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North Carolina’s Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have given the Department of Education until Friday to say whether officials will punish the state for its controversial HB2 law by withholding federal funds from public schools and universities.

All 10 GOP representatives from the Tar Heel state signed a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of Education John King, saying they are “troubled by the threat . . . (to) withhold federal funding from North Carolina in response to the enforcement of House Bill 2.”

North Carolina receives about $4.5 billion from the federal government annually in education funding.

Their letter asserts that North Carolina’s new law – which, among other things, prohibits transgender people from using bathrooms that don’t correspond to their birth sex – does not violate the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or Title IX regulations, which aim to ensure equality in public schools.

The Republicans sent the letter to King the same day that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch – a North Carolina native – condemned HB2 as discriminatory. Lynch’s Department of Justice and the state of North Carolina, in an effort led by Gov. Pat McCrory, are now suing each other over the issue.

For weeks, opponents to HB2 have warned that the law jeopardizes federal funding for schools, roads and other programs due to federal officials previously ruling that laws protecting people from discrimination based on sex include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

The Republicans’ letter rejects that claim, saying congressional intent with the Civil Rights Act and Title IX was not to “protect an individual’s internal sense of gender instead of his or her biological sex.” They accuse federal officials of trying to “rewrite current law” or redefining the terms of anti-discrimination laws.

The letter asks King to respond by Friday with “immediate assurances that (King is not) directing or otherwise condoning any efforts . . . to curtail federal funds designated for North Carolina.”

The signatories were U.S. Reps. Richard Hudson, Mark Walker, David Rouzer, George Holding, Renee Ellmers, Mark Meadows, Virginia Foxx, Robert Pittenger, Walter Jones and Patrick McHenry.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article76715077.html