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Schumer to co-sponsor Antisemitism Awareness Act in the Senate

Schumer failed to pass the legislation through the Senate last Congress, despite assurances to Jewish communal leaders

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on October 31, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will be an original co-sponsor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act when it is reintroduced in the Senate in the coming days, Schumer spokesperson Angelo Roefaro confirmed to Jewish Insider.

The move is a notable signal from Schumer of his support for the legislation after he fell short of his assurances last year to the Jewish community that he would pass the bill in the previous Congress. Some in the Jewish community, as well as congressional Republicans, blamed Schumer for the legislation’s failure.

Schumer had said he would work to incorporate the bill into year-end must-pass legislation, but was blocked by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Schumer, then the majority leader, never brought the legislation up for a floor vote in the Senate.

Two sources told JI that Schumer had been afraid that a floor vote would expose a significant divide among Democrats over the legislation. Schumer has been working recently to prevent such divisions, including rallying all but one Senate Democrat — including some who had supported it previously — to oppose a bill sanctioning the International Criminal Court for issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials. 

Another source familiar with the negotiations offered an alternative explanation, alleging that Schumer had been attempting to avoid a floor debate on the issue of whether it is antisemitic to accuse Jews of killing Jesus — a talking point made by some conservatives against the bill — which he had felt would be harmful to the Jewish community, and to avoid spending weeks of Senate floor time on the legislation when he believed an alternative avenue was available.

The episode dealt a blow to Schumer’s relationships with some in the Jewish community, though Schumer’s office blamed Johnson for the bill’s failure. Some believe that the two leaders share blame.

Schumer, who has long styled himself as a defender of the Jewish community, is set to publish a book on antisemitism in March.

The Antisemitism Awareness Act, which codifies the first Trump administration’s executive order that antisemitism, as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition, is a prohibited form of discrimination in schools and universities, was reintroduced in the House on Wednesday by a sizable bipartisan coalition of lawmakers.

Sens. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) are planning to lead the bill’s reintroduction in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has said he plans to bring the bill up for a vote, though it may face headwinds on both sides of the aisle.

At a House press conference reintroducing the Antisemitism Awareness Act on Wednesday, multiple House members criticized the Senate for failing to pass the bill last year. 

“We are here today to say that we will not tolerate antisemitism or Jew-hatred anymore,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said. “Enough with administrators who are too weak-kneed to take on the pro Hamas radicals who have infested college and university campuses, and enough with folks in the United States Senate blocking this critical piece of legislation.”

Lawler expressed confidence that the bill would pass the Senate in the current term.

“When it was passed last year, it got out of the House 320 to 91, and then the Senate turned their backs on the Jewish community and refused to bring it up for a vote,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) said at the press conference.

Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) said that the legislation had strong bipartisan support and “if this had had a vote in the United States Senate in the last term, it would have passed, and it would have been signed into law by a Democratic president.”

Reps. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Max Miller (R-OH), Don Bacon (R-NE) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) also joined the House press conference, as did leaders from the Jewish Federations of North America, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Orthodox Union, Hadassah, Christians United for Israel, Zionist Organization of America, Combat Antisemitism Movement and Endowment for Middle East Truth.

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