Foxx, Burr Blast Education Department for Undermining Title IX

Delivered via E-Mail

The Honorable Miguel Cardona
Secretary
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Ave., SW
Washington, DC 20202

Dear Secretary Cardona:

On March 8, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order directing the Department of
Education (Department) to review and “consider suspending, revising, or rescinding” the
Department’s rule entitled “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or
Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance” (Title IX rule or rule). We write to you today
to urge you to keep the rule in place and unchanged.

The Title IX rule, for the first time, codified regulations that specifically address “sexual
harassment.” It was recognized by The Washington Post’s Editorial Board for striking a “needed
balance” between victims’ protections and the rights of the accused and is a well-developed, fair
rule. It also is a much needed change from years of non-binding guidance documents issued by
the Department without stakeholder feedback.

The Department undertook a thorough, deliberate process to get the Title IX rule right. Listening
sessions began in 2017. Then, the Department issued a proposed rule in November 2018. Over
the course of the next year and a half, the Department received and reviewed over 124,000 public
comments, and the Office of Management and Budget conducted 102 stakeholder meetings, with
nearly half of those meetings being with victim advocates. In May 2020, the Department issued
the final Title IX rule specifying how recipients of Federal financial assistance covered by Title
IX, including elementary and secondary schools as well as postsecondary institutions, must
respond to allegations of sexual harassment, including sexual assault. The final rule runs 2,033
pages, which include the regulation, the Department’s legally sound rationale, and its response to
the thousands of public comments.

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