objection, the bill will be considered as read and open for amendment at any point and any amendment offered shall be considered as read. Does anyone seek to be recognized?
▶ 0:23:33Representative Owens, for what purpose do you rise? I have an amendment at the The clerk would shall designate the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Amendment in the nature of a substitute HR2617 offered by Mr. Owens of Utah, identifier Owen UT_00001. Without objection, the amendment shall be considered original text for purposes of further amendment. The amendment in the nature of a substitute has already been distributed.
▶ 0:24:02I now recognize Mr. Owens for five minutes to explain the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh there are only two sexes, male and female. Sex is a biological classification, not a personal choice. A boy is a boy and a girl is a girl. For all of history until recent years, neither of these statements have been controversial. For all of history, both have been considered simply common sense. Unfortunately, in recent years, too many schools have began teaching a radical view of gender.
▶ 0:24:31They decide instead of focusing on success creation through proficiency in reading, writing, math, and attendance of our American culture, they instead prioritize the teaching of multiple genders that one gender is determined by his or her feelings and we may frequently flow from one to the other. example throughout our country.
▶ 0:24:51Guidance from the Los Angeles Unified School District affirms students may be agender, gender queer, gender fluid, twospirit, gender, b-gender, panggender, gender non-conforming, and gender variant. The Chicago uh public school asserts that preferred gender pronouns may include common words such as Z. Seattle public schools claims students may proceed from living and identifying as one gender to living and identifying as another.
▶ 0:25:21This less this leftist ideology that comes straight out of the Marxist playbook can sum be summarized in two words absolutely nuts. What's worse is that many schools are encouraging other people's children to gender transition while hiding it from their parents. Parents Defending Education has identified 1,200 districts serving 12 million students that have policies allowing or requiring uh school staff to hide from parents the child's gender transition. It's time to put a stop to this nonsense.
▶ 0:25:51Young children should be honored and protected, not told that something's wrong with their body or that they should mutilate themselves in order to look like another gender. The most loving thing we can do for them is to tell them the truth. There are two sexes. They are not interchangeable. And these facts are rooted in biological reality.
▶ 0:26:10President Trump's uh January 20th executive order got this right, and I quote, "Ideologies who deny the biological reality of sex, having increasingly use legal and socially coercive means to permit men to self-identify as women and gain access to intimate single-ex spaces and activities designed for women. From women's domestic abuse shelters to women's work workplace shers, this is wrong.
▶ 0:26:36Efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex fundamentally attacks women by der depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being. The razor of sex in language and policy has a corrosive impact not just on women but the ability of the entire American system. Basing federal policy on truth is critical to scientific inquiry, public safety, morale, and trust in the government itself." President Trump is exactly right.
▶ 0:27:05Every school should be teaching students the truth about gender. Federal dollars should never fund woke activists who want to indoctrinate invulnerable children. With federal dollars coming responsibility. The taxpayer should never be funding the teaching that deny the the biological reality that they're two sexes, male and female. HR 2617, the say not to indoctrination act, is very simple.
▶ 0:27:30It effectively codifies the January 20th Trump executive order on gender as it pertains to K through 12. The bill amends the elementary and secondary educational act to say that no funds under under that law may be used to teach or advance radical gender ideology. The ANS simply makes a slight technical adjustment. Radical ideologues should never get taxpayer money to tell vulnerable children they are born in the wrong body.
▶ 0:27:57Neither should schools secretly helping students to transition behind the parents back. This bill is simple step to restore sanity and common sense to our educational system and radical gender activists have no place in these schools in our schools. Instead, vulnerable children should be protected, honored, and told the truth. I urge my urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the ANS and the underlying bill, and I yield back. I thank the gentleman.
▶ 0:28:24Are there any members who wish to be recognized for further discussion on the amendment and the nature of the substitute? I I recognize the gentleman from California, Representative Tano. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word and rise in opposition to the bill. You're recognized. Mr. Chairman, public school did not make me gay.
▶ 0:28:54God made me gay. Public school made me a teacher and a congressman. Public school opened my eyes to the possibilities of for my future. And it gave me access to role models. It gave me a chance to learn and to find my passion and to thrive. And even though I grew up in a time when people believed that being gay was like a disease, that being exposed to it made you gay, too.
▶ 0:29:19I was a in high school when the Briggs Initiative debates consumed California. The Briggs Initiative was a ballot proposition that would have banned gay and lesbian people or anyone who supported gay and lesbian people from teaching in public schools. It was believed at the time that gay teachers were a risk to students, which is the same principle that my colleagues are employing here today.
▶ 0:29:47My colleagues are under the impression that being gay or being transgender is a social contagion, something that be can that can be caught or spread uh through too many inclusive books or a rainbow flag hanging in the classroom. They warned that a learning environment which encourages a child to be themselves is dangerous. Now, nothing a teacher ever said to me would have made me gay. It doesn't work that way.
▶ 0:30:14There is no ideology that is turning kids transgender. Kids are simply born who they are and it is our job as educators to accept, include and support them as they grow up as who they are. That is not ideology. That's simple human dis decency. Let me say it again. That is not ideology.
▶ 0:30:39That is simple human This bill isn't going to mean that transgender people aren't a part of our schools and communities. They are and they always have been. And what it will mean is that we're going to waste time and energy targeting an already vulnerable population of students and ensuring that they won't be able to find support or representation in the place where they go to learn every day. Bills like these have immediate consequences.
▶ 0:31:07In a recent survey, nearly 70% of LGBTQIA plus students surveyed said that they felt unsafe in their learning environment. And last year, it was found that anti-trans state laws increased suicide attempts among transgender youth by as much as 72%.
▶ 0:31:26The Trevor Project, which runs the largest suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQI plus stu youth in the country, has reported a 700% increase in calls from young people in just the last five months. A 700% increase in calls from young people in just the last five months. I wonder why that is.
▶ 0:31:55I am just heartsick of having to come up here and use suicidal rates for children to try and convince my colleagues of how wrong how wrongheaded it is to use the power of the federal government to marginalize one small group of people extremely vulnerable people. People we should be protecting. They should not be being stigmatized.
▶ 0:32:21These are the kids that are most vulnerable to uh to violence and harassment at school. Transgender people are a beautiful part of our society. They always have been and always will be. They do not need to justify their existence and they have the same right as any other student to a free, fair and equal education.
▶ 0:32:48Now, there are real pressing issues in K12 schools right now. Billions of dollars in ESSER funds are being cancelled. Over $65 million in teacher training grants have been cut off and there's already a teacher shortage and severe residual effects of pandemic learning loss. And this is what my colleagues on the other side are choosing to spend precious committee on.
▶ 0:33:17All this bill does is make school feel less safe for children. And when you censor material about a minority group because it does not align with your ideology, it sets a dangerous precedent. It does not take long before politicians ideologies begin to creep further and further into our children's freedom to learn. I strongly oppose this bill and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
▶ 0:33:42I asked the question, have you no decency and I back? Thank the gentleman. Now I recognize Representative Miller from Illinois. Comments. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I strongly support the Say No to Indoctrination Act and I commend Mr. Owens for his leadership on this important bill.
▶ 0:34:10School is designed to teach kids to teach our children skills and facts and help them develop critical thinking skills needed to form a worldview. It was never intended to indoctrinate or hypersexualize our young children with propaganda. One of the most fun foundational truths that should be taught in every school is basic human biology.
▶ 0:34:36Yet at least 21,000 schools across the nation are teaching our children to ignore biological sex and replace it with their self-p perceived identity. Many of these schools are off also using pornographic and vulgar curriculums all without parental consent. And I do want to say that the people that are vulnerable in the schools are our children and the people marginalized are the parents.
▶ 0:35:06To deny the biological realities of male and female is to reject science. Teaching this to children lies to them. Children are very impressionable, especially those who are vulnerable and uncomfortable in their sex. Rather than teaching them to become someone else than who God designed them to be, we ought to accept them as they are and teach them to do the same.
▶ 0:35:31Teaching them to deny their own biology is abusing them and deserves the full punishment of the law. We must restore biological reality to the federal government and protect our children from the harms of gender ideology. Again, thank you to Mr. Owens for his heart to protect our children in school. And I yield back. I thank the gentle lady. Now I rep recognize gentle lady from Oregon, Miss Bonamichi.
▶ 0:36:00Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to strike the last word and speak in opposition to HR 2617. You're recognized. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. And colleagues, this bill weaponizes the federal government to discriminate against a minuscule number of already vulnerable students and end all efforts that acknowledge the existence of transgender people. Additionally, this bill prevents the use of federal funds to quote teach or advance concepts related to gender ideology. What happened to local control?
▶ 0:36:30What happened given authority back to the states? This is the federal government dictating curriculum and censoring based on ideologies. There are real challenges in our schools like saving title one and fully funding IDA and many more. Yet, my colleagues are dedicated to fear-mongering about the trans community to divert attention from the fact that they are actively dismantling the Department of Education and undermining local schools.
▶ 0:36:56This bill is damaging and discriminatory to transgender and non-binary students who have consistently seen themselves as erased by harmful comments and rhetoric. Oftentimes coming from my colleagues in this committee and harmful to the entire school that's threatened because federal funding benefits all students. And I think we also need a history lesson because this is not a new or woke issue.
▶ 0:37:21Transgender and non-binary individuals can be found back in ancient cultures and worldwide throughout history. Legislation cannot erase LGBTQI students from our schools or our society. They are part of our communities. They are our family, our friends, our neighbors and colleagues. Schools should be focused on creating environments that support all students, including LGBTQI students, not censoring content about who they are or who their families are.
▶ 0:37:50I urge my colleagues to vote against this harmful legislation and I yield back the balance of my time. I thank the gentle lady. I now repres uh recognize the ranking member, Mr. Scott. Take that back. I now recognize the gentleman from California, Representative Kylie. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair.
▶ 0:38:14I think there is a um failure to understand on the part of the opposition just how uh severe the problem that this bill aims to rectify uh is. We're not talking about uh school districts that are offering, you know, three choices or four choices when it comes to gender. They're offering a whole slew of choices. Uh most of which I'm sure uh the vast majority of Americans have never heard of. And it's not just small districts. It's big districts.
▶ 0:38:38LUSD, Los Angeles Unified School District, which I actually used to be a teacher there a while back. It's the second largest school district uh in the entire country. It affirms that students may be quote agender, gender queer, gender fluid, twospirit, bgender, panggender, gender non-conforming, or gender variant. Now, I haven't the slightest clue what most of those terms mean.
▶ 0:39:04If uh anyone on the other side of the disas would like to enlighten me, I'd be very happy uh to learn. But I am very skeptical that uh that most if any of these have any basis in actual uh human biology as opposed to simply being ideological constructs. So I think that this legislation is a restoration of common sense.
▶ 0:39:24I think the vast majority of Americans uh would agree that we shouldn't be telling our children they have 30 different genders uh to select from, but rather uh we should be grounding uh instruction in actual uh human biology as it's been understood uh for eons. So uh with that, I'm very happy to support this bill and I yield back to the chair. I thank the gentleman. Now I recognize the gentleman from Virginia, ranking member Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh Mr. Mr.
▶ 0:39:52Chairman, as it said that this bill will prohibit schools from using federal funds uh under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to teach or advance concepts related to what the administration calls gender ideology, whatever that means or whoseever ideology that refers to. I think it f we've had a lot on the um underlined subject I won't repeat but it must be said that the federal government does not control the curriculum.
▶ 0:40:22Now if the other side wants to get the federal government into curriculum let's just open the door but in the meanwhile I think it's established in statute that states and districts can determine their own curriculum without the interference from the federal government.
▶ 0:40:41Now, this bill does nothing to increase academic uh for students struggling uh with um learning loss or get highly qualified teachers into the classroom. Does nothing to address the COVID funding that has already been promised to address pandemic learning loss which is now at risk. Uh does nothing to get highly qualified uh professionals uh into um local education. And so, Mr.
▶ 0:41:10Chairman, I would hope we would get focused on the important issues and not get diverted into culture wars again. And so, I would oppose the bill, hope my colleagues do the same, and yield back the balance of my time. I thank the gentleman. Section 8526 of ESEA already prohibits federal control of curriculum.
