LIVE: Johnson, House GOP Leaders Hold Press Conference After House Vote on H.R. 28

Hey, good to see you. Welcome to the capital. Everybody. Good afternoon. This is a great day for women in America. House. Yes, that's an applause. House Republicans have yet again stood up for women. Um, this is a commitment that we have made because it comports with what is right and what is common sense. We know from scripture and from nature that men are men and women are women and men cannot become women. It's sad that we have to say that it's a matter of biology. It's how we're made. And if we try to ignore that or to undo it, we do so at our peril and to the detriment of our daughters across the country. Female athletes like Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlon and Peyton McNabb have had to compete head to head against biological men. It's just not right around the world. It's estimated that more than 700 female athletes have been displaced by males in their women's sporting events, and that has resulted in more than 1000 estimated medals, records and scholarships intended for women going to men. My own daughters competed in sports as they were growing up, and I can only imagine the anger I would feel as a dad if they had their trophies stolen from them. But that's indeed what many women are facing today. And it's not just anger. It's fear. Biological men competing against women also poses a threat to the safety of our girls. It's dangerous. It's unfair. It's a rejection of reality, and it is just plain wrong. But today the House voted to uphold common sense again. We voted to require all schools receiving federal funds to uphold the original meaning of Title nine and keep biological men out of women's sports. Last Congress, we voted on this legislation as well. We will note that not one single Democrat joined us. Today was an improvement. It's bipartisan. We had two Democrats to join us. Yes, but it's shameful. There should have been many, many more. In fact, I would argue that every member of this body should have voted for common sense and to protect women. For some reason for politics, I guess they chose not to. The American people sent a clear message in November. They want us to return to common sense, but it appears that some of our friends in the other party are ignoring that plea. This Congress, we have the power of a Republican Senate, and we will have Donald J. Trump returned to the White House in less than a week. That is going to be a sea change around here, and we can't wait. And together we're making good on our campaign promises. We couldn't have done it without Greg Stubbe, my colleague from Florida, who's behind me here, who's been pressing this issue for so many years and providing great leadership. We're grateful for that leadership, and it's good to see the hard work rewarded on a day like this. I'll now turn it over to Riley Gaines, who really needs no introduction here. She's in Congress as much as members of Congress now. Oh, here she is. Um, she knows firsthand the dangers of allowing biological men to compete in women's sports, of course, and why this legislation is so necessary. I'm a big fan of hers. I'm so grateful for her courage and her moral clarity and her voice on this very important issue. Riley Gaines, everybody. Well, thank you. Hello. My name is Riley Gaines. I am an ambassador for Independent Women's Voice. I am the vice chair of Athletes for America with America First Policy Institute, and I'm a former collegiate swimmer from the University of Kentucky. Uh, first, let me echo Speaker Johnson's gratitude for the people who stand alongside me behind me, their leadership on this issue, how they have stood firm the flack that you all have taken. I know it's not easy, but nonetheless, it's necessary, and I would argue that it's urgent. And so I thank you all. And I'm thrilled with the passage of H. R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. But truthfully, I'm mad. I'm mad that this is something we have to do. I'm mad that we as women have to beg for equal rights. I'm mad that we have to beg for privacy in areas of undressing, and I'm mad that we have to beg for safety on the court or on the field or walking in the streets at night. For that matter, here's some of the things. Let's just go through a couple of the things we heard on the House floor today from Democrats. We heard of things like genital exams. We heard that girls will be asked to show what's in their underwear. We heard that they have to show internal and external anatomy inspections, Taliban-like enforcers, hire predators to peek at girls on and on and on. Weird fear-mongering about predators. But that's what Democrats do best. If you don't know what they're up to, just look at what they're accusing the right of. There have only been a few girls. Another thing they said, there's only a few girls who have been injured at the hands of a boy. It's such a small percentage. I heard that this bill is a waste of time. And let me tell you the message I received when I heard that is that I'm a waste of time. Girls around the country, just like me, are a waste of time. Your daughters are a waste of time to all House Democrats except the two who voted in favor of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. But to Speaker Johnson's point, the American people spoke on November 5th. The common sense, everyday Americans who intuitively know that men and women are different, we reject this notion. While I certainly believe people turned out to the polls to embrace Donald Trump, to embrace his cabinet picks, to embrace the America First agenda, more so, truthfully, I believe that people turned out to the polls on November 5th to reject absurdity. And that is entirely and thoroughly what the Democratic Party has become. Absurd. Whether it's feeling like you have to refer to Latino individuals as Latinx, believing that men can become women, believing that men can breastfeed, believing that tampons belong in boys bathrooms. Entirely and thoroughly absurd. I'm here today for for one reason. Of course, I'm not here to speak on the policy, anything like that. I'm here to debunk every single thing you heard from the House Democrats today. I'm here to tell you that this isn't a hypothetical situation. No, it's reality. My story by now is is seemingly well known, so I won't get into it. I could spend hours sharing the the feelings and the emotions. This is the specifics behind watching a man steal a woman's national title. The feelings of humiliation and violation of having to strip down to nothing, fully unclothing yourself inches away from where a six foot four man simultaneously fully exposed himself, stripping down to nothing, exposing his male genitalia non-consensually, might I add, which we used to properly label as some form of voyeurism or sexual harassment, indecent exposure. Now it's seemingly celebrated. Last fall, leading up to the election, the Independent Women launched the Riley Gaines Stand With Women scorecard. It was a first-of-its-kind resource that tells Americans who stands with women and who does not. The scorecard had a pivotal impact, delivering a 90% win rate for those who were Riley Gaines approved. I was honored to put my name to such a significant effort. No more hiding behind these phrases and taglines that the Democrats use saying they're for women's rights. Go back and look at