{"id":184,"date":"2026-10-16T08:08:54","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T08:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/?p=184"},"modified":"2026-10-16T08:08:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T08:08:54","slug":"33-house-dems-flip-against-hakeem-jeffries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/?p=184","title":{"rendered":"33 House Dems Flip Against Hakeem Jeffries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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House Democrats fractured Thursday again as 33 members joined Republicans to restrict federal funding for colleges participating in anti-Israel boycotts.<\/p>\n

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The House passed H.R. 4795, the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act of 2026, by a decisive 237-169 vote.<\/p>\n

Thirty-three Democrats supported the measure, while 167 Democrats joined two Republicans in opposition to the legislation.<\/p>\n

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries voted against it, putting him opposite dozens of Democrats willing to confront anti-Israel campus boycotts.<\/p>\n

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and senior Democrat James Clyburn also opposed the bill, underscoring the party\u2019s increasingly visible Israel divide.<\/p>\n

The bill would amend higher-education law by attaching major federal-funding consequences to certain institutional commercial boycotts targeting Israel.<\/p>\n

Covered colleges participating in a \u201cnonexpressive commercial boycott\u201d of Israel could become ineligible for specified federal higher-education funding.<\/p>\n

Federally supported institutions would also certify that students are not \u201cunreasonably obstructed\u201d from participating in academic programs located in Israel.<\/p>\n

Critics counter that punishing boycott participation could chill political expression protected by the First Amendment and interfere with academic independence.<\/p>\n

Gottheimer argued the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement seeks Israel\u2019s destruction and should have no place on American campuses.<\/p>\n

He called Israel \u201cAmerica\u2019s critical ally in the global fight against terror\u201d while defending the legislation against progressive criticism.<\/p>\n

Gottheimer also highlighted threats, assaults and classroom disruptions affecting Jewish students during bitter campus protests surrounding Israel.<\/p>\n

Foxx argued university boycott policies have created hostile environments by \u201cmarginalizing Jewish students\u201d and discriminating against people of Jewish faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow is not the time for talk,\u201d Foxx said while demanding congressional action against discriminatory institutional practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the time for action,\u201d she added, framing federal funding as leverage against universities embracing qualifying boycotts.<\/p>\n

Progressive Democrats responded furiously, arguing the bill improperly converts political disagreement with Israel into grounds for losing federal educational support.<\/p>\n

New York Democrat Jerry Nadler said he opposes BDS but believes its supporters retain constitutional protections for political advocacy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe First Amendment right to free speech does not apply only to agreeable speech,\u201d Nadler said.<\/p>\n

Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib delivered an even harsher denunciation, accusing lawmakers of suppressing pro-Palestinian activism and defending Israeli policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an attack on free speech and academic freedom,\u201d Tlaib declared during debate before the final vote.<\/p>\n

She described Israel as a \u201cgenocidal apartheid state,\u201d reflecting the increasingly hostile rhetoric surrounding Israel within progressive Democratic politics.<\/p>\n

Supporters rejected that framing, saying the legislation targets institutional commercial discrimination rather than students protesting or expressing political opinions.<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s vote follows an even larger Democratic rupture over Israel that erupted on the House floor in July.<\/p>\n

Massie\u2019s earlier amendment sought to eliminate $3.3 billion in annual American security assistance for Israel.<\/p>\n

The House rejected that proposal 314-104, but 103 Democrats joined Massie in voting to eliminate the funding.<\/p>\n

Only 98 Democrats opposed eliminating Israel assistance, while another 10 Democratic lawmakers voted present during that July showdown.<\/p>\n

Jeffries opposed the aid-cutting amendment, while Democratic Whip Katherine Clark broke with him and supported eliminating the proposed assistance.<\/p>\n

A June Quinnipiac survey found 66% of Democrats believed the United States was too supportive of Israel.<\/p>\n

The shift follows the Gaza war after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing approximately 1,200 people.<\/p>\n

Republicans increasingly portray that shift as evidence that the Democratic activist base is moving sharply away from America\u2019s longtime ally.<\/p>\n

Democrats supporting Israel counter that criticism of its government can coexist with defending Jewish students and maintaining the bilateral alliance.<\/p>\n

H.R. 4795 now heads to the Senate, where its future will test whether Thursday\u2019s bipartisan House coalition can hold.<\/p>\n

For Jeffries, the vote underscored the growing difficulty of keeping Democrats united on Israel ahead of November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Democrats fractured Thursday again as 33 members joined Republicans to restrict federal funding for colleges participating in anti-Israel boycotts. The House passed H.R. 4795, the Protect Economic and Academic … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186,"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184\/revisions\/186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usbrief.site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}