The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will announce tomorrow that it will hold a markup of the Antisemitism Awareness Act next Wednesday, two sources familiar with the matter told Jewish Insider.

The committee meeting, when senators will discuss potential amendments before voting to advance the legislation to the full Senate, will be the first forward movement on the bill since it was reintroduced in both chambers earlier this year. 

The legislation never received a markup in either chamber in the previous Congress, instead advancing directly to a vote on the House floor where it passed with bipartisan support. The Senate never took up the bill.

A spokesperson for Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the HELP Committee’s chairman, told JI in a statement that, “Chairman Cassidy is committed to moving the Antisemitism Awareness Act through the Committee process.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who became a co-sponsor of the legislation when it was reintroduced in this Congress, has said he wants the bill to go through regular order rather than receive expedited floor consideration. Thune said after becoming GOP leader that returning to regular order would be a top priority and has instructed committee chairs to process bills accordingly. 

Though it enjoys significant bipartisan support, including from the Senate Democratic and Republican leaders, the legislation could face opposition and controversial amendments from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle over free speech concerns, among other issues.

It remains unclear when or if the House will take the bill up this year. A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) did not provide comment.

Former Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) declined to bring the bill to the Senate floor for a standalone vote during the last Congress, the result of his reported concern that Senate Democrats were divided over the legislation.

Schumer instead tried to add the bill as an amendment to the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, one of Congress’ annual “must-pass” bills that funds the Pentagon and also serves as a vehicle to pass other legislative priorities.

That effort failed after Johnson rebuffed the request, and the bipartisan compromise negotiations that followed also failed.