Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, lauded the passage of the Never Again Education Reauthorization Act of 2023.
“Expanding the presence of Holocaust education programs in schools will increase the knowledge of basic facts related to the Holocaust, and that’s important,” Foxx said on the House floor.
“But more importantly, it will give high school schools optional resources to help provide students a greater understanding of the ancient scourge of antisemitism and provide them intellectual and moral tools to fight against it and to prevent genocide, hate, and bigotry against any group of people,” she added.
The legislation, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, reauthorizes a United States Holocaust Memorial Museum program that provides funding and resources for schools to properly educate students about the horrors of the Holocaust. Funding will be extended for the program through Fiscal Year 2030.
Foxx said the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, marked “the worst day in Jewish history since the Holocaust.” This legislation, she said, “will ensure that the lessons of history are not forgotten in these troubling times.”
Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.), sponsor of the House companion bill, said following the legislation’s passage that “we must speak out against hate and educate our students on the history of antisemitism to ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never repeated.”
In his remarks, Carter noted the “staggering” rise of antisemitic incidents on college campuses, highlighting the “morally reprehensible” demonstrations seen at Columbia University, Harvard University and George Washington University.
“We must set a better example than that for our children, and the recent pro-Hamas demonstrations happening at colleges and high schools across the nation are proof of that,” he added.
“When we say, ‘never again,’ we mean it,” Carter said.
