‘You’re Going to Be Remembered as the Education Secretary That Erased Girls’ Sports for an Entire Generation’

Miguel Cardona likes to brag about his two and half decades of experience, but on Tuesday, it was the Education secretary who got schooled. Barely two minutes into the House hearing, Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), had already called for the Biden official’s resignation and declared, “If I were to grade your time as secretary, I would give you an F.” And that was probably kind, considering the reviews that followed on everything from the student loan bailouts to the anti-Semitic riots on college campuses.

The Republicans’ disgust with Cardona was clear from the get-go, as conservatives like Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.) snuck in some obvious barbs when it was their turn to talk. “I did wonder if you [would] show up,” the Hoosier said, “given that you seem to have little respect for our congressional inquiries into the goings-on at the Department of Education.” A not-so-subtle nod to the Biden administration’s outright dismissal of congressional oversight.

And it’s not just oversight, others would point out angrily, but constitutional authority. When Joe Biden published his fanatical rewrite of Title IX, replacing real girls with trans-pretenders, it wasn’t lost on most members that he did so without congressional approval — a fact that several state and federal lawmakers have been quick to point out.

In one of the most dramatic exchanges on the White House’s absurd new rule (which abolishes 52 years of women’s rights in favor of radical transgenderism), Rep. Burgess Owens (R-Utah) got personal with the Education secretary. After Cardona’s refusal to answer whether biological girls would, in fact, have to compete against “genetically-stronger, bigger, and faster biological men,” the Utah congressman put the question another way.

OWENS: Mr. Secretary, you are in a very unique position to impact the lives, futures, and fortunes of millions of female athletes. Americans on both sides of this debate need to understand how deep your commitment is. Would you force your daughter to undress in a bathroom with boys who are also undressing?

CARDONA: I am not going to be commenting on athletics rules that we haven’t proposed.

OWENS: You can’t say yes or no on that?

CARDONA: I’d be happy to talk about a Title IX—

OWENS: Okay, okay. If your daughter reported that she was uncomfortable in a boys’ presence in a bathroom or locker room would that be considered by your administration “discrimination” or “bigotry”?

CARDONA: As an educator for over 25 years—

OWENS: You can’t say yes or no to that?

CARDONA: I’d love to respond to your question.

OWENS: Okay, so yes or no? Would you consider it discrimination if she did not want that to happen?

CARDONA: As an educator for over 25 years, we have had the responsibility—

OWENS: Okay, alright. I only have a few minutes here. Girls have now entered into contact sports like boxing and wrestling. Would you allow your daughter to physically fight and get beat up by a boy who called himself a girl? Yes or no.

CARDONA: I’d be happy, once we finalize our rule on Title IX athletics, to come back and have this conversation with you.

Cardona does, in fact, have a daughter. And the idea that he refused to lay down his political extremism and answer a straightforward question seemed to truly astonish Burgess, also a dad. He stopped, looked at Biden’s top education official, and spoke soberly. “There’s a Cherokee proverb that says, ‘A man’s highest calling is to protect women, so she is free to walk the earth unharmed.’” 

“I’ll say this, Mr. Secretary, before I go on to the next topic,” he paused. “With all due respect, I pray that our country will never, ever have the vision that your policies are driving us toward in terms of manhood. It’s a vision that teaches our boys that harming girls is no big deal. I pray that we remain a country that produces overwhelmingly massive majorities of men who feel the way I do about my girls. I will give my life in a heartbeat for my girls. And the blessing I have is that they have no doubts about that. There are millions of men and women across this country that do not have faith, do not have trust in you protecting our girls because of policies you can’t say yes or no to. By the way, those are not very hard questions as a father.”

It was a powerful moment that should have revealed to every American just how perverse and dangerous this administration’s agenda is for our children. When a father can’t even say he’d object to his girls undressing in front of biological boys, there are serious moral problems in the leadership of this country.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) was just as incensed, retelling the story of the five West Virginia middle schoolers who refused to compete against a biological boy and were banned from the sport. “Mr. Secretary,” she asked, “what consequences will female students face if they do not want to share a locker room with a biological male under your Title IX rule?”

Cardona thanked her for the question and then recited the standard line we heard from his trip to the Senate last week. “Schools have the responsibility to make sure all students feel safe, including using the bathrooms. And, as a lifelong educator, these are decision that I’ve had to make as a school principal and as a district leader.”

Miller looked at him for a beat and replied, “Well, I’m so glad that you brought up that you’re concerned about the safety of students, but the Title IX rule and the guidance that you are putting out — that you’ve been putting out for three years — is taking away the safety of our daughters in their private spaces in their locker rooms and showers and taking away their athletic and educational opportunities. Girls in Wisconsin and West Virginia refused and they were kicked off their teams. These schools are basing their decision on your rule.”

He repeated the line about the need to protect “everyone.”

But that’s the problem, Miller argued. “You are not protecting everyone. I’m here to protect girls and to stand up for families and parents across the country that are outraged over this. You are not protecting girls. You are making a choice. You’re choosing boys over girls. You are satisfied with letting the girl take the silver medal while the boy, the biological boy, takes the gold.”

At the end of the day, Miller warned, “You are going to be remembered as the Education Secretary under Joe Biden that erased girls’ sports for an entire generation. You should withdraw your Title IX rule or resign.”