Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) attempts to adjourn the House DOGE Committee hearing on transgender athletes in women's sports.
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00:00Welcome to the Oversight Committee, and in particular, the Doge Subcommittee.
00:04I do want to say welcome to our guests and to your families.
00:07We do appreciate all of you coming here to tell your stories.
00:11But I want to make clear that this hearing is actually not about oversight or Doge,
00:17but about spreading hate and using trans lives to distract from the real issues that Americans are facing,
00:25from attacks on our economy, to attacks on our democracy, to attacks on our communities.
00:31So let's call this hearing what it actually is.
00:35It's about bullying trans kids and members of the trans community to distract from the failed policies of the Trump administration,
00:44the failed policies and exploitation of this Doge Subcommittee,
00:49and the GOP's own cruel agenda that is happening right now here on Capitol Hill
00:55as they're trying to gut Medicaid, gut food assistance, gut environmental programs
01:01to give tax breaks to billionaires, because that is actually what's going on behind these doors all around us.
01:08So as the ranking member of this subcommittee,
01:11let me start by saying to everyone in the trans and LGBTQ plus community
01:17who might be watching or listening today that we see you, we love you, we respect you,
01:24we are fighting for you, and we will fight back against this hateful agenda.
01:29Now I do want to point out here at the outset that we are in fact in the oversight subcommittee
01:34on quote-unquote delivering on government efficiency.
01:37And this is a committee here in Congress that was created this year by the GOP
01:43supposedly to address government efficiency.
01:46And this hearing literally has nothing to do with that.
01:49In fact, it has nothing to do with anything that falls under the oversight
01:53and accountability committee's jurisdiction.
01:55This hearing is so irrelevant to this committee.
01:58It's just a complete distraction from what is actually happening in Congress right now.
02:05So let's review what this subcommittee is actually supposed to be working on,
02:10since my friends seem to have forgotten that.
02:12In their own rule, rule six of this committee, this subcommittee shall quote,
02:17have oversight jurisdiction over the federal civil service, including compensation,
02:23classification, benefits, federal property disposal, government reorganization and operations,
02:30transparency performance, grants management, and accounting measures generally.
02:35That is the jurisdiction of this committee.
02:38And I don't know about any of you, but I don't see anything in here about sports, the Olympics,
02:44Title IX, fencing, and certainly nothing about policing the bodies of Americans.
02:50And frankly, hearings of this subcommittee have become so divorced from reality or anything resembling
02:56oversight in the jurisdiction of this committee,
02:59it's basically turned into a political campaign ad, as you just saw on these TVs.
03:05That's what this subcommittee has devolved into.
03:10And frankly, I think many of us expected that that's where we would end up.
03:13But meanwhile, Donald Trump is letting Elon Musk and his cabinet secretaries and OMB
03:18now continue to dismantle our federal agencies, to hack our private data.
03:23They're firing veterans and teachers and firefighters.
03:27They're trying to break Social Security and the VA.
03:30And there is literally no oversight happening here in this committee under the GOP.
03:36In fact, my colleagues have failed to bring even a single administration witness here to this committee.
03:44They haven't brought Elon Musk.
03:45They haven't brought a cabinet secretary.
03:46They haven't brought a political.
03:48They haven't brought anyone to this committee to answer to the lawless and immoral behavior
03:54that's happening inside the administration or anything that relates to the jurisdiction of this committee.
04:00That's why even though we had hoped on the Democratic side for real and meaningful bipartisan work
04:06to make the government more efficient, to make it work better for Americans,
04:09we have to sit here week after week and fight back against this abusive and lawless and ridiculous agenda.
04:19And, you know, I want to just point out that there are now over 220 lawsuits against the Trump administration
04:26and over 130 court restraining orders and injunctions against them because of this agenda.
04:33So why did the chairwoman decide to call this hearing today?
04:37Why is it that we're trying to distract from an agenda that is so unpopular that two-thirds of Americans disprove
04:45of what Doge and Elon Musk is doing?
04:47Maybe it has something to do with the failure of the president in the first hundred days
04:51that his approval ratings have declined by 14%.
04:55Maybe it's to distract from the reality that our economy is tanking and prices are going up.
05:00Maybe it's because the budget that came to Congress last week doubles down on proposals to take food out of the mouths of children.
05:09Maybe it's because behind closed doors all around us, they're trying to take away your Medicaid and your food assistance.
05:15So why bully trans kids?
05:17Why take up airspace to bully a population that only makes up 0.6% of the population?
05:26Because clearly they're living rent-free in the GOP's minds.
05:30But simply put, Republicans are focused on the wrong 1%.
05:35So why are they so obsessed?
05:38Why is Trump attacking trans people?
05:41Why is this the centerpiece of the Republicans here on Capitol Hill?
05:45Honestly, it's weird.
05:47And it's wrong.
05:48And I just want to say to all of the people in the trans community who are watching, we uplift your stories.
05:56We are fighting for the community.
05:58We are fighting for the rights of everyone in our communities.
06:02And this hearing has absolutely nothing to do with the Oversight Committee.
06:07And that is why, at this time, I make a motion to immediately adjourn this hearing.
06:12Second.
