06.16.21

Senate Republicans Fight To Prevent Democrats’ Critical Race Theory Push From Gaining A Foothold In American Society

As School Boards Influenced By Radical Activists Increasingly Look To Adopt Critical Race Theory And The 1619 Project, Republicans In Congress Are Taking A Stand Against This ‘Divisive Propaganda’ While Prominent Democrats Deny It’s Even A Problem

 

SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER MITCH McCONNELL (R-KY): “Take the massive spending package Democrats rammed through in the name of COVID relief. The spending was billed as urgent, but its authors apparently had time to bake in a provision directing relief funds to restaurants on the basis of race and sex, and another directing funds to farmers on the basis of race. We’re talking about blatantly unconstitutional discrimination. Fortunately, the independent judiciary has stepped in to stop it. Over the last few weeks, multiple federal courts have struck down these provisions, including an appeals panel led by Judge Amul Thapar from my home state of Kentucky. But these are hardly the only instances in which Washington Democrats have tried to impose their own radical preferences on ordinary Americans.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 6/15/2021)

  • “[Soon] the Senate will vote on the nomination of Kiran Ahuja, President Biden’s choice to serve as head of the Office of Personnel Management. This is the position responsible for making hiring, payroll, and training decisions that affect millions of federal employees. The President’s nominee has made statements expressing sympathy for the discredited, ahistorical claims about our nation’s origins that form the backbone of so-called ‘critical race theory’. One major organization of federal employees expressed its concern about the nominee’s capacity for, quote, ‘neutrality, fairness, and impartiality.’ I share those concerns, and will be voting against the Ahuja nomination.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 6/15/2021)
  • “Still elsewhere in the Biden Administration, efforts to subvert the basic understanding of our founding principles are already well underway. The Department of Education’s latest ‘proposed priorities’ run roughshod over existing history and civics programs – established with bipartisan support – in order to push critical race theory on public school students and keep pace with ‘woke’ sensibilities. American students deserve a rock-solid civics education, grounded in facts. Not divisive propaganda that tells them they’re little more than a product of their racial background. That’s the basis of new legislation I was proud to help introduce this week: Schools that choose to trade in fact-based curricula for activist propaganda like the 1619 Project forfeit their right to receive federal education grant funding for those teachings.” (Sen. McConnell, Remarks, 6/15/2021)

 

A Prominent Democrat, Former DNC Chair And Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, Recently Dismissed Objections To Critical Race Theory As ‘Made Up’ And ‘A Conspiracy Theory’

“The Virginia Democratic nominee for governor is dismissing as a ‘right-wing conspiracy’ the concerns that many have raised about racial trainings and curricula in the state. In audio obtained by Fox News, [Former Gov. Terry] McAuliffe [D-VA] blames the ongoing controversy – which has exploded school board meetings – on his opponent Glenn Youngkin and former President Trump. ‘That's another right-wing conspiracy,’ he said. ‘This is totally made up by Donald Trump and Glenn Youngkin. This is who they are. It's a conspiracy theory.’” (“Terry McAuliffe Calls Critical Race Theory Concerns A ‘Right-Wing Conspiracy,’” Fox News, 6/14/2021)

“Once an obscure topic among academics, CRT and its associated ideas have featured prominently in political discussions over the past several months.” (“Terry McAuliffe Calls Critical Race Theory Concerns A ‘Right-Wing Conspiracy,’” Fox News, 6/14/2021)

  • “Among other things, Virginia state employees have proposed eliminating accelerated math courses and advanced diplomas. Beyond that, residents have alleged that critical race theory (CRT) is infiltrating various aspects of the educational system, such as its social-emotional learning standards. Various advocates on the left have attempted to deny that CRT influenced material in places like Loudoun County. Although Loudoun's superintendent has denied teaching CRT, a public records request and one of its school board member's comments indicated that the ideology influenced staff and policymaking.” (“Terry McAuliffe Calls Critical Race Theory Concerns A ‘Right-Wing Conspiracy,’” Fox News, 6/14/2021)

 

But Voters Clearly Don’t Agree, With A Recent Survey Showing Large Majorities Opposed To Teaching Key Aspects Of Critical Race Theory To Students

According to a recent poll of active voters:

  • “74% [of respondents] said they were somewhat or strongly opposed to teaching students that white people are inherently privileged and black and other people of color are inherently oppressed. Similarly, only 6% of respondents favored schools assigning white students the status of ‘privileged’ and non-white students the status of ‘oppressed’ – versus 88% opposed, including 78% strongly opposed.”
  • “69% opposed schools teaching that America was founded on racism and is structurally racist.

 

Republicans In Congress Are Joining Together To Oppose Funding For Schools That Choose To Teach ‘Debunked Activist Propaganda’ Like The New York Times’ 1619 Project

“House and Senate Republicans introduced bills on Monday that would bar federal funds from being used to teach The New York Times’ ‘1619 Project.’ … [T]he bills reflect mounting opposition to efforts to form school curriculums with the newspaper series, which reframed U.S. history with a focus on slavery and racism as the defining characteristic of the American experience…. The series … has been criticized for its historic inaccuracies and viewpoint that America is intrinsically racist. The ‘1619 Project’ claimed, among other things, that a motivation of some of the Founding Fathers to fight the American Revolution was to preserve slavery. The project also argued that the year of America’s beginning should not be considered 1776 but 1619 when the slave trade arrived in the colonies.” (“Republicans Introduce Bills To Strip Federal Funds From Schools That Teach The ‘1619 Project,’” The Washington Times, 6/14/2021)

LEADER McCONNELL: “High-quality civics education is vital to the health of our democracy. Debunked activist propaganda that seeks to divide has no place in American classrooms and no right to taxpayer funding. I’m proud to join in sponsoring this legislation on behalf of our youngest citizens and generations yet to come.” (Sen. Cotton, Press Release, 6/14/2021)

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): “Activists in schools want to teach our kids to hate America and hate each other using discredited, Critical Race Theory curricula like the 1619 Project. Federal funds should not pay for activists to masquerade as teachers and indoctrinate our youth.” (Sen. Cotton, Press Release, 6/14/2021)

SEN. JOHN BOOZMAN (R-AR): “The heart of the 1619 Project’s central claim and key parts of its framework have been disputed by respected scholars and historians, and rightfully so. It has no business in our classrooms in Arkansas and across the country. This misguided and academically suspect curriculum represents the exact opposite of what we should be encouraging educators to instruct and promote – accurate and contextual understanding of our past along with the importance of civic engagement, cooperation and the significance of the shared values that set our country apart and above.” (Sen. Cotton, Press Release, 6/14/2021)

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): “American schools should be a place for education—not indoctrination. The 1619 Project is based on a false narrative … The Saving American History Act ensures that taxpayer funding will not subsidize the brainwashing of our nation’s future.” (Sen. Cotton, Press Release, 6/14/2021)

SEN. CYNTHIA LUMMIS (R-WY): “The 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory are efforts to rewrite the history of our country, ignoring the many things that have made America great. I’m proud to work with my colleague Tom Cotton to keep taxpayer dollars from funding this.” (Sen. Cotton, Press Release, 6/14/2021)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): “I have significant concerns with the Department of Education’s recent effort to reorient the bipartisan American History and Civics Education programs away from their intended purposes towards a politicized and divisive agenda. Americans do not want their tax dollars going towards promoting radical ideologies meant to divide us instead of being used to promote the principles that unite our nation. Our students deserve a rigorous understanding of civics and American history, to understand both our successes and failures as a nation. I do not support diverting tax-payer resources towards promoting ideological and misleading depictions of our Nation’s history and I am proud to work on this important legislation with my colleagues to address this issue.” (Sen. Cotton, Press Release, 6/14/2021)

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): “When done right, education is the key to freedom. By expediting the use of the 1619 Project, our schools are coming perilously close to cementing existing inequality, rather than giving kids the chance to escape it. The U.S. government should not spend a single taxpayer dollar to teach children to dislike their country. I’m proud to cosponsor this legislation so that our schools can encourage the open debate of ideas and teach important morals to our students.” (Sen. Cotton, Press Release, 6/14/2021)

 

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SENATE REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS CENTER

Related Issues: Regulations, Nominations, Education