06.09.21

Cantwell, Colleagues Launch Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combatting Antisemitism

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), joined a group of 56 Senators in announcing the re-launch of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combatting Antisemitism. First launched in 2019, the collaboration is the first of its kind in the United States Senate, serving as a corollary to the House of Representative’s Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.

The Task Force now includes 56 Senators, with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans: Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Cory Booker (D-NJ), John Boozman (R-AR), Mike Braun (R-IN), , Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Tom Carper (D-DE), Bob Casey (D-PA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Susan Collins (R-ME), Chris Coons (D-DE), John Cornyn (R-TX), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Steve Daines (R-MT), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), James Lankford (R-OK), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Ed Markey (D-MA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Rob Portman (R-OH), James Risch (R-ID), Mitt Romney (R-UT), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tim Scott (R-SC), Todd Young (R-IN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Jon Tester (D-MT), John Thune (R-SD), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Mark Warner (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Todd Young (R-IN).

Last month, Senator Cantwell joined Senators Rosen and Lankford in introducing a bipartisan resolution condemning recent antisemitic incidents in the United States and around the world. The Senators’ resolution also calls on leaders to denounce antisemitism and take specific steps to address and prevent it. The resolution is now co-sponsored by 68 Senators – evenly divided by party – representing more than two-thirds of the U.S. Senate.

Senator Cantwell has taken a leadership role in the Senate in countering antisemitism and hate crimes. In April 2017, she led a group of colleagues in sending a letter to President Trump calling for the establishment of a Presidential Task Force to address the alarming rise of hate crimes across many communities in the United States. She continued that push after white supremacist violence in Charlottesville later that year. That letter led the DOJ to form a Hate Crimes Subcommittee as part of the Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety to combat hate crimes, which was later transformed into a freestanding, Department-wide Hate Crimes Enforcement and Prevention Initiative, led by the Civil Rights Division.

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