House office promoting diversity shuttered

 The House Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) was disbanded this week as part of a government spending bill passed earlier this month, the office’s president, Sesha Joi Moon, told CNN. It’s the latest blow to the DEI movement, which has come under mounting criticism from Republicans over the past several years.

“The elimination of the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion is a tremendous loss, not only for the U.S. House of Representatives, but for the advancement of equity and opportunity in America overall,” Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said in a statement to The Hill.

Beatty, the first-ever chair of the Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion, has been a strong proponent of DEI practices as limitations on the programs have spread throughout the country.

Janet Stovall, Global Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at NeuroLeadership Institute, said focus on these programs picked up in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, an event that led to wider discussions involving representation in the workforce, among other issues.

But the effort to promote DEI programs also sparked backlash, especially from the right, members of whom argue that they push a divisive left-wing agenda under the guise of advocating for inclusion.

Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) last year introduced a bill to abolish ODI, saying it promoted “cultural Marxism” in the workplace.

“These offices start with the premise that white people are inheritably racist and oppressive,” he said at the time. “The House of Representatives does not need bureaucrats promoting this divisive ideology.”

High-profile Republicans across the country have similarly criticized DEI programs, turning it into a political weapon for the second straight election cycle in a row.

The dissolution of the office comes as Republican lawmakers in more than 30 states have introduced or passed more than 100 bills this legislative session to either restrict or regulate DEI initiatives, according to an NBC News analysis.

Last May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill into law banning the state’s public colleges and universities from spending money on DEI programs.

“If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,” DeSantis said at the time.

And, after the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to overturn affirmative action, 13 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to Fortune 100 corporations warning them to refrain from using racial preferences in hiring and promotion decisions.

Meanwhile, in December, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) garnered scrutiny when he said that the signing of diversity statements as part of the hiring process were “bordering on evil” and that his state would no longer have “diversity statements that you have to sign to get hired.”

Cox later said his comments were taken out of context by the media and stressed that he supported diversity.

https://thehill.com/homenews/race-politics/4564129-dei-advocates-sound-alarm-house-office-diversity/