Amid campus unrest, Republicans vow to use House powers to protect Jewish students

WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson and other top House Republicans on Tuesday vowed to use their oversight powers and the power of the purse to put pressure on American universities to protect their Jewish students and crack down on anti-Gaza war protests that have disrupted college campuses nationwide.

At a news conference, Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said her committee has invited another round of university leaders — those from Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan — to testify about their efforts to stop antisemitism on campus.

Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said her panel oversees federal agencies that dole out taxpayer-funded research grants and will be investigating universities for violations of the Civil Rights Act.

And Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said his panel will be scrutinizing visas of students who are engaging in antisemitic, “radical activity” on college campuses and raising questions with the State Department about whether those visas should be revoked.

In addition to the committee action, the full House on Wednesday will vote on antisemitism legislation that would require the Education Department to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism when enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws. This bill and other GOP messaging bills like it have divided Democrats over the issue of support for Israel.

“Antisemitism is a virus," Johnson, R-La., said during Tuesday’s news conference. "And because the administration and woke university presidents aren’t stepping in, we’re seeing it spread. We have to act and House Republicans will speak to this fateful moment with moral clarity. We really wish