House Republicans speak out after voting against ‘spineless and disgusting’ Democrat ‘sham’ resolution

Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted to pass an even more meaningless version of an already toothless bill that was originally intended to address anti-Semitic comments made by Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

Ultimately, 23 Republicans voted against the measure. Before and after the vote, several spoke out against the bill’s watered-down language and failure to mention Omar by name.

“Today’s resolution vote was a sham put forward by Democrats to avoid condemning one of their own and denouncing vile anti-Semitism,” reads a press release from House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, Wyo. “While I stand whole heartedly against discrimination outlined in this resolution, the language before the House today did not address the issue that is front and center.”

Cheney was the highest-ranking member of House Republican leadership to vote against the resolution.

“If a Republican Member was pushing the anti-Semitism that Rep. Omar keeps peddling, this resolution would name names, and be solely, emphatically focused on anti-Semitism and that member would be removed from their committee assignments,” said Jewish House Republican Lee Zeldin, N.Y. “The double standard motivating this decision by the Speaker and the moral equivalency filling this watered down text is spineless and disgusting.”

“Democrats have no interest in backing up their soft rebukes with real consequences,” said House Freedom caucus member Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., in a statement. “In fact, they can’t even draft a resolution to condemn her anti-Semitic remarks. Americans should be disgusted by this charade.”

“Now that the resolution protects just about every group on the planet, can we add ‘babies on the day of their birth’ as a protected class?” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., tweeted before the vote in response to news that House Democrats were working to add more kinds of discrimination to the resolution.

And with all the different kinds of discrimination and prejudice thrown into the bill’s language at the last minute on Thursday, one conservative Republican noted that some groups were nevertheless left out in the final version.

“Quite frankly, I am shocked the Socialist Democrats who sponsored H.Res. 183 refused to similarly condemn discrimination against Caucasian-Americans and Christians,” said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. He added that the “intentional omission of Christians and Caucasians is insulting and suggests America’s House of Representatives cares about virtually everyone except Christians and Caucasians. That implication is repugnant and I reject it!"

"It became so generic that it lost its meaning or significance,” Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said of the resolution. "Watering down any condemnation of anti-Semitic remarks is the way a holocaust begins."

“This is a sham cover vote designed to avoid dealing with a rogue member,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas. “Democratic leadership refused to focus this resolution against that specific member in order to provide that member with political cover. This type of hate, bigotry, and anti-Semitism have no place in Congress or society at large.”

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