After several days of infighting and a near-rebellion
by rank-and-file Democrats, as well as a major last-minute
revision, the House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan
resolution that only indirectly condemned Minnesota Democratic Rep.
Ilhan Omar's repeated
'anti-Semitic' and 'pernicious' comments -- without mentioning her by name.
The
final vote was 407 to 23, with 23 Republicans voting no, and all
Democrats, including Omar, voting yes. Iowa GOP Rep. Steve King, who
faced his own bipartisan blowback for comments purportedly defending white nationalists, voted present.
The
final draft of the resolution was expanded Thursday afternoon to
condemn virtually all forms of bigotry, including white supremacy, in
what Republicans characterized as a cynical ploy to distract from Omar's
remarks. Texas Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert, speaking on the House
floor to announce that he would vote against the resolution, remarked,
"Now [the resolution] condemns just about everything. ... Hatred for
Israel is a special kind of hatred. It should never be watered down."
Gohmert
was joined in voting down the resolution by House Republican Conference
Chair Liz Cheney, as well as Reps. Lee Zeldin, Andy Biggs, Ken Buck,
Michael Conaway, Chris Collins, Mike Rogers, Paul Gosar, Pete King, Rick
Crawford, Ted Budd, Ted Yoho, Chip Roy, Dan Meuser, Jeff Duncan, Thomas
Massie, Doug LaMalfa, Tom Graves, Steve Palazzo, Greg Steube, Mo
Brooks, Mark Walker, and Michael Burgess.
“Today’s resolution vote
was a sham put forward by Democrats to avoid condemning one of their
own and denouncing vile anti-Semitism," Cheney said in a statement.
“While I stand whole heartedly against discrimination outlined in this
resolution, the language before the House today did not address the
issue that is front and center."
Cheney called Thursday "a sad
day for the House" and called for Omar's removal from the House Foreign
Affairs Committee, just as Republicans
stripped King of his committee assignments in
January. (The House did not specifically name King in a bipartisan
disapproval measure that followed his comments on white nationalism.)
And Rep. Zeldin, who is Jewish,
issued a fiery condemnation of the resolution on the House floor, calling it a "watered down" resolution that was both "spineless" and "disgusting."
The lead-up to the vote on the resolution to condemn all "forms of hatred" exposed a growing rift
between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the far-left
progressive freshman contingent -- including not only Omar, but also
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and others --
that has emerged as a major challenge to her control over the House.
During
debate on the House floor over the resolution, Rep. Ted Deutch, a
Florida Democrat, slammed his party's leaders for hesitating to sharply
condemn Omar, and remarked that supporting language condemning
anti-Semitism "shouldn’t be this hard."
"Why
are we unable to singularly condemn anti-Semitism?" Deutch asked. "It
feels like we're only able to call out the use of anti-Semitic language
by a colleague of ours -- any colleague of ours -- if we're addressing
all forms of hatred. It feels like we can't say it's anti-Semitism
unless everyone agrees it's anti-Semitism."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after speaking with
reporters during her weekly news conference Thursday on Capitol Hill.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Omar, peppered with reporters' questions as she left the House chamber following the vote, did not offer any comment.
Ocasio-Cortez, for her part, told Fox News that Democratic women of color "are being treated differently" and "targeted."
In a statement late Thursday, Omar, Tlaib, and Indiana Rep. Andre Carson called the vote "historic."
“Today
is historic on many fronts," the representatives said. "It’s the first
time we have voted on a resolution condemning Anti-Muslim bigotry in our
nation’s history. Anti-Muslim crimes have increased 99% from 2014-2016
and are still on the rise.
“We are tremendously proud to be part
of a body that has put forth a condemnation of all forms of bigotry
including anti-Semitism, racism, and white supremacy," the statement
continues. "At a time when extremism is on the rise, we must explicitly
denounce religious intolerance of all kinds and acknowledge the pain
felt by all communities. Our nation is having a difficult conversation
and we believe this is great progress.”
Tensions have run high
among Democrats in recent days. Apparently fed up with her party's
inability to come together to condemn anti-Semitism in the past week,
Pelosi reportedly even dropped her microphone and stormed out of a
meeting with junior Democrats on Wednesday, amid fierce disputes over
the planning and wording of the resolution.