▶ 0:41:34Section 8526A states that federal employees may not mandate direct or control a state local educational agency or school specific instructional content, academic standards and assessments, curricula or program of instruction developed and implemented to meet the requirements of this act. This bill does nothing to change that. Rather, this bill simply states that ESEA funds may not be expended to advance radical gender ideology.
▶ 0:42:04They can continue to advance it, but not with federal funds. This is not the first prohibition in ESA. Section 8526 contains several similar prohibitions. For example, ESA funds may not be used to develop or distribute materials or operate programs or courses of instruction directed at youth that are designed to promote or encourage sexual activity, whether homosexual or heterosexual.
▶ 0:42:32Another clause in section 8526 states that funds may not be used to provide sex education or HIV prevention education in schools unless that instruction is age appropriate and includes the health benefits of abstinence. Neither of these clauses violate the ban on federal control of curriculum. Rather, they simply outline unacceptable uses of existing federal funds. This bill does nothing to discriminate against transgender students.
▶ 0:43:01This argument is simply scaremongering from the left. Let's talk about what this bill actually does. It simply says that schools may not use elementary and secondary education act funds to teach or advance radical gender ideology, which is defined in the January 20th Trump executive order as a construct that replaces the biological category of sex with an evershifting concept of self-assessed gender identity.
▶ 0:43:28I think directly pointed out by Representative Kylie. This permits the false claim that makes males can identify as and thus become women and vice versa and includes the idea that there's vast spectrum of genders that are disconnected from one sex. This bill does nothing to mistreat or harm students. mental health counseling and the rest is still there and present as it ought to be.
▶ 0:43:59One of the best ways to protect students is to tell them the truth about biological sex and not allow them to be indoctrinated. At a minimum, federal tax dollars under ESA should not fund the spread of woke gender il ideology. And that's exactly what this bill accomplishes. I now recognize the gentle lady from Connecticut, Representative Hayes.
▶ 0:44:28Thank you and good morning. I wasn't planning to speak on this, but I feel compelled having spent over a decade in the classroom and listening to many people who have no idea what happens in a school. Curriculum does not include teaching students to be something else.
▶ 0:44:51Curriculum does not include indoctrinating students to identify as gay or LGBTQ or other or anything. But federal law mandates that all students have civil rights I don't really understand what the members of this committee think happens in schools. But my question is what do we do with these children? The children who you are saying on this committee don't exist.
▶ 0:45:21The children who are struggling with their identity and oftentimes confide in their teachers and ask for support and I can tell you that in the 15 years that I was in the classroom, any parent always had the ability to opt out, opt their child out of any lessons. There were no lessons taught meant to convert students and much of what we are hearing here today.
▶ 0:45:50But I just don't understand what they think is going to happen to these students if they are in a classroom and struggling and asking a teacher for help and a teacher says to them, "You don't exist." Or the ideology that you're referring to is not a real thing. I don't know what my colleagues think we're going to do with those students.
▶ 0:46:17And I have to tell you, just because you don't understand it or you've never heard of it doesn't mean it's not a thing. I would encourage you to ex to increase your body of knowledge or expand your understanding. But just because you don't understand it doesn't mean that you have the ability to legislate these children away. I can tell you I taught history and you want to bring everybody into the story. You want all students to feel represented.
▶ 0:46:45So again my question is what happens to students? You are focusing on the wrong 1% here. There is a 1% in our population that is literally steamrolling the rest of the country. And what we're doing in this committee is focusing on a a small population of students who are at a point in their life where they are struggling.
▶ 0:47:11And school may for many of them feel like the only safe place or the only place where they can get support or the only place where they can speak to a counselor. These kids are not hurting I'm not sure what your experiences in public school were or if you were always in the majority of the population and never had to rely on a teacher or a peer or a colleague or a social worker
▶ 0:47:41or a support group at school just to make it through the day. I don't know what your experiences have been, but I can tell you that that is not the experience of a small handful of our students. And as a teacher, I don't care if it was just one student that I had to reassure that they were important and they were valued and they belonged here. I'm going to do it.
▶ 0:48:10And anyone who has dedicated their life to this profession will do the same. So the idea that you all feel okay with disappearing people, making them think that they they don't exist or they don't have a place in schools or the curriculum should not include them or whatever they're feeling should not be valued, incorporated is
▶ 0:48:40just wrong. So, I will not be supporting this piece of legislation as if that was not evident. And I will be using all of my time, my agency, my energy, my advocacy to ensure that every student, not minus one, not minus 1%, not most, but every student feels valued,
▶ 0:49:10respected, important, and included in the work that I engage in on this committee. And you can frame that any way you want. I know I don't have the last word, so I know somebody's going to come back trying to shift the narrative on everything I just said.
▶ 0:49:28But when you are in a classroom and you are a teacher and that door closes and a student falls in your arms and says to you, I am struggling and I can't go home with this information and I need help. You have a moral responsibility to help that child or you are in the wrong profession. I yield back. I thank the lady. Mr.
▶ 0:49:59I now I now recognize the uh gentleman from Florida, Representative Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I think it's appropriate, at least for me, that the first remarks as I make as a member of Congress is to talk about a bill like this because I've always felt that the highest calling that you can have as an elected official is to fight for children. And that's exactly what this does. It is not kind.
▶ 0:50:28It is thoughtful. It is not empathetic. It is not caring to lie to a child. And when we tell a boy that they are a girl, when we tell them that they are confused, we tell a girl they are a boy, we are lying to them. Those kids are struggling. And when government tells them something that is not true, it makes that struggle worse.
▶ 0:50:59You know, I saw these issues in Florida over eight years. And what I learned is the reason that we have mental health crisis in kids is because we have ripped away the very nature of what it means to be a child. When we were kids, there was no question about what bathroom you went to. There was no question about what team you played on sports. There was no question about what box you would fill about whether you were a boy or a girl. And then we wonder today why it is that kids have greater mental health challenges.
▶ 0:51:27We have ripped away the fundamental premise of what it means to be a kid. We've removed the most fundamental building blocks of what it means to live and then we wonder why they are confused and why they are out. These are our most vulnerable children. And it breaks my heart when I hear those stories because they aren't hurting anybody when they make these statements. But the government hurts them when it lies to them.
▶ 0:51:56Because God doesn't make mistakes. And when someone from the government tells them that he did, he does not serve them. I appreciate the bravery of those who've brought this bill forward because when you do this, when you take on this fight, you are fighting for children. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman. Are there any other members who wish to speak?
▶ 0:52:27I recognize the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Under or excuse me, from Missouri. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, one one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle said that um somehow Republicans are denying that this phenomenon of transgender youth so-called is quote not a thing and they are and and she further stated that these poor children are not hurting anyone.
▶ 0:52:58No, we Republicans very much realize that this phenomenon of more and more children and adolescents presenting with gender confusion is indeed a thing. And indeed they are not hurting anyone. We are failing them. We are them.
▶ 0:53:22the quacks in the medical profession who would transition these children with chemical castration drugs and wrong sex hormones. And even worse yet, the surgeons who would do mastectomies on perfectly healthy breasts, for instance, are hurting them. And one of my Democratic colleagues indicated, well, these these children are not the victims of gender ideology.
▶ 0:53:49They're just allowed to be who they are. Nonsense. Not a not long ago, 10, 20, 30 years ago, what we used to call transsexualism was about a one in 10,000 phenomenon seen mostly in middle-aged men who had persistent feelings of being born in the wrong body going back to childhood.
▶ 0:54:18And they would they would they would then act on this as a fully grown adult. Think Bruce Jenner, Caitlyn Jenner. How then, if it's just a phenomenon of kids, if you will, coming out of the closet and being who they are, how do you explain that from 2017 to 2021, gender dysphoria clinics in the United States have seen a three-fold increase from 15,000 to 42,000?
▶ 0:54:48How do you explain that in Great Britain and according to a study published in 2021 in the Journal of Analytic Psychology over 10 years the incident of children presenting to so-called transgender clinics increased 4400%. These children are being groomed. They are being indoctrinated.
▶ 0:55:13And what is happening is the transgender industrial complex is preying on children who indeed do have problems. They have depression. They have anxiety. Many of them are on the autism spectrum and many of them sadly are victims of sexual abuse or violence. These children have problems.
▶ 0:55:37And what's happening is the transgender groomers online and unfortunately many times schools are putting into their mind that all their problems will be cured because they were born in the wrong body. This little girl is really a little boy. This little boy is really a little girl.
▶ 0:56:01and then putting them on this path from social transition to puberty blockers, chemical castration drugs to wrong sex hormones and then to sex change operations. No, these children are not harming anyone. We as a society and I'm sorry to say as a physician the medical profession is harming them.
▶ 0:56:25Today is a step, a modest step, a very reasonable step toward at very least giving parents right to protect their children from this pernitious ideology. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back. I thank the gentleman. Any more members wish to be There being no further discussion on the amendment and the nature of a substitute, the committee will move to um of amendments.
▶ 0:56:55Are there any amendments to be offered? There being no amendments, the question now occurs on the amendment and the nature of a substitute to HR 2617. All in favor say I. I. All oppose? In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the amendment and nature of a substitute is agreed to.
▶ 0:57:25We will now move to consider the bill. The committee will now proceed to consideration of the bill HR 26164 amendment. The bill was circulated in advance and printed copies are available.
▶ 0:57:41The clerk shall designate the HR2616, a bill to require public elementary and middle schools that receive funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to obtain parental consent before changing a minor's gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form or sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms. Without objection, the first reading of the bill is dispensed with.
▶ 0:58:08Without objection, the bill will be considered as read and open for amendment at any point and any amendment offered shall be considered as read. I have an amendment at the desk. The clerk shall designate the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Amendment in the nature of a substitute to HR2616 offered by Mr. Wahlberg of Michigan identifier protect ANS_00001. Without objection, amendment shall be considered original text for the purpose of further amendment.
▶ 0:58:38The amendment in the nature of a substitute has already been distributed. I now recognize myself for five minutes to explain the amendment in the nature of a substitute. The Protect Kids Act is a common sense bill to require that federally funded public elementary and middle schools obtain consent from parents before changing a student's gender markers on a school form, pronouns, or sexbased accommodations, including bathroom or
▶ 0:59:08locker room assignments. Earlier this year, we heard testimony from parents defending education, which identified over 1,200 districts around the country with parental exclusion policies. It's a shame.
▶ 0:59:24It's shameful that many school districts cut parents out of important conversations regarding their child's This common sense legislation protects a parent's right to have access to information regarding his or her child's Sadly, we have heard multiple stories of school officials encouraging the gender transition of students at these young
▶ 0:59:54ages unbeknownst to their parents. In California, a school district settled a $100,000 lawsuit after the school allegedly encouraged a middle school students gender transition without informing the parents. In Pennsylvania, a school district affirmed a middle school girl with known mental health challenges as a boy without communicating with the parents.
▶ 1:00:22And in my home state of Michigan, a school district concealed that it was using a different name and pronouns for an autistic middle school student. The elementary and middle school years are critical times in the development of a child's life and it can be confusing and tumultuous for some young kids as well as parents. But that's why schools need to communicate with parents.
▶ 1:00:51The most important stakeholders in a child's life are his or her parents. When a child goes on a field trip or fails a test, his or her parents are told and often required to sign some form of acknowledgement.
▶ 1:01:08Why should this administrative these administrative things require notification but something as significant as a child's pronouns or a change in accommodations be withheld from the people who raise him or her? This is unacceptable and runs counter to the constitutionality affirmed right that parents have over the education and upbringing of their children that we must not neglect or end.
▶ 1:01:38I encourage my colleagues to support the amendment and the nature of a substitute which makes technical corrections to the bill and favorably report the bill to the full house. I yield back. Are there any members who wish to be recognized for further discussion on the amendment in the nature of a substitute? I recognize the gentle lady from Oregon, Miss Bonamichi for comments. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 1:02:03I move to strike the last word and speak in opposition to HR You're recognized. Uh thank you. This this bill is yet another attempt by my colleagues to insert the federal government into public school classrooms by micromanaging educators and harming once again LGBTQI students. I can't implore my colleagues more. Please stop picking on trans and LGBTQ students. All parents want their children to learn in safe and affirming environments.
▶ 1:02:32Instead of working to truly keep students sta safe in school, this is an attempt to legislate parent child relationships. I'm a mom. We never take our parent hat off when we're policy makers. And even though my kids are grown, I just want to say I worked very hard to build a good relationship with my children. So they felt comfortable coming to me about anything. But unfortunately that doesn't happen all the time and it doesn't happen in all parent child relationships. That's not something that we can legislate.
