GOP Rep Unleashes Islamophobic Attack on Ilhan Omar in Response to Bill to Fight Islamophobia

A Republican lawmaker launched an Islamophobic attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Tuesday in response to a bill she co-sponsored seeking to fight Islamophobia. Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) was blocked from speaking on the House floor after he accused Omar, one of only a handful of Muslim members of Congress, of terrorist sympathies, The New York Times reports. “American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay terrorist organizations, organizations that the maker of this bill is affiliated with…,” Perry said, apparently in reference to the Muslim civil-rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations’ previous honoring of Omar. The bill, which would set up a new special envoy position in the State Department to tackle Islamophobia, passed 219 to 212 late Tuesday despite Perry’s attack. His comments followed fellow Republican Lauren Boebert’s portrayals of Omar as a suicide bomber in comments to supporters and dubbed her a member of the “jihad squad.”