'Discrimination With A Fancy Acronym': James Comer Condemns DEI Practices

last year

At a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) spoke about DEI.

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Transcript

00:00Let them shut those doors.

00:10This hearing of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability will come to order.

00:13I want to welcome everyone here.

00:16Without objection, the Chair may declare a recess at any time.

00:19I now recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening statement.

00:23I want to welcome everyone to this hearing before the Committee on Oversight.

00:29In recent years, diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI initiatives, have become a divisive

00:34subject in U.S. businesses, educational institutions, state legislatures, and here in Congress.

00:40Unfortunately, many of these initiatives, which many assume simply promote equal opportunity,

00:46have in some cases become integrated into employment practices to a point where the

00:50civil rights of employees are violated.

00:53DEI in some forms means preferencing racial categories and disfavoring other racial categories.

01:01It's discrimination with a fancy acronym.

01:05Racial discrimination is wrong, it's immoral, and it's illegal in the employment context.

01:12Next Tuesday, July 2nd, we will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the enactment of the

01:15Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.

01:19Article 7 of that law makes it an unlawful employment practice to discriminate in hiring

01:25or against employees once on the job because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

01:33When employers systematically implement employment practices that discriminate on the basis of

01:39race, it doesn't matter that it's stretched up in a fancy acronym like DEI.

01:45The law says that's illegal racial discrimination.

01:50And it's illegal whether the victim of that discriminatory practice is white, black, Native

01:56American, or any other racial category.

01:59All one needs to do is review the disclosures of many Fortune 500 companies to witness the

02:03implementation of literal racial quotas in hiring and promotion.

02:11Hiring managers and executives are encouraged by their companies to institute hiring quotas

02:15on the basis of race or face cuts to their compensation or incentives.

02:21Can you imagine the disgust of those who crafted the Civil Rights Act to find out that 60 years

02:25later some of the largest and wealthiest companies are still not just implementing but publicly

02:31celebrating the racial discrimination at their companies?

02:36State attorneys general have called out companies advancing such discriminatory practices such

02:40as, quote, explicit racial quotas and preferences in hiring, recruiting, retention, promotion,

02:46and advancement, end quote.

02:49They also have recognized those practices to include, quote, race-based contracting

02:54practices such as racial preferences and quotas in selecting suppliers, providing overt preferential

03:00treatment to customers on the basis of race, and pressuring contractors to adopt the company's

03:05racially discriminatory quotas and preferences, end quote.

03:10I will enter the attorney general July 13, 2023 letter into the record with unanimous

03:18consent, without objection, so ordered.

03:21The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, the federal agency responsible for

03:26enforcing federal laws against illegal racial discrimination and harassment in all types

03:30of work situations, should stand up for the rule of law and investigate such practices

03:37at U.S. companies.

03:39The EEOC should also reiterate the plain language of Title VII, prohibiting racial discrimination

03:45in everything it does, through guidance, public statements, data collection, litigation, or

03:52otherwise.

03:53Yet, under the Biden administration, the EEOC has demonstrated a pattern of public activity

03:58inconsistent with the law.

04:02And when presented with evidence of discriminatory practices at companies, the EEOC appears to

04:07have taken no action at all.

04:09In the worst cases, EEOC appears to have filed amicus briefs actually defending the ability

04:15of companies to engage in racially discriminatory practices.

04:20We are encouraged that EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas has been outspoken in support of the

04:24law, arguing correctly that the Title VII is violated if race was at all part of the

04:30motivation for an employment decision.

04:34On March 1st, 2024, I wrote the EEOC, along with the subcommittee chairman, Pat Fallon

04:39from Texas, seeking a briefing and documents and information to conduct oversight of this

04:44matter.

04:45Since that time, I've been alarmed as well with EEOC redefining sex discrimination through

04:52guidance in a way that will jeopardize the rights of men and women in the workplace.

04:57On April 29th, 2024, the EEOC issued an updated Workplace Harassment Enforcement Guidance,

05:02its first since 1999.

05:05This includes new language requiring employers to permit male employees to use female changing

05:10areas in bathrooms.

05:13Many states immediately sued the EEOC after the issuance of the new guidance on the grounds

05:17of government overreach, and those states seek injunctions to prevent its implementation.

05:24EEOC Commissioner Lucas has called out the new guidance for effectively eliminating single-sex

05:29workplace facilities, in addition to intruding on the right of freedom of speech and belief.

05:35Thank you to the witnesses appearing here today, and I now yield to Ranking Member Ocasio-Cortez

05:41for her opening remarks.

05:43Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.

05:46Thank you.

'Discrimination With A Fancy Acronym': James Comer Condemns DEI Practices

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