Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other liberal allies stepped up their defense of the freshman Democrat.
An array of progressive groups declared their support for Omar, while both the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus — two of the most important factions among House Democrats — wanted more time to review the situation, lawmakers and aides said.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a closed-door meeting Tuesday that the vote would likely happen Thursday. They also said a draft resolution would be updated to include additional language rejecting anti-Muslim bias, although some Democratic sources believe that an entirely new document might be crafted.
What is clear, however, is that the furor over Omar's remarks — the second time in two months the Minnesota Democrat has made comments that were condemned by her own colleagues as anti-Semitic — is threatening to overshadow everything else happening in the House. House Democrats are set to pass a major anti-corruption package that deals with ethics and campaign finance reform initiatives and voting rights, but much of the attention is on Omar and how party leaders respond to her comments."We're still discussing it," Hoyer said on Tuesday. "The sentiment is that it ought to be broad-based. What we're against is hate, prejudice, bigotry, white supremacy, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism."
"Yes, we're strongly against anti-Semitism, but we're strongly against prejudice directed at any group," Hoyer added.
“People are working through the draft. Not everyone has seen the draft,” added House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries. “I support the notion that we need to respond, and we’re figuring out the appropriate way to respond.”
Pelosi and Omar spoke over the weekend as staffers for Pelosi and other top Democrats began crafting the resolution.
The debate over if — and how — to reprimand Omar for saying pro-Israel advocates have “allegiance to a foreign country” has exposed sharp divides within the caucus along generational, religious and ideological lines.
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The resolution is being taken up after senior Democrats, including some prominent Jewish lawmakers like New York Reps. Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey, have publicly criticized Omar and demanded she apologize. "I condemn all forms of hatred," said Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, a panel that Omar joined in January. "We're talking about anti-Semitism because my colleague said some very hurtful things. But I think we need to be aware all attempts to demean any group of people, whether it's Muslims or LGBT people. We have to be very strong and forceful in condemning it."
Engel did not endorse kicking Omar off the Foreign Affairs Committee, as Republicans have demanded.
"I don't think the Foreign Affairs Committee should be used as punishment for anybody," Engel told reporters. "But I do think [Omar] needs to understand what she said is very hurtful. Whether she is on the committee or not is not the issue."
An array of prominent liberal allies like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and outside progressive groups has rallied to the Minnesota Democrat's defense.
Senior Democrats in key caucuses were also pushing party leaders to pause floor action related to Omar, at least temporarily, so members have time to digest the content of the resolution. The CBC is set to discuss the measure at its weekly meeting Wednesday, while progressives are also expected to meet on the issue.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, confirmed that some of her group's members have discussed the resolution with Democratic leaders "to make sure we can have caucus unity on whatever we propose."
Liberals had pushed for language condemning Islamophobia after Omar was targeted in a poster displayed at an event sponsored by the West Virginia GOP. It appeared to link her to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and included a photo of the World Trade Center buildings on fire and a photo of Omar below it.
The draft resolution doesn't mention Omar by name but is a direct response to her most recent comments and comes after a string of Israel-related remarks that her colleagues have claimed are anti-Semitic.
Ocasio-Cortez fired off a series of tweets throughout Tuesday, criticizing what she sees as hypocrisy in Democrats' planned reprimand of Omar. She argued that Democratic leaders should have addressed the issue privately before Omar was "called out" publicly.
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4 comments:
This is spiritual, totally demonic. How else can you explain a freshman, dummy Representative being the thought leader of the Democrat caucus? It is the same sort of demonic control that catapulted a failed artist and wallpaper hanger to almost an entire continent before and during WW II.
Yep.
Omar's comment about AIPAC is hardly anti-Semitic: would a comment characterizing the NRA's lobbying efforts as "all about the Benjamins" be out of bounds and be racist because Whites are overwhelmingly NRA members?
No, it wouldn't. Omar may be guilty of OTHER anti-Semitic transgressions, but this is not one. If you can't criticize a major foreign lobbying organization without massive blowback, then what is being hidden? Obviously.
Anonymous: It really is about the double standard though, isn't it? When she criticizes CAIR for being HAMAS-linked or the unregistered agent of a foreign entity, then I might buy into your argument.
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