A test vote on the bill failed to gain the 60 votes needed to advance in the chamber as senators stuck to party lines in a 51-45 vote tally.
The bill sought to determine Title IX protections “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” The vote came as Republicans have homed in repeatedly on the social cause, casting it as an issue of ensuring athletic fairness for women and girls. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month giving federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with the administration’s view, which interprets “sex” as being the biological reality that a person is born either a male or female.
Still, Republicans in Congress have set their sights on enshrining that policy into law by amending the 1972 Title 1X law, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.
“Around the country we have seen men — biological men who identify as women — take up spaces and medals in athletics meant for actual women,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., adding, “This is a matter of fairness and equality.”
