On Thursday, 33 Democrats joined Republicans to pass a law that would take federal funding away from academic institutions involved in any kind of boycott of or divestment from Israel. The legislation passed 237–169.
The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act, headed by Republican Representative Virginia Foxx and Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer, strips federal funding from any school that carries out a “nonexpressive commercial boycott” of Israel—like “refusals to deal” with it on a business level. Notably, the bill also applies to boycotts of institutions based in Israeli settlements.
“Thank you @RepJoshG and @virginiafoxx for leading this important bipartisan effort to counter the dangerous BDS [or Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions] campaign and safeguard academic engagement with Israel,” the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, celebrated on X after the vote. “This legislation helps protect pro-Israel students from discriminatory boycotts and efforts to deny them the ability to study in Israel or learn from Israeli professors, while fully protecting First Amendment rights.”
This is a boldfaced attempt to make not just political capitulation but financial capitulation to Israel a requirement for federal funding. Eighty percent of Democratic voters and Democratic-leaning independents have a negative view of Israel, as it continues to bomb Gaza and Lebanon and Israeli settlers terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank.
The bill has many detractors, even in the Democratic Party.
“The bill’s federal requirements raise serious questions about how they would operate in practice, the potential negative effects on institutions, and the extent to which the federal government may condition funding on policies that implicate First Amendment-protected speech,” the House Education and Workforce Committee Democrats wrote in a statement before the vote.
“No matter how strongly I oppose the BDS movement, I also believe that those who engage in BDS have a First Amendment right to do so. The First Amendment right to free speech does not apply only to agreeable speech,” Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler, Congress’s most senior Jewish member, wrote. “No matter how much I may disagree with BDS, and find it strategically stupid and morally repugnant, I will always fight to protect Americans’ right to speech with which I disagree. It is the only way to ensure speech I do agree with is equally protected.”
The bill now heads to the Senate to be voted on when it returns from Labor Day break on September 14.
Here is every Democrat who voted to take funding away from universities that boycott Israel:
Jake Auchincloss (Massachusetts)Kathy Castor (Florida)Gilbert Ray Cisneros Jr. (California)Jim Costa (California)Joe Courtney (Connecticut)Henry Cuellar (Texas)Donald G. Davis (North Carolina)Lois Frankel (Florida)Laura Gillen (New York)Jared F. Golden (Maine)Vicente Gonzalez (Texas)Greg Landsman (Ohio)George Latimer (New York)Susie Lee (Nevada)John W. Mannion (New York)Jared Moskowitz (Florida)Donald Norcross (New Jersey)Jimmy Panetta (California)Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Washington)Josh Riley (New York)Bradley Scott Schneider (Illinois)Hillary J. Scholten (Michigan)Kim Schrier (Washington)Brad Sherman (California)Darren Soto (Florida)Haley M. Stevens (Michigan)Thomas R. Suozzi (New York)Shri Thanedar (Michigan)Dina Titus (Nevada)Ritchie Torres (New York)Juan Vargas (California)Eugene Simon Vindman (Virginia)Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Florida)
At least two Republicans in Congress are now calling for Pete Hegesth’s ouster as secretary of defense.
Following Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s resignation on Wednesday, Senator Thom Tillis called for President Trump to fire Hegseth, saying that he has “never witnessed more inept management” at the Pentagon.
“If we had a @SecWar who maintained the same priorities and forward-thinking, he would be fighting to retain talented leaders like Dan and the many flag officers he has forced into retirement. Instead, he is creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks,” Tillis wrote on X. “I urge the President to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”
Later on Wednesday, Republican Representative Don Bacon backed up Tillis.
“I agree with the sentiments of Senator Tillis. I hate to tell the president who he should hire and fire. I don’t know if it’s really my role, but I would say this: I would not—he would not be on my team. I think he is—he has not been a very good leader in many ways,” Bacon said on CNN regarding Hegseth.