▶ 1:03:02School should be a place where all children feel safe to live and learn as their authentic selves. Childhood and adolescence are important times for growth and development. And sometimes a school is the place where students feel safe. And although, as I said, many transgender and non-binary students have supportive parents, and I've spoken with many of them, this is unfortunately not always the case.
▶ 1:03:27Students may fear negative repercussions or even outright abuse at home if their gender identity or chosen name becomes known to family members. Forcing schools to out students to their families is not only unnecessary, it's likely to be dangerous for students mental health and well-being. And I just point to the high percentage of homeless youth who are homeless because they were uh kicked out of their homes.
▶ 1:03:52Somewhere between 30 to 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQI. Transgender youth already face high hurdles and research shows that these types of discriminatory policies are associated with poorer mental health and higher suicide risk among LGBTQI plus youth. We don't need adults in Congress, making things worse for our nation's children. Additionally, just in implementation, it's unclear what counts as any school form under this legislation.
▶ 1:04:19Does that include attendance seats sheets, seating charts? Can teachers label student desks or put a name tag on the classroom door without fearing their school's federal funding may be revoked, which of course affects every student in the school or the district. Requiring schools to attain parents consent before using a students preferred names or pronouns is frankly red ridiculous. Any child who uses to chooses to use a nickname would be affected by this legislation.
▶ 1:04:47So if my colleague uh the chairman uh of this committee Mr. Wahlberg were an elementary school student may would he have to submit a request for teacher to call him Tim instead of his legal name Timothy? We don't know. This is a needless requirement that further burdens educators and school sa staff. Again we should be focusing on policies and improve our system of public education and make it accessible and fair for everyone not targeting a very small handful of students who want to use a different name or pronoun.
▶ 1:05:15And for this reason, I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation and I yield back the balance of my time. I thank the gentle lady. Now I recognize the gentle lady from Illinois, Representative Miller. Thank you, Chairman Wahberg. I strongly support the Protect Kids Act, a muchneeded step to ensure the safety of our children in public schools and to uphold parental rights.
▶ 1:05:40Already there are more than 1,200 school districts across the nation that have policies instructing school personnel to withhold from parents any information related to their child changing his or her gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form or sexbased accommodations, including locker rooms and bathrooms. Encouraging a child to deny biological reality is not acceptance.
▶ 1:06:09it is child abuse. Furthermore, parents have the right to be fully informed of any actions a school has taken in relation to their child. Mom and dad have their child's best interests in mind, not the government. If we truly love the children we are teaching, we will tell them the truth. Male female sex is biblical. It is biological. It is historically accepted.
▶ 1:06:39It is embraced by the majority of Americans and it is the reason the Democrats are out of power. Parents across this nation entrust the education of their children to teachers every single day. They deserve to know what is happening in the classroom. We must pass the Protect Kids Act to safeguard the minds of innocent youth and to guarantee parents are completely aware of what their school is doing.
▶ 1:07:08Thank you, Chairman Wahlberg, for your leadership on this bill. I look forward to voting for it and I yield back. I thank the gentle lady. Now, I recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Tano. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word and rise in opposition to the bill. Mr. Chairman, I was and still am an educator. I know how important parental involvement is in a child's education.
▶ 1:07:36But the only person who knows the right time to come out to a parent is the child him or herself. And while I came out to my parents, when I came out to my parents, it was at a time, place, and manner of my own choosing. I would not have wanted anyone else to make that decision for me. I made my choice based on the relationship I had with my mother and father.
▶ 1:08:02What this bill does is put educators in the middle of family relationship of that family relationship by establishing a blanket requirement that parental consent be obtained before changing a student's name, gender markers, or pronouns. Teachers could be put in the position of outing students to their families before that child is ready.
▶ 1:08:26And while most families are loving and want to support their children, not every child lives in a safe and supportive home. Years ago, when I was teaching high school, a member of the school personnel where I worked felt obligated to inform on a inform to a student's parents that they saw uh that student physically, a male student, physically affectionate with another boy.
▶ 1:08:54That staff member did not anticipate how violently the child's family would react. He was viciously beaten by his father, the student that is, and he had to later withdraw from the school and move to another part of the country. Now, that student's story is not unique.
▶ 1:09:1140% of homeless youth are LGBTQI plus um largely due to familial Transgender youth in particular face higher rates of childhood abuse than their peers and significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, and ideiation.
▶ 1:09:30For a student who feels uh for a student uh who feels safe to be themselves at school but not at home, violating the sanctity of their safety goes against the fundamental nature of who a teacher is. Teachers never aim to put students in harm's way, either intentionally or unintentionally. But this bill, this bill puts educators in an impossible position.
▶ 1:09:57They would be legally required in my home state to report, excuse me, they would be legally required by the federal government to report on a child's gender identity, even if they knew that it would put the child at risk. My opposition to this bill does not come from a desire to divide students from their parents or encourage a conspiracy of secrecy.
▶ 1:10:20I believe that teachers should be should involve parents in a child's education and I agree that involvement is often key to a student success. But for many of us who have taught LGBTQI plus children or have been LGBTQIS children, IIA children plus um ourselves, let me say that again, or have been LGBTQI A+ children ourselves know the sad reality that not all children come from homes that accept their differences.
▶ 1:10:50Many of those kids come to school to seek a safe place. An educator should not be put in a position that would compromise a child's trust in them or disrespect the relationship between the child and the parents. I will always vigorously defend the rights of parents to raise their children and to be actively involved in their education. But I also will I also will defend the rights of children to learn and grow in a healthy safe environment.
▶ 1:11:20For that reason, I oppose this bill and I urge my colleagues to do the same and I yield I thank the gentleman. I now recognize the uh gentleman from Washington State, Representative Bombgardner. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a good bill. I'd like to yield my time back to you. I thank the gentleman.
▶ 1:11:39Um I I deeply respect the um the ab absolute u veracity and commitment to his students of the gentleman from California. I don't doubt that at all. But I believe the Democrat argument has it exactly backwards.
▶ 1:12:06What really interferes with the parent child staff relationship is forcing school staff to lie or hide the truth about students from their parents. It's hard to imagine what could destroy trust between a parent and child more than having school officials spend years insisting a child identifies as gender and protecting that against the knowledge.
▶ 1:12:34when in reality the child does not. The way to strengthen the parent child relationship is to ensure parents know what is happening with their child and then if there is any danger we have remedies for that in our legal structure in protecting children from abuse and neglect. The way to strengthen a parent child relationship is ensure parents know what's happening with their child and that can be monitored.
▶ 1:13:04If school staff don't want parents to know about a gender transition, there's a simple solution. Don't facilitate facilitate a gender transition. Schools are supposed to educate children, not coach them in the life-changing surgeries or how to lie to their parents. This bill will help protect children by ensuring that school staff don't secretly transition them.
▶ 1:13:28And it honors the parent, child, and teacher relationship by giving parents the information they need to look out for their child's best interest. I thank the gentleman from Washington. I yield back. I now recognize the gentleman from from Virginia, the ranking member Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move the direct last word, speak in opposition of the bill. Recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 1:13:59I oppose HR 2616, the so-called protect Act. There's another um culture war bill while the committee is sitting silently on the sidelines as the Department of Education is being dismantled and millions of dollars in education research grants and programs that support and help students in every congressional district across the nation are being cancelled.
▶ 1:14:24And meanwhile, we're focused on this bill, which would require schools to seek and acquire parental consent for allowing a child to be called by a different name other than the birth name, other than their birth name at school, whether or not it's in the best interest in the child, and whether or not it might actually endanger the child. I've said time and time again that I believe in parental engagement, and that's critical to student success.
▶ 1:14:50We know that parental engagement in schools is closely linked to better student behavior, higher academic achievement, and enhanced social skills. But this does nothing to increase or support parental engagement. Does nothing to prod protect students. It just creates more paperwork and bureaucracy while fostering a culture of fear and distrust between parents and schools, between students and teachers.
▶ 1:15:16also inappropriately insert schools into the middle of conversation occurring between many parents and childrens. Instead of closing achievement gaps by dedicating funding for evidence-based programs that respond to students academic and social needs such as social afterchool programs, extended day or summer learning programs, we're promoting bullying of marginalized youth.
▶ 1:15:40Instead of addressing chronic neglect that has forced students and educators across the country to learn and work in outdated and hazardous school buildings across the country and investing in infrastructure which would make a difference that we're promoting over broad legislation that would burden all teachers, parents, and students.
▶ 1:16:00Instead of working to prevent gun violence in our schools with evidence-based prevention and intervention efforts and supporting schools mental health needs, we're choosing to further marginalize vulnerable transgender students increasing risks of adverse mental outcomes. Um, Mr. Chairman, this it's a nightmare as the gentle lady from Oregon said that it's just unnecessary.
▶ 1:16:28My birth certificate has Robert as my first name. If every single teacher I had in school had to write my parents to get permission to call me Bobby instead of Robert, that would have been a ridiculous waste of my parents' time and their time. And this is a waste of time today. For those reasons, I urge a no vote on this amendment nature substitute and the bill and yield back the balance of my time. I thank the gentleman.
▶ 1:16:57I recognize the gentleman from California, Representative Kylie. Thank you, Mr. Chair, uh for bringing this bill forward. Uh I'm glad to co-sponsor it, and it's a bill that has become necessary uh because of the way that many districts across the country uh and in the case of California, an entire state uh have interposed themselves between students and their parents in the most abhorrent of ways. Uh so let's just look at what's happened uh in my state of California.
▶ 1:17:27You have many many districts, many documented cases uh of a school that has actively encouraged a child to identify uh with a new uh gender and they did this without the parents knowledge without the parents consent and then they lied to the parents about it.
▶ 1:17:45We have many documented cases of uh a parent confronting the school and the school uh or personnel lying about it and even fabricating and doctoring uh documents, changing the child's name uh on assignments that were handed in. I mean, just imagine what this looks like in practice if you are not allowed to say that the child is using a different name uh or a different gender identity. So, you're using one name and one set of pronouns with the child in class and their parents come in and suddenly you have to switch.
▶ 1:18:13you're using a different name and a different set of of pronouns. Uh this is absolute madness. So because of the prevalence of this across our state, a number of responsible districts uh came forward and said, "We're not going to do this. We're going to put protections for students and their families into our district policy and say uh that this is something that parents have the right to know about." So how does the state respond? The attorney general with the backing of the governor, they immediately start suing these districts.
▶ 1:18:41They start filing lawsuits trying to get binding legal judgments that will force these districts to lie to parents. And then on top of that, the supermajority legislature passes a bill and the governor signs it that is a matter of state law says that we are not going to allow districts to tell parents the truth.
▶ 1:19:03Now thankfully uh many those lawsuits are uh being rejected by the courts and the Trump administration uh has now uh launched an investigation challenging uh that that new state law for violating the federal uh education rights and privacies act otherwise known uh as furpa. But uh this bill is very necessary uh for a number of reasons. uh and you know the other side has brought up about ho how uh children with gender dysphoria are at an increased risk of suicide.
▶ 1:19:34Uh that is precisely why this bill is so important. Think about that you have a child who has a condition that is known to be associated with an extremely increased risk of su suicidal ideiations and the district says we're going to hide that information from parents. This is something that parents absolutely need to know about. It's monstrous to say we're not going to let you know that your child is at an increased risk of suicide.
▶ 1:20:00And finally, I want to address this idea that there's somehow a contradiction between this bill and the commitment our committee has to local control and education. That is absolutely not the case. We support local control and education because we believe that curriculum and school offerings and uh the different options available to parents should reflect the values of the community.
▶ 1:20:21there should be direct input from the community and local elected officials uh and uh and a whole host of other reasons such as allowing uh for innovation and the fact that we the schools generally are not run best from Washington DC. But that doesn't mean that we can't have civil rights laws. We have civil rights laws in this country that provide a basic level of protection for the dignity of each person.
▶ 1:20:45And there are particular civil rights laws that are attendant to an educational context uh including protections against discrimination on the basis of sex and including FURPA, the federal educational rights uh and privacy act. So uh we will continue to actively promote local control and education.
