The House Judiciary Committee passed a bill on Wednesday that would establish offices in the Justice and Homeland Security Departments dedicated to rooting out domestic terrorist threats but rejected a Republican amendment that would have added language about antifa.
The bill, introduced by Democrats, aims to bolster the federal government’s response to a rise in white supremacist and far-right-wing extremist activity in the United States.
“These are reasonable, measured policies to help focus the federal government’s resources on the threats that continue to terrorize and kill Americans,” said Chairman Jerry Nadler, according to the Washington Times.
Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican, called the bill “one-sided” as he introduced an amendment that would add antifa and other far-left extremist groups to the bill.
“There is at least an equal level of hate, violence, and terror coming from the political left directed at conservatives and people who support the president,” Buck said. “At its core, the people perpetrating these acts are using the same tactics as white supremacists.”
Buck introduced an amendment that listed more than 80 incidents of violence tied to antifa and other left-wing extremists and warned Democrats the Republican-controlled Senate would not pass the domestic terrorism bill without his amendment attached.
“If we are serious about attacking about white supremacism, which I absolutely want to do, and did as a prosecutor, let’s make this a bipartisan bill,” he said.
Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat, said equating antifa to white supremacists is inappropriate and irrelevant.
“[This amendment] blurs the lines between the targeted attacks the likes of which my community has seen and saying violence is violence. It diminishes the suffering that generations of Americans have lived through,” she said.
Buck’s amendment failed on a party-line vote, and the bill will now go before the House floor for a full vote.
