By Moira Warburton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Democratic proposal for a U.S. State Department office addressing anti-Muslim bias will get a procedural vote in a House committee on Tuesday, after a Republican congresswoman used an Islamophobic slur against a Democratic colleague.
The bill, authored by Representative Ilhan Omar, would create a special envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia, and include state-sponsored anti-Muslim violence in the department’s annual human rights reports.
The House Rules committee will discuss and vote on the bill Tuesday, a key step before it can advance to the full House.
That comes just a few weeks after video emerged showing first-term Republican Representative Lauren Boebert calling Omar, a Muslim who was born in Somalia, a member of a “jihad squad.”
That comment led to calls by Democrats for a vote to strip Boebert of her committee assignments, and some criticism by fellow Republican Representative Nancy Mace.
(Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)