▶ 1:21:03I think we're going to see enormous progress in that respect uh from this committee, from the new administration, and it will have great benefits across the country, but we will not permit federal education dollars to be used to create a dangerous wall of separation between kids and their parents. I yield back. I thank the gentleman. I represent uh recognize the gentle lady from Connecticut, Representative Hayes. Thank you. Thank you. I move to strike the last word and speak in opposition of this bill. You're recognized.
▶ 1:21:35I just want to once again make it clear that no school official is insisting that a child change their gender identity. Um during all of my years in the classroom, I never thought about this. Kids come in on the f no one is facilitating training, teaching, coaching. On the first day of school, you get a list of all the students in your class and you go through that list and students will tell you how to pronounce their names.
▶ 1:22:03They tell you if they have a preferred nickname. They let you know that yes, you've taught four other kids in my family, but I don't want to be called junior. I'm in high school now. That's just standard first day of school information. I've never thought about this in the way that it is being just the fascination of this committee and my Republican colleagues over gender identity.
▶ 1:22:33The other problem with this legislation is I've seen many kids who clearly were having some internal questions and some internal struggles through their high school years and ultimately were not gay. Went on married the opposite sex led full and productive lives in the same way but they were just struggling and asking questions.
▶ 1:23:02Imagine outing a student who was not ready or was not clear on what was going on with their body and you're wrong. There's a flip side to this and no one is thinking about that here. I I've heard this committee members on the other side talk about this as a metal as a condition as if there's something wrong with with a young person who identifies as LGBTQ.
▶ 1:23:29What we should be talking about is how we will continue to deliver services and civil rights protections uh through IEPs as the Department of Education is being dismantled. How will we ensure that services are still provided to kids and their civil rights protections are their civil rights are continued to be protected? I just don't understand the fascination on this committee with sexuality.
▶ 1:23:58I can tell you in all of my education, my graduate education, my post-graduate education, all in the field of teaching, there was no instruction on indoctrinating kids, coaching kids, changing kids, sexual markers. That's just not what teachers do. You get a class list, you get a roster, and all of those kids become your kids.
▶ 1:24:22your first generation immigrants, your LGBTQ students, your uh students who identify as straight, you don't care. You have a different set of responsibilities. And kids show up and you teach them. You teach them the curriculum. You teach them the instruction. And when you talk about representing your communities locally, I don't know about your congressional districts, but I have gay people in my congressional district. I'm their congresswoman, too.
▶ 1:24:52I'm their congresswoman, too. And I can tell you as a teacher, the best teachers, the most effective teachers are the ones who work closely with parents and have those relationships. And that's not what this is about. So, making this a binary choice of either parents have rights or kids have both things are true. Both things are true.
▶ 1:25:13And I will be voting in opposition of this bill and continue to speak up in support of all students and of all education professionals and teachers who stand in front of these students and sometimes are the only people who understand what they're going through. And again, just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's not it doesn't exist.
▶ 1:25:40And I would encourage you to spend some time educating yourselves on what is happening in schools, what kids are going through, and how we can better pass legislation that supports what is actually happening on the ground and in our schools so that our kids can show up and learn and our teachers can be supportive and we can create atmospheres and environments in our schools where everyone feels um welcome included. With that, I yield back.
▶ 1:26:09I thank the gentle lady. I now recognize gentleman from North Carolina, Representative Harris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your leadership uh on this legislation. 21,000 schools in America have policies to prevent faculty and staff from telling a parent about a student's self-imagined gender identity. Now, if you think that seems crazy, you're correct.
▶ 1:26:34This bill that's before us today merely requires elementary and middle schools, which freely accept federal dollars, to ask for parental consent before changing a child's gender, pronouns, or name on school documents. Mothers and fathers have the right to parent their children in the way they see fit. Well, I believe in limited government, especially when it comes to education. Our federal government was established to protect god-given rights.
▶ 1:27:04So, we must ensure that basic parental rights are protected. School districts in my own district had policies like this. And thankfully, in 2023, North Carolina has implemented a law similar to the one we're considering today that requires parental notification for name or pronoun changes.
▶ 1:27:25See, implicit in this encouraged secrecy is the idea that parents will harm or punish their children if they discover that their son or daughter has questions about who they are. But this is a faulty premise. The most appropriate people to care for a child are his or her parents. This bill sides with parents and children rather than the nanny state that says the government can manage your family better than you can.
▶ 1:27:55It's never appropriate for school administrators to withhold concerning information about a child from their parents. The left's gender ideology pres upon adolescence by exploiting the vulnerability of children. But one truth still remains. There are only two sexes, male and female. Teachers should not perpetuate the lie that there are other genders by keeping secrets from parents of confused kids.
▶ 1:28:26I will always stand to protect children and uphold parental rights. I'm proud to support the Protect Kids Act and I would urge my colleagues to do the same. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back my time. I thank the gentleman. I I recognize the gentleman and the vice chair of this committee, Representative Owens from Utah. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman.
▶ 1:28:52Um, it's it's amazing when I think of my upbringing, uh, the words I'm now hearing that is actually targeting parents, uh, outing students to the parents, harmful, stigmatized, bullying. Now, this is all comes comes from just being aware of what your child is doing and and and and being able to help them if you can. I think it's important that we remember that uh God gave these children to their parents, not to the government, not to teachers.
▶ 1:29:23There's teachers that right now across across the board as an industry can't even teach our kids how to read, write, and think. And now they're going to be experts at what happens in the home. Um, I've seen this move before, my friends. I grew up at a time in the 60s where the black family was one of the most committed people, communities in our country. Uh, we led the country in terms of men committed to marriage. Well, guess what the Marxists did?
▶ 1:29:52They came after us. They start confusing the roles of moms and dads. We now have 80% of men that will not that will not marry that the uh the the murders of their par of their kids because we've lost that family tie the commitment that we're supposed to have. This is an ideology.
▶ 1:30:15Kids as young as six, seven, eight years old should not be coming home thinking they cannot trust their parents because their teachers who are strangers are telling them not to trust their parents. Uh I'm excited about this. I'm excited about we're we're at a point now that we're having this Um I'll say this is it's time to just get back to to bottom line faith, family, free market education. And all this does says one simple thing. Teachers are not the parents.
▶ 1:30:45The parents should be told what's going on so they can help their child to make it through whatever situation they're going through. They know them 24/7, not someone who's teaching them for a few hours doing during the during during the week. So with that, I'm looking forward to um supporting this bill and getting seeing it through. Thank you so much. I go back. I thank the gentlemen. Are there any other members who wish to speak on the bill?
▶ 1:31:11There being no further discussion on the amendment and the nature of a substitute, the committee committee will move to consideration of amendments. Are there any members who would like to amendments? There being no amendments, the question now occurs on the amendment in the nature of a substitute to HR 2616. All in favor say I. I. All opposed? No. No.
▶ 1:31:39In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the amendment and the nature of a substitute is agreed to. We will now move to consider the resolution of inquiry. The committee will now proceed to consideration of the resolution HRES2374 amendment. The resolution was circulated in advance and printed copies are available. The clerk shall designate the resolution.
▶ 1:32:10HRES 237 resolution of inquiry requesting the president in directing the secretary of education to transmit respectively certain documents to the House of Representatives relating to the reduction in force and other downsizing measures at the Department of Education. Without objection, the first reading of the resolution is dispensed with. Without objection, the resolution will be considered as read and open for amendment at any point and any amendment offered shall be considered as read. Does anyone seek to be recognized? Mr.
▶ 1:32:40Ander, for what purpose do you seek recognition? Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk. Amendment as of the nature of a substitute_01. The clerk shall designate the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Amendment in the nature of a substitute to HRES 237 offered by Mr. Ander of Missouri, HRES237 ANS_01. Without objection, uh the amendment shall be considered original text for purposes of further amendment.
▶ 1:33:10The amendment in the nature of a substitute has already been distributed. I now recognize Mr. Ander for five minutes to explain the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Resolutions of inquiry are a legitimate tool of Congress to demand information from the executive branch, particularly when the executive branch has not been forthcoming.
▶ 1:33:32When Republicans were in the minority, we offered multiple resolutions of inquiry attempting to uncover information about the Biden Harris administration's illegal student loan schemes and collusion with teachers unions during CO 19 to keep kids shut out of schools long after they could safely have returned to school.
▶ 1:33:56Republicans offered those resolutions after multiple unsuccessful attempts to acquire information from the Biden Harris administration through hearings and other oversight activities. In one of those cases, we patiently waited through more than a year of stonewalling by the Biden Harris administration before forcing a vote on a resolution of In contrast, the Trump administration has been very forthcoming with information, but the minority has still skipped all the ordinary oversight
▶ 1:34:26steps. This reveals that this is more of a more less a genuine effort to gather information and more of a political exercise. But that's fine. Republicans welcome this debate because it is really a debate about two competing visions about education in America. The underlying premise of the Trump administration's critics is that the status quo is fine.
▶ 1:34:49My friends on the other side of the aisle want to believe want you to believe that the Department of Education is overseeing an education system in which students are thriving and employers have access to a workforce that can succeed. Neither of these are true. We've all seen the statistics. Fewer than onethird of our country's eth graders can read and do math at grade level. The fact that we've seen these statistics so often can make us numb. But just think about it.
▶ 1:35:17Fewer than onethird of eighth graders in America can read or do math at the level they should for that grade. This is what the Democrats are defending in the status quo. This is their vision. But it doesn't stop there. At the post-secondary level, the national six-year graduation rate is just over 60%. In other words, our colleges and universities would get an F on their responsibility.
▶ 1:35:42Our education system has prepared to fail to prepare failed to prepare a workforce with the skills employers need. Again, this is what Democrats are defending. This is their vision. Republicans believe there is a better way. We believe in reducing bureaucracy, trusting our educators, trusting our state and local leaders, and trusting innovators who are pushing against the barriers thrown up by bureaucracy. And above all, we trust parents. This is our vision.
▶ 1:36:10The education s an education system that doesn't trap students into failing schools. An education system where there isn't just a choice for the wealthy and well-connected. An education system where college is available for all who want it. But there are also pathways to meaningful careers like apprenticeships. An education system that sees parents as partners, not as enemies. In other words, Republicans believe in putting students and families first.
▶ 1:36:38We are fighting for an education system that puts them first. And thankfully, we have an administration that shares our vision. The Trump administration wants to eliminate bureaucracy where it isn't needed, where federal guard rails are needed are needed, like ensuring access to education for students with disabilities, ensuring due process in Title 9 proceedings, holding colleges and universities accountable for tolerating mass harassment and discrimination
▶ 1:37:09against Jewish students, are preventing efforts to exclude parents from their children's education. The Trump administration wants to streamline bureaucracy so that the federal government can deliver on the responsibility it has. That is what today's debate is all about. Do we believe in students and families or do we believe in entrenched special interests? Do we believe in the status quo that is failing our children, our educators, and our families?
▶ 1:37:35Or do we believe in a new vision of education that puts students, families, and educators in the driver's seat? I urge my colleagues to support this latter vision and we can do that today by dispensing with this resolution. I'll yield back. I thank the gentleman and I recognize now the uh gentleman from Virginia, ranking member Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Move the last word and speak in favor of the ANS. You're recognized.
▶ 1:38:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to speak in favor of the ANS and the underlying resolution that I think all members can and should support. During the 2024 election, President Trump ran on a promise to abolish the Department of Education and at the time it was acknowledged by policy makers and legal experts from both sides of the aisle that this is a power that the president did not have. Department of Education was established under the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979.
▶ 1:38:33In that law, Congress created multiple offices and principal officers at the department using precise language. Other bills passed by previous Congresses and signed into law by previous presidents established specific offices and conferred statutory duties upon those offices and none of this is up for debate. But since coming into power, the president by extension the secretary of education have pursued a goal of effectively abolishing the department of education.
▶ 1:39:02I feel comfortable by saying effectively abolish because I'm taking the president at his word. He has an executive order that the directs the secretary to to quote to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the department of Ever since that order has come down, we've had a whole host of promises made and ideas circulated with little or no concrete
▶ 1:39:32information as to what the actual plan is. For example, we've heard from both the White House and the secretary that they realize that there are statutory requirements on the secretary and specific offices and officers at the department. We've heard that the secretary intends to abide by these statutory requirements, but what we have not heard was what she thinks thinks those statutory requirements are and how she intends to execute them with 50% of the staff that they started off with.
