White House to brief Jewish Congress members as it seeks funding for antisemitism strategy

WASHINGTON (JTA) — High White Home officers are assembly with a bipartisan slate of Jewish members of Congress Wednesday because the administration presses for funding for key parts of its technique to fight antisemitism, together with efforts on school campuses.

Douglas Emhoff, the Jewish Second Gentleman, who’s spearheading implementation of the technique, will be part of Neera Tanden, President Joe Biden’s prime home coverage adviser, and Liz Sherwood-Randall, his prime homeland safety adviser, in a gathering Wednesday with 15-20 Jewish lawmakers from the U.S. Home of Representatives and the Senate, a White Home official informed the Jewish Telegraphic Company.

These officers and others have been routinely briefing Jewish communal leaders on the implementation of the technique, which Biden unveiled in Could and accelerated within the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 bloodbath in Israel, which launched the conflict between Israel and the fear group in Gaza. The newest briefing was on Monday, when many Jewish leaders had been on the town to attend the White Home Hanukkah celebration.

On the assembly Wednesday, the White Home will deliver up not less than two parts of the technique that require congressional funding that administration insiders have accused Republicans of obstructing in Congress.

“Following the replace, they are going to have interaction in a dialogue about how Congress and the Administration can work collectively to counter the scourge of antisemitism,” mentioned the official in an e mail.

One of many points on the agenda, the official confirmed, is funding for the Division of Schooling’s Workplace of Civil Rights, which handles complaints of bias at federally funded school campuses. Jewish and pro-Israel teams have filed a sequence of federal complaints alleging that college administrations haven’t executed sufficient to counter antisemitism on their campuses. Since Oct. 7, the civil rights workplace has enhanced its efforts to area and tackle the complaints.

Home Republicans have for months sought cuts to the workplace as they wrestle with the White Home to deliver down federal spending.

Liberal teams that see the workplace as a crucial software to fight bias and discrimination on campuses have pushed again, and their case gained traction within the swirl of antisemitism controversies on campuses since Oct. 7, with Biden administration officers arguing that the workplace wanted to extend its employees to deal with the variety of complaints.

“One other method to tackle the scourge of antisemitism on school campuses is to sufficiently fund OCR and the Division of Ed,” Amy Spitalnick, the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a nationwide public coverage group, mentioned in an interview earlier this week.

“And there have been efforts by Republican elected officers and others to chop funding for OCR at a time when its work is essential,” mentioned Spitalnick, who’s among the many Jewish leaders who’ve consulted with the administration on its antisemitism technique.

One other White Home funding request associated to the antisemitism technique is $200 million in further funds for nonprofit safety grants, which assist spiritual establishments harden themselves in opposition to potential attackers. That quantity can be added to the $360 million at the moment appropriated for this system. The White Home official mentioned that this too can be on the agenda on Wednesday.

That request is a part of a $106 billion emergency funding request that features greater than $14 billion in help for Israel because it fights with Hamas and greater than $61 billion in help for Ukraine because it repels Russia’s invasion. The Republican-led Home handed the Israel part, conditioning it on cuts to funding for the Inner Income Service, a situation the Senate’s Democratic majority says is unacceptable. Republicans additionally need intensified restrictions on the Mexico border earlier than they even contemplate the remainder of the bundle.

There are 24 Jewish Democrats and two Jewish Republicans within the Home, and eight Jewish Democrats within the Senate. The 2 Jewish Republicans, Max Miller of Ohio and David Kustoff of Tennessee, could also be key bridges to the Home Republican management. Miller, notably, informed Jewish Insider not too long ago that he was livid with Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, a Republican, for attaching situations to the Israel funding.

On the assembly with the members of Congress, the White Home official mentioned, the Biden staff will evaluate its achievements in implementing its antisemitism technique, together with consolidating Schooling Division protections for victims of spiritual bigotry; coaching on figuring out antisemitism and Islamophobia throughout various govt businesses; offering coaching on anti-religious bigotry to college students within the agriculture and well being sectors; and updating and distributing an FBI hate crimes risk response information.