The House passed a bill on Tuesday that would ban transgender athletes from competing in women's and girls' sports at schools that receive federal funding.
The vote was 218-206, with Reps. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, voting in favor of the legislation and Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., voting "present," according to CNN.
"This is a great day for women in America," Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement. "House Republicans yet again stood up for women. Today, the House voted to uphold common sense. We voted to require all schools receiving federal funds to uphold the original meaning of Title IX and keep biological men out of women's sports."
This isn't the first time the House GOP has advanced "The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act."
During Congress' last session, congressional Republicans passed the bill in a 219-203 vote that was strictly down party lines. It was not taken up by the Democrat-controlled Senate at that time, however.
On Tuesday, Johnson noted that the last time House Republicans voted on the legislation "not one Democrat joined us."
"The American people sent a clear message in November," he said. "They want a return to common sense, but Democrats are ignoring them."
After the bill's passage in the House, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., who introduced the measure, said the lower chamber had "delivered on its promise to protect women's sports."
"Americans are united in our belief that men have no place in women's sports, whether it's breaking records, entering locker rooms, or stealing scholarship opportunities," Steube said. "Denying biological truth erases fairness in sports and puts women's safety and opportunities at risk. Today's passage sends a clear message to the Senate — protecting women and girls in sports is not negotiable."
The legislation would bar transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity and seeks to amend federal law to mandate that "sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth" to ensure compliance with Title IX in athletics, according to the bill's text.
Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs or activities that receive federal funding.
Prior to the bill's passage, Democrats took to social media platforms to rail against the measure, which they called the "House Republican Child Predator Empowerment Act."
"The House Republican Child Predator Empowerment Act does not promote fairness and safety in sports," House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a post to Bluesky. "It will unleash horrific child predators on girls and young women throughout America."
Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., the first Generation Z member of Congress, said in a post on X that the bill puts "all girls at risk by empowering pedophiles."
"It requires girls as young as 4 YEARS OLD to answer invasive questions about their bodies & face PHYSICAL INSPECTIONS of their private parts by adult strangers," Frost wrote. "These questions and inspections can be done WITHOUT the parents present. This bill isn't about fairness in sports, it gives power to predators and pedophiles. We must protect children."
The bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, as it would likely need the support of some Democrats to advance, given the slender majority of Republicans in the upper chamber.