Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the leading libertarian voice in the upper chamber, announced on Wednesday that he will take over as the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in the next Congress.

Paul’s expected role as the top Republican on the HELP Committee, alongside the incoming chair, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), indicates that addressing campus antisemitism — a priority for outgoing chair Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) —is not likely to be a top agenda item for the committee in the next two years.

Paul has condemned antisemitism and support for Hamas and its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel on college campuses, but was a staunch opponent of the Antisemitism Awareness Act and helped Democrats block the bill from advancing when Cassidy tried to move it through the HELP Committee last April. Paul voted in favor of several poison-pill amendments led by Democrats and claimed that the bill would limit First Amendment rights.

During a HELP committee meeting about the bill, Paul argued that it was racist to describe Israel as a Jewish state, that Jewish comedians routinely employ stereotypes about Jewish people, that comparisons between modern political figures or governments and the Nazis are mundane and not problematic, that the Department of Education would send armed police to college campuses to suppress speech and that some, if not all, Jews held responsibility for the death of Jesus.

Three Senate Republican leadership sources told JI at the time that the move frustrated senior GOP senators because it upended the bill’s path to receiving floor consideration. 

During his previous chairmanship of the committee, Sanders ignored repeated Republican requests to hold a hearing on campus antisemitism.

Paul, who was an ophthalmologist before entering politics, said in a statement, “As a physician and the author of dozens of bills on health care, education, and labor, I know the issues before this committee affect nearly every American family, from the cost of health care and how schools serve our children to how people earn a living and save for retirement.”

“Too many in Washington answer these questions with more government, and the coming Congress will bring a rush toward socialism unlike anything we have seen,” he said. “Families, not federal bureaucrats, should make the decisions that shape their lives. I will stand against efforts to put Washington between Americans and their doctors, their children’s schools, and their paychecks.”

With Cassidy leaving the Senate after losing his reelection bid to a primary challenger backed by President Donald Trump and Democrats retaking control of the upper chamber in January, Paul, currently the top Republican on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, opted to instead take the No. 1 Republican spot on HELP.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Paul said he was considering the move because he is “not so sure how much power we will have” on HSGAC “to investigate in the minority,” and said that he wants to serve as a bulwark against socialism across the dais from Sanders.

Paul is known as a libertarian who has routinely broken with Senate Republicans and Trump on both foreign and domestic matters. The Kentucky senator is an aggressive advocate for limited government and is one of the most hard-line budget hawks in Congress.

He has also developed a reputation for his isolationist foreign policy stances, consistently opposing congressional Authorizations for the Use of Military Force and supporting war powers resolutions that would curb the White House’s ability to wage war without congressional approval. 

As part of his broader opposition to foreign aid without fiscal offsets, Paul repeatedly blocked a supplemental funding package for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system in late 2021. He also voted repeatedly for war powers resolutions opposing the war in Iran.

Paul’s announcement that he’s seeking the ranking member position on HELP opens up the top Republican slot on HSGAC. Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said he’s aiming to fill the role.

Lankford, a co-chair of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism, has been at the forefront of many of the efforts in the Senate to address rising antisemitism in the U.S., including as a lead cosponsor of the Jewish American Security Act.

He’s also a strong proponent of and advocate for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, pushing for expanded funding for the program and improvements in management and organization and advocating with the administration to release grant funding.

HSGAC holds oversight authority over the Department of Homeland Security, which administers the NSGP, further expanding Lankford’s oversight powers. Last year, he also advocated with DHS and the Coast Guard to revise its hate symbol policy after it downgraded its prohibition on swastikas and other hate symbols.

Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), set to be the top Democrat on the panel, has also been active on antisemitism issues, including as a longtime lead sponsor of the Pray Safe Act, which seeks to provide additional security information and resources to houses of worship.

Lankford is also a co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus and a prominent supporter of Israel frequently involved in Middle East policy issues.

“There is important work ahead on FEMA reform, the federal workforce, and making government operate more effectively and efficiently for the American people,” Lankford said in a statement. “In many areas of government operation, HSGAC can operate in a bipartisan manner. Waste and inefficiency should not be a Republican or Democratic issue.”

Lankford was a top Republican negotiator on the 2024 bipartisan immigration deal that was ultimately scuttled by Trump, who opposed efforts to reach a compromise on immigration policy with Democrats.