Congressional Republicans continue to take on the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) apparatus in the public sector, now setting their sights on eliminating the Office of Diversity and Inclusion in the House of Representatives.
Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.V.), who is a candidate in the 2024 race for the West Virginia U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, has introduced a bill to shut the office down. No Democrats have signed on as co-sponsors.
“The House voted to eliminate all diversity and inclusion offices at the Pentagon in the National Defense Authorization Act,” Mr. Mooney said in a statement his office released. “The House should abide by the same standards we set for federal agencies across the government, which is why I have introduced this resolution to eliminate the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion.”
DEI, an organizational framework that its supporters say is necessary to be implemented and administered to ensure that all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and religious views are represented fairly in the workplace, military, and schools.
Republicans and conservatives have called out to opposed DEI, maintaining that such protections are already included in existing laws while the DEI system is undercuts rewarding deserving individuals for their ability, hard work, and achievement in order to prioritize the DEI mission of meeting quotas of people representing specific groups.
The DEI battle among Democrats and Republicans is well established, heated, and carried out at the highest levels.
In September of 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order to do away with DEI training in government agencies.
Joe Biden revoked Mr. Trump’s executive order on his first day in office as president.
The statement from Mr. Mooney’s office, on eliminating the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, also addressed broader cultural flashpoint issues, saying: “When House Democrats took back the majority from Republicans in 2019, they created the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) offices have become the latest woke liberal method of injecting cultural Marxism into the workplace.
“These offices start with the premise that white people are inheritably racist and oppressive. The House of Representatives does not need bureaucrats promoting this divisive ideology.”
Ongoing Conflict
Mr. Mooney’s action comes in the wake of the House passing, along partisan lines, a version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes amendments addressing hot-button culture war issues—among them eliminating DEI programs in the military.Following the NDAA vote, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said: “The military needs to be focused on readiness and lethality, and all these other things are distractors from that and harm our national security.”
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and members of the House Freedom Caucus speak on the debt limit deal outside of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 30, 2023. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The political lobby and organizations supporting DEI were dealt a loss and setback earlier this summer when the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for colleges and universities to factor in race when making decisions on admissions.
Across the United States, more than 30 bills have been filed in state legislatures to do away with DEI in public universities.
Florida governor and 2024 White House hopeful Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have also signed into law bills that do away with DEI in their states.
The representatives who co-signed as original sponsors to Mr. Mooney’s bill are Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.), Brian Babin (R-Texas), Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), Lauren Boebert (R-Co.), Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.).
