House adopts resolution condemning socialism, with eight Democrats joining Republicans

The House adopted a resolution condemning socialism in all its forms on Tuesday, turning the vote into a campaign-season message after Democratic primary voters backed several candidates aligned with democratic socialism.

The measure passed 220-192-2. Eight Democrats voted with every Republican in favor, while two Democrats voted present. Republican leaders linked the resolution to their effort to advance President Trump’s SAVE America Act, a voting regulations bill that has been stalled for months in the Senate without even simple-majority support.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, said the resolution also denounced the idea of noncitizens voting in U.S. elections, which he associated with the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America. A small number of congressional Democrats identify as democratic socialists, while candidates connected to the movement recently won primaries in New York and Colorado, defeating incumbent Democrats.

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Not only do we denounce socialism, but also the idea of people that aren't American citizens voting in our elections, because that's part of their platform.

The vote almost failed to reach the final stage. Several Republican hardliners opposed an earlier procedural vote because of disagreements over a short-term government funding bill. Two moderate Democrats, Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, supported that procedural step, leaving other Democrats to decide whether to oppose a measure that combined a condemnation of socialism with the voting legislation.

Pete Aguilar, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said Democrats had offered a separate resolution condemning socialism without support for the SAVE Act. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he would vote against the Republican measure because of that inclusion.

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We're capitalists. We believe in a capitalist system and rules and laws.