Never Again Education Reauthorization Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Never Again Education Reauthorization Act of 2023, a bill of which I am a cosponsor.

For years now at college campuses, we have seen an alarming rise in anti-Semitism that in far too many cases was allowed by university faculty administration, sometimes even encouraged.

Even though this trend has been years in the making, nothing could have prepared us for the horrifying scenes that we have seen over the last year, ever since the attack of October 7 where these tendencies and this rise in anti-Semitism came out into the open.

We saw scenes unlike anything we ever thought we would see in this country. You had students setting up checkpoints on campuses and saying that if you are a Jewish student, you are not allowed to pass. You had encampments set up for the specific purpose of harassing Jewish students and extracting anti-Semitic concessions from faculty that in some cases were, in fact, agreed to.

Our committee, the Education and the Workforce Committee, began an investigation into these incidents. We brought in university presidents, some of whom are now former university presidents. We heard from students who lived through this horror and who no longer feel safe on their own campuses.

This culminated in a report that laid out exactly what has been going on at campuses across this country. This alarming normalization of anti-Semitism in higher education must not continue. It demands swift, decisive action, and the Never Again Education Act responds to this crisis.

The bill reauthorizes funding for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to develop and distribute educational resources on the Holocaust, how it happened, and why it must never happen again.

These tools equip educators to combat prejudice, apathy, and complicity. It empowers students to recognize anti-Semitism, reject its resurgence, and to see an echo of our most painful history when it occurs.

By passing this legislation, we will assure that ignorance does not prevail, and I encourage a strong bipartisan vote to assure that it is passed into law.

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