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THE LEADER

Schumer on antisemitism, Netanyahu and being Jewish today

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history. New York City, which he has represented in Congress since 1981, has the second-largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel.

Today, Jews in his city — and across the United States — are in a state of crisis. Antisemitism is on the rise, especially since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks in Israel and the resulting deadly war in Gaza. The number of hate crimes and bias incidents aimed at Jews has soared as pro-Palestinian protests have spread. Synagogues and Jewish institutions have to be protected by police. Nowhere is that more evident than in Schumer’s own hometown.

It’s with that backdrop that Schumer took to the Senate floor Wednesday and delivered a powerful 40-minute speech. The address was filled with lessons from Jewish history and unequivocal condemnations of the blatant displays of antisemitism that have infected American cities and college campuses following Oct. 7.

Late Wednesday, hours after the address, we visited with Schumer in his Capitol office to talk about antisemitism in America, why he thinks it’s on the rise and what needs to be done to combat it.

Let’s start here: The speech drew praise from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the floor. Later, when they were in a SCIF, the Kentucky Republican turned to Schumer and said: “It’s about time someone who knew Jewish history talked about Jewish history.”

Schumer suggested to us that many young liberals who have taken up the Palestinian cause are ignorant of the vast history of oppression against Jews.

“This idea that Jewish people are the oppressors, that that’s led to some of the problems — our whole history is one of being oppressed,” Schumer said.

“I understand there’s criticism of Israel, that’s legitimate whether you agree with it or not,” Schumer added. “But not a peep about Hamas from the same people who care about the Palestinian civilians. That’s confounding.”

The Oct. 7 attack in Israel — and the subsequent war against Hamas — has fueled a spike in antisemitism. Schumer told us some of that sentiment stems from “antisemites taking advantage of the situation” or people using antisemitism to advance a cause, regardless of “whether [antisemitism is] their ultimate motivation.”

Digging a bit deeper, we spoke with Schumer about the fear that Jews feel today.

“People are afraid to walk out the door, take the subway,” Schumer told us. “Antisemitism has leapt up and that’s why I spoke now.”

We asked Schumer what would calm things down. His response:

“Legitimate” criticism: Schumer has long criticized the Israeli government, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s posture toward controversial settlements in the West Bank. Schumer told us he recently asked Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog directly to crack down on these settlements.

Schumer even went as far as to say Netanyahu would lose to opposition leader Benny Gantz “two to one” if an election were held today.

“The majority of Israelis believe you need a two-state solution,” Schumer said. “Netanyahu has become much less popular. Number one, because he didn’t keep the security promise, but number two, I think most Israelis agree that just letting the fanatics run the show is not going to be good for Israel.”

Schumer also has no qualms with the group of Democratic senators criticizing Israel’s military operations in Gaza over the large number of Palestinian civilian casualties, which he has urged Israel to work to minimize.

“They’re good people and they care about Israel, but they have a somewhat different point of view,” Schumer said of his colleagues. “That’s OK.”

— Jake Sherman, Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan

IMPEACHMENT WATCH

Mayorkas impeachment effort lingers as GOP targets Biden

House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) is no longer promising to wrap up his probe into DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by the end of the year, citing the tedious nature of the almost yearlong investigation.

Green, who is expected to hand over his findings to the House Judiciary Committee when finished, said he didn’t want to rush the process. In an interview, Green also wouldn’t say whether his investigation would recommend Mayorkas be impeached.

“When my committee makes a recommendation, it’ll be substantiated by the evidence,” Green told us. “That’s the best I can say. I don’t want to create false hope or anything.”

Republicans were once hungry to impeach Mayorkas for what they say is his negligence at the U.S.-Mexico border. But most of the House GOP conference’s attention is now fully focused on impeaching President Joe Biden, leaving little political oxygen for much else.

There is only one report left to be unveiled by the Homeland Security Committee in its five-phase investigation into Mayorkas, which has accused him of “dereliction of duty.” Green has also changed the timeline for delivering these reports several times throughout the year.

That hasn’t stopped House conservatives from ratcheting up their demands for Mayorkas’ removal. Only one Cabinet official has been impeached in U.S. history.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said leadership needs to prioritize Mayorkas over Biden when it comes to impeachment, saying it’ll be impossible to do both this Congress.

