Rep. Tom Tiffany wants to turn President Trump’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs both in the federal government and in sectors that receive federal funding into law.
Mr. Tiffany, Wisconsin Republican, plans to introduce the Fairness, Anti-Discrimination and Individual Rights Act, or FAIR Act, on Thursday. It follows the executive order from Mr. Trump this week that shuttered DEI offices in the government and banned affirmative action in federal contracting.
Republicans have long crusaded against DEI efforts imposed by the Biden administration, arguing that the practice was unfair and discriminatory because it placed more emphasis on race-based hiring practices rather than on merit-based hiring, among others.
Mr. Tiffany’s bill would prohibit federal agencies, federal contractors, states, universities or any other recipient of federal funds from intentionally discriminating against or granting a preference to any person or group based on race, color or national origin.
“If we want to put an end to discrimination in the United States, the first step is for the government to end its own discriminatory practices,” Mr. Tiffany said. “The FAIR Act prioritizes merit, delivers on President Trump’s promise to end DEI policies, and ensures fairness by eliminating race-based preferences in the federal government.”
If passed, the bill would require that each agency and department within the federal government review policies and regulations to conform with the act no more than six months after the measure becomes law, and submit a report on their findings and any changes or modifications to agency rules to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
So far, the bill has eight Republican co-sponsors in the House.
It would face an uphill battle in the Senate, where the bill would need Democratic support to beat a filibuster.
Mr. Tiffany’s bill is not as far-reaching as Mr. Trump’s executive order, which saw all DEI offices and traces of DEI-related training, contracts and webpages disappear within the federal government. Employees from those offices were officially placed on leave Wednesday night.
Mr. Trump’s order also empowered the Justice Department and other agencies to investigate private entities with training and hiring practices, revoked an order issued by President Johnson in the 1960s that required a percentage of grants and federal contracts to go to minority and women-owned businesses and halted President Biden’s policy of promoting DEI in the private sector by requiring companies to promote them to win federal contracts.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.