▶ 1:40:02the con the in conjunction with members of the House and Senate members of this committee have sent several letters for additional requesting additional information to to the department to provide us with some sense of how they're going to go going about this effort. We have yet to receive any basic level of information.
▶ 1:40:22So by marking up this resolution of inquiry today and subsequently reporting the bill to the house, the privilege this resolution and in this resolution of inquiry enjoys will be defeated and we will not be able to guarantee that this request will be directly put to the whole house. But Mr. Chairman, I know that you care about doing the right thing and I do not know if the details of the department's actions have been shared with you or your staff.
▶ 1:40:49But I can tell you that we're being left in the dark and in and the combined speed at which the secretary and unelected billionaires are taking action. We know that a wildly unpopular with the majority of the people and that going on, I'd hope that you'd be willing to at least entertain the motion to report the bill favorably to the House and commit to working with us to urge its consideration on the floor.
▶ 1:41:13There are countless pitfalls that could result from actions being taken at a department especially if they've been taken in darkness with no chance of co-equal branch of government to provide advice or counsel. So I a and we also heard that question about um uh student achievement. We know that student achievement is a fun is a function of local and state government not as much because we don't involve ourselves in the curriculum.
▶ 1:41:43Uh so I'm not sure how that was even relevant but I'd urge a committee to support the resolution of inquiry so we can get some information. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. I'd like to recognize my colleague from Ohio, Mr. Rouley. Thank you chairman. Um, I'm going to spend my five minutes pretty much addressing anyone that's on uh on C-SPAN watching this, particularly uh Democratic schoolboard members throughout the country.
▶ 1:42:12Uh, I just want to talk about the Department of Education and what exactly we're trying to accomplish here. So, there's a couple different aspects I want people to understand when you're talking about the Department of Education. Spending eight years on a school board, three years as the president of the school board, I became crystal clear how school districts, particularly public schools in the state of Ohio, operate on. I was president of the Leon Exempted School District. I went to Poland Seminary High School, which is a public school.
▶ 1:42:39Um, Leonia, Salem, East Liverpool, East Stubenville, Lisbon. All of these schools operate on anywhere between eight and a half thousand to nine and a half thousand dollars per year per kid. Schools that that doesn't work on would be East Cleveland, Youngsttown, Dayton, Toledo, Columbus, which are 30,000 per kid. So, let's talk about the difference and how much it is costing to educate our children per year.
▶ 1:43:0630,000 for some and 8 and a half thousand for others. Because the answer isn't always throwing money at it. The answer is taking it at a grassroots approach. In Ohio, Ohio has something called home rule. And home rule, which we feel is that the state's overshadowing of the local municipalities is almost overwhelming. And the Department of Education, I think, is the biggest example of how overwhelming the billions I and let me rephrase that.
▶ 1:43:31The hundreds of billions of dollars that have been thrown at the Department of Education, which not one of those dollars ever makes its way to a local school district. So, my honorable friends that are Democratic members of school boards, I want you to listen to me very carefully because I lived this for eight years. None of that money, none of that resource is going from the Department of Education to your local school district.
▶ 1:43:53That money is used for admin process of this philosophy that the Department of Education does in Washington that did not exist before 1979 when President Carter implemented it. So we had 200 years of America where local school districts, the local one room schoolhouse was able to educate the kids in the community. Very lovely.
▶ 1:44:14And then we have this organization that was put which is nothing but federal bureaucracy fat bloated admin cost that isn't really fulfilling anything. Let's go through a couple facts of what's going on with our school districts in this country today. Since the department was created, spending for K12 has increased $2,300 in the last several years. The average has gone up $15,000.
▶ 1:44:41According to the National Assessment of Education Process, 13 year olds now are reading at the same level as 1971. So this hundreds of billions of dollars that we're throwing at the Department of Education has produced reading results taking us back to 1971. 30% of American children are reading proficient. Only 28% are at math proficient.
▶ 1:45:09Between the years of 2019 and 2023, eighth graders in the United States of America have had some of the highest declines in the world for math standards. This is the product that the Department of Education is producing with hundreds of billions of dollars, taking a hardworking bluecollar Joe bag of donuts, taking it right out of their mouth, putting it into an administration of a department where none of that money ever filters down into the local school districts.
▶ 1:45:36For giggles, I actually was crunching some numbers and I if if we take the numbers that the Department of Education is processing on right now and we divide it between the 50 states. The state of Ohio has about 620ome public school districts. That would be four and a half to$5 million for every single school district in the state of Ohio. So when I look at the camera and I say to my honorable friends on the other side of the aisle and you were a school board member, how would you like to have $5 million extra into your coffers every year? I'm gonna give you the example.
▶ 1:46:06These people would be ecstatic. They would be thrilled to have the $5 million because guess what? If you're elected to a school board and you're answering to your constituents at the gas station, at the grocery store, at church, at the at the local diner, and you say, "What's going on with the schools? How come you're asking for another levy again because I have no more money to give you?" We will take this money from the Department of Education and we will put it right into the local school districts. That's what this is going to accomplish. Okay?
▶ 1:46:33So all this rhetoric from my honoral friends on the other side of the aisle, it is a ruse. The the money is not going to ever make its way to the local school district. I know this because I lived this for eight years. And with that, chairman, I received my time. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um I'd like to recognize my colleague from from California, Mr. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair.
▶ 1:46:58I I rise in in strong support of uh ranking members resolution. Uh in her confirmation hearing uh for the Senate help committee before the Senate help committee now secretary Linda McMahon acknowledged several times that the Department of Education cannot be closed without congressional involvement. And I quote in her exchange with Senator Ken Cassidy.
▶ 1:47:22I quote, "We'd like to make sure that we're presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with and our Congress can get on board with that would have a better functioning Department of Education, but certainly does require congressional action." End quote. We have yet to see the details of this plan that the secretary assured us would be presented to Congress.
▶ 1:47:45Nonetheless, the department has slashed staff has slashed half of their staff, functionally terminating some offices and incapacitating others from executing their congressional mandates without congressional approval. This is against the law.
▶ 1:48:02They have announced that they have announced the movement of massive programs including school nutrition, special education, and the federal financial aid portfolio to agencies without congressional approval. This is against the law. The administration has terminated congressionally appropriated funds without warning, choking off states from hundreds of billions of dollars that were supporting tutoring services, construction projects, and mental health supports.
▶ 1:48:33They have canled grants aimed at addressing the teacher shortage in rural and lowincome areas. They have hacked away at the infrastructure of the federal education system and left states scrambling to figure out how to cover the gaps. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has force-fed Americans a diet of misinformation about the department and its role in American education. They tell Americans that eliminating the department is about giving power back to the states.
▶ 1:49:04States and school districts already make the m vast majority of decisions that directly impact school boards on curriculum standards funding and how to how that funding is distributed at the elementary and secondary level. Less than 10% of funding even comes from the federal government. 92% of the funds come from non-federal sources. The Trump administration claims that quote the federal bureaucracy never educated a single student. End quote.
▶ 1:49:34The Department of Education provides civil rights protections, resources, and funding to ensure that the country's most vulnerable students have equal access to an education. That includes 7.4 million students with disabilities, 26 million students from low-income backgrounds, 1.1 million students who are experiencing homelessness, 9.8 million students from rural schools, and 5 million English language learners.
▶ 1:50:02These are the only uh and there are only and these are only K12 students. Tens of millions of students rely on federal student aid support for career and technical training and HB.CU HSIs and tribal colleges.
▶ 1:50:19My colleagues, my colleagues, my constituents and I want to know who will administer these funds and enforce legal protections if the department staff is slashed so severely that it cannot execute its mandate.
▶ 1:50:33The Trump administration has made a number of commitments to combating discrimination in education What I want to know is how they plan to follow through on these commitments after terminating hundreds of employees in the Office of Civil Rights and eliminating over half of the OCR offices. OCR, which was previously one of the largest civil rights enforcement bodies in the US federal government, functions best when the case load per attorney is no more than 25.
▶ 1:51:04After the Trump administration's cuts, some officers have been told that their have been have told their staff that their case loads will reach over 200 per attorney. Right now, states are being forced to make tough decisions because of the great uncertainty and incredible lack of transparency at the federal level. The lack of answers that Americans have gotten on the administration's plans is unacceptable. Americans need to know what will happen to our students, this nation's most precious resource.
▶ 1:51:34The actions that this administration takes has massive implications for our country's future, and it is past time for the department to follow their legal obligations. I yield back. Thank you. I'd like to now recognize my colleague from North Carolina, Mr. Harris. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Department of Education, as we know, was founded in 1979.
▶ 1:51:56And since then, as my colleague alluded to earlier, we have spent more than $3 trillion in taxpayer dollars only to watch it fail at its mission. The status quo is not working for its students. Again, be reminded of where we're saying these scores. And these were the scores produced by the Department of Education. Math and reading scores for 13 year olds at the lowest level in decades.
▶ 1:52:25Six and 10 fourth graders and nearly threequarters of eighth graders not proficient in math. Seven in 10 fourth and eighth graders not proficient in reading while 40% of fourth graders uh don't even meet basic reading levels. resolution request for information on the Trump administration's effort to improve education is a waste of time.
▶ 1:52:52I'm convinced it's motivated by malice toward the president and the idea that out-ofouch bureaucrats know how to take care of students better than parents. It's already been stated. President Trump's executive order was very clear. The Secretary of Education is making preparations to close the department, but the services required by law must continue flowing to all of those who need them.
▶ 1:53:18We've got to recognize that as the head of the executive branch, President Trump has the right to conduct oversight over a department under his purview. And it's certainly not necessary for Congress to go to these extents, even to the point of requesting documentation of phone calls and emails between staff as this resolution does.
▶ 1:53:40I would suggest that rather than attacking the president for his efforts to improve education, our committee should be working program by program to transition those services from the federal government to the states or to the people. As has already been discussed, we need to put parents, states, localities, and school districts back in charge. I oppose this resolution and I hope my colleagues will do the same. Chairman, I yield back my time. Thank you.
▶ 1:54:10And I'd like to uh recognize my colleague from North Carolina, Mr. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and um uh I really appreciate um being here today and and to speak on this resolution. And I want to move strike the move to strike the last word to speak in favor. Uh you know, Mr. Chair, first of all, uh let me just uh say that like uh Congressman Fine who spoke earlier, uh public schools did a lot for me.
▶ 1:54:39But before I begin, um I want to just take a look at this chart because this chart says everything. It shows how much each state depends on the US Department of Education to to fund their public schools. Every red dot, well, that's a state that voted for President Trump. The higher the dot, the more federal help that state gets for its K12 schools. And what do we see? The highest dots, the most dependent states, they're red.
▶ 1:55:10South Dakota, West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana, these states rely on federal education funding to pay their teachers to keep the buses running to keep the lights on. So, let's be very clear. When this administration says it wants to eliminate the Department of Education, these are the states that will lose the most. And that brings me to this resolution of inquiry, HRES 237, which I do support. This isn't just a political stunt.
▶ 1:55:38This resolution is trying to do something important to get answers. Uh the resolution asked for for documents and internal communications showing why this administration is is cutting staff, shutting down offices, and and trying to dismantle the Department of Education. Because right now, it's chaos. States like California, New York can't get reimburseed. Montana's tribal districts haven't received their promise funding.
▶ 1:56:05Alabama logged on to the federal payment uh portal and found it completely shut down. So So let me read from a message that I just received last week from a constituent of mine, an employee in the grants management and policy division of the department. And I quote, "We were all abruptly locked out of our systems. Our duties are a critical mandated by federal statute. There are no others in the department trained to do what we do. We can't respond to OM.
▶ 1:56:36We can't process grant awards. There's no transition plan, no communication, no oversight. End of quote. These aren't just layoffs. These are shutdowns of essential functions that protect billions in in federal education funds. So the office uh this office constituent works on holds the legal authority to to obligate grant funds train program officers and and and and oversee compliance.
▶ 1:57:05Now that's a recipe for disaster for waste for fraud and for students who are counting on this support. And so when the administration says that they're just right sizing the department I've got to ask what what's the plan? Where the hell is it?
