House Democrats overwhelmingly voted against a bill that would strip federal funding from colleges and universities engaged in boycotts of Israel, with just 33 Democrats supporting the measure.

The bill ultimately passed 237-169, with two Republicans voting against the measure along with the majority of House Democrats.

The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act, led by Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), would make colleges that participate in a “nonexpressive commercial boycott” of Israel ineligible to receive federal student aid funding, requiring them to certify annually that they are not engaged in such boycotts and instructing the Department of Education to annually publish a list of schools that fail to submit such certifications.

The law would apply to boycotts of Israel as a country or to companies and other entities operating under Israeli law, which would include settlements in the West Bank.

The Democrats who supported the bill were Reps. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Kathy Castor (D-FL), Gil Cisneros (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Joe Courtney (D-CT), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Greg Landsman (D-OH), George Latimer (D-NY), Susie Lee (D-NV), John Mannion (D-NY), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Josh Riley (D-NY), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Hillary Scholten (D-MI), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Darren Soto (D-FL), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Dina Titus (D-NV), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Eugene Vindman (D-VA) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

Republican Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) opposed it.

“No student, no professor should be shut out of research, study abroad opportunities, or academic partnerships, or feel unwelcome in the classroom because of where they’re from or what religion they practice,” Gottheimer said in a statement ahead of the vote. “Yet that’s exactly what the boycott-divest-sanction movement seeks to do — targeting one country and one religion: Israel and Judaism.” 

He insisted the bill would not impact speech, protest or academic debate, but “simply says that if your university takes federal taxpayer dollars, it can’t discriminate against academic partnerships or investments with one country. That’s it. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bipartisan bill.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) called the bill a “poorly-written Republican bill” that would not oppose the BDS movement but instead “provide Donald Trump with the power to punitively launch political attacks on our colleges and universities.”

He pledged that a Democratic majority would “advance unifying legislation” to combat antisemitism.

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), a co-chair of the House Jewish Caucus, said that he strongly opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and believes that it “can veer into antisemitism.”

“But no matter how strongly I oppose the BDS movement, I also believe that those who engage in BDS have a First Amendment right to do so,” Nadler continued, calling the bill a “direct and gross violation of the First Amendment.”

He said it also “treats the entire West Bank as part of Israel, erasing the Green Line and undermining efforts to promote a two-state solution.”

A memo from Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the ranking member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, also urged Democrats to oppose the bill, warning that it could “potentially” restrict schools’ First Amendment rights and that it does not address a currently existing problem. It also notes opposition from J Street and the American Federation of Teachers.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America also opposed the bill, which it said is “an infringement on free speech and undermines efforts toward peace.”

AIPAC and Jewish groups, including the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, supported the bill.

AIPAC said in a statement, “This legislation helps protect pro-Israel students from discriminatory boycotts and efforts to deny them the ability to study in Israel or learn from Israeli professors, while fully protecting First Amendment rights.”

The RJC noted, “insisting that universities join the BDS lynch mob was the key demand campus protesters confronted university administrators with during the period of antisemitic violence and unrest that swept American campuses after October 7, 2023.”

The bill’s prospects of passing the Senate in the remaining months of the current congressional term are unclear. It has no companion legislation in the Senate and there had not been much public attention on the legislation prior to its passage today in the House.