And, on Thursday, Pelosi offered something of a strained excuse for the 37-year-old Omar, saying at a news conference, “I do not believe that she understood the full weight of the words.”
The
final text of the resolution reflected the Democrats' deep internal
divisions on the matter. It began by rejecting the "perpetuation of
anti-Semitic stereotypes in the United States and around the world,
including the pernicious myth of dual loyalty and foreign allegiance,
especially in the context of support for the United States-Israel
alliance."
Although the resolution stops short of using Omar's name, that provision was a transparent reference to her remarks
at a progressive Washington cafe last week, in which she suggested that
Israel supporters were pushing for U.S. politicians to declare
"allegiance" to Israel.
2020 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFULS CIRCLE THE WAGONS AROUND OMAR
The
accusation that Jewish politicians could be vulnerable to having "dual
loyalties" has been made for centuries in various contexts, and has been
seen widely as a religious-based attack intent on undermining their
leadership. Tlaib, who was seated next to Omar during her comments at
the cafe,
made a similar comment in January, tweeting that Senate Republicans were more loyal to Israel than to their own country.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., speaks at a news conference on
Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019, to unveil the
"Immediate Financial Relief for Federal Employees Act" bill which would
give zero interest loans for up to $6,000 to employees impacted by the
government shutdown and any future shutdowns. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
The resolution also “condemns anti-Semitic acts and
statements as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory
to the values that define the people of the United States.”
Last month, Omar ignited a bipartisan uproar across the country
when she suggested on Twitter that some members of Congress have been
paid by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to support Israel.
AIPAC is a nonprofit organization that works to influence U.S. policy.
("Let me be really clear," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a
Democrat, said. "Suggesting that support for Israel is beholden to a
foreign power is absolutely unacceptable and illogical too.")
Fox
News had been told the Democratic caucus was concerned about mentioning
Omar by name -- a non-starter for many members of the Congressional
Black Caucus. Two knowledgable sources said such a scenario could
increase security threats against Omar, who is Muslim.
But,
Democrats went to great lengths to broaden the resolution's focus far
beyond Omar's comments. A vote on the resolution was delayed briefly to
add a new clause condemning other forms of bigotry, reportedly in
response to concerns from members representing minority groups who felt
left out.
“I do not believe that she understood the full weight of the words.”
— House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on Ilhan Omar
Specifically,
the new clause stated: "Whereas white supremacists in the United States
have exploited and continue to exploit bigotry and weaponize hate for
political gain, targeting traditionally persecuted peoples, including
African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders and other people of color, Jews, Muslims, Hindus,
Sikhs, the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and others with verbal attacks,
incitement, and violence."
Conservative commentators mocked the
dramatic, seemingly limitless expansion of the language, with Ben
Shapiro writing, "This resolution must not pass until it includes
condemnation of hatred against the disabled."
The resolution also "condemns anti-Muslim discrimination and 23 bigotry
against all minorities as contrary to the values of the United States."
It further "encourages all public officials to confront the reality of
anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry, as well
as historical struggles against them, to ensure that the United States
will live up to the transcendent principles of tolerance, religious
freedom, and equal protection as embodied in the Declaration of
Independence and the first and amendments to the Constitution."
Many 2020 Democratic hopefuls, meanwhile,
lined up to support Omar -- including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Others have preferred to duck the issue.
Asked
about Omar at a news conference Thursday, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.,
insisted he wanted to hear only "on-topic" questions about unrelated
legislation -- then, receiving none, stop taking questions entirely.
Top Republicans, however, have said the line between fair criticism of Israel and outright bigotry clearly had been crossed.
"Yeah,
I can understand the settlement policy is being criticized," South
Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Thursday. "I
can understand sometimes the actions Israel takes are disproportionate.
But the point is, this wasn't about Israeli policy; it was about what
the Jews do -- that the Jews control the media, and the Jews used their
money to buy favors. That's the oldest anti-Semitic play in the book."
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Alex Pappas contributed to this report.