Talks over the future of the Antisemitism Awareness Act remain largely where they stood prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, with time dwindling to finalize the annual defense and national security bill to which the legislation could be attached.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had proposed adding the legislation to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, rather than holding a standalone vote on the Senate floor on the bill.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) rejected that proposal, insisting on a standalone vote for the legislation that passed the House with bipartisan support months ago.

Both sides are sticking to their positions, with still no clear path forward; the final NDAA text could be released as soon as this week.

A source familiar with the situation said that Schumer is still pushing to include the legislation in the NDAA and stands by his original position on the issue. Schumer told JI before the Thanksgiving holiday that he saw the NDAA as the only way to get the bill passed through the Senate before the end of the year.

Floor time for standalone votes in the Senate in the final weeks of the year is being dedicated almost exclusively to judicial nominations. The Senate will also have to consider the NDAA, government funding legislation and potentially disaster relief aid before the end of the year.

Schumer has faced ongoing pressure to pass the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which would codify an executive order declaring that the antisemitism should be treated as a prohibited form of discrimination in educational settings and instructing the Department of Education to utilize the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism to evaluate claims of antisemitic discrimination.

In recent days, a mobile billboard truck was spotted outside Schumer’s apartment in Brooklyn and outside his Manhattan office with a countdown to how many legislative days Schumer has left “to keep his word,” to pass the legislation. According to a disclaimer at the bottom of the sign, the truck was paid for by the same group of unknown backers, calling itself the Florence Avenue Initiative, that has spent millions on advertisements pressing Schumer to bring the bill up for a vote.

Leaders from the Anti-Defamation League also met with senior lawmakers including Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), as well as some Republicans, prior to Thanksgiving to urge them to pass both the Antisemitism Awareness Act and the Countering Antisemitism Act, a separate, broader bill on combating antisemitism.

“Congress must send these two bills to the President to sign into law. There’s no time to waste,” the ADL said on social media after the meetings.