A sitting Republican lawmaker from South Carolina is under fire after videos resurfaced showing his apparent support for diversity, equity and inclusion in the halls of Congress.
In recently resurfaced videos from 2021, Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., is heard touting his support and promotion of DEI in a hearing titled “Recruiting, Empowering, and Retaining a Diverse Congressional Staff.”
“Since the establishment of this committee, we have made staff retention and diversity a top priority,” Timmons said. “When we talk about modernizing Congress, we're not just talking about updating technology in the House, we're talking about investing in and developing a talented, diverse workforce that accurately reflects the communities we represent.”
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Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 17. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Timmons argued that DEI should influence the hiring process in the offices of members of Congress and that “each member's office should be representative of the people they represent.”
“I want to start with a goal. So, in my opinion, our goal should be that every member position… well, let's start with Congress,” the South Carolina Republican said. “Congress should be representative of the country and then, within Congress, each member's office should be representative of the people he represents.”
“So it should be diverse based on race, gender, geography, socioeconomic background, lifestyle, and it should be proportional based on the population that they represent,” Timmons said. “Can we start there?”
Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on September 30, 2021. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Following the resurfaced video, Timmons wrote on X Saturday that the clips were “selectively edited and taken out of context.” When Fox News Digital reached out to Timmons' office for comment, a spokesperson directed attention to the tweet.
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“One thing we should all agree on is that Congress would be better served if it were not staffed by DC members' children who grew up in the swamp. Someone from upstate South Carolina should have the same opportunity. serve in our nation's capital as someone from Arlington, VA,” Timmons wrote.
“The 2019 ModCom recommendation (which was unanimously approved) has nothing to do with the 2024 DEI,” Timmons said. “The purpose of the recommendation has been distorted by former Speaker Pelosi and woke up Democrats, and our Republican majority has now appropriately defunded it in this year's budget.”
Timmons said he has “always advocated” for ability-based hiring.
“I have always advocated hiring the best and brightest, which is clearly not the same as implementing quotas,” he said. “I fully believe DEI is un-American and have opposed it at every turn. I will continue to reject the woke agenda of the radical left.”
South Carolina State Rep. Adam Morgan is running against Rep. Williams Timmons. (Adam Morgan for Congress)
Timmons' rival and South Carolina state Rep. Adam Morgan told Fox News Digital that his opponents' apparent support for DEI is “appalling” and “un-American.”
“It's appalling that my opponent, a presumptive Republican, supports anti-American indoctrination and racist affirmative action quotas, and even wants taxpayers to fund it,” Morgan said.
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“Meanwhile, I've been working to get this leftist indoctrination out of the classrooms and to cut funding to the universities that drive these discriminatory practices. He's all bad in the swamp. The difference between us is stark: he works for the left, I oppose them.”
