Nearly everyone in the House voted for a bill to bar from the U.S. all Hamas members and anyone involved with the Islamist terror group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
But not Reps. Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib.
In a statement, Ms. Tlaib, Michigan Democrat, said the bill incited hatred against people like her.
She denounced the bill as “another GOP messaging bill being used to incite anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim hatred that makes communities like ours unsafe.”
The two members of the far-left “Squad” were the only House members to vote against HR 6679, the “No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act,” which passed on a 422-2 vote. Rep. Delia Ramirez, Illinois Democrat, also voted “present.”
Ms. Tlaib also called the bill “unnecessary” and “redundant,” which was consistent with the Democrats’ whip message on the bill, though almost all members of the party, including “Squad” members Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, voted for it anyway.
The whip message from Rep. Katherine Clark, Massachusetts Democrat, called the bill “widely duplicative” of existing law, pointing out that Hamas members are barred from the U.S. and ineligible for immigration protections under existing law because the group is a designated foreign terrorist organization.
The bill does expand the category of excludables to include Palestine Liberation Organization members from the U.S. and all Oct. 7 participants and enablers regardless of any formal affiliation.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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