The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Muslim voters and community leaders to meet with lawmakers in their home districts during the August Congressional recess. CAIR is offering its 2024 August Recess Toolkit as a resource designed to empower American Muslims and allies to engage their members of Congress during the recess.
Every year, Congress takes a summer break in August and resumes the week after Labor Day. This year, the recess begins on August 5th and will continue until September 8th.
In the toolkit, CAIR discusses how community members can successfully connect with their members of Congress to join us in advocating against the current challenges Muslims face in Congress, including:
McCarthyism 2.0: The Republican-led House Committees on Oversight and Accountability and Education and Workforce are investigating more than 20 Muslim, Palestinian, and Jewish nonprofit advocacy organizations. These investigations are based on accusations from far-right, pro-Israel conspiracy theorists and have been criticized as “McCarthyism 2.0.” The targets are Americans advocating for Palestinian human rights.
Legislative Threats: Congress has attempted to pass legislation to reclassify First Amendment-protected speech and protests as hate speech or material support for terrorism.
- H.R. 6408 / S. 4136: This bill allows the President to strip nonprofit organizations, including mosques, of their tax-exempt status based on claims of supporting terrorism. It has been adopted by the House.
- Antisemitism Awareness Act (H.R. 6090 / S. 4127): This act conflates criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism, using the IHRA’s definition. It could silence student protests and has been adopted by the House.
- Countering Antisemitism Act (H.R. 7921 / S. 4091): This act proposes a task force to combat antisemitism, potentially targeting Arab Americans and pro-Palestine activists using the IHRA’s definition.
By Ismail Allison
