Jayapal: GOP Weaponizing Antisemitism by Bringing up Bills We’ll Vote Against

WAGNER: “Joining me now is Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Democrat from the great state of Washington and chair of the House Progressive Caucus. Congresswoman Jayapal, thanks for joining me and helping me understand what exactly went down in the House today. I mean, my first question is, the language of this bill and why it was so broad. Do you have a sort of a thesis as to why the scope was so large?”
Jayapal: “Yeah, Alex, I do, and that is that, unfortunately, I think Republicans are trying to weaponize anti-Semitism. They want to bring bills to the floor that actually divide Democrats. And what we really need to do if we want to tackle anti-Semitism, which I believe every Democrat does want to do, and many Republicans, we would do — we would bring a bipartisan bill and we would have a whole-of-government approach that involves educating people about what anti-Semitism is and what it isn’t, and making sure that we are all speaking with one voice. I think it’s incredibly hurtful to the cause of eliminating anti-Semitism for Republicans to weaponize it and to be hypocrites about bringing forward something that is for pure political gain, not about fighting anti-Semitism. So that’s why I think they brought this bill, because they knew that it would not get full Democratic support because it doesn’t get full support from the Jewish community. It doesn’t get full support from people who have looked at this issue and said, ‘We have to be very careful about how we define this.’ And especially, by the way, this is being targeted and tied to educational funds that go to colleges, so it has incredibly important ramifications.”
WAGNER: “Well, and sort of a dual-pronged attack both on Democrats and liberal institutions of higher education.”