{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/icymi-grassley-leads-senate-judiciary-republicans-in-standing-with-female-athletes-against-biological-men-in-womens-sports", "ICYMI: Grassley Leads Senate Judiciary Republicans in Standing with Female Athletes Against Biological Men in Women\u2019s Sports", "2026-09-23", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "Senate", "IA", "Chuck Grassley", "G000386", "www.grassley.senate.gov", "grassley", "https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) co-hosted a press conference alongside Senate Judiciary Republicans and female athletes and advocates following today\u2019s committee hearing on empowering and protecting women in sports.\n\nSixty-six percent of U.S. adults favor a law or policy that would require transgender athletes to compete on teams that match their sex at birth. Despite this overwhelming support from the American public, every Democrat member of the Judiciary Committee refused to fully participate in today\u2019s hearing. Democrats called no witnesses and asked no questions.\n\n\u201cDemocrats love to claim they are the party that supports women. But today they didn\u2019t bother to bring a single witness to listen and engage with the concerns that athletes and scientists are raising about men playing in women\u2019s sports. These women deserve to have their stories heard,\u201d Grassley said. \u201cFemale athletes need our support.\u201d\n\n\u201cWomen and girls deserve fair competition in their sports, and privacy in their locker rooms. It was a historic moment, to see this issue come to such a huge platform, but it was also incredibly distressing to see that the Democrat senators were so dismissive of young women who are suffering across the country today,\u201d said Marshi Smith, cofounder of the Independent Council on Women\u2019s Sports (ICONS). \u201cThere are huge threats to women\u2019s sports. Adults need to stand up in leadership positions and do something about it.\u201d\n\nGrassley was joined at the press conference by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) and Darline Graham (R-S.C.), as well as the following athletes and advocates:\n\nMarshi Smith and Kim Jones, cofounders of ICONS\n\nCarly Smolak, a retired professional women\u2019s soccer player and U.S. Australian Football League national champion\n\nBriley Lechner, a high school volleyball player\n\nJeff Moravec, a father of an impacted female athlete\n\nMatt Sharp, Vice President of Public Policy at Alliance Defending Freedom\n\nLainey Armistead, a former NCAA soccer player and intervenor in the landmark Supreme Court victory for female athletes, Little v. Hecox\n\nKendall Kotzmacher, an NCAA softball player\n\nAngie Griffin, a U.S. Masters swimmer\n\nVideo and a transcript of Grassley\u2019s remarks follow.\n\nVIDEO\n\nI welcome you all to this press conference.\n\nAs you\u2019ve just heard at our hearing, the dangers biological men pose to women\u2019s sports are very real \u2013 very real dangers.\n\nFemale athletes need our support.\n\nWithout action, we\u2019re putting an entire generation of young women at risk.\n\nUltimately, this is an issue that comes down to safety and comes down to real commonsense.\n\nYou\u2019re in a part of our country, D.C., where it\u2019s surrounded by reality \u2013 if you wonder what\u2019s wrong with Washington, D.C.\n\nDemocrats love to claim they are the party that supports women.\n\nBut today they didn\u2019t even bother to bring a single witness to listen and engage with these concerned athletes that testified and were otherwise in attendance.\n\nThese witnesses and the people in attendance all raised the issue of men, and the dangers of men playing in women\u2019s sports, but mostly about the unfairness of it.\n\nThese women deserve to have their stories heard. That\u2019s why we\u2019re here today.\n\nI commend the brave athletes and advocates who often risk precious contracts and face public blowback for just simply speaking out and exercising their right under the first amendment of freedom of speech.\n\nSo, please know that you have this senator\u2019s support.", 1, "2026-09-24T09:44:48Z", "2026-09-24T09:45:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/icymi-grassley-leads-senate-judiciary-republicans-in-standing-with-female-athletes-against-biological-men-in-womens-sports"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.466698944568634, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}