Haley Stevens: “Last month on the Education Committee, we toiled until the early hours of the morning, marking up our very first two…”

“Last month on the Education Committee, we toiled until the early hours of the morning, marking up our very first two bills of the new Congress, one of which is the subject of our debate today, H.R. 734. Regrettably, neither of the bills address the issues most pressing to students and teachers: murder by gun violence. There were 42 incidents of gun violence on school grounds this year alone, 17 deaths, and 32 injuries. Every day 22 children are shot and 5 die. With all due respect, I missed the part in the Bible that said that people have a right to own a gun at the expense of our children's ability to live and go to school safely. So let's be clear. This is not an effort to address the longstanding barriers all girls and women have faced in their pursuit of athletics. Leading women's sports organizations and gender justice organizations support transgender inclusion in sports without equivocation. Mr. Chair, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this hateful bill.”