On the recordSeptember 19, 2024
Mr. Chair, I thank the ranking member for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise today to discuss the next installment of Republican hypocrisy in the 118th Congress. This one relates to anti-Semitism. My Republican colleagues have spent months haranguing university presidents for failing to protect Jewish students on college campuses, and on this, I agree. Many university presidents have failed to show appropriate moral clarity and leadership, but let me ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: Does the removal of a university president actually change the facts on the ground? Does it make Jewish students safer? The answer is unequivocally no, and certainly not in the near term. I have spoken to Jewish students all around the country, and they remain scared and afraid as anti-Semitic encampments and protests have grown more threatening and even violent. Despite all of their lipservice about combating anti-Semitism, this Republican bill makes it significantly more difficult for universities to keep Jewish students safe. Under the guise of ending wokeness on college campuses, this bill would strip universities of their ability to enforce reasonable restrictions on campus protests. It limits time, place, and manner restrictions and allows for no-notice spontaneous protests, including anywhere on campus, such as Hillels. That is right. The bill makes it easier for agitators and others to come onto college campuses and engage in anti-Semitic protests or encampments.…





