The US House of Representatives has approved a Republican-backed bill that would penalise universities involved in boycotts of Israel or efforts to restrict students from participating in academic exchange programmes with the country.
The Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act passed on Thursday by a 237-169 vote. Thirty-three Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure, while two Republicans voted against it.
The bill will now move to the US Senate for consideration.
Under the proposed legislation, colleges and universities that take part in federal student aid programmes would be prohibited from participating in boycotts of Israel.
Institutions receiving federal support for international study and foreign-language programmes would also be required to certify each year that they do not prevent students from participating in programmes in Israel or restrict Israeli students from taking part in programmes on their campuses.
Republican leaders pushed the legislation to the House floor amid efforts to highlight divisions within the Democratic Party over Israel and other politically sensitive issues ahead of the November midterm elections.
Tim Walberg, the Republican chairman of the House education committee, defended the bill, arguing that federal funding should not support institutions that discriminate against Israel or Israelis.
“This legislation is about a simple principle: our colleges and universities should not discriminate against Israel, Israeli institutions or Israeli students, and federal taxpayer dollars should never support institutions that engage in such discrimination,” Walberg said.
Calls for universities to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel intensified among some students and faculty members following the October 7 attack and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza. However, the efforts largely failed to secure institutional backing.
Bobby Scott, the senior Democrat on the education committee, opposed the legislation, describing it as unnecessary and warning that it could raise concerns over First Amendment protections for political expression.
“No college or university has embraced the BDS movement anyway. So, we should combat antisemitism wherever it occurs, but we should not do so by punishing protected speech or conflating a student’s view with university policies,” he said.
Most Democrats who supported the bill are facing competitive re-election races in November or have expressed strong support for Israel.
Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation with Republican Virginia Foxx, described it as a “narrow and tailored” measure aimed at addressing antisemitism.
“No student, no professor should be shut out of research, study abroad opportunities, or academic partnerships or feel unwelcome in the classroom because of where they are from or what religion they practice. Yet that’s exactly what the boycott-divest-sanction movement seeks to do – targeting one country and one religion: Israel and Judaism,” he said.
The legislation comes as disagreements over US support for Israel continue to deepen among House Democrats.
In July, more than 100 House Democrats backed a proposal seeking to cut some military assistance to Israel amid allegations that the country’s military operations in Gaza amounted to genocide.
