Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) bid to add the Antisemitism Awareness Act (AAA) to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act has been blocked by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), making it increasingly unlikely that the bill will pass Congress this year.

Schumer requested that the legislation be included in the compromise version of the NDAA to be voted on by both the House and Senate. 

But Johnson refused the request, arguing that it may be outside the purview of the NDAA and that Schumer should call a stand-alone Senate floor vote. Despite weeks of negotiations, neither congressional leader budged on his position, and a final compromise bill was released on Saturday evening without the AAA included.

The news leaves the AAA’s passage this year increasingly unlikely, given that Senate leaders are planning to dedicate any remaining time to confirming judges and must-pass legislation such as the NDAA, government funding and disaster relief aid, and are not expected to dedicate floor time to a stand-alone vote on the AAA.

Schumer has said that the NDAA is the only viable way to pass the AAA. If it doesn’t pass this year, the incoming Senate Republican leadership is likely to take up and pass the bill quickly next year.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), the AAA’s lead Democratic sponsor in the House, urged congressional leaders to find a path forward immediately.

“Whether in the NDAA or as a standalone bill in the Senate, there is no excuse for delaying a vote a single day longer,” Gottheimer said in a statement to Jewish Insider. “This is commonsense, bipartisan legislation that passed overwhelmingly out [of] the House months ago and will help stop antisemitism. It’s up to leadership in the House and Senate to figure this out now. It must be sent to the President’s desk before the end of the year.”

The bill’s Republican sponsors in the House and Senate have been urging Schumer to bring it up for a stand-alone vote.

A Schumer spokesperson did not comment on the situation.

Jewish leaders’ patience with the stalemate, and Schumer in particular, has been growing thin.

One source told JI last week that the situation has highlighted the Jewish community’s “great disappointment” with Schumer and feeling that he has not been active enough in the fight against antisemitism. They said that making a deal that would see the AAA pass would help “reassure the [Jewish] community” of his dedication to fighting antisemitism, about which he is releasing a book in February.

Another source close to negotiations pointed blame, at the time, toward the House GOP and the Freedom Cacus, numerous members of which voted against the AAA in the House.

In an op-ed last week, Nathan Diament, the executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union, demanded leaders stop playing “political games” and pass the bill, criticizing both Schumer and Johnson’s postures.

“Frankly, we who have worked on the AAA bill from its inception don’t care one bit how it passes Congress — so long as it passes and is signed into law. Now,” Diament wrote in the New York Post. “We are tired of the excuses for not taking action. Enough. We want action. Now.”

Asked Sunday about the NDAA, Diament called the AAA’s exclusion “obviously disappointing” but said the bill could be added to the upcoming government funding or disaster relief bills.

“We’re agnostic on the vehicle. It needs to be passed,” Diament said.

Lauren Wolman, director of government relations at the Anti-Defamation League, indicated in a statement that she believes the bill is likely dead for this Congress.

“In this moment of great peril, we are disappointed to see the Antisemitism Awareness Act fail to move forward,” Wolman said. “We urge Congressional leaders to immediately pass this important legislation at the start of the new Congress. Combatting antisemitism is not and cannot be allowed to become a partisan issue. The American Jewish community is looking for action, not just words.”

Eric Fingerhut, the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, told JI, “Jewish Federations continue to support the Antisemitism Awareness Act as critical legislation for our community. The bill has already passed the House and we continue to ask Senate leadership to pass it urgently.”

Julie Fishman Rayman, the managing director of policy and political affairs at the American Jewish Committee, said it was “unfortunate” that both the AAA and the Countering Antisemitism Act, another priority bill for Jewish community groups that has also been stalled, were not included in the NDAA.

“We are continuing to urge congressional leadership to advance measures to combat antisemitism — whether in a larger package or as standalone bills,” Fishman Rayman said.

While AAA is not included in the wide-ranging defense bill, it does contain a slew of provisions relating to Middle East policy.

The explanatory report accompanying the bill requires the Defense Department to report to Congress on the U.S. airbase in Qatar — the largest in the Middle East — in light of Qatar’s relationship with Hamas and other terrorist groups, and on the possibility of relocating the base elsewhere. Lawmakers have urged the U.S. to consider such a step in response to Qatar’s support for Hamas and sheltering of its leaders.

Though it has long since been dismantled, the bill also bars the U.S. from reconstructing or maintaining the humanitarian pier used earlier this year to transport aid into Gaza.

It includes a new restriction banning the sale of products created by large companies engaged in boycotts of Israel in military base commissaries — an incremental but notable expansion of anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions efforts on the federal level.

The finalized bill authorizes $47.5 million for joint development projects in emerging defense technologies and $80 million for joint counter-tunneling programs, a $30 million increase last year, as well as the annual $300 million for cooperative missile defense programs.

It expands anti-tunneling cooperative efforts with Israel; requires the military to hold an annual anti-tunneling exercise with Israel and potentially other partners; requires the U.S. to provide Israel with intelligence and assistance to capture or kill Hamas leaders; mandates efforts to ensure Israel has sufficient air-defense interceptors to counter potential threats; and establishes U.S.-Israel partnership programs on defense innovation and trauma rehabilitation.

The NDAA creates a new program requiring the Defense Department to report to Congress within 30 days of any instance in which Iran transfers weapons or weapons components to any proxy group or foreign government.

It further prohibits the Pentagon funding for Iranian government-controlled entities and establishes a grant program to promote internet freedom in Iran.

Building on efforts at regional military integration, the bill instructs the Pentagon to work to bring Jordan into integrated regional air defense infrastructure and establishes a military officer educational exchange program with Middle East partners.

It also requires reports to Congress on possibilities for cooperation in space defense with Middle East partners, Iranian oil sales, Israel’s potential need for missile defense interceptor resupply, lessons learned from the Israel-Hamas war and various elements of Iran’s military and terrorist proxy capabilities and activities.

The explanatory report accompanying the bill requests briefings and reports to Congress on potential steps to prevent smuggling and tunneling along the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt; U.S. efforts and assistance provided to recover the hostages being held in Gaza; cooperative efforts to counter Iranian and Iranian proxy drone attacks; Iranian support to non-state actors in Northern Africa; Iran-backed attacks on the U.S.’ Al-Tanf base in Syria; cooperation between Iran and other hostile state actors; the status of the U.S.-South Africa relationship and South Africa’s ties to U.S. adversaries; Iran’s nuclear capabilities; the accuracy of Gaza Ministry of Health casualty data; and the possibility of incorporating Israel into the U.S. national technology and industrial base.

The final bill does not include other provisions from the version of the NDAA that passed the House, including establishing a joint PTSD research program, banning the Pentagon from funding rebuilding activities in Gaza and providing a bounty for information about Hamas leaders.

It does not include provisions included in both the House bill and one passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee that would have barred the Pentagon from assisting Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank in relocating to the United States.