Top House Republicans announced on Tuesday a chamber-wide endeavor to combat anti-Semitism on university campuses as pro-Palestinian protests sweep across colleges around the nation in response to the Israel-Hamas war.
A release from the office of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said the effort will involve scrutinizing federal funding and tax benefits universities receive, as well as cracking down on foreign student visa recipients perpetuating sympathy to terrorist groups at U.S. schools.
“Antisemitism is a virus and because the administration and woke university presidents aren’t stepping in, we’re seeing it spread,” Johnson said at a press conference. “We must act, and House Republicans will speak to this fateful moment with moral clarity.”
Johnson was joined by other House GOP leaders, as well as chairs whose committees will be tasked with spearheading different facets of the project billed as one meant to hold universities accountable for not protecting Jewish students.
“College is not a park for play acting juveniles or a battleground for radical activists. Everyone affiliated with these universities will receive a healthy dose of reality. Actions have consequences,” said Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC).
Other committee leaders who stood with Johnson included Space and Technology Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK), Energy and Commerce Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), and Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY).
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The GOP-led House is already considering legislation to settle on a definition of anti-Semitism that could facilitate withholding funds for schools found to be in violation of federal anti-discrimination law. After the bill advanced out of the Rules Committee on Monday night, it may get a House floor vote as early as Wednesday.
While some Democrats have joined Republicans in demanding colleges get a grip on the protests, where protesters have made demands such as divesting from Israel, members of the leftist wing of the party have been more sympathetic to the activists.
“The provocative images painted by Republicans and antisemitic white supremacist platforms could not be further from the truth,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) claimed in a statement reported by Axios.