The House passed a resolution Tuesday to “condemn and denounce” socialism and the policy positions of the Democratic Socialists of America, a key messaging vote for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The measure was approved 220-192 with eight Democrats voting in favor. Two Democrats voted “present.”
The resolution also includes a call for the “enactment” of a voter-ID bill that President Donald Trump has repeatedly called his top policy priority. Democrats have panned the SAVE America Act, which requires proof of citizenship for voter registration and restricts mail-in ballots, saying it will prevent eligible voters from exercising their rights.
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that the extent to which lawmakers align with socialist ideas is a major point of concern for voters around the country this year.
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“The question that voters across the nation have to answer this fall is whether we’re going to turn the greatest nation in the history of the world over to communism and state government socialism,” Johnson said.
Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colorado), who introduced the resolution, said in a statement that the rise in the number of DSA-affiliated Democrats expected to come to Congress in January was a motivating factor.
“Socialism is fundamentally at odds with our values as Americans,” Crank said. “American citizens being able to securely cast their votes at the ballot box is a right that the Democratic Socialists of America are actively working to undermine.”
But some centrist Democrats said the measure is “not serious” and was solely designed for Republicans to discuss on the campaign trail.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida) said more Democrats would have voted in favor if the SAVE America component was not included and accused Republicans of attaching the provision on purpose, in order to attack Democrats on the campaign trail for voting against the resolution.
“It’s a poison pill,” Moskowitz said before the vote. “They’re trying to jam Democrats, get us to vote against socialism. They’re trying to jam me and 20 others that are running in these toss-up seats to try to vote to support socialism by voting against the resolution.”
Moskowitz, alongside Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey), Hillary Scholten (D-Michigan) and Tom Suozzi (D-New York) introduced an amendment on Monday to strip the voter-ID-bill language out of the proposed resolution.
Moskowitz said he helped author the amendment in order to call Republicans’ bluff, adding that if GOP leadership was serious about the provision it would accept the proposed amendment.
“They’re not going to, because it’s all politics. That’s the whole point,” Moskowitz said. “They want to use this as a politicization as we go into the election.”
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