Tipsheet

'Disgusting Ideology': Brandon Gill Blasts DEI Policies in Joint Committee Hearing

Julia Cassidy
Julia Cassidy  |  July 14, 2026 4:45 PM

Republican Rep. Brandon Gill (TX-26) blasted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and their damaging effects in a Tuesday hearing before the Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses. The hearing exposed the racial favoritism still festering within higher education and companies, and reminded Americans that the Left still doesn't know what a woman is. 

"Civil rights leader of the 1950s and 60s fought tirelessly in the pursuit...to ensure that America would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. DEI has become a euphemism for Marxist ideology, which seeks to undo those very efforts," said Gill. He went on to discuss the illegality of DEI policies, citing Supreme Court rulings and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits "unlawful employment practices that discriminate against an individual because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." 

The Supreme Court struck down race-based admissions in 2023, and President Trump has signed multiple executive orders around the abolition of DEI, including one that required federal contractors, including universities, to certify that they do not engage in "racially discriminatory DEI activities," otherwise their contracts and grants will be terminated. The problem, however, is that universities are quietly rebranding their DEI programs to evade federal scrutiny, while continuing to "racially categorize and then discriminate against individuals," as Gill explained. 

One moment in particular exposed how DEI is still practiced in academia. Gill questioned Inez Feltscher Stepman, a senior policy and legal analyst for Independent Women and Independent Women’s Law Center, asking which races are least preferable to college and university admissions processes. 

"Whites, men, and Asians...there might actually be a bit of reverse discrimination going on against women now, too, because women so predominate universities, but yes, Whites and Asians primarily." When asked why these races are discriminated against, she explained that universities are "at war with the reality of disparities." "If you want to have a quota that comes out perfectly racially balanced at the end, the only way these universities are able to achieve that is by discriminating on the basis of race and sex in their admissions," she said. 

Gill pressed various companies on their specific DEI policies, specifically their racial quotas, pointing out their illegality.

Democrat Rep. Ayanna Pressley (MA-7) also tried to have a "gotcha" moment during the hearing, asking Gill to sign onto her "Equal Rights Amendment," if he is committed to ending discrimination under the law. "I'd be happy to take a look at it," Gill said. "My biggest question would be, does it define what a woman is?" 

The hearing took place on the same day that the Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing on the use of DEI in medical school admissions processes at UCLA, UCSF, and the University of Illinois. While the Trump Administration has made moves to end DEI, administrators are finding ways to quietly skirt the law and continue discriminating and implementing racial quotas. The work to end DEI is far from over, as these hearings revealed.