During a debate on a bill to combat Islamaphobia internationally, Rep. Scott Perry alleged that Rep. Ilhan Omar— the bill’s author– is antisemitic and affiliated with terrorist groups.
The House parliamentarian found that Perry’s remarks were inappropriate and “not in order” with the House Rules and Manual, Yahoo reports.
“Let’s face it: Aside from the attempts to placate an anti-Semitic member of this chamber, all that’s really happening here is that House Democrats are deflecting from the real issue confronting the House of Representatives, and that is that the maker of this bill has no business sitting on House committees has no business in this chamber,” Perry said of Omar on Tuesday on the House floor.
“American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay terrorist organizations, organizations that the maker of this bill is affiliated with, like the one that’s an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror-financed case in the United States of America’s history,” Perry continued.
Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, has received anti-Muslim death threats in the aftermath of highly publicized Islamophobic jokes made about her by GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, theGrio’s Chauncey Alcorn reported. In a viral video clip posted by a Twitter account called PatriotTakes, Boebert said she and a staffer were taking a Capitol elevator when she saw an alarmed Capitol police officer running toward them. She said she turned to her left and spotted Omar standing beside them, theGrio reported.
”Well, she doesn’t have a backpack. We should be fine,” Boebert recalled saying, drawing laughs from her audience. “And I said, ‘Oh look, the jihad squad decided to show up for work today.’”
Omar accused Boebert of fabricating the story and publicly urged Speaker Nancy Pelosi and GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to discipline Boebert.
“Fact, this buffoon looks down when she sees me at the Capitol, this whole story is made up,” Omar tweeted. “Sad she thinks bigotry gets her clout.”
Omar later made public a threatening voicemail she received in the wake of Boebert comparing her to a suicide bomber. In the voicemail, a male voice is heard threatening Omar and calling her a “jihadist.”
In response to the Islamophobia among GOP ranks and the “violent targeting” of women of color in Congress, Omar wrote a bill that the House approved late Tuesday which seeks to establish an Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia, per the report.
Perry and several GOP leaders who oppose the bill noted that the lack of a clear definition for Islamophobia in the bill could be “made up” based on individuals’ “political proclivities.”
“By intentionally leaving the definition of Islamophobia blank in this bill, the gentlelady and my friends on the other side of the aisle are creating an office in our State Department that will likely spew antisemitic hatred and attack Western ideas throughout the world under the farce of protecting Islam,” Perry said. “As you can see by this debate, the goal is to silence dissent and critiques of terrorism.”
The final vote on Omar’s bill was 219-212 along party lines.
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