who voted in support of the Lake and Riley Act. Look at who voted in support of protecting women and girls in sports, and if they were no on one or both, then they do not get to say they support women. Men do not belong in women's sports, and with the House passage of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, we are one step closer as a nation to making sure that not one more male athlete is able to take a trophy, a roster spot, playing time, resources, or an opportunity to compete from a woman. The American people, again, we believe that women's sports are activities, and they'll say to you, and they said it on the floor in the debate that we just had, this never happens. I had a constituent, Emma Lyon, who was refused a title in a swimming Olympic competition because of a male athlete who used to compete in men's swimming and then decided he wanted to identify as a woman, and he was allowed to do that. Just what Riley said, it's absolutely absurd that we have to actually pass a bill that says only women can be in women's sports, but I've been honored to be a part of the fight. I'm honored that we actually got it done today in a bipartisan fashion, and I call on every senator, and I call on the Senate to one, quickly bring this bill up for a vote, and for every senator to support this piece of legislation to show that we actually do support and stand with women athletes in our country. Thank you very much, and I'll turn it over to Ms. Miller. Good afternoon. It's great to be here to celebrate the passage of this bill and to be able to represent women. I'm the mom of five daughters and currently so far have nine granddaughters, so this is all about what we're, how we're going to treat our women and girls. So I want to applaud my House colleagues for passing this critical legislation to protect our girls, and I also want to thank Speaker Johnson for his leadership in making this bill one of the first priorities of the 119th Congress. The American people spoke loud and clear in November. They do not want men in women's sports or locker rooms, and we are following through with the mandate given to us. It sickens me knowing that confused and predatory men can take away years of hard work from our girls and enter their sports and their locker rooms. Title IX was a hard-fought victory, and we must not allow the left to erase 50 years of equal rights in one fell swoop. We pass this bill in 2023, but tone-deaf Democrats refuse to take it up in the Senate. I'm hopeful that Leader Thune and the GOP Senate majority will act swiftly in passing it, and President Trump is ready to sign it into law on day one. Thank you to each of you for your work to protect our girls, and may God continue to bless your efforts. Thank you. Let's just hear some examples of those that don't exist from the Democrats' perspective. Bloody, broken, and in tears, veteran boxer Angela Carini left the ring after just 46 seconds of her Paralympic boxing match because, as she noted, she had never been hit so hard in the face as she experienced against the male boxer who grotesquely was allowed to compete in women's competition. Carini, who had won silver medals at the World and European Championships, was subjected to a sanctioned act of violence against her and all women athletes. Anyone who voted against the Protection of American and Girls in Sports Act is sending a message that they approve of women athletes being battered, abused, overpowered, and left broken on the field in which they have worked so hard to compete. But this isn't just about how little those who want men competing in women's sports care about the physical damage being inflicted on women athletes. This is a radical movement to allow biological boys to compete against girls. It's all about erasing women entirely. The position of these radicals is so utterly immoral and the rest of any shred of sanity that we need to make sure that they are completely run out of women's sports, women's locker rooms, and driven from any position of power where they are taking actions to erase women. I'm proud to stand on the side of sanity, on the side of protecting the dignity of women athletes, and on the side of American people who are disgusted that we even have to be having this debate. This is a fight that we must and we will win on behalf of our daughters and generations of women athletes to follow. Thank you. So we'll take a few questions. I've got a number of experts and supporters, legal experts, ADF is here in the Independent Women's Forum, and all the supporters, many organizations involved in this great effort. Questions from the audience? Otherwise this will be the easiest thing I do today. Yes sir? I'm Jack James with Religion News Service. You led off by saying that a man cannot be a man. A man is a man and a woman is a woman and a man cannot become a woman and that's what scripture teaches. That's at least the second time I've heard you reference that. Can you say why you think Christian scripture teaches that? I'm curious about your response to very different Christian traditions who interpret scripture differently, even openly ordained, unlocally transgendered individuals. Well it goes back to the first book, Genesis. Male and female, he made them. I mean this is pretty clear. I'm not sure there's another interpretation but everybody's open to interpreting scripture however they will but this is, comports with common sense as well. So we know it from our religious tradition, which I believe is the truth. I'm a Bible-believing Christian, make no apology about that. But whether you regard that as the truth or not, it's also nature. It's biology and biology is not bigotry as we say. Anyone who would accuse the supporters of this legislation otherwise is ill-informed. This is to protect women and girls. It's very clear. It's been articulated well. You've heard examples. Riley's one of the most famous but again it happens all the time, all across the country. Congress has a role to play here. We should step into this arena and it's an appropriate thing for us to do so we make no apology for it. And this is not out of a dislike or discrimination against anybody at all. This is the right thing to do and it's to protect women and girls and that's our role here so. Now that this bill has passed, what plan does the House have to further re-empower Trump's cabinet Well, it's an executive branch function. I mean it is a big issue. I mean probably the most famous ad of the campaign cycle was the one the Trump administration ran on this issue and it resonates with the American people. Congress do mention it in the opinion polls. This is a 80-90% issue or more depending on which poll you look at. Because again, it It should not be a partisan issue. We should have every single member of Congress united on this. And I would challenge all of you to go ask the questions of the Democrats who voted against it. How in the world they can justify that? Because I don't understand the argument at all. Other questions? Well, again I want to thank all these fierce warriors and supporters who have stood strong on the issue and made this day possible. We will expect our Senate colleagues to do the right thing as well. We will. And we get this legislation to the President's desk for signature. One more step, as we said, in returning common sense to Washington. So, a round of applause for all these folks.