EXCLUSIVE — Two Republican members of the House Oversight and Education and Workforce committees are demanding Education Secretary Miguel Cardona reveal the extent to which outside groups influenced the drafting of the Department of Education's Title IX regulations.
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), the chairwoman of the Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, along with House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), sent a letter to Cardona on Thursday informing the secretary that the committees are investigating "whether any external organizations played an outsized role in the development of the proposed regulations."
BIDEN STOKES NEWSOM PRESIDENTIAL BUZZ AT APEC EVENT ALONGSIDE CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR
The Biden administration's regulations, which were proposed in June 2022, drastically overhaul the department's current rule, which was implemented by the Trump administration and then-Secretary Betsy DeVos. The Trump-era rules established a number of new requirements aimed at protecting due process in Title IX hearings at colleges.
Title IX, first passed in 1972, prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex at educational institutions that receive federal funding. The law has largely been credited for the explosion of interest in women's sports but also governs how institutions must respond to cases of sexual harassment or assault that occur on campus.
The new regulations, which have yet to be finalized, would eliminate a number of those due process requirements, including a right to a live hearing with cross-examination. The regulations would also change the definition of "sex" in Title IX to include gender identity as a protected class in nondiscrimination law.
In their letter, the lawmakers told Cardona that the proposed regulations, "if finalized, will only serve to harm the women that Title IX was designed to protect."
"The Committees are concerned that your efforts to gut due process protections for accused and accusing students, redefine 'sex discrimination' to include 'gender identity,' and otherwise abandon established regulations protecting women and girls are improperly motivated and destructive to American students," they wrote. "According to the Department, the proposed rewrite of the Title IX regulations is necessary to provide 'greater clarity regarding the scope of sex discrimination.' Rather than providing clarity, the proposed regulations weaken essential protections for students that had been secured by Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration."
The letter requests that the department turn over any communications between the department's senior staff and outside organizations regarding Title IX and the proposed rule for the committee's oversight of the Department of Education.
Foxx, in a statement to the Washington Examiner, accused the Biden administration of touting equality while "simultaneously dismantling Title IX and replacing it with a framework that diminishes opportunities for girls and women in America."
"As a mother and grandmother, I will not stand idly by as this administration thumbs its nose to biology and erases the achievements of women," Foxx said. "Our joint investigation into this radical policy is an important step in holding President Biden accountable and reaffirming to women that they are not alone in this fight.”
McClain likewise told the Washington Examiner that the Biden administration was "putting women’s rights at risk by dismantling Title IX."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
"As Congress seeks to bring transparency to how new regulations will wipe out female-only sports, Secretary Cardona has refused to answer our questions," McClain said. "It’s time we get answers. We need to protect women in women’s sports as their safety, privacy, and opportunities are threatened.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Department of Education for comment.