06:14The motion is not debatable.
06:39All those in favor of adjourning, signify by saying aye.
06:43Aye.
06:44All those opposed, signify by saying no.
06:47No.
06:48In the opinion of the chair, the no's have it.
06:50And a recorded vote will be asked for.
06:57The clerk will call the roll.
06:59We will pause for the clerk to be ready.
07:01Yeah.
07:01We'll pause for the clerk.
07:02We will pause for the clerk.
07:13We will pause for the clerk.
07:14We will pause for the clerk.
07:15We will pause for the clerk.
07:16We will pause for the clerk.
07:17We will pause for the clerk.
07:18We will pause for the clerk.
07:19We will pause for the clerk.
07:20We will pause for the clerk.
07:21We will pause for the clerk.
07:22We will pause for the clerk.
07:23We will pause for the clerk.
07:24We will pause for the clerk.
07:25We will pause for the clerk.
07:26We will pause for the clerk.
07:27We will pause for the clerk.
07:28We will pause for the clerk.
07:29We will pause for the clerk.
07:30We will pause for the clerk.
07:31We will pause for the clerk.
07:32We will pause for the clerk.
07:33We will pause for the clerk.
07:34We will pause for the clerk.
07:35We will pause for the clerk.
07:36We will pause for the clerk.
08:37A recorded vote is ordered.
08:48The clerk will call the roll.
08:50Mr. Cloud.
08:53No.
08:54Mr. Cloud votes no.
08:57Mr. Fallon.
08:58Mr. Timmons.
09:02No.
09:04Mr. Timmons votes no.
09:06Mr. Burchett.
09:08No.
09:09Mr. Burchett votes no.
09:12Mr. Burleson.
09:13No.
09:14Mr. Burleson votes no.
09:18Mr. Jack.
09:19No.
09:19Mr. Jack votes no.
09:23Mr. Gill.
09:25No.
09:26Mr. Gill votes no.
09:29Mr. Comer.
09:30No.
09:31Mr. Comer votes no.
09:34Ms. Norton.
09:39Yes.
09:40Ms. Norton votes yes.
09:42Mr. Lynch.
09:43Aye.
09:43Mr. Lynch votes aye.
09:47Mr. Garcia.
09:48Yes.
09:49Mr. Garcia votes yes.
09:52Mr. Kassar.
09:54Yes.
09:55Mr. Kassar votes yes.
09:57Ms. Crockett.
09:58Yes.
09:59Ms. Crockett votes yes.
10:01Ms. Stansbury.
10:02Yes.
10:04Ms. Stansbury votes yes.
10:06Ms. Green.
10:07No.
10:09Ms. Green votes no.
10:12The clerk will report the tally.
10:25Ms. Chairwoman, on this vote, the noes are seven, the ayes are six.
10:33The noes have it, and the motion to adjourn is not agreed to.
10:36Also, pursuant to Committee Rule 6A2, Chairman Comer refers specific responsibility for the
10:45matter of this Doge subcommittee hearing regarding USA fencing, hearing to Chairman Green, and
10:54the subcommittee on delivering on government efficiency.
10:57This hearing is directly under our jurisdiction.
10:59Without objection, Representatives McClain of Michigan, Mace of South Carolina, Crane of
11:06Arizona, Randall of Washington, Jacobs of California, and Simon of California are waved
11:11on to the subcommittee for the purpose of questioning the witnesses at today's committee hearing.
11:19Madam Chair, a point of parliamentary inquiry.
11:22What's your inquiry?
11:23Could you please further expound about how this falls under the jurisdiction of the subcommittee
11:32and the rules?
11:33Ms. Stansbury, under Committee Rule 6A2, Chairman Comer of the Oversight Committee has referred
11:39responsibility for this hearing to the Doge subcommittee hearing regarding USA fencing.
11:46So, Chairman Comer is changing the rules so that now fencing hearings fall under Department of Government
11:54efficiency?
11:54Ms. Okay, this is the rule book right here, Ms. Stansbury.
11:58I'm sure you have a copy of it.
12:00Can you read us the practice for spencing to this subcommittee?
12:03Ms. Number two, in addition, each subcommittee shall have specific responsibility for such other
12:10measures or matters as the chair of the committee refers to it.
12:15And this is the hearing that we are having jurisdiction over.
12:19It's an important issue that biological men stay out of women's sports.
12:22And we'd like to hold the hearing on that today, and we're going to continue and go ahead.
12:27I'm pleased to introduce our witnesses today.
12:30Stephanie Turner is a competitive fencer who recently took a knee at a USA fencing event
12:37to avoid facing a biological male in a women's event.
12:42Peyton McNabb is a former high school athlete and now an ambassador for independent women who
12:48was injured by a biological man in a high school volleyball game.
12:54Damian LeFelt is the chairman of the board of directors at USA fencing, a recognized national
13:01governing body for fencing under the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee as codified in the Ted
13:09Stevens Act.
13:10Fatima Goss Graves is the president and chief executive officer of the National Women's Law Center.
13:16I want to thank you all for being here to testify today.
13:21Pursuant to Committee Rule 9G, the witnesses...
13:25Do you want me to thank you?