A key Republican senator today ripped college administrators for not cracking down on antisemitism during this month’s student pro-Palestinian raging across the country, suggesting that federal funds be cut off.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), an ally of former President Donald Trump and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee even pointed a finger at two colleges he would start with: Columbia University and the University of California.
“One thing we could do is to stop the federal funding,” Daines told a roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
“You know, Columbia had received $1.2 billion in federal funding last year. UCLA, nearly a billion dollars. I mean, you kind of go through — the Ivy League’s are usually in the north, well, north of $500 to $700 million,” he said at the “Monitor Breakfast” event, a Washington media institution.
Daines has been among the Republicans leading the effort to condemn antisemitism on campuses at a time when top Democrats have been muted. President Joe Biden finally spoke out on the issue Thursday.
Daines said he is urging lawmakers on both sides to speak out.
“I wish we’d have maybe some Democrats join us with full-throated condemnation and taking action,” he told reporters in a session that also touched on his plan to help win back the Senate majority in the November election.
“We must stand up firm with full-throated rebuke and condemnation, what’s happening with the hate and the violence against these Jewish students and Jewish professors,” Daines said with passion.
In encouraging Democratic lawmakers to speak out, Daines warned that the party could pay a political price for being muted.
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He warned, for example, that the Democratic National Convention in Chicago could be hit with similar protests and reminded reporters that younger voters could return to their “encampments” in the fall.
“At this moment, you’re seeing clarity. You’re seeing the American people here siding on where we’re at on this. They’re just appalled by these images. Continue on, and I think we’ll see what happens as we get close to fall. This could be a big problem for Democrats in August in Chicago. But I’m guessing the same students that are pretty fired up right now on the campuses in May, remember that they’re going to be taking finals and going home here pretty soon. They’ll be coming back in the fall. This could be a problem for the Democrats, politically speaking,” Daines said.