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U.S. Congressman Mike Lawler was the featured speaker on a special online briefing hosted by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) on Friday following the passage earlier this week of the Antisemitism Awareness Act (AAA) by the House of Representatives.
The AAA — which received bipartisan support in the 320-91 House vote on Wednesday — was introduced by Lawler last fall and would require the Department of Education and other federal agencies to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism and its 11 contemporary examples when enforcing anti-discrimination laws.
In his remarks, Representative Lawler — a freshman Republican lawmaker representing New York’s 17th congressional district — spoke about the bill’s purpose and its prospects for Senate approval and presidential signature.
“The objective is to get the Department of Education to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” he said. “What we’re seeing on college campuses, and the failure of leadership, and the failure of leadership of the Department of Education, in my opinion, is a result of the fact that antisemitism has not really been clearly defined. That’s what we’re trying to do here, definite it clearly and give some more teeth to the Department of Education and these administrators to do their jobs and enforce the law and ensure that no one is discriminated against.”
Watch a full recording of the briefing HERE:
Commenting on free speech concerns raised by critics of the measure, Representative Lawler emphasized, “Within the bill itself, the constitutional protections are in place. Nothing in the bill can interfere with an individual’s First Amendment right to free speech.”
“Everyone has the right to free speech, everyone has the right to voice their opinion and the right to object to decisions by the government, either the United States government or a foreign government,” he noted. “But the moment those protests turn violent, or threats of violence emerge, with calls for ‘Zionists to die’ or ‘all Jews to go back to Poland,’ or calling for the eradication of the State of Israel or an ‘intifada,’ that’s where it crosses a line and there needs to be accountability. This is trying to provide guidance to the Department of Education and institutions of higher learning so they can actually enforce the law.”
“What we’re seeing on college campuses today is an absolute abomination,” Representative Lawler added. “This is not free speech. We want our institutions of higher learning to be places of robust public debate. We want our government to be a place of robust public debate. But it needs to be rooted in fact, and it needs to be rooted in an understanding of others. And when you engage in hate, and when you engage in threats of violence, that is when it crosses the line.”
The future of the AAA now lies in the hands of the Senate leadership, most notably Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Representative Lawler said.
“I think we made significant progress by getting this through the House and now it puts the onus on Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats to put this to the floor for a vote,” he commented. “I think the pressure has to build a little bit from the public standpoint, from Jewish organizations reaching out to the Senate and individual senators, and really pushing them on this. The more of a public pressure campaign that can be put on the Senate, the more likely we are to get this across the finish line.”
A full recording of Friday’s online briefing will be available here soon.
The complete text of the AAA can be read HERE.
