Republicans are standing against a bill that aims to make hair discrimination a federal crime. The CROWN Act, legislation designed to protect Black people from being punished for their hairstyles at work or school, needed a two-thirds majority vote to pass the House on Monday. However, only 15 Republicans supported the bill, which failed with a 235-188 vote, Patch reports.

New Jersey Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who authored the bill, said Republicans are fueling a climate of “division and obstruction.”

“Even though the exact same bill passed on a voice vote without objection in 2020, House Republicans have chosen to give into the climate of division and obstruction, and block the CROWN Act, a bill meant to end race-based hair discrimination, on the final day of Black History Month,” Coleman said in a statement, according to Patch.

The bill, which will now return to the House, can still pass with a simple majority, according to NJ.com.

“Despite this temporary setback — and while I regret that Republicans chose to miss an opportunity to show unity against race-based discrimination — we will bring the CROWN Act back and pass it with a simple majority,” Coleman said.

Coleman said Black people continue to face discrimination because their hair does not “conform to White beauty standards.” She adds that “Black students are disproportionately suspended for unapproved hairstyles.”

A high-profile incident unfolded in New Jersey in 2019, when high school wrestler Andrew Johnson was forced to cut his locs before a match. New Jersey passed a bill against hair discrimination after Johnson’s case caused outrage across the country.

Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) joined Coleman to speak out in support of the CROWN Act.

“We won’t allow Republican antics to stand in the way of Black people having the right to live as their authentic selves,” the congresswomen said, according to HuffPost.

Rep. Jim Jordan (D-OH) opposed the CROWN Act, saying “this bill does not address any of the problems our country currently faces.”

“Democrats are prioritizing this legislation, a bill to prohibit conduct already unlawful under law, for political messaging reasons,” the Republican said, according to Patch.

As Blavity previously reported, several states have passed the CROWN Act in recent years. Advocates now hope to see the bill as a federal law.

“Our natural hair is as innate a quality of Black people as the presence of melanin in our skin,” Coleman said, HuffPost reports. “Discriminating against our hair is no different than discriminating against the color of our skin.”