▶ 1:57:23If if you're gutting the workforce, if you're shutting down systems and tying the hands of the very people that we trust to to safeguard taxpayer dollars, then who's making sure our schools are getting what they need? Who's making sure of that? And so I hope my colleagues across the aisle have a plan because we would certainly like to hear it right here, right now. And and what are we being told? Well, that they are severe staffing restraints.
▶ 1:57:53Of course, there are. Half the department has been laid off. And who pays the price for all of this dysfunction? Not us sitting here in this room. It's the students. It's the teachers. It's the school leaders in every corner of the country, especially in the very states that this that this chart shows are most vulnerable. So, let me just say this loud and clear again. This resolution is not about politics. It's about accountability.
▶ 1:58:19And so if the Department of Education is being hollowed out on purpose, if funding delays are are happening because there's no one left to move the money, then how can how then Congress has every right to know? And I hope that my colleagues across the aisle, I hope they do have a plan because right now the only plan I'm seeing is to pull the rug out from under our schools and to walk away. And that's not leadership. That's not reform.
▶ 1:58:48That's just downright neglect. And so we owe it to our students. We owe it to our schools and to our states to get the facts. Knowledge is power. And we need to stop failing our schools and stop talking about our schools are failing us. We're failing them. And that's why this res what this resolution is about. We need the answers and that's what we're trying to do to get the answers. I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
▶ 1:59:14I'd like to now recognize my colleague from Minnesota, Miss Omar. Um, Mr. Chair, I move to strike the last I find it utterly ridiculous that this administration can gut almost half of the staff of the Department of Education, eliminate millions in funding, direct the illegal uh closure of the entire department, and then turn around and pretend that the fundamental operations
▶ 1:59:45and responsibilities of the department will still be preserved. They hollowed out the Office of Civil Rights, yet claimed that they can still carry out their legal obligation to protect students from discrimination. They fired the entire legal team that provided guidance to states on how to implement IDA and yet claimed that they will still be able to provide equal opportunity to kids with disability.
▶ 2:00:14They are planning to unlawfully move the entire student loan operation to the small business administration after I remind you firing 43% of the staff of that agency. So they understaff the small business administration and then are giving them more responsibility and yet claim that their actions will not disrupt the will not disrupt the statutory requirement of the program.
▶ 2:00:42Republicans and the administration should be honest about what is happening here. Object um abandonment of the statutory duties and the congressional authority. This resolution of inquiry is simply asking the the administration to explain how they will they will faithfully carry out the laws that are mandated by Congress.
▶ 2:01:09I believe that to claim our education system will be improved or even preserved after the actions of this administration is delusional at best and lying to the American people at worst. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the concerns of experts and educators ac across the country are unfounded.
▶ 2:01:33And if that is the case, our colleagues across the aisle should join us in supporting this resolution so we can see the evidence. I yield back. Thank you. I'd like now to recognize my colleagues from Oregon. Uh Miss Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word and speak in support of the resolution. Uh this resolution of inquiry is simple.
▶ 2:01:58It requests more information about the Trump administration's ongoing efforts to dismantle and abolish the Department of Education. We all know that President Trump signed an executive order to close the department following the plan explicitly lined out in uh laid out in uh Project 2025. And as Education Secretary Linda McMahon, she's made her position clear. She stated on March 3rd that she intends to lead the Department of Education's quote final mission.
▶ 2:02:25Uh and a week later, Secretary McMahon followed through by initiating an excessive and unjustified reduction in force that will fundamentally obstruct the operations and functions of the Department of Education. This resulted in the dismissal of more than,300 employees in the department, including more than 325 federal student aid employees who fulfill the department's critical mission of awarding more than 120 billion dollars a year in grants, work study, and lowinterest loans to approximately
▶ 2:02:5613 million students across the country. I can say unequivocally that I would not be here today if I done did not have grants, loans, and work study that helped me get through college and law school. These cuts also include more than a 100 employees at the Institute of Education Sciences and nearly half the employees in the office of civil rights, severely curtailing the ability of the department to provide evidence-based learning innovation with local school districts and significantly limiting the ability to enforce civil rights
▶ 2:03:26protections. Despite both President Trump and Secretary McMahon promising to work with the legislative branch to enact this agenda, there have been no efforts whatsoever to meaningfully engage with members of Congress. Members of Congress on this committee have been consistently left in the dark as the administration takes aim at a critical federal critical federal support for students, educators, and families. We know the Department of Education was created by an act of Congress, and it would take an act of Congress to abolish it.
▶ 2:03:56And as such, members have the right and responsibility to our states, our districts, and our students to get more information about these unprecedented attacks. If the Trump administration is truly committed to working with Congress and following federal law, there should be no objection to transmitting the requested information to Congress, and if my Republican colleagues uh agree, they should have no opposition to our request for full transparency if they agree to support the actions of this administration. They like to say they're a party of transparency and accountability.
▶ 2:04:27Let them prove it. Now, I do want to respond to a couple of my colleagues. Our new colleague from Missouri said that uh Democrats support the status quo. Uh and and that's completely wrong. Most of us are here to improve public education. Uh many of us, including myself and and ranking member Scott, helped pass the Every Student Succeeds Act for more well-rounded education, fewer, better quality assessments, maintaining local control.
▶ 2:04:53Uh that's the one of the many efforts we've made to improve public education. I also want to note to my um colleague from Ohio who unfortunately is not in the room but maybe his C-SPAN uh audience is still watching I hope um that that uh he's talking about uh not one dollar reaches his district that's unbelievable there's title one dollars there dollars for IDEIDA uh the individuals with disabilities act higher education dollars and in fact in representative release
▶ 2:05:24district they received about 9% of their dollars uh from the federal government 1592 federal dollars per student. They had 2812 school staff supported with federal dollars. They had a 10% rise uh in local and state taxes that would be that would be required to replace federal education dollars. They got 36 more than $36 million in title one grants. They got more than 28 almost $29 million in special education grants under IDEIDA.
▶ 2:05:55They got almost $68 million for school meals, $2.7 million for career connected learning, more than $4 million for improving instruction to impre improve teaching, assist in recruiting, and more than $2.2 million for rural schools. So, the allegation that no federal dollars have reached this district is flatout wrong. We do have information here for other districts as well.
▶ 2:06:23If uh any of my Republican colleagues are interested in seeing how important those federal dollars are, they're there to close opportunity gaps, particularly for low-income students and for students with disabilities and importantly for any student who wants to attend higher education and chooses that path but cannot afford to do so. Do so. Those are what the federal federal dollars do. They close opportunity gaps.
▶ 2:06:49Getting rid of those dollars will only exacerbate the disparities between the students from wealthy families and the students who are struggling. So again, we should get all of this information about the administration's plan to to dismantle the Department of Education. We deserve it as members of Congress, as members of this committee, but also who deserves it, its students and educators across the country. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
▶ 2:07:16I thank the gentle lady and now I recognize the gentle lady from Connecticut, Representative Hayes. Thank you. I move to strike the last word and speak in support of this resolution. Recognized. Thank you. We heard in this hearing today or in this markup that 200 years ago, communities were able to educate children in one room schoolh houses. That may be true, but a lot has changed in 200 years.
▶ 2:07:41Many of our school districts rely on the wraparound and support services that are provided by the federal government. Things like special education funding, funding for broadband technology, for tutors. All of our title one school districts rely on and receive those services. I am very happy that my colleague, Miss Bonamichi, pointed it out that it's just flatout not true that federal dollars don't go to local school districts.
▶ 2:08:08ask a superintendent in a title one district if they could survive without federal funding. However, there are a few things that my colleague said that I do agree with. The average person does not understand what the Department of Education does or what they're responsible for, which is exactly why this resolution of inquiry is so important.
▶ 2:08:31Saying that the president has issued an order and said he'll make sure that these services are provided is just not sufficient. As a teacher, I couldn't show up to an IEP meeting, which is a legal meeting, and tell a parent of a student with special needs, don't worry, their services will be taken care of. It is a legal meeting, and the information and the documents that come out of it are legal binding documents.
▶ 2:08:58So, the school district has to lay out a plan for how they will meet those goals, those education goals, and make sure that the services that are required by law to those students with special needs will be provided. You can't just say, "Don't worry, we'll take care of it." Anyone who knows about a school district knows that they are at the end of the year right now. In the next couple of weeks, they'll be ending the school year and planning for the next year. So, they need answers so that they can plan.
▶ 2:09:27You can't just tell them, "Don't worry, we'll take care of it." when they have to set up for a school year that's going to begin in August or September. I don't know if I've missed it because a lot has been going on, but I haven't heard the president or the secretary of education say to these school districts, "Don't worry. After the department closes, the federal funds that you have historically received will still come directly to you and your district." I don't think I've heard that because they haven't said it and we know that it's not going to happen.
▶ 2:09:57This resolution is simply asking the secretary to share what the plan is so that parents can have a sense of comfort in knowing how these services can be provided so that school districts can understand what it is what help they will receive from the federal government. I'd also like to say if this plan is so great why is it so secret? you might actually get some support.
▶ 2:10:24There are lots of people again who don't understand what the Department of Education does. So if your idea of shutting it down and you have a better plan for moving forward, share it with the American people, share it with the members of Congress. You might actually get some support because what I can tell you is that the constituents that are calling into my office are deeply concerned about what happens next.
▶ 2:10:50They're deeply concerned about how they will make up for the loss of all of these federal tax dollars which they are sending to the federal government. So this isn't just a gift. The my constituents pay taxes to the federal government that support our local school districts. These aren't just gifts. And people are asking how will we continue to carry out our legal responsibilities as required by law with these huge funding gaps?
▶ 2:11:19One of two things will have to happen. Either local districts and local communities will have to cut other services like law enforcement, police, fire, all of those things, or they'll have to raise property taxes because federal law says they still have to provide many of these services. So, just show us the plan.
▶ 2:11:41If it's such a great plan, if it is a a new path forward, if it is the final mission and it's going to improve everything in education and increase test scores as an educator, that excites me. I'd like to see it, but I suspect that we haven't seen it because there is no plan, only concepts of plans, only ideas and illusions about what is happening in our classrooms.
▶ 2:12:08So again, I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution of inquiry, which I didn't think would be a problem from the party of transparency who ran on this idea of we were always hiding the ball. If it's such a great plan, show it to us. With that, I yield I thank the gentle lady. Now, I recognize myself.
▶ 2:12:30Uh the Trump administration is fulfilling the mandate it received from at least 77 million American people. Uh put students, parents, and teachers, not bureaucrats, first.
▶ 2:12:47Uh the Biden Harris Education Department uh pushed discriminatory and divisive curriculum, oversaw the collapse of student performance across the country, repeatedly pushed the student loan obligations of the wealthy onto middle class taxpayers, and pushed a radical gender ideology that's been repeatedly slapped down by courts as unconstitutional. On top of it all, ED's spending is out of control.
▶ 2:13:16It has a discretionary K12 budget of more than 46 billion dollars a year. Despite this spending, national assessment of education progress, NAPE scores are near historic lows. At the post-secondary level, federal involvement in the student loan process sky resulted in skyrocketing costs with American borrowers collectively owing more than $1.6 trillion dollar.
▶ 2:13:42And most borrowers still aren't making any payments to reduce their debts. The Trump administration is working to reverse ED's ballooning budget and bureaucracy despite the Democrats claims ED is executing its duties.
▶ 2:13:59Over the past few weeks, Ed announced actions to protect Jewish students and faculty by combating combating the anti-semitism that is spreading like wildfire on our college campuses at this very moment. To conduct oversight on states failures to protect women and girls in favor of radical gender politics and revoke misused waiverss meant to cater to underserved undererved students.
▶ 2:14:28funneling money to illegal aliens. Bottom line, federal involvement in education has resulted in lower scores and higher costs, which is why Republicans are working to return education to the states so students, teachers, parents, not systems are are Is there further discussion on this
▶ 2:14:59resolution? There being no further discussion on the amendment in the nature of a substitute, the committee will move to consideration of amendments. Are there any members who would like to offer amendments? Yes. Are you on um 2262? Not yet.
▶ 2:15:22There being no amendments, the question now occurs on the amendment in nature of a substitute to HRES 237. All in favor say I. Let me let me put that question again.
▶ 2:15:45There being no amendments, the question now occurs on the amendment in the nature of a substitute to HRES 237. All in favor say I. I. All opposed? No. In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended is agreed to. We'll now move to consider that.
