House Democrats shot down the GOP’s effort Thursday to take a stand against the anti-Israel boycott movement, calling it a distraction from their agenda.
Republicans forced the vote as the final action on an unrelated retirement savings bill, saying Democrats had refused to bring up the legislation on their own, and this was the only way to force action.
The bill would empower localities to refuse to do business with those who back the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement that seeks to punish Israel for its policy toward its Palestinian territories.
“The BDS movement is an effort to weaponize the world’s economy against one simple state — one state — the great state of Israel, and the Jewish people,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, who offered the proposal.
He lost on a 222-200 vote — though a dozen Democrats defected to back the GOP’s motion.
The rest sided with party leaders who have said they’re searching for a way to make a pro-Israel statement without adopting the anti-BDS legislative Republicans are pushing.
Rep. Richard Neal, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee that worked on the retirement security bill, called the BDS fight an attempt to derail the bipartisan work on his legislation.
“This is cute. It’s not clever,” he said. “There is no weakness on our part in support of the state of Israel on this side of the aisle.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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