The House passed a measure broadly condemning anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred on today after remarks by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) unleashed a torrent of debate in the Democratic caucus, underlining tensions in the party.
The measure condemning “anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry” easily passed the lower chamber in a vote of 407-23.
The resolution states that “whether from the political right, center, or left, bigotry, discrimination, oppression, racism, and imputations of dual loyalty threaten American democracy and have no place in American political discourse.”
It also evokes white supremacist attacks in Charlottesville, Va., Charleston, S.C., and Pittsburgh as well as numerous attacks on Muslims and mosques.
The carefully-crafted measure — one Democratic aide called it a “kitchen sink resolution” — capped an emotional week for Democrats, who found themselves divided along racial and religious lines as they debated how to respond to Omar’s remarks.
The resolution’s all-inclusive approach disappointed some Jewish Democrats, who had pushed for a measure that would solely condemn anti-Semitism.
“We are having this debate because of the language one of our colleagues, language that suggests Jews like me who serve in the United States in Congress and whose father earned a purple heart fighting the Nazis in the Battle of the Bulge, that we are not loyal Americans,” Representative Ted Deutch, Democrat of Florida, said this morning on the House floor.
“Why are we unable to singularly condemn anti-Semitism?” Deutch asked. “Why can’t we call it anti-Semitism and show we’ve learned the lessons of history?”
Other Jewish Democrats were less critical.
Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the Budget Committee chairman, used the moment castigate Republicans seeking to drive a wedge between Jewish voters and their traditional political home, the Democratic Party.
“I know she now better understands the pain and history of the use of anti-Semitic tropes, as well as the weight of her words as a member of Congress,” Mr. Yarmuth said of Ms. Omar. “But the flood of sanctimony from Republicans who tacitly condone deliberate bigotry at the highest levels of their party and of this government is the height of hypocrisy.”
Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the third-ranking House GOP leader, joined nearly two dozen other Republicans in voting against the measure.
Reps. Lee Zeldin (N.Y.) and Louie Gohmert (Texas), who also voted against it, had delivered floor speeches lamenting that the language in the bill had been watered down to the point of taking away attention from Omar’s remarks.
The debate over anti-Semitism and bigotry has dominated discussion on Capitol Hill all week, overshadowing the Democrats’ agenda and giving Republicans an opening to attack the democracy reform bill while Democrats were busy fighting among themselves.
Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, has been fending off accusations of anti-Semitism for weeks.
But she herself has been the target of Islamophobic bigotry.
After leading Jewish lawmakers pushed for a resolution condemning anti-Semitism, liberals and African-American lawmakers pushed back, insisting that MOmar had been unfairly targeted and that any resolution had to condemn all types of bigotry.
“It’s not about her, it’s about these forms of hatred,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about the resolution.
The resolution grew out of Omar’s suggestion last week that pro-Israel activists were pushing “for allegiance to a foreign country” — a remark that infuriated leading Jewish members of the House, who say it played into the anti-Semitic trope of “dual loyalty.”
The vote on the measure comes just weeks after Omar apologized for tweeting that support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins baby,” a reference to $100 bills that critics said echoed a common anti-Semitic belief that Jewish money is controlling foreign policy.
Pelosi stopped short of asking for another apology from Omar, saying, “It’s up to her to explain. But I do not believe that she understood the full weight of her words.”