At Wednesday's Senate Health Committee hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) put forward an amendment relating to the definition of antisemitism.
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00:00Who else has an amendment which I'd like to bring up?
00:01I've got an amendment.
00:03Cain, you want to go Sanders first?
00:05Yeah.
00:07I'll call Sanders Amendment Number 2.
00:14Mr. Chairman, as you will recall, in the recent hearing we held on this issue,
00:20all five witnesses, including three Republican witnesses, made it clear
00:25that criticizing the extremist government of Netanyahu over their policies in Gaza
00:31is not anti-Semitic.
00:33One can criticize the government of Israel for their policies without being anti-Semitic.
00:40This amendment makes it clear that it is not anti-Semitic to oppose the Netanyahu-led war effort
00:45that has killed more than 50,000 people and wounded over 116,000,
00:5160% of whom are women, children, and the elderly.
00:56Making that point is not anti-Semitic.
01:00It is not anti-Semitic to criticize Netanyahu's war machine
01:03that has damaged or destroyed two-thirds of all structures in Gaza,
01:08including 92% of the housing units.
01:10It is not anti-Semitic to speak out against the extremist Israeli government
01:16for not allowing a single shipment of aid into Gaza in over two months,
01:2362 days and counting.
01:25To point this out is not anti-Semitic.
01:28It is the truth.
01:30I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment.
01:34Senator Hassan.
01:36Just briefly, Mr. Chair, on Sanders' Amendment 2,
01:41I will say that this amendment doesn't necessarily reflect the words
01:46that I would use in describing the full picture in Gaza,
01:50but just saying these words doesn't make you an anti-Semite.
01:55And so while I continue to remind people that this war would end
02:00if Hamas would put down its arms,
02:02we do have a First Amendment in this country that protects the freedom of speech.
02:06So, Senator Murphy.
02:11Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
02:13I'm going to support the Senator's amendment,
02:15and it speaks to, I think, a really important issue in the underlying bill.
02:21The author of this definition has testified publicly
02:25that he never intended for the definition that ended up in statute
02:31to include the litany of examples that are offered as part of the guidance
02:38on how to implement this definition.
02:40This is really important, because if you read these examples,
02:44which are going to be incorporated by law into this new definition,
02:49it absolutely opens up the possibility that criticism of Israel,
02:56for instance, suggesting that there is discrimination or bias against Palestinians
03:03connected to decisions that the government is making,
03:07as actions or speech that could ultimately cause your federal funding to be in jeopardy.
03:14If you argued that there was bias or discrimination inherent in an exercise of the U.S. government,
03:20you would not be held liable.
03:23You would not be at risk of losing your federal funding.
03:25But under this definition, which includes the examples,
03:29there is a real potential that First Amendment protected speech,
03:33which criticism of Israel, the policies of Israel,
03:38will end up getting you in trouble and putting your federal funding at risk.
03:42So I wish we had listened to the author of the definition.
03:46The author of the definition would support the definition itself
03:50as being complete and total enough
03:54in order to protect against anti-Semitism on campus.
03:59The reason that many of us are having trouble with this bill
04:02is because of the incorporation of the examples
04:04that were never, ever intended to become law
04:06and will just make this definition very confusing
04:09for an administration or courts to ultimately interpret and administer.
04:15So, Senator, I'm about to recognize Senator Paul.
04:18I'm just going to tell folks this is actually not our jurisdiction.
04:21As this amendment is phrased, this is Senate Foreign Relations.
04:25And so I'm just telling you that we're going to have a lot of discussion
04:29and I'm going to have a gavel.
04:31I've asked my staff, we're going to get through this bill.
04:34You're going to have a gavel, but this is an issue that is relevant to this committee.
04:39This is the heart of what we're debating today.
04:41This is a Senate Finance, this is a Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Sanders.
04:46No, we're not debating the war in Gaza.
04:48We're debating this amendment is there.
04:50So, Senator Paul.
04:52Senator, what is the actual, what is the rule?
04:54Is the rule that we each get two minutes on each amendment?
04:59Okay, so you're not going to gavel down individuals who are speaking?
05:02We're going to finish by noon because our time here is restricted.
05:07And I'm not going to allow process to kill our final passage
05:10by a death of a thousand conversations.
05:12Well, you set a very restrictive debate rule,
05:15and I just want to make sure you're holding to that.
05:16We all get the ability to speak for two minutes on each amendment.
05:20Is that correct?
05:21Because let's not be naive.
05:22I believe this is a strategy to defeat final passage
05:25on something which has been out there for some years.
05:27Mr. Chairman, but this is a, listen, this is a very important issue, Mr. Chairman.
05:30Senator Paul.
05:32You know, I think imputing what the goals are of each of us in discussing this,
05:36my goal is to further the debate and have a very intellectual and informed debate over this.
05:41So there are 11 examples that are listed that could be anti-Semitism.
05:46One of them says that claiming the existence of the state of Israel is a racist endeavor.
05:53Well, what if I repeat that Netanyahu says that Israel is a Jewish state?