▶ 2:16:17Could you repeat no the amendment in nature subs was not amended agreed to but it wouldn't amend Could you could you repeat the um state statement without the as amended? In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the amendment in the nature of a substitute is agreed to.
▶ 2:16:54Are we all non-confused now? That included me. Yes. Okay. We'll now move to consider the next bill. The committee will now proceed to consideration of the bill HR2262 for amendment. The bill was circulated in advance and printed copies are available. The clerk shall designate the bill.
▶ 2:17:25HR2262, a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exclude certain activities from hours worked and for other purposes. Without objection, the first reading of the bill is dispensed with. Without objection, the bill will be considered as read and open for amendment at any point. And any amendment offered shall be considered as read. Does anyone seek to be recognized? Mrs. Miller, for what purpose do you seek recognition?
▶ 2:17:56Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk. The clerk shall designate the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Amendment in the nature of a substitute HR2262 offered by Miss Miller of Illinois, identifier ANS 2262_01. Without objection, the amendment shall be considered original text for purposes of further amendment. The amendment in the nature of substitute has already been distributed. I now recognize Mrs.
▶ 2:18:25Miller for 5 minutes to explain the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Thank you, chairman. The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that there are roughly 8 million unfilled jobs across the country. These range from manufacturing to health care to financial services, important industries that need good people to help their businesses run and help the economy grow. Sadly, businesses are having difficulty finding qualified applicants.
▶ 2:18:54Small businesses, which represent roughly half the workforce, are experiencing unique staffing challenges and uncertainty. According to the NFIB small business economic trends survey, small business optimism has been below the 50-year average optimism rating for 34 months in a row.
▶ 2:19:17Even with a more worker-friendly and businessfriendly administration at the Department of Labor, Congress must still take steps to make it easier for workers to upskill and take advantage of professional development opportunities. HR 2262, the Flexibility for Workers Education Act, will do just that.
▶ 2:19:40The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that hourly employees be paid the federally established minimum wage and time and a half for all overtime hours worked above 40. The the FLSA's requirements for calculating commensible time during the work week include any professional development even if it's done voluntarily and occurs outside of regular work hours.
▶ 2:20:08Thus, an hourly worker who attends a training seminar would have spent time at the training seminar considered comp compensible time under the FLSA. This is truly putting the cart before the horse. Instead of micromanaging every hour an employee spends on voluntary opportunities, we should be working to cut red tape and get needless restrictions like this off like this one off the books.
▶ 2:20:36American workers should be able to develop skills they need to succeed in the modern workplace. HR 2262 is a simple and effective fix. The bill excludes voluntary professional development from counting toward the total number of hours worked thereby removing disincentives to employers offering these important educational opportunities.
▶ 2:21:04To qualify under the bill, the worker cannot do any work for the employer during the professional development. Here's an example. A restaurant server would like to become an assistant manager and his or her employer offers to pay for a management course. Under current law, the employer would be required to pay the server for all hours worked plus all hours attending the management training, including overtime for any hours that exceed 40 in a week.
▶ 2:21:34This does not make any sense for the employer, but under HR 2262, the employee would be much more likely to be able to pursue the training. I commend Congresswoman Henson for her leadership introducing this bill and I urge the adoption of the amendment in the nature of a substitute which makes technical changes to the bill. I yield back. I thank the gentle lady.
▶ 2:22:02I recognize recognize now the gentle lady from Minnesota, Miss Omar. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. You're recognized. After our first hearing in the workforce protection subcommittee on the FLSA, I was hopeful that we could find some common ground to strengthen the protections and the livelihoods of American workers. After all, the challenges facing working families today are serious. Wages have not kept up with the cost of living.
▶ 2:22:32Wage theft remains widespread, and rising costs across the board will get worse under this administration's reckless economic policies. That is why I am disappointed that instead of addressing these challenges headon, we are considering two bills that two bills today that risk moving us backwards. Both are are framed as promoting flexibility, but in practice they will open new loopholes that could undermine longstanding worker protection.
▶ 2:23:03The flexibility for workers education act would exclude certain training from paid work time potentially reducing wages without clear guid rails especially if workers feel pressured to attend this training.
▶ 2:23:18Similarly, the empowering employer employer child and el elder care solutions act would exclude dependent care benefits from regular rate calculations potentially reducing overtime pay or promoting mclassification. While I agree that we should expand access to child care and educational benefits, that should not come at the cost of workers wage or undermine their rights.
▶ 2:23:47Additional employer provided benefits should genuinely supplement, not substitute, fair compensation. And if our collective goal is to support working families, we prioritize comp comprehensive strategies that address their core needs without compromising wage protection.
▶ 2:24:07This means investing in robust paid leave policies, training programs, affordable caregiving infrastructure, and we should reauthor authorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and the Older American Act. These are bipartisan bills that we almost we almost enacted last year. committee. Democrats are ready to collectively on a bipartisan to collaborate on bipartisan initiatives that will actually uplift and protect the workforce.
▶ 2:24:38I urge my Republican colleagues to oppose these bills and to think carefully about the unintended consequences. We must craft real solutions for working families because they are depending on us. Thank you and I yield back. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
▶ 2:25:07Um, ma'am, Madam Chair, the ANS makes clarifying changes in the underlying bill, but the fundamental purpose is the same. It renders workers attendance in an educational or training program or similar activity non-commenable meaning the president the employer doesn't have to pay the workers for the time spent attending that um activity so long as one it takes place outside regular working hours labeled it voluntary and the worker does not perform work for the
▶ 2:25:37employer during training. Now that's actually present law. But the change in the present law is it leaves out the part which says and the training is not related to the job. Takes that out though it can be related to the job.
▶ 2:25:52Unfortunately, it appears to establish an exploitive system where employers are incentivized to provide education and training programs for the employers so long while they can do it off the clock and workers aren't paid. That's a you could do it on the clock and pay the workers. So, it's a false choice. You could do both.
▶ 2:26:16Congress can support employers looking to provide training opportunities while not depriving the workers for compensation. Now, my Democratic colleagues and I strongly support expanding skills development for workers and ensuring that employers are able to identify, hire, and train qualified workers. That's why we worked so hard during the last Congress to reauthorize the workforce innovation and opportunities act.
▶ 2:26:41our bipartisan biccameal agreement um reauthorized in Iowa entitled a stronger workforce for America which was on the verge of passing last December as you as colleagues will recall that bill would have dedicated at least 50% of the adult and dislocated worker funding towards upskilling workers through individual training accounts on the job training or other employerled or industry relevant
▶ 2:27:12raised the cap on incumbent worker training so local workforce boards could help currently employed workforce gain new skills to avoid displacement and advance their careers. Created new performance indicators that would incentivize enrollment in employer based training like on the job training by measuring completion percentages of such programs.
▶ 2:27:36I appreciate the chair uh who is very supportive and encouraging of a stronger workforce for America and I was hoping it would be one of the first bills that came before this committee and hopefully we can consider that in the near future. In the meanwhile, this bill will have a direct impact on earn and learn strategies like on the job training opportunities and apprenticeships under the WEOA system.
▶ 2:28:02As my colleagues know, this kind of training often require related or supplemental supplemental instruction. It can't be learned at the work site. And given the bill would make it easier for employers not to compensate employees for training time spent outside of regular hours. It would decrease we owe enrollment in program completion and on the job training programs because participants won't be able to afford to enroll in required related instruction.
▶ 2:28:31And it would also create unnecessary confusion between the local workforce boards and local employers when how to compensate for time spent in that related instruction. It also increase costs to taxpayers because the local boards may likely have to pick up the cost of time spent in related instruction that is now paid by the employers.
▶ 2:28:53With the workforce with the labor force participation now so low and now is not the time to be playing politics with proven workforce development strategies that benefit both the job seekers and local businesses especially when we have a bipartisan biccameal solution to our country's workforce challenges sitting on the shelf ready to be enacted. These reasons I urge my colleagues to oppose the ANS and the underlying bill and yield back the balance of my time.
▶ 2:29:23Are there any other members who would like to offer amendments? Are there any other members who would like to offer amendments? There being no amendments, the question now occurs on the amendment in the nature of a substitute to HR 2262. All in favor say I. I. In the opinion of the chair, the I Oh, what? Oh. All oppose say no.
▶ 2:29:55In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the amendment in the nature of the substitute is agreed to. We will now move to consider the bill. Okay. The committee will now proceed to consideration of the bill HR 2270 for amendment. The bill was circulated in advance and printed copies are available.
▶ 2:30:25The clerk shall designate HR2270, a bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exclude child independent care services and payments from the rate used to compute overtime Without objection, the first reading of the bill is dispensed with.
▶ 2:30:48Without objection, the bill will be considered as read and open for amendment at any point and any amendment offered shall be considered as read. Does anyone seek to be recognized? Madam Chair, Mr. Mesmer, for what purpose do you seek recognition? Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk. The clerk shall designate the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Amendment in the nature of a substitute HR2270 offered by Mr.
▶ 2:31:15Mesmer of Indiana NS2270_01. Without objection, the amendment shall be considered. Original text for purposes of further amendment. The amendment in the nature of a substitute has already been distributed. I now recognize Mr. Mesmer for five minutes to explain the amendment in the nature of a substitute. Thank you, Madam Chair. In my home state of Indiana, the exploding cost of child care is a persistent challenge.
▶ 2:31:45Americans need to have access to affordable quality child and elder care so they can support their families. Outdated labor laws force employers to jump through hoops in order to help their workers access this critically needed service, particularly for non-exempt hourly workers. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime pay is calculated using the using the employees regular rate of pay, not their hourly rate of pay.
▶ 2:32:10Regular rate includes all renumeration for employment, not just wages with a few statutory exclusions. These these exclusions include commissions, incentive pay, and certain non-cash Childare and dependent care services are currently missing from this exclusion and they are therefore included in the total calculation of overtime pay making it difficult and expensive for employers to offer these benefits to hourly workers.
▶ 2:32:36The risk of ballooning overtime cost limits their availability and flexibility to support workers. This is one example of many where the FLSA fails to keep up with the modern workforce challenges. Enacted in 1938 and never modernized, this law is due for some upgrades.
▶ 2:32:55That is why I've introduced HR2270, the empower empowering employer child and elder care solutions act, which would add child independent care to the FLSA's list of exclusions and therefore allow employers to more freely offer these benefits to workers with young children. Young working families are currently carrying a hefty price tag for child care and Americans with aging relatives and want to be able to provide quality options for their care.
▶ 2:33:22This bipartisan legislation is a common sense effort to to provide support for working families. I thank Representatives Harter, Henson, Molinar, Stefanic, and Thompson for their leadership and co-sponsorship of this important bill. and I urge adoption of the amendment in nature of the substitute which makes technical changes to the to the to the bill and I yield back.
▶ 2:33:44I thank the gentleman and I recognize representative from Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word and speak in opposition to House Resolution 2270. Recognized. Thank you.
▶ 2:33:59I I agree and I'm glad to hear this committee talking about the the uh need to address the rising costs of child care and elder care which are increasingly uh burden and struggle for families particularly those in the sandwich generation who are taking care of kids and taking care of parents. But unfortunately this is the wrong way to fix that and address that concern. This committee should be focusing on supporting children, workers and their families. Without people working, our economy cannot function.
▶ 2:34:28And without child and elder care, parents cannot work. By excluding payments for child or dependent care services from the rate we use to calculate overtime compensation, this bill act actually chips away at vital support for working families. Employers would be empowered to pay workers less money for additional work, undermining the entire mission of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
▶ 2:34:50This bill makes even less sense when we consider that overtime work often takes place during non-standard working hours when it's significantly more challenging for workers to secure child care and dependent care services. Taking away the reimbursements and services that workers rely on from the overall compensation serves no purpose other than saving employers money at the expense of the families of their employees. So, I'll be voting for families and workers by voting against this bill.
▶ 2:35:17I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle uh to work together on how we can appropriately address the rising costs of child care. Uh and I encourage my um colleagues to vote against this and continue the work uh in a way that actually helps working families. And I yield back the balance of my time. I thank the gentle lady and I recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Cono. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move to strike last word and rise in opposition to the bill. You're recognized. Mr. Mr.
▶ 2:35:46Chairman, this bill is another attempt to chip away at the overtime protections that should be guaranteed to workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The principal tenant of the of overtime is simple. You work longer hours, you make more money, and you take home uh what you earn. Specifically, the extra hours uh that an eligible that an eligible employee works should be compensated at time and a half of their regular rate.
