US Sen. Dan Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted to advance the Senate Bill 9, Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, legislation to protect protections for women by prohibiting federal funds from going to schools and universities that allow biological males to compete against female athletes in sports or other activities designated for women or girls.
But Senate Democrats voted unanimously to block the bill from being able to advance.
In a party-line vote of 51-45, the act fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance.
Four senators didn’t vote: Republicans Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming; and Democrats Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Peter Welch of Vermont. Both Capito and Lummis were cosponsors of the bill but were not present for the vote.
Sen. Sullivan is a cosponsor of the bill but Sen. Lisa Murkowski is not. Even liberal Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine voted to proceed with the commonsense S.9, which was introduced by Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
The bill would codify President Trump’s “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” Executive Order, signed on Feb. 5, which has wide support from Americans. The president’s order can be undone by the next Democrat president, which is why Tuberville, a former football coach, wanted it in statute.
“Too many girls and women across our country have had their dreams dashed because the former administration shredded Title IX protections by allowing biological men to compete against them in sports,” Sen. Sullivan said. “Protecting our daughters and granddaughters’ right to fair and safe competition is a civil rights issue, and I’m proud to be an original cosponsor of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Going forward, I am also eager to lock arms with organizations across the country and in our state to fight back against a culture that is intent on dismantling our values and denying our female athletes the right to stand on the winner’s platform.”
Sen. Sullivan had sent a letter to the former Biden Administration’s Department of Education pushing back against far-left gender ideology infiltrating Title IX and eroding women’s equality, privacy and safety.
The companion bill in the House passed in January, with Congressman Nick Begich voting in favor of it. Last year, then-Rep. Mary Peltola voted against an identical bill.