As Concerns Increase about Rising Antisemitism, Mike Lawler Stands Behind Trump’s Project 2025

Haaretz : A Christian Nationalist America: U.S. Jews Raise Alarm About GOP's Project 2025

According to a new report from Haaretz, the Donald Trump and MAGA Republican backed Project 2025 is raising particular concern among Jewish Americans.

Project 2025 calls for the dramatic dismantling of the Department of Education, raising serious questions about the future of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is responsible for investigating discrimination, including antisemitism, in schools and on campuses.

Just last week, several House Republicans voted to cut $10 million from the OCR as part of ongoing negotiations on bills to keep our government open.

While Lawler and extreme House Republicans like to talk tough on antisemitism in front of cameras, they have refused to disavow this blueprint to dismantle the agency most responsible for investigating antisemitism in our schools.

DCCC Spokesperson Ellie Dougherty:
"As Jewish Americans are raising alarm about the prospect of Trump's Project 2025 becoming real life, Mike Lawler and extreme MAGA Republicans have sat idly by as this far-right agenda has sought to rapidly reshape the institutions that keep us safe."

Read more about Trump's Project 2025 from Haaretz below.

Haaretz: A Christian Nationalist America: U.S. Jews Raise Alarm About GOP's Project 2025
Ben Samuels | July 15th, 2024

Antisemitism as a cudgel

• Perhaps most concerning for the American-Jewish community is Project 2025's plan to defund the U.S. Department of Education. The Office of Civil Rights, which is responsible for investigating and adjudicating allegations of antisemitism, sits within this department and has opened at least 145 investigations into such complaints.

• The word "antisemitism" isn't used once throughout the 900-page document.

• Earlier this year, the Office of Civil Rights issued new guidance through a "Dear Colleague" letter to every school district and college in the country, providing examples of antisemitic discrimination, as well as other forms of hate, that could lead to investigations for violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI).

• The White House stressed this guidance was "meant to ensure that colleges and universities do a better job of protecting both Jewish students and all of their students" […]

• Earlier this summer, a rare coalition of nearly two dozen Jewish organizations across the political and denominational spectrum urged Congress to "provide the highest possible funding" for the Office of Civil Rights, despite the deep disagreements regarding antisemitism on Capitol Hill and the Jewish world.

• House Republicans, in turn, voted to cut $10 million from the office's funding […]

• Jewish Democrats, meanwhile, have highlighted Republican hypocrisy in using campus antisemitism as a cudgel - including giving it top-tier prioritization at this week's convention - while hamstringing efforts by the U.S. government to address it.

• "I've said it countless times: If House Republicans were serious about fighting antisemitism on college campuses, they'd increase funding for the office responsible for protecting students from it. Their solution today? Cut funding for it," said Rep. Jerry Nadler, dean of the unofficial caucus of Jewish lawmakers.

• Rep. Dan Goldman similarly noted that Republicans "shamelessly use antisemitism as a partisan weapon but have no interest in solutions."

• Jewish Democrat Rep. Kathy Manning, meanwhile, said: "It's appalling that after months of holding hearings and grilling witnesses on the frightening rise of antisemitism on campus, House Republicans voted to cut $10 million for the office tasked with holding schools accountable for antisemitic discrimination.

• "Jewish students deserve to be protected," she added. "If my Republican colleagues are serious about fighting antisemitism, they must live up to their words and work with Democrats to provide OCR the resources it needs to investigate antisemitism and protect Jewish students."

• Project 2025 would also effectively abolish the FBI and turn the Justice Department into an explicitly political arm. This would have dramatic effects on the tracking, preventing and prosecuting of explicitly antisemitic attacks.

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