Anti-Semitism: US Senate Passes Bipartisan Bill To Elevate Special Envoy Status

A bipartisan bill to elevate the status of the U.S. special envoy on anti-Semitism overwhelmingly passed in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday and now goes to U.S. President Donald Trump for his expected signature into law.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) reintroduced the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act in January 2019. If enacted, it would upgrade the status of the special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, a position at the U.S. State Department, to an ambassadorship requiring U.S. Senate confirmation.

The president would be required to fill the position within 90 days.

Having been vacant at the start of the Trump administration, the special envoy was designated in February 2019 with the appointment of Iraq war veteran and attorney Elan Carr.

“Anti-Semitism continues to rise at an alarming rate across the globe,” Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who led sponsorship of the bipartisan bill, said in a statement Wednesday after the vote, which passed unanimously. “To equip the State Department to better address rising anti-Semitism, it is critical that we elevate the role of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism to Ambassador-at-Large.”