A Few Minutes with Mike Lawler

Here, he shares with Mishpacha his feelings on bipartisan support for Israel, Biden’s weapons freeze, US relations with Qatar, and his latest bill, the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023. Cosponsored by a bipartisan group of 61 members of Congress, the bill passed the House on May 1 and is currently awaiting action in the Senate. If it passes, it would have federal law adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism and would require the Department of Education to use that definition when investigating charges of discrimination on college campuses.

The passage of your Antisemitism Awareness Act in the House by a margin of 320 to 91 made headlines.  Was this legislation introduced in response to October 7?

Actually, this is an issue going back prior to October 7. We’ve seen a significant increase in the number of anti-Semitic events on these college campuses, including last year’s CUNY Law School graduation speech.

I’ve been working on a number of bills, including the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and then shortly after the events of October 7, we introduced the bill. This is something we’ve been pushing to get a vote on for well over six months, and were ultimately able to get it across the finish line on May 1.

What’s your response to legislators like Jerrold Nadler, who didn’t vote for the bill, claiming it’s Republican politicking?

Mr. Nadler is sorely mistaken. He falsely claimed that the Office of Civil Rights had received a funding cut when spending remained level year-to-year, and he also claimed the bill might suppress free speech when it explicitly has a First Amendment protection clause built into the bill.