Squad member stunned into excruciating silence after baby-faced Republican stifles her constitutional crusade

By CHASE HOPE, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Published: 21:49, 14 July 2026 | Updated: 21:52, 14 July 2026 Texas Congressman Brandon Gill, a staunchly conservative Republican, quietly took apart a Squad member's plan to place a new amendment in the US Constitution during a Tuesday congressional hearing on DEI. Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts has introduced a resolution that would resurrect a controversial 1970s attempt to explicitly attach equal rights for women to the country's foundational legal document. Gill's opposition echoed a conservative fear that the initiative could legally allow individual gender identity to be the legal definition of sex, meaning transgender individuals could enter women's bathrooms or play women's sports, something Republicans have vociferously opposed. 'Every Democrat in the House has signed on to my bill, but I'm still waiting for my Republican colleagues to join,' Pressley said during the hearing.  'I'd be happy to look at your equal rights amendment,' Gill, currently the youngest House Republican, told Pressley a few minutes later. 'I guess my biggest question is, does it define what a woman is?' Pressley was quiet for several seconds as Gill's lips twitched. 'I look forward to your signing on,' Pressley said, twice, not answering the question. 'We'll take a look at it,' Gill repeated with a grin, adding that he had just been hoping for some 'clarity.' Gill during a congressional hearing last March Pressley speaks during a press conference in Minneapolis in January Pressley is a member of the informal, left-wing 'Squad' in the House of Representatives A majority of states ratified the Equal Rights Amendment over 40 years ago, but the required 75 percent did not approve it before a deadline set by Congress. Pressley's resolution would abolish this deadline, maintaining that since additional states have now ratified the ERA, it should be considered binding.  A vote was not taken on Tuesday and it is unclear whether Pressley's amendment will receive a full hearing in a Republican-controlled House.  Polling has tended to show wide public support for the ERA.  Though the amendment's text may appear innocuous - 'Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex' - some conservatives, including women, staunchly oppose it. Inez Feltscher Stepman, one of the witnesses testifying at the hearing, told the Daily Mail she thought Pressley's proposed amendment was 'very radical.'  Stepman, a policy and legal analyst for nonprofit Independent Women, said she was concerned that the ERA would obliterate all legal distinctions between men and women. She says it is a good thing that laws can recognize 'that men and women are biologically different.'  'I don't think that [the ERA] has anything to do with true equal rights for women, which we already enjoy.' Some existing federal laws, such as Title VII and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Pay Act, prohibit certain kinds of sex discrimination. Stepman's organization published an article several years ago suggesting that the ERA could threaten woman-specific guarantees, such as additional health insurance for expecting mothers and state-level maternity leave programs. If the ERA abolishes all legal distinctions between men and women, the article argues, programs like this would disappear.  Activist Phyllis Schlafly, pictured in 2007, helped lead the conservative movement that prevented the original Equal Rights Amendment from being ratified Earlier in the hearing, Pressley had pressed the witnesses to affirm that they thought women should have equal rights under the law, and Stepman had answered she thought women already did. Pressley, who joins Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, New York's Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Minnesota's Ilhan Omar as members of the House's ultra-progressive 'Squad,' argued that women continue to face discrimination, citing statistics about gender wage gaps and decrying the GOP's anti-DEI agenda as being 'anti-woman.' Pressley's office did not respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment.  Gill has previously drawn attention for his questions during congressional testimony. In April, he had a sharp social media exchange with Democrat Representative Shri Thanedar after Gill asked a pro-choice lawyer what her 'favorite type of abortion' was.  He has also generated controversy with sharp criticisms of Islam and been accused of racism, most recently after posting a picture for a campaign ad that included his children but not his wife Danielle, whose father Dinesh D'Souza is ethnically Indian. Gill characterized the accusations of racism as a Democratic rhetorical tactic.