On the Senate floor, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) decried the rise of antisemitism on college campuses.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I would ask consent that the quorum call be vitiated.
00:04Without objection.
00:06And would also ask consent to speak as if in morning business.
00:09Without objection.
00:11Thank you, Mr. President.
00:12I rise today to speak against anti-Semitism
00:16and to speak about efforts we're undertaking here in the Senate to combat anti-Semitism.
00:22We see it throughout our society, including on college campuses.
00:28And my friend from South Carolina, Senator Scott, and I have worked on legislation,
00:34not just this year, but for many years on this issue.
00:38We introduced together the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act
00:42and have been trying to get that passed into law.
00:45The significant rise in anti-Semitism across the country on college campuses
00:50has made me and I know so many other members of the House and the Senate
00:55and both parties increasingly concerned regarding the safety of Jewish students on campus.
01:02Students, of course, have the right to peacefully protest,
01:06but when it crosses a line either into violence or discrimination,
01:14then we have an obligation to step in and stop that conduct.
01:20I stood on this floor in late 2022 to speak about this subject, anti-Semitism in America,
01:29and the exponential rise we were seeing in the years leading up to that point in time, to 2022.
01:37I spoke in particular about the hateful anti-Semitism
01:42that led to the murder of 11 Pittsburghers at the Tree of Life Synagogue.
01:49At that time, we were calculating the numbers as being much higher for 2020, 2021, and going into 2022.
02:03But after October 7, when a band of terrorists, Hamas, went into Israel and killed 1,200 innocent civilians,
02:16since that date, the rise in anti-Semitism across the country and across the world
02:22has increased even beyond what we thought were exponentially high numbers in 2022.
02:28The Anti-Defamation League has tracked the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents ever in the United States in 2023.
02:35These numbers have undoubtedly continued to rise with the ongoing campus protests.
02:40There were over 8,800 instances, including 2,177 cases of vandalism and 161 assaults.
02:51We cannot tolerate any form of anti-Semitism abroad or here at home in America,
02:59on college campuses, in the workplace, at our schools, wherever we find it.
03:05We have to take action against it.
03:07To address the 140% increase, just imagine that, a 140% increase in anti-Semitic incidents,
03:17compared to last year.
03:19I've introduced several bills aiming to strengthen civil rights enforcement against anti-Semitism.
03:26The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act that I made reference to earlier,
03:30working with Senator Scott and a group of bipartisan Senators,
03:34would mandate that the Department of Education considers a widely accepted definition of anti-Semitism
03:42in carrying out its enforcement actions.
03:44The Department of Education has an Office of Civil Rights.
03:47That office is empowered to conduct these investigations,
03:51and we have to provide more funding, by the way, for that office to do these investigations.
03:56They are badly, badly underfunded right now.
04:00But Senator Scott and I have worked together on this anti-Semitism legislation for almost a decade now, since 2016.
04:11I want to thank our colleagues in the House who passed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2023,
04:17yesterday with a vote of 320 to 91.
04:21However, one finding in the House bill is different from my and Senator Scott's bill
04:27and the Biden Administration's countering anti-Semitism strategy,
04:31that the use of other anti-Semitism definitions impairs enforcement.
04:37Taking this finding out is important because other definitions of anti-Semitism also help to address this terrible problem.
04:44But what's even more important is passing this bill today with the unique opportunity that we have.
04:51In the Senate, we must take up and pass this bill and pass it today.
04:56The hotline to all Senate offices went out last night,
04:59but objections on both sides of the aisle have prevented us from bringing our bill to the floor.
05:05We must bring it to the floor and pass it today.
05:09But that's not all that is needed to counter discrimination and harassment on college campuses.
05:15The office, as I mentioned earlier, the office responsible for enforcing anti-discrimination laws,
05:21the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, is, and I'll say it again, badly, severely underfunded.
05:28That's why I'm leading the Showing Up for Students Act,
05:32which would double the funding for the Office of Civil Rights to investigate incidents of harassment and discrimination,
05:40including anti-Semitism, on college campuses nationwide.
05:44In the months following the terrorist group Hamas' attack on Israel,
05:49the Office for Civil Rights has seen a more than 1,300 percent increase in complaints
05:58related to discrimination and harassment based upon shared ancestry, including acts of anti-Semitism, at schools across the United States.
06:06This is a staggering increase in incidents and shows no sign of abating.
06:10We must meet the moment and ensure that students can learn free from anti-Semitism,
06:16free from discrimination, and all, all forms of hate.
06:22We must pass the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act today to ensure that Jewish students on campuses
06:28or anywhere else in our society are protected against discrimination.
06:33And I would yield the floor.
06:36And note the absence of...
06:38I'll withdraw that.
06:40I'll yield the floor.