You may recall that in June of this year, the House Committee on Education and Workforce advanced my bipartisan bill, the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act. This week, I am immensely pleased to report to you that the House has officially passed my bill on a bipartisan basis. Confronting antisemitism remains one of the most pressing issues that we face today, and the fact is that antisemitism continues to run rampant on college campuses across the nation. The prescription to this disease is legislation that has teeth – to firmly enshrine into law that concrete campaigns of antisemitism in the form of boycott-sanction-divest (BDS) actions have no place in any facet of civil society. My bill does just that.

As a quick refresher, here’s what the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act would do:

• Require colleges and universities to annually certify that the institution is not engaging in a non-expressive commercial boycott of Israel or forgo ability to receive federal student aid.
• Define “non-expressive commercial boycott of Israel” to mean a commercial action (including engaging in refusals to deal with Israel and terminating business activities) intended to limit commercial relations with Israel or persons or entities conducting business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories.
• Direct the Department of Education to make publicly available a list of all institutions who do not certify.
• Require colleges and universities that are recipients of International Education Programs (Title VI) funding do not allow academic boycotts but instead engage in academic exchange reciprocity.

Safeguarding taxpayer funds from campaigns to strategically boycott our nation’s strategic ally is a logical, commonsense step to take. I’m proud to work alongside my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to confront antisemitism head on and to reaffirm our support for the state of Israel and its people.

An Interesting Read

The Washington Examiner recently published an important opinion article detailing how students across the nation need to learn communism’s true history, and how this ideology is nothing more than a catastrophic failure. History confirms with blinding clarity how communism has always suppressed freedom, crushed human flourishing, and is a blight upon society. Students across our nation deserve to know why communism is an abject failure, and why it poses a serious threat to free societies like ours. Yes, there is a resurgence of communism and socialism happening right now, and one of the best ways to deter it is to educate the young men and women who will go on to be our nation’s future leaders.

To read the article, click here. 

A Final Reminder

Next Saturday, the 5^th District’s annual U.S. Service Academy Day will be held from 1-3PM at Surry Community College’s Elkin Center at 1461 N Bridge St, Elkin, NC  28621. Representatives from all five U.S. Service Academies will be on hand to answer questions and provide information on their respective application processes. This event is open to all students, parents, counselors, and educators in North Carolina’s 5th District.

To aid in seating logistics, please RSVP by Thursday, September 10th to NC05serviceacademy@mail.house.gov. For questions about the U.S. Service Academy Day, please call Simon Connolly in my Mayodan District Office at (336) 778-0211. Information about obtaining a nomination to a U.S. Service Academy is also available here. 

Quote of The Week

“To be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task.”

-Sophocles

Have a blessed weekend,