Melanie Stansbury Tries To Shut Down Marjorie Taylor Greene's DOGE Hearing On Trans Athletes

Forbes Breaking News

Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) attempts to adjourn the House DOGE Committee hearing on transgender athletes in women's sports.

Transcript

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?

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