05:57Well, Jewish is a race, and if he says it's a Jewish state, just by repeating Netanyahu,
06:04could I be guilty of anti-Semitism?
06:07So, you know, the thing is, is there are questions.
06:10There are valid questions that can people ask.
06:12So if you're a settler on the West Bank and you're Jewish, you get to vote in the Israeli elections.
06:17If you're Arab and you live on the West Bank, you don't.
06:19So is that fair or is that me condemning, you know, you know, the citizenship or making allegations
06:30that are going to be, you know, limited by this bill?
06:32So these are really important, and this is really the main objections that have come to this.
06:36If we did a standard sort of we condemn anti-Semitism, it'd probably be passed with everybody voting for it.
06:42But instead, we are listing all these things that open Pandora's box and realize that the police are behind this.
06:49The Department of Education has police.
06:51You may not know this, but the Department of Education actually has armed police.
06:55So they can send people to the campus to police this type of speech.
07:00And, you know, seriously, it is actually advocated by the current government of Israel
07:08that it be a Jewish state and always remained a Jewish state.
07:11That is a racial statement.
07:13That's not my statement.
07:14That's their statement.
07:15So is it going to be disallowed by this bill for a student to say that on campus?
07:22So the...
07:23Chairman, I would call the question.
07:25There is a motion.
07:27I'm going to make a motion to table this amendment.
07:30Is there a second?
07:31Well, I made a motion to call the question.
07:35Mr. Chairman, I would like a vote on my amendment.
07:39Motion to table because of absence of jurisdiction.
07:43Is there a second?
07:44Second.
07:44There is a second.
07:45It's non-debatable.
07:46Clerk or shall call the roll.
07:50Senator Paul?
07:51No.
07:53Senator Collins?
07:54No by proxy.
07:57Senator Murkowski?
07:58I'm sorry.
07:59Yes by proxy.
07:59Yes by proxy.
08:02All right.
08:02Senator Murkowski?
08:05Yes by proxy.
08:06Senator Mullin?
08:09Yes by proxy.
08:11Senator Marshall?
08:12Yes.
08:14Senator Scott?
08:15Yes.
08:16Senator Hawley?
08:17Yes by proxy.
08:18Senator Tuberville?
08:19Yes.
08:20Senator Banks?
08:21Yes.
08:21Senator Husted?
08:23Yes.
08:23Senator Moody?
08:24Yes by proxy.
08:26Senator Sanders?
08:27No.
08:28Senator Murray?
08:29No by proxy.
08:31Senator Baldwin?
08:32No by proxy.
08:34Senator Murphy?
08:35No.
08:36Senator Koehn?
08:37No.
08:39Senator Hassan?
08:40No.
08:41Senator Hickenlooper?
08:42No.
08:44Senator Markey?
08:45No.
08:46Senator Kim?
08:47No.
08:48Senator Blunt-Rochester?
08:49No.
08:50Senator Ulsterbrooks?
08:52No by proxy.
08:54Chairman Cassidy?
08:55Senator Cassidy is a yes and I will also point out that we would not have the restrictions
09:01on debate had minority agreed to go beyond two hours.
09:05Now the idea that somehow we're doing restrictions because of something that is heavy handed on
09:11for my part when we've not had an agreement to go beyond two hours is deceitful to the American
09:16people.
09:17Deceitful.
09:19So with that said, staff?
09:23I have 11 ayes, 12 nays.
09:25Okay.
09:26So do we now have a...
09:28Hold it.
09:30So the motion table was not agreed to yet.
09:36Oh, okay.
09:37Right.
09:37Now we'll have a vote on the amendment.
09:39Correct.
09:39The chairman will call the vote.
09:43And I shall be voting no.
09:49Senator Paul?
09:54Aye.
09:56Senator Collins?
09:58No by proxy.
09:59Senator Murkowski?
10:01No by proxy.
10:02Senator Mullen?
10:03No by proxy.
10:05Senator Marshall?
10:06No.
10:08Senator Scott?
10:09No.
10:10Senator Hawley?
10:12No by proxy.
10:14Senator Tuberville?
10:15No by proxy.
10:17Senator Banks?
10:18No.
10:20Senator Houston?
10:21No.
10:21Senator Moody?
10:23No by proxy.
10:24Senator Sanders?
10:25Aye.
10:26Senator Murray?
10:27Aye by proxy.
10:29Senator Baldwin?
10:30Aye by proxy.
10:31Senator Murphy?
10:33Senator Kane?
10:35Senator Hassan?
10:37Aye.
10:38Senator Hickenlooper?
10:38Aye.
10:40Senator Markey?
10:41Aye.
10:43Senator Kim?
10:43Aye.
10:44Senator Blunt-Rochester?
10:46Aye.
10:46Senator Ulsterbrooks?
10:47Aye by proxy.
10:48Chairman Cassidy?
10:51Senator Cassidy is a no.
10:55I have 12 ayes, 11 nays.
10:58Okay.
10:59The amendment fails.
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