▶ 2:36:14The overtime salary threshold is already far too low. When the first Trump administration set the current threshold, 8.2 million Americans saw their overtime protections vanish. Even those eligible employees earning uh $36,000 a year were making too much money to qualify for overtime pay.
▶ 2:36:37This bill furthers the assault on overtime protections by making it easier for employees, excuse me, for employers to pay out less in overtime by excluding the value of child care or dependent care uh in the rate of pay. This bill cheapens the value of that employees overtime labor.
▶ 2:36:58Any bill that exempts forms of compensation from the regular rate chips away at the dist at the desend at the disincentive that makes the 40-hour work week the rule rather than the exception. I agree with my colleagues that child care and dependent care assistance should be more accessible and far more affordable for working families, but merely incentivizing employers to provide assistance will not solve that issue.
▶ 2:37:28And certainly cutting down already low levels of overtime pay will certainly not either. Americans who routinely work these long hours know you can't put in more hours on the job when care for your loved ones at home, whether that's a child, a parent, or a family member, guaranteed. Right now, working families are watching their access to basic support services shrink before their eyes.
▶ 2:37:55Head Start has seen five of the regional offices across the country abruptly closed. Medicaid could face over $800 billion dollar in cuts over the next 10 years. The lifelines that working families depend on for affordable support services are rapidly diminishing, largely due to this administration and this majority's attack on the lifelines as a waste.
▶ 2:38:25The resources that American families need is not waste. The tools for economic survival are not waste. Americans deserve better. So I oppose this bill and I yield back. Mr. I thank the gentleman. I recognize the ranking member, gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr.
▶ 2:38:47Chairman, the Fair Labor Standards Acts overtime provision were a triumph of decadesl long effort to reduce overwork in the pre938 economy, particularly in the industrial sectors where 12 10 to 12 hour shifts were once routine. overtime premium of time and a half.
▶ 2:39:08It's not just time and a half for the hourly cash wage, but time and a half um 1.5 times the regular rate of compensation for which the uh employee is employed. That rate includes all renumeration for employment other than specified exclusion such as a Christmas bonus, time paid off, paytime off, insurance or retirement benefits or Sunday holiday work premiums or stock options.
▶ 2:39:36Everything else is included in the renumeration. HR 2270 would amend the overtime provision to exclude the value of child or dependent care payments, subsidies, or services from the regular rate calculation. Now, keep in mind the purpose of the overtime provision is to protect workers time by including the full value of renumeration.
▶ 2:39:59Employers are discouraged from playing games with what they call workers pay and make it cheaper for themselves for for to to overwork their employees. But even the Reagan administration recognized in 1983 that these kinds of dependent care subsidies must be included in the regular rate.
▶ 2:40:17And while the stated goal is to encourage employers to offer more child and elder care support benefits, this bill is a mirage because there's nothing in the bill requiring employers to provide commensurate benefit to pay on which the workers may be losing out because in practice employers could be working more than 40 hours without overtime pay and be less able to afford child or elder care that they need.
▶ 2:40:46That's by That's because by working more than 40 hours a week, these employees would need even more uh child independent care precisely when the cost of that care is growing significantly. So instead of taking a victory lap on this flawed bill, our Republican colleagues would do better to work with us in meaningful solutions to the child care crisis, such as the Child Care for Working Families Act.
▶ 2:41:12This bill would ensure that families across America can find and afford the child care they need, dramatically expand access to highquality preschool programs, and boost wages for childhood workers. My Republican congre colleagues should also join us in fighting back against the Trump administration's attack on Head Start and other early childhood education programs. On April 1st, five of the 12 regional offices for the Office of Head Start were abruptly closed.
▶ 2:41:41Uh the offices play a critical role in assisting grantees with grant management, compliance with health safety regulations and fiscal planning. These closures came after mass layoffs HHS's administration for children and families which have reduced staff by as much as 38% in recent weeks.
▶ 2:42:01The AF the ACF houses the office of child care which administers the child care development fund which provided the at the last count provided subsidies for 1.8 million children in fiscal year Attacks on the childcare development fund and the ability of Head Start to administer services constrain an already limited capacity for oversight and risk leaving children less safe and affordable child care out of reach for families in need.
▶ 2:42:31Finally, the House budget resolution adversely affects elder care because it directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion over 10 years. and that is expected to come primarily from Medicaid, which is the largest pair of long-term care services for seniors.
▶ 2:42:50So, at the same time, my Republican colleagues are saying today that they care about improving access to elder care services, they're still threatening the very program that pays for this care in order to finance tax cuts for the top 1%. So, I urge my colleagues to oppose the ANS and the underlying bill and yield back the balance of my time. I thank the gentlemen.
▶ 2:43:14Are there any members who wish to be recognized further and discussion on amendment and the nature of substitute? There being no further discussion on the amendment and the nature of a substitute, the committee will move to consideration of amendments. Are there any members who would like to offer amendments? There being no amendments, the question now occurs on the amendment in the nature of a substitute to HR 2270. All in favor say I.
▶ 2:43:44I. All oppose. In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the amendment and the nature of a substitute is agreed to. There being no further amendments pursuant to the previous order, the chair declares the committee in recess. Subject to the call of the chair.
▶ 2:44:01I might note we expect to reconvene promptly at 400 pm or if there's an ongoing vote series on the floor of the house at that time then 10 minutes after the last vote has been called. 10 minutes after the last vote has been The last vote of that series.
▶ 2:44:29So the committee stands in And
▶ 5:52:00then you have
▶ 5:53:03I felt
▶ 6:23:56Oh yeah.
▶ 6:36:09Um, you might want to go and take your electronic voting uh mechanism here and on to make sure it's on. I now entertain a motion to report the bill HR 2617 with amendment and recognize Mr. Owens.
▶ 6:36:35I move the committee of ed on education workforce report the bill HR 2617 to the house of representatives with the amendment and with the recommendation that the amendment be agreed to and the bill do pass. The question now occurs on reporting HR 2617 with amendment to the house with a favorable recommendation. All in favor say I. I oppose. No. No. In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the motion is agreed to. Voted vote.
▶ 6:37:06Recorded vote has been requested. Members will record their votes using electronic voting system. The chairman intends to vote I. Ranking member intends to vote no. Open the vote.
▶ 6:37:51Have all members recorded who wish to be recorded? Do any members wish to change vote? Hearing none, will the clerk please close the vote and announce the tally? Mr. Chairman, on this vote, there are 18 yays and 12 nays. The eyes have it and the motion is agreed to. HR 2617 with amendment is ordered, reported to the House of Representatives. The chair notes for the record that a quorum is present.
▶ 6:38:21I ask unanimous consent that staff be authorized to make necessary technical and conforming changes to the resolution without objection so ordered. Pursuant to House Rule 11 clause 2L, I give notice that all members have the requisite number of days to file supplemental minority additional or desending views. Without objection, so ordered. We'll now move on to HR 2616.
▶ 6:38:48I entertain a motion to report the bill HR 2616 with amendments and recognize Mr. Owen. I move the committee on education and workforce report the bill HR 2616 to the House of Representatives with the amendment and with the recommendation that the amendment be agreed to and the bill do pass. The question now occurs on reporting HR 2616 with amendment to the House with a favorable recommendation. All in favor say I. I. All oppose? No. No.
▶ 6:39:18In the opinion of the chair, the A's have it and the motion is agreed to. Recorded vote. Recorded vote has been requested. Uh members will record their votes using electronic voting system. The chairman intends to vote I. Ranking member intends to vote no.
▶ 6:39:32Please open the Have all members been recorded or wish to be recorded? Do any members wish to change their vote? Hearing none, will the clerk please close the vote and announce the tally?
▶ 6:40:04Mr. Chairman, on this vote, there are 18 yays and 12 nazs. The eyes have it and the motion is agreed to. HR 2016 with amendment is ordered reported to the House of Representatives. The chair notes for the record that a quorum is present. I ask unanimous consent that staff be authorized to make necessary technical and conforming changes to the resolution without objection so ordered.
▶ 6:40:28Pursuant to House Rule 11 clause 2L, I give notice that all members have the requisite number of days to file supplemental minority additional or desending views without objection. So ordered, we will now move to onto House 237. I now entertain a motion to report the resolution HRES 237 with amendment and uh recognize Mr. Owens.
▶ 6:40:54I move the committee on education workforce report the resolution HRES 237 adversely to the House of Representatives with amendment. The question now occurs on reporting HRES 237 adversely with amendment to the house with the recommendation that the that the res resolution not be agreed to. All in favor say I. I opposed. No. No. In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the motion is agreed to.
▶ 6:41:23Recorded vote is requested. Uh members will record their votes using electronic voting system. The chairman tends to vote I. Thank you. Member tends to vote no. Open the vote. Have all members been recorded who wish to be recorded? Do any members wish to change their vote?
▶ 6:41:54Hearing none, will the clerk please close the vote and announce the tally? Mr. Mr. Chairman, on this vote there are 18 yays and 12 nazs. The eyes have it and the motion is agreed to. HRES 237 with amendment is ordered reported adversely to the House of Representatives. The chair notes for the record that a quorum is present. I ask unanimous consent that staff be authorized to make necessary technical and conforming changes to the resolution without objection. So ordered.
▶ 6:42:22Pursuant to House Rule 11, clause 2L, I give notice that all members have the requisite number of days to file supplemental minority, additional, or desending views. Without objection, so ordered. We'll now move on to HR 2262. I now entertain a motion to report the bill HR 2262 with amendment and recognize Mr. Owens.
▶ 6:42:46I move the committee on education and workforce report the bill HR 2262 to the House of Representatives with the amendments and with the recommendation that the amendment be agreed to and the bill do pass. The question now occurs on reporting HR 2262 with amendment to the House with favorable recommendation. All in favor say I. I. All oppose. No. No. In the opinion of the chair, the eyes have it and the motion is agreed to.
▶ 6:43:16Recorded vote is requested. Uh members will record their votes using the electronic voting system. The chairman attends to vote I. Ranking member intends to vote no. Open the vote, Have all members been recorded who wish to be recorded?
▶ 6:43:44Do any members wish to change their vote? Wait, wait, wait. Okay. Do any members wish to change vote? hearing none. Will the clerk please close the vote and announce the tally? Mr. Chairman, on this vote, there are 18 yays and 13 nays. The eyes have it and the motion is agreed to.
▶ 6:44:12HR 2262 with amendment is ordered, reported to the House of Representatives. The chair notes for the record that a quorum is present. I ask unanimous consent that staff be authorized to make necessary technical and conforming changes to the resolution without objection, so ordered. Pursuant to House Rule 11, clause 2L, I give notice that all members have the requisite number of days to file supplemental, minority, additional, or desending views. Without objection, so ordered.
▶ 6:44:40We'll now move on to HR 2270. I now entertain a motion to report the bill HR 2270 with amendment and recognize Mr. Owens. I move the committee on education workforce report the bill HR 2270 to the house of representatives with the amendment and with the recommendation that the amendment be agreed to and the bill do pass. The question now occurs on reporting HR 2270 with amendment to the house with a favorable recommendation. All in favor say I. I.
▶ 6:45:11All oppose. No. No. In the opinion of the chair the eyes have it and the motion is agreed to. Recorded vote. Recorded vote is requested. Members will record their votes using the electronic voting system. The chairman intends to vote I. Ranking member intends to vote no. Open the vote, please.
▶ 6:45:42Have all members been recorded who wish to be recorded? Do any members wish to change vote? Hearing none, will the clerk please close the vote and announce the tally? Mr. Chairman, on this vote, there are 18 yays and 13 naysay. The eyes have and motion is agreed to. HR 2270 with amendment is ordered, reported to the House of Representatives. The chair notes for the record that a quorum is present.
▶ 6:46:09I ask unanimous consent that staff be authorized to make necessary technical conforming changes to the resolution without objection. and so ordered. Pursuant to House Rule 11, clause 2L, I give notice that all members have the requisite number of days to file supplemental minority additional or desending views. Without objection, so ordered.
▶ 6:46:30Without objection, any members who wish to insert materials into the record may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk electronically uh by the end of the day today. If there is no further business before the committee, without objection, the committee stands adjourned.