“They need to focus on what they can get,” Norman told us. “Mayorkas is easier than impeaching the president of the United States.”

Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), an ardent supporter of impeaching Mayorkas and member of the Homeland Security Committee, said his panel’s probe needs to be sped up.

“I’m very concerned it’s going too slowly since I got here,” Crane said. “I’ve been frustrated with it from the start.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), another committee member, filed a privileged resolution to impeach Mayorkas on Wednesday afternoon.

This is the second time Greene has tried to impeach Mayorkas this month. The first time lawmakers effectively killed the effort by voting to refer the resolution to the Homeland Security Committee. It’s unlikely the result will be any different than last time.

Greene said she plans to keep filing her resolution every week until Mayorkas is impeached. At the same time, she also defended Green’s pace on the committee investigation.

“All of the stats and figures that I quote in my articles of impeachment came out of our investigation into Mayorkas,” Greene told us. “I think Mark Green absolutely supports impeaching Secretary Mayorkas, but his comments may be that he doesn’t have faith in other Republicans to vote right on the floor.”

Meanwhile, DHS has accused Congress of “wasting time” on impeachment efforts against Mayorkas, defending the work he’s done overseeing the agency.

“Secretary Mayorkas continues to be laser-focused on the safety and security of our nation,” said Mia Ehrenberg, DHS spokesperson. “This baseless attack is completely without merit and a harmful distraction from our critical national security priorities.”

Green told us he would support MTG’s impeachment resolution on the floor, as he did last time.

“I would vote my district, which is to impeach him,” Green said. “When I’m on the floor, I am a congressman. When I’m here, I am a chairman of a committee that represents the entire United States, so it’s different.”

— Mica Soellner

APPROPS WATCH

News: McClain leads over 200 Republicans in anti-EPA rule effort

News: Remember the mini-news cycle earlier this year surrounding the so-called ‘war on gas stoves?’ Gear up for a more high-stakes GOP battle over car regulations that will intersect with government funding negotiations.

Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) is leading a group of more than 200 Republican lawmakers in demanding that any final government funding bill contains language banning the EPA from enforcing electric vehicle regulations.

At issue here is a proposed EPA rule that aims to drastically transition the U.S. automobile market toward electric vehicles to cut down on carbon emissions. Republicans strongly oppose this and argue the rule would hurt U.S. consumers and increase dependence on China.

House Republicans included a provision in their Interior-Environment appropriations bill that would stop the EPA from spending any money to implement the proposed EV rule.

“We believe this limitation of funds must be included in any FY24 government funding package,” the Republican lawmakers wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Here’s more from the GOP lawmakers:

The Republican letter is signed by 35 senators and 187 members of the House. But this GOP request will face stiff opposition in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

— Max Cohen and John Bresnahan

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

A bipartisan group of House members is calling on U.N. Women to “publicly condemn the use of Hamas’ brutal tactics” — including “murder, torture, abduction, rape, and sexual violence” — following the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Reps. Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) are leading more than 80 colleagues in the initiative, which accuses the U.N. group of a “disregard and tone deaf response to Hamas’ attack.”

“U.N. Women cannot expect to be viewed as an honest advocate for women’s rights if it continues to ignore Israeli women and women of other nationalities brutalized by Hamas terrorists on October 7th in an attack that claimed the lives of 1200+ Israelis and injured thousands more,” the lawmakers wrote.

Read the full letter here. The bipartisan effort is the latest example of how lawmakers are reacting to Hamas’ attack on Israel.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres released a statement Wednesday evening acknowledging that “there are numerous accounts of sexual violence during the abhorrent acts of terror by Hamas on 7 October that must be vigorously investigated and prosecuted.”

— Max Cohen

MOMENTS

8 a.m.: Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) will hold a press conference at the House Triangle.

8:30 a.m.: The Commerce Department will release the personal consumer expenditures price index data for October.

10 a.m.: President Joe Biden will get his daily intelligence briefing.

10:30 a.m.: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will hold a press conference.

1 p.m.: Karine Jean-Pierre will brief.

2:30 p.m.: Biden will host a bilateral meeting with Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço in the Oval Office.

6 p.m.: Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will participate in the National Christmas Tree lighting. Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will attend.

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