‘Taking Action to Combat Anti-Semitic Efforts to Delegitimize Israel Should Not Be Too Much to Ask’
‘[T]his symbolic BDS resolution is held up as a major victory, while Senate-passed legislation that would actually take action against BDS doesn’t get a vote. House Republicans have called for a vote on S. 1 over and over. But the Speaker of the House doesn’t seem interested. I understand that picking fights with the president seems to be a higher priority across the Capitol than joining with the Senate to get bipartisan legislation made into law.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding pending House action on the Senate-passed, Strengthening America's Security in the Middle East Act (S.1):
“Yesterday, the Democratic House of Representatives took a small step to denounce the scourge of anti-Semitism. They passed a symbolic resolution opposing efforts to delegitimize the state of Israel and condemn the BDS movement. It’s too bad this, of all things, couldn’t be a unanimous vote. It’s too bad that 16 Democrats voted against condemning BDS.
“It’s regrettable that some of the Democrats who claim to represent the future of their party lobbied against a measure that should be completely uncontroversial. But even more broadly, I’m sorry that the bipartisan Senate-passed bill that would actually do something about BDS — action, not mere rhetoric — is still languishing over in the House without a vote. Bipartisan legislation that passed with the support of 77 Senators, including my friend the Democratic Leader. 77 votes in the Senate. Thoroughly bipartisan. But the Democratic House has found a way to fumble the ball.
“Several months back, it took days of throat-clearing and a whole lot of watering-down before they could even halfway-condemn anti-Semitic remarks by one of their own members. And now, this symbolic BDS resolution is held up as a major victory, while Senate-passed legislation that would actually take action against BDS doesn’t get a vote. House Republicans have called for a vote on S. 1 over and over. But the Speaker of the House doesn’t seem interested. I understand that picking fights with the president seems to be a higher priority across the Capitol than joining with the Senate to get bipartisan legislation made into law. But surely taking action to combat anti-Semitic efforts to delegitimize Israel should not be too much to ask.”
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