GOP lawmakers float bill to ban ‘race-based’ preferences in government
A group of House Republicans introduced legislation on Friday that aims to “prohibit discrimination” in governme🐬nt by banning federal agencies and entities that receive federal funds from granting preferences to individuals based on race, color, or national origin.
The Fairness, Anti-Discrimination and Individual Rights Act – or FAIR Act – was introduced Friday by Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.), and three of the House GOP’s most promine💫nt minority members – Reps. Burgess Owens (R-Utah), Michelle Steel (R-Calif.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.).
The lawmakers say that the bill comes in response to President Biden’s February executive order directing fede𒊎ral agencies to produ💙ce an annual “equity action plan,” which they a💖rgue is divisive and discriminatory.
“It’s pretty simple. If we are serious about ending discrimination in the United States, the first step is for the government to stop doing the discriminating,” Tiffany, the lead sponsor of the bill, announcing the proposed law.
“It is long past time for the government to take its thumb off the scale and g✃et out of the business of racial discr𒅌imination,” he added.
The FAIR Act would bar any federal agency, state or private group the receives federal funds, government contracto𝔍r, or educational institution from granting preferential treatment based on race, color, or national origin in connection with federal contracting, subcontracting, employment or admission.
“Growing up as a Black American in the Jim Crow South, I experienced firsthand the true ugliness of discrimination based on the color of my skin,” Owens said in a statement.
The former NFL player then ripped Biden, 80, accusing his admini☂stration of dividing𝕴 the country “along racial lines.”
“Our nation’s Constitution is clear: no person shall be subjected to discrimination based on religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex or physical or mental disability. Unfortunately, the Biden Administration is determined to divide Americans along racial lines. That is why I am proud to help Representative Tiffany introduce the FAIR Act to continue promoting the ideals of our nation for all Americans — regardless of their skin tone — in the federal government’s hiring, contracting, and funding process,” he said.
ꦓDonalds, who like Owens is also black, also laid into the Bid🐈en administration, saying it has been promoting equity with “prescribed outcomes.”
“The difference between equity and equality is stark,” Donalds 𓆏argued.&nbꦦsp;
𒅌“While the Biden administration stands for an equity agenda with prescribed outcomes, I am proud to join Rep. Tiffany and my colleagues in promoting equality of opport✃unity,” he added.
The FAIR Act follows an effort by Rep. Paul ♛Gosar (R-Ariz.) in the last Congress to eliminate federal funds to any entity that uses Affirmative Action in hiring.
The lawmakers on Friday did not say if the bill had a Senate co-sponsor, where the legꦡislati🎉on is sure to meet stiff resistance from the Democratic majority.
Biden, who ❀has championed diver🔥sity efforts, would almost certainly veto the measure if it somehow makes it out of Congress.
New York Democratic Rep. Nydia Velazquez in a statement on Friday, calling it “reckless 🧔and short-si⛦ghted.”
“This reckless and short-sighted bill would d🌳estroy successful ♚programs that have benefited socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses since the 1960s,” she argued
“Lawmakers introduced this legislation to score political poin🔯ts, but it would have a very real and very negative impact on small businesses if it became law,” Velazquez added.
