Casten Statement on H.R. 6090
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) released the following statement after voting against H.R. 6090, the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023:
“First and foremost, I remain concerned about acts of antisemitism throughout the United States. Meaningful action is needed to address this issue.
“That said, the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 falls short of that goal by unnecessarily and harmfully limiting the tools available to the Department of Education (DoE) to address antisemitism. The proposed legislation would require the DoE to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism – which was written to be a working definition, not a legal one. If codified, it could be used to label legitimate political speech and critique of Israel as inherently antisemitic.
“In place of the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023, I urge the House to consider legislation to implement a national strategy to counter the dramatic increase in antisemitic hate crimes over the last few years.”
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