The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is set to meet on Wednesday to vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act, in what could be a contentious meeting with a slew of potential amendments, some of which seek significant changes to the bill.

Wednesday’s vote will begin to reveal the extent of both parties’ opposition to the long-gestating legislation, which passed the House in 2024 but never received consideration in the Senate. The committee will also mark up the Protecting Students on Campus Act.

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO), a HELP Committee member and co-sponsor of the AAA, told Jewish Insider that “about 50 different amendments” have been introduced, and it remains to be seen what the bill will look like at the end of the committee’s markup. As a co-sponsor, he indicated that he is inclined to support the bill.

“I haven’t seen the final [amendment] list, but they’re mostly trying to parse and divide people, as close as I could tell,” Hickenlooper said. “We’ll see how it ends up. I haven’t seen the final version. We’ve worked on it for a while.”

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), another HELP member, is also a co-sponsor.

Two additional Democrats on the committee, Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), had been seen as potential or likely votes in favor, but are now expected to vote against the legislation, a source familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider. Neither responded to requests for comment.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who sits on the committee, said that he hoped that the committee was “going to have a good, robust amendment process,” but expressed concern about legislation he said would provide President Donald Trump additional authority — a concern cited by multiple Democrats.

“The administration is not sincere about combating antisemitism, their efforts aren’t on the level. In fact, they are setting back the cause of fighting antisemitism,” Murphy said. “They are engaged in a campaign to try to destroy higher education and they are using the issue of antisemitism in order to pursue a political agenda that has absolutely nothing to do with fighting antisemitism.” 

“While on its face there’s a lot to like about this bill, we shouldn’t pretend that we’re handing powers to a president that is going to use them for good. This is a president who is intent on demeaning the cause of fighting antisemitism in service of a broader political agenda that involves destroying higher education completely in this country,” he continued. “I wish we had a president who didn’t view the issue of antisemitism as just a political opportunity for him to pursue a broader political agenda.”

The legislation codifies an executive order on campus antisemitism from the first Trump administration, which remained in effect during the Biden administration.

In a further sign some Democrats are growing uneasy about the legislation, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a prominent progressive Jewish voice on the Hill who supported AAA last year, urged Senate colleagues to vote against it, similarly framing it as an attack on democracy linked to Trump.

At least one Republican on the committee will likely oppose the legislation. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has long maintained concerns about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, which the bill utilizes. Paul told JI he plans to introduce an amendment replacing the entire text of the bill with a condemnation of Hamas.

“It relies on a definition that has a lot of examples … that sound to me as if criticism of a policy of Israel could be considered antisemitism. That’s wrong,” Paul said, going on to suggest that the legislation might also suppress certain comments by Christians.

The expected manager’s amendment, to be introduced by HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA), includes language highlighting that the legislation cannot infringe upon any First Amendment rights, each of which — religion, speech, press, assembly and petitioning the government — the amendment enumerates specifically.

The original text of the bill already includes a clause specifying that nothing in the legislation can infringe upon the First Amendment, without specifically listing each of the First Amendment protections.

Some Republicans on the committee, including Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) had previously expressed concerns that the legislation required changes to avoid infringing upon Christian scripture — a reference to one of the IHRA definition’s affiliated examples describing it as antisemitic to say that Jews killed Jesus Christ. 

With the amendment, Marshall is now expected to support the legislation, according to a source familiar with the situation. But the manager’s amendment — which is largely cosmetic in nature — seems unlikely to mollify the bill’s vocal critics among conservative influencers and commentators.

Tucker Carlson and others on the far right have argued that the legislation and the IHRA definition would label the Bible as antisemitic, claiming that Christian scripture dictates that Jews are responsible for Jesus’ death.

Ahead of the vote, a coalition of major mainstream Jewish groups — the Anti-Defamation League, AIPAC, the American Jewish Committee, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Jewish Federations of North America — wrote to every lawmaker on the HELP committee urging them to support the legislation and oppose any amendments “that make fundamental changes to the integrity of the bill.”

“Our organizations, which represent the vast majority of Jewish Americans, consistently supported this legislation in multiple Congressional sessions, while multiple administrations — both Democratic and Republican — actively used the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism and its contemporary examples,” the letter reads, highlighting the widespread acceptance and usage of the IHRA definition.

It emphasizes that the legislation only codifies the existing policy of both of the last two presidential administrations. The letter argues that the current campus environment makes it crucial for the Department of Education to have a tool, the IHRA definition, to determine when anti-Israel activity becomes antisemitic discrimination.

“AAA will ensure that the existing policy of the past two presidential Administrations will continue, allowing the Department of Education to effectively determine whether particular conduct is antisemitic,” the letter continues. “This bill guarantees the Department of Education will continue to have the tools it needs to ensure Jewish student safety and to hold accountable colleges and universities that are failing to meet their Title VI obligations.”