Pressley Offers Resolution Condemning Boebert for Islamaphobic Rhetoric

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Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:43 pm

Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) is offering a resolution condemning Representative Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) for Islamaphobic rhetoric.

“For a Member of Congress to repeatedly use hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric and Islamophobic tropes towards a Muslim colleague is dangerous. It has no place in our society and it diminishes the honor of the institution we serve in,” Pressley said.

She added: “Without meaningful accountability for that Member’s actions, we risk normalizing this behavior and endangering the lives of our Muslim colleagues, Muslim staffers and every Muslim who calls America home. The House must unequivocally condemn this incendiary rhetoric and immediately pass this resolution. How we respond in moments like these will have lasting impacts, and history will remember us for it.”

It is not clear if the resolution has the support of other Democratic members of the House, though it is likely at least some do considering the criticism leveled at Boebert in recent weeks.

Boebert was accused of expressing anti-Muslim sentiment after she called Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) a member of “the Jihad Squad,” making the remarks during a House resolution to censure Representative Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who’d shared an altered, animated video that depicted him killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and threatening President Joe Biden.

“The Speaker has designated the floor to discuss members’ inappropriate actions, shall we?” she said at the time. “The Jihad Squad member from Minnesota has paid her husband, and not her brother husband—the other one, over a million dollars in campaign funds. This member is allowed on the Foreign Affairs Committee while praising terrorists.”

Pressley is among a group of progressive lawmakers who have advocated for Boebert to be stripped of her committee assignments.