Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Friday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the Biden administration’s expansion of Title VI protections, and look at a bipartisan congressional effort to support the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Ben Cardin, Menachem Kaiser and Michael Oren.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider, eJewishPhilanthropy and The Circuit stories, including: U.S. groups laud Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program, say it heralds deeper ties; Menendez’s legal woes could reshape direction of Democratic foreign policy; Israel’s new antisemitism envoy primed for battle in ‘ongoing war.’ Print the latest edition here.
Last night, the House passed its 2024 appropriations bills for Homeland Security, Defense and the State Department by votes of 220-208, 218-210 and 216-212, respectively. Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Marie Glusenkamp Perez (D-WA) crossed the aisle to support the Homeland and Defense bills, while Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Tim Burchett (R-TN) voted against the defense bill, and Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) opposed the State bill.
The House voted 360-67 to prevent the administration from moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel out of Jerusalem and voted 351-81 to prevent the removal of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ terrorism designation; neither issue is believed to be under active consideration. It also adopted by voice vote an amendment to cut the salary of Iran envoy Rob Malley. It narrowly rejected, by a 218-213 vote, an amendment banning funding to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.
Eight Republicans — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), David Joyce (R-OH), Tom Kean (R-NJ), Jen Kiggans (R-VA), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Jake LaTurner (R-KS), Nancy Mace (R-SC) and David Valadao (R-CA) — voted to preserve UNRWA funding, while two Democrats, Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) voted to end it.
The House also approved $300 million in Ukraine funding by a vote of 311-117, with more than half of Republicans voting against additional aid.
The House isexpected to vote on a short-term spending patch on Friday to avoid a Saturday shutdown, but it’s not expected to pass, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is still resisting brokering a deal with Democrats.
In a live-streamed conversation on X yesterday, owner Elon Musk tentatively agreed to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland at the invitation of Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the chairman and founder of the European Jewish Association. The nearly two-hour conversation, co-hosted by political commentator Ben Shapiro and Bnai Zion CEO Ari Lamm, featured a homogenous panel of largely politically conservative voices; incoming Israeli Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism Michal Cotler-Wunsh was a last-minute addition to the event, but had technical difficulties when she was finally called on to speak at the tail end of the panel.
policy steps
Biden administration broadens Civil Rights Act to tackle antisemitism

A new set of policy directives issued by the Biden administration on Thursday aims to counter antisemitic discrimination in federally funded programs and activities, including public transportation, food programs and federal housing programs. The move is one of the most significant policy steps taken by President Joe Biden since the White House released a national strategy to counter antisemitism in May, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Marc Rod report.
Broad expansion: Eight federal agencies announced a broad expansion of a key protection in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — Title VI of the landmark legislation will now extend to antisemitism, Islamophobia and other religious discrimination “based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.”
Significant shift: The policy announcement is full of legal jargon, but advocates and experts contend that it represents a meaningful shift in civil rights policy and in the federal response to antisemitism. One example of the type of discrimination now covered might be an emergency room patient requesting a new attending physician “because the patient associates the physician’s surname with Judaism and/or Israel,” according to a fact sheet from the Department of Health and Human Services.