House passes Ilhan Omar's anti-Islamophobia bill in 219 to 212 vote after GOP Rep. Scott Perry accused her of having links to terrorism

 The House of Representatives has voted to pass Rep. Ilhan Omar's proposal establishing an anti-Muslim bias office within the State Department less than an hour before midnight on Tuesday.

The bill, written by 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 measure passed by a razor-thin 219 to 212 margin immediately after the Democrat-majority chamber voted to refer Trump administration Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to the Justice Department for criminal charges over his refusal to testify before the January 6 committee.

Debate over Omar's measure was derailed earlier this evening when GOP Rep. Scott Perry called Omar anti-Semitic.

He also implied she had ties to a terrorist organization just weeks after GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert joked Omar was a suicide bomber.

Audible gasps could be heard from Democrats in the chamber after Perry stunningly claimed the Democrat-backed bill was written to silence 'critiques of terrorism.' 

The hour-long debate was paused after House Democrats lodged a formal objection and asked Perry's comments to be stricken from the record. 

Perry derided the 'lack of definition' of Islamophobia in the bill's text and said it was purposely vague because 'you're either going to be persecuted or you’re not depending on who you vote for.' 

He dismissed the legislation as 'attempts to placate an anti-Semitic member of this chamber,' referring to Omar.

'During last week's markup of this legislation in the Foreign Affairs Committee, I was assailed by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, they told me I was Islamophobic, nasty, mean and rude, why? because i offered amendments that would have prevented American tax dollars from going to organizations with ties to terrorism,' Perry said.

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Scott Perry's inflammatory comments spurred Democrats to formally ask for his remarks to be stricken from the record

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He implied Omar had ties to an unnamed terrorist organization just weeks after Rep. Lauren Boebert called her a suicide bomber

He went on to claim without evidence that Omar - one of only three Muslim House lawmakers - was part of one of those organizations.

'American taxpayers shouldn't be forced to pay terrorist organizations, organizations that the maker of this bill is affiliated with,' Perry said.

'And by intentionally leaving the definition blank in this bill, the gentlelady and my friends on the other side of the aisle are creating an office in our state department that will likely spew anti-Semitic hatred and attack Western ideas throughout the world under the farce of protecting Islam.' 

On the House floor Tuesday evening Omar thanked Democratic leadership in Congress for their commitment to the legislation. 

One of the bill's co-sponsors, Rep. Janice Schakowsky of Illinois, who is Jewish, said Omar had been the subject of 'relentless attacks and horrifying threats, not just from her fellow Americans but even within the halls of Congress.' 

'And as a Jew myself, I see the parallel quite directly between anti-Semitism and Islamophobia - and we need to be combatting both,' she said.

It comes just a few weeks after video emerged showing first-term lawmaker Boebert calling Omar, a Muslim who was born in Somalia, a member of a 'jihad squad.' 

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Boebert joked that Omar was a suicide bomber, leading Democrats to call for her to be stripped of her committee assignments

That comment led to calls by Democrats for a vote to strip Boebert of her committee assignments, as well as criticism by fellow Republican Representative Nancy Mace.

Republicans decried the bill, saying it lacked definitions and could be used for a wide range of actions.

Representative Guy Reschenthaler called the bill 'rushed and a partisan effort.'

Democrats countered that anti-Muslim sentiment is on the rise in the United States and globally, and cited Boebert's comments as evidence.  

Debate on the House floor reached a boiling point when Republican Scott Perry of Pennsylvania sparked objections from Democrats by claiming they were trying to 'silence critiques of terrorism.' 

GOP Rep. Steve Chabot blasted Democrats' bill for not including a clearer definition of Islamophobia during debate ahead of the vote.

'This bill doesn't make it clear if the term islamophobia includes for example... criticizing the Taliban's brutal oppression of women, or criticize people denying the Holocaust?' Chabot posed. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the floor to condemn anti-Muslim attitudes throughout the world as well as in the Capitol itself.

'We must confront Islamophobia or any form of racism, wherever it is found around the world, in our country, or even in these very halls,' Pelosi said.  

Toward the end of the debate period GOP Rep. Michael McCaul said he would 'agree with the intent and spirit of this bill' but again dismissed the bill's use of 'Islamophobia' as a 'vague' and 'contested' term. 

'I wish the minority had the opportunity to discuss this bill before it was thrown for the markup,' he said.