To restrict executive agencies from acting in contravention of Executive Order 13950.

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3235 To restrict executive agencies from acting in contravention of Executive Order 13950. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2021 Mr. OWENS (for himself, Mr. BANKS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mrs. BOEBERT, Mr. BROOKS, Mr. BUCK, Mr. CAWTHORN, Mr. CLOUD, Mr. DONALDS, Mr. GOOD of Virginia, Mr. FALLON, Mr. GREEN of Tennessee, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mrs. HARSHBARGER, Mr. ISSA, Mr. JACKSON, Mr. JACOBS of New York, Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. MAST, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. PERRY, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, Mr. ROUZER, Mr. ROY, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. STEWART, and Mr. TIFFANY) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committees on Education and Labor, and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To restrict executive agencies from acting in contravention of Executive Order 13950. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3235.IH H3235 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3235 IH SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON EXECUTIVE AGENCIES ACT- 1 ING IN CONTRAVENTION OF EXECUTIVE 2 ORDER 13950. 3 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 4 (1) On September 22, 2020, President Trump 5 issued Executive Order (EO) 13950 ‘‘Combating 6 Race and Sex Stereotyping’’. 7 (2) EO 13950 was designed ‘‘to promote econ- 8 omy and efficiency in Federal contracting, to pro- 9 mote unity in the Federal workforce, and to combat 10 offensive and anti-American race and sex stereo- 11 typing and scapegoating’’. 12 (3) Specifically EO 13950, among other things, 13 prohibited Federal agencies from teaching, advo- 14 cating, acting upon, or promoting in any training to 15 agency employees certain divisive concepts, such as 16 those that hold ‘‘(1) one race or sex is inherently su- 17 perior to another race or sex; (2) the United States 18 is fundamentally racist or sexist; (3) an individual, 19 by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently rac- 20 ist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or un- 21 consciously; (4) an individual should be discrimi- 22 nated against or receive adverse treatment solely or 23 partly because of his or her race or sex; (5) members 24 of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to 25 treat others without respect to race or sex; (6) an 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3235.IH H3235 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3235 IH individual’s moral character is necessarily deter- 1 mined by his or her race or sex; (7) an individual, 2 by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsi- 3 bility for actions committed in the past by other 4 members of the same race or sex; (8) any individual 5 should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other 6 form of psychological distress on account of his or 7 her race or sex; or (9) meritocracy or traits such as 8 a hard work ethic are racist or sexist, or were cre- 9 ated by a particular race to oppress another race’’. 10 (4) EO 13950 further required that diversity 11 and inclusion efforts of Federal agencies must ‘‘first 12 and foremost, encourage agency employees not to 13 judge each other by their color, race, ethnicity, sex, 14 or any other characteristic protected by Federal 15 law’’. 16 (5) EO 13950 was issued soon after Office of 17 Management and Budget Director Russell Vought 18 issued a September 4, 2020, memorandum wherein 19 he explained— 20 (A) millions of taxpayer dollars have been 21 spent on training Federal Government workers 22 to ‘‘believe divisive, anti-American propaganda’’; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3235.IH H3235 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3235 IH (B) training sessions that have taught 1 ‘‘virtually all White people contribute [or ben- 2 efit from] to racism’’; and 3 (C) training sessions have claimed that 4 ‘‘there is racism embedded in the belief that 5 America is the land of opportunity or the belief 6 that the most qualified person should receive a 7 job’’. 8 (6) In the September 4, 2020, memorandum, 9 Director Vought further explained that such 10 trainings, ‘‘not only run counter to the fundamental 11 beliefs for which our Nation has stood since its in- 12 ception, but they also engender division and resent- 13 ment within the Federal workforce’’. 14 (7) EO 13950 and the September 4, 2020, 15 memorandum stood as a direct rebuke of so-called 16 ‘‘Critical Race Theory’’. 17 (8) Critical Race Theory, according to Heritage 18 Foundation visiting fellow Chris Rufo, is ‘‘the idea 19 that the United States is a fundamentally racist 20 country and that all of our institutions including the 21 law, culture, business, the economy are all designed 22 to maintain white supremacy’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3235.IH H3235 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3235 IH (9) Critical Race Theory is, at its core, un- 1 American, discriminatory, and based on Marxist ide- 2 ology. 3 (10) Critical Race Theory relies on a Marxist 4 analytical framework, viewing society in terms of op- 5 pressed and oppressor, and instills a defeatist men- 6 tality in those it casts as the oppressed. 7 (11) Critical Race Theory’s objective is the de- 8 struction and replacement of Western Enlighten- 9 ment Liberalism with a Marxist influenced govern- 10 ment. 11 (12) Critical Race Theory intentionally seeks to 12 undermine capitalism and western values, such as 13 property rights, free speech, and the very concept of 14 Lockean natural rights. 15 (13) At the Department of Homeland Security, 16 Rufo explained, trainers ‘‘insisted that statements 17 such as ‘America is the land of opportunity’, ‘Every- 18 body can succeed in this society, if they work hard 19 enough’, and ‘I believe the most qualified person 20 should get the job’ are racist and harmful’’. 21 (14) At a training session at the National Cred- 22 it Union Administration, Howard Ross taught that 23 ‘‘It is irrefutable that [America society] is a system 24 based on racism’’ and ‘‘good and decent [white] peo- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3235.IH H3235 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3235 IH ple . . . support the status quo [of] a system of sys- 1 tematized racism’’. 2 (15) According to Rufo, employees of the De- 3 partment of the Treasury and Federal financial 4 agencies attended a series of events at which diver- 5 sity trainer Howard Ross taught employees that all 6 White Americans are complicit in White supremacy 7 ‘‘by automatic response to the ways were taught 8 Whiteness includes white privilege and white su- 9 premacy’’. 10 (16) Martin Luther King Jr., in his ‘‘I have a 11 dream speech’’ said, ‘‘I look to a day when people 12 will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by 13 the content of their character’’. 14 (17) By teaching that certain individuals, by 15 virtue of inherent characteristics, are inherently 16 flawed, Critical Race Theory contradicts the basic 17 principle upon which our Nation was founded that 18 all men and women are created equal. 19 (18) Critical Race Theory’s teachings stand in 20 contrast to the overarching goal of the Civil Rights 21 Act of 1964 to prevent discrimination on the basis 22 of race, color, or national origin in the United 23 States. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:46 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3235.IH H3235 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3235 IH (19) Critical Race Theory seeks to portray the 1 United States not as a united Nation of people, fam- 2 ilies, and communities striving for a common pur- 3 pose, but rather one of many victimized groups 4 based on sex, race, national origin, and gender. 5 (20) Critical Race Theory, and its emphasis on 6 predetermining the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of 7 a person, flouts the Constitution of the United 8 States guarantee of equal protection under the law 9 to all men and women. 10 (21) On January 20, 2021, President Joe 11 Biden issued an Executive order revoking President 12 Trump’s EO 13950. 13 (22) The American people should defend the 14 civil rights of all people and seek to eliminate racism 15 wherever it exists. Critical Race Theory and its 16 propagation within the Federal Government through 17 President Biden’s executive action desecrates this 18 paramount pursuit. 19 (b) PROHIBITION.—No executive agency (as defined 20 in section 105 of title 5, United States Code) may act in 21 contravention of Executive Order 13950 (85 Fed. Reg. 22 60683; relating to combating race and sex stereotyping), 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3235.IH H3235 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3235 IH except as such Executive order relates to contractors and 1 grant recipients. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:17 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3235.IH H3235 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS