Pressley Amendment to Ban Segregationist Policies Was Opposed by Republicans

Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – Today, in a House Oversight Committee markup, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) blasted Republicans for advancing the Reorganizing Government Act, legislation that would, among other things, allow the president to eliminate and reorganize agencies into “executive departments” and enable those executive departments to roll back civil rights protections.

Congresswoman Pressley introduced an amendment to the bill that would explicitly ban those executive departments from enacting segregationist policies, which Republicans opposed. The Congresswoman’s amendment follows the Trump Administration’s reversal of a decades-old policy that prohibited federal contractors from having segregated facilities.

A transcript of the Congresswoman’s remarks in support of her amendment to the Reorganizing Government Act is available below and the video is available here.

Transcript: Pressley Blasts Republicans for Advancing Bill to Enable Segregation, Dismantle Government

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

March 25, 2025

REP. PRESSLEY: This should be a simple and unanimous addition to this bill. It reads, ”rule of construction, nothing in this Act may be construed to allow an executive department to enact a policy that supports racial segregation.” There should be no debate about whether our government should be able to implement segregationist policies. But without this amendment, nothing stops an administration from using reorganization powers to roll back civil rights. 

Now I represent a diverse and beautiful district, the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District, where people at town halls in my district, this last in district work period, genuinely expressed concern that our country is moving backwards. 

Trump’s slogan, Make America Great Again. Begs the question, when exactly is he talking about? What year does Donald Trump want to return to? I’d like to know. 

I can venture a guess based on many actions, which I’ll enumerate shortly. But let’s take a moment to revisit Donald Trump’s origins and his track record. 

Donald Trump was born in the 1940s and raised under Jim Crow, a time when laws were codified to give him an advantage with the segregation of schools, businesses and public spaces, and when he started taking control of his dad’s real estate businesses a few years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Trump made front page news when he was sued for discriminating against Black families who applied for housing. 

60 years later, he is still making front page news for racial discrimination. Just last week, the Trump Administration revoked a decades-old policy that prohibited federal contractors from having segregated facilities. 

Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record this New York Times article from March 21, 2025 titled “Trump administration dropped policy prohibiting contractors from having segregated facilities.”

CHAIR COMER: Without objection so ordered. 

REP. PRESSLEY:  All right, y’all now, let that sink in. This administration, this administration just made it easier for businesses to reintroduce white only waiting rooms, white only bathrooms and white only water fountains in the year 2025.

But this isn’t just about one policy change. It’s about a broader coordinated assault on civil rights to take America back to Jim Crow. 

Trump has appointed judges that don’t support the Brown v. Board of Education decision, an obvious opening for a return to segregated schools. 

Trump is dismantling the Department of Education as we speak, to prevent access to equal education and upend more than 300 active civil rights cases in my district alone.

Trump has overturned executive orders from the 1960s including one signed in 1965 that mandated equal opportunity for people of color in the recruitment, hiring, and training of federal contractors. 

Trump has even removed Black history from government websites, including the Department of Defense. 

He is literally trying to prevent people from learning about Black veterans and their contributions and sacrifices in this country. 

I could go on, but we would be here until tomorrow. 

And listen, I will be the first to acknowledge Democrats, Republicans alike, have a bad history on this issue, but today, only one party is acknowledging that shameful legacy, while the Republicans remain silent, deafeningly so. 

So I will give everyone here a chance to clarify. This vote is simple. 

Are you against racial segregation? This is your chance to go on the record if you are in fact, opposed to racial segregation, let’s ensure that no administration, present or future, can support policies of segregation. 

Clearly, Donald Trump, your president, or perhaps your king, does support segregation because Donald Trump was born in, benefited from, and wants to return to a segregated society. 

I urge passage of my amendment.

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