Jewish Democrats urge colleagues not to advance GOP resolution condemning antisemitism

A group of Jewish Democrats are urging their colleagues not to advance a GOP-led resolution condemning the rise of antisemitism throughout the country, accusing House Republicans of using the problem as a way to “score cheap political points.”

The House is set to vote on the resolution on Tuesday, which condemns the “drastic rise of antisemitism” in the United States and related acts of hate or discrimination. However, a handful of Democrats are pushing back against the symbolic piece of legislation, warning that the resolution is being used as a “political game” that distracts from other legislative priorities.

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“Today’s Resolution, authored by Representatives [David] Kustoff and [Max] Miller and backed by Republican leadership, is just the latest unserious attempt by Republicans to weaponize Jewish pain and the serious problem of antisemitism to score cheap political points,” wrote Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Daniel Goldman (D-NY), and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) in a joint letter. “In order to stop the Majority from playing these political games, we will vote Present, and we urge our colleagues — regardless of their substantive views of the resolution — to do the same.”

Voting present does not shoot down the measure or force members to come out in direct opposition to the legislation. Instead, a present vote amounts to an abstention, which merely allows lawmakers to decline to weigh in on the topic one way or the other.

The call to abstain from voting on the piece of legislation comes as some Democrats have split on whether to back the resolution due to a provision that “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism” — a debate that has become a recent point of contention among some Democratic lawmakers and their progressive colleagues.

Several Democrats joined their colleagues in their effort, with 92 party members voting “present” on the measure. The resolution passed with 311 “yes” votes and only 14 “no” votes.

The split in opinion could also hand Republicans campaign fodder to use in the 2024 cycle to attack Democrats who do not support the measure, possibly using the vote to accuse their colleagues across the aisle of voting against opposing antisemitism.

The group of lawmakers cited several concerns with some of the language included in the resolution, which the Democrats say does not consider the complexity of Judaism and ignores certain nuances of the religion.

The Democrats also pointed to the passage of a resolution last week reaffirming the right for Israel to exist as a Jewish state, arguing the latest resolution on the table is “therefore redundant” and “intended to waste important floor time to use the rise of antisemitism as a political wedge issue.”

Instead, the lawmakers pointed to their own resolution calling to implement a national strategy to counter antisemitism that was introduced by the trio on Monday. That proposal would seek a bipartisan solution to address the rise of antisemitism on college campuses and increase funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

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“The threat of antisemitism and the safety of Jewish lives is not a game,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is beneath the dignity of Congress and it is an affront to Jews everywhere to treat rising antisemitism as an opportunity to create partisan division with conceptual confusion.”

“We encourage all members of good conscience to vote Present on H.Res. 894 and urge Speaker Johnson to immediately bring the resolution authored by Nadler, Goldman, and Raskin to the floor for a vote so that the Congress can meaningfully address the problems rather than use feckless messaging bills for political gain.”