House Democrats Force Through ‘Islamophobia’ Bill Without a Single Republican Vote

The House on Tuesday passed a bill sponsored by Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota that would establish a State Department office to fight “Islamophobia” worldwide.

The Combating International Islamophobia Act was approved 219-212 along party lines.

All the votes for the bill came from Democrats without a single Republican legislator voting in favor, according to the House of Representatives’ Office of the Clerk. All the votes against came from Republicans, with no Democrat voting against the party line.

One Democrat and two Republican representatives abstained from voting.

The bill instructs the secretary of state to create an “Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia” led by a presidentially appointed “special envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia.”

The legislation also mandates that, starting 180 days after its enactment, the State Department include acts of anti-Muslim violence and incitement in its annual human rights reports on countries worldwide and in its annual international religious freedom report.

A final provision in the bill prohibits any funds allocated to the bill’s fulfillment from going to efforts to “promote or endorse a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement ideology” or “used to promote or endorse a Muslim ban, such as the one instituted by former President Trump.”

In none of the sections, however, does the bill define what makes up “Islamophobia.”

“As a country that was founded on religious liberty, our leadership on international religious freedom depends on recognizing that Islamophobia is global in scope, and that we must lead the global effort to address it,” Omar, who is Muslim and a member of the so-called squad of progressive lawmakers, said during a House debate on the legislation.