The Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act now has about 60 members of Congress supporting it. Although support is growing, the number of cosponsors is far less than what it was for the last version of the bill.
Voters must remind members of Congress who supported the previous bill to cosponsor the new bills (HR377 and S68).
Information on who is currently supporting the legislation is at the bottom of this article.
Earlier this year, it was reported that the Trump Administration was about to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The Brotherhood and its apologists went into overdrive, launching a tremendous PR campaign to stop it from happening. A Brotherhood official overseas said the group had spent $5 million and was confident of victory.
Due to pushback from the State Department among others, the Trump Administration became divided on the issue and indefinitely delayed its plan to designate the Brotherhood.
National Security Adviser McMaster reportedly opposes designation, as would be expected based on his endorsement of a book friendly to “moderate” Islamists. Secretary of State Tillerson is presumably opposed because his State Department hasn’t designated the group yet, but he did describe the Brotherhood as an “agent of radical Islam.”
Attorney General Sessions and CIA Director Pompeo supported the previous bill when they were in Congress. Also supporting designation are Trump’s chief political strategist, Steve Bannon and Deputy Assistant Sebastian Gorka.
Defense Secretary Mattis’ past comments about the Brotherhood and political Islam indicate he is likely to be supportive. However, his initial choosing of an ally of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood for a senior post leaves room for doubt.
It is unclear where Homeland Security Secretary General Kelly stands, but Katie Gorka, a supporter of designation, is an official adviser to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Policy. It is also not known where Director of National Intelligence Coats or Trump’s pick for FBI Director, Christopher Wray, stand.
Even though the White House is currently divided on the issue, but passing the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act would likely tip the scales.
Momentum for action against the Brotherhood is growing. On May 23, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) said he would introduce a bill to implement sanctions on countries that support branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. The most obvious candidates would be Qatar and Turkey.
The House bill (HR377) has 58 cosponsors and is now with the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations. The only current supporter is Vice Chairman Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), one of the original cosponsors of the bill.
However, there are six Republican members of the subcommittee who voted in favor of the previous bill and likely to cosponsor it if they are pushed. These six are Chairman Trey Gowdy (SC); Jim Sensenbrenner (WI); Steve Chabot (OH); Ted Poe (TX); Jason Chaffetz (UT) and John Ratcliffe (TX).
There are six Republicans in the rest of the Judiciary Committee who are currently supporting the act: Lamar Smith (TX); Steve King (IA); Jim Jordan (OH); Blake Farenthold (TX); Ron DeSantis (FL) and Matt Gaetz (FL).
There are five Republicans on the Judiciary Committee who voted in favor of the previous bill and would probably cosponsor this one. These are: Chairman Bob Goodlatte (VA); Trent Franks (AZ); Tom Marino (PA); Doug Collins (GA) and Ken Buck (CO).
The Senate bill (S68) has four cosponsors. It is currently stuck in the Foreign Relations Committee, where it only has one cosponsor: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
Below is an alphabetical list of cosponsors of the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act bills. If your representative hasn’t taken a stand, now is the time to act.
HR377
Abraham, Ralph Lee (R-LA)
Babin, Brian (R-TX)
Barletta, Lou (R-LA)
Benacci, James (R-OH)
Black, Diane (R-TN)
Brat, Dave (R-VA)
Cheney, Liz (R-WY)
Cramer, Kevin (R-ND)
Davidson, Warren (R-OH)
Dent, Charles (R-PA)
DeSantis, Ron (R-FL)
DesJerlais, Scott (R-TN)
Diaz-Balart, Mario (R-FL)
Donovan, Daniel (R-NY)
Duncan, Jeff (R-SC)
Farenthold, Blake (R-TX)
Fleishcmann, Chuck (R-TN)
Frelinghuysen, Rodney (R-NJ)
Gaetz, Matt (R-FL)
Garrett, Thomas (R-VA)
Gohmert, Louie (R-TX)
Gosar, Paul (R-AZ)
Granger, Kay (R-TX)
Grothman, Glenn (R-WI)
Harris, Andy (R-MD)
Hice, Jody (R-GA)
Hudson, Richard (R-NC)
Hunter, Duncan (R-CA)
Johnson, Sam (R-TX)
Jordan, Jim (R-OH)
Kelly, Trent (R-MS)
King, Steve (R-IA)
Lamborn, Doug (R-CO)
Lance, Leonard (R-NJ)
Loudermilk, Barry (R-GA)
Marchant, Kenny (R-TX)
McCaul, Michael (R-TX)
Olson, Pete (R-TX)
Palazzo, Steve (R-MS)
Perry, Scott (R-PA)
Posey, Bill (R-FL)
Rohrabacher, Dana (R-CA)
Rokata, Todd (R-IN)
Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana (R-FL)
Ross, Dennis (R-FL)
Rouzer, David (R-NC)
Royce, David (R-OH)
Russell, Steve (R-OK)
Rutherford, John (R-FL)
Scott, Austin (R-GA)
Smith, Lamar (R-TX)
Trott, David (R-MI)
Walberg, Tim (R-MI)
Weber, Randy (R-TX)
Wenstrup, Brad (R-OH)
Williams, Roger (R-TX)
Yoder, Kevin (R-KS)
Yoho, Ted (R-FL)
Zeldin, Lee (R-NY)
S68
Cruz, Ted (R-TX)
Hatch, Orrin (R-UT)
Inhofe, James (R-OK)
Johnson, Ron (R-WI)
Roberts, Pat (R-KS)