Congresswoman Nancy Mace has introduced a new bill that seeks to ban transgender females from using the women’s restroom at the Capitol. The move comes as Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride, who recently made history as the first transgender woman to be elected to Congress, prepares to head to Washington in the new term.

“Letting biological men in our spaces is not only an invasion of privacy. It puts our safety at risk too,” Ms. Mace wrote on X, responding to a post on the bill from Ian Miles Cheong, a Malaysian right-wing influencer who frequently comments on American politics.

“McBride, a biological male, does not get a say in women’s private spaces,” she wrote in a separate post on X.

In a statement of her own posted to X, Ms. McBride insinuated that perhaps she was being targeted by Republican lawmakers.

“Every day Americans go to work with people who have life journeys different than their own and engage with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster that same kindness,” she wrote.

“This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing. We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and childcare, not manufacturing culture wars.”

Ms. Mace’s resolutions would prohibit members of the house and other staffers from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex,” according to Axios. The proposal has had mixed reactions on Capitol Hill.

Republican Speaker of the House Johnson told the website, “We’re going to talk about that. We’re working on the issue.”

Democrats expressed their outrage, including Congresswoman Becca Balint of Vermont.

“The cruelty is the point. Is that what we want the sergeant-at-arms to be doing when we had an attack on the freaking Capitol,” she said, referring to who would oversee enforcing the mandate.

“I think we have a lot of problems in America; I don’t think spending time worrying about the restrooms is an order of priority here,” said Congressman Joe Morelle of New York, who also sits on the House Administration Committee. 

“I think Nancy Mace should focus on other things.”