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- The House passed a resolution on Thursday denouncing the "horrors of socialism."
- The resolution, a largely symbolic gesture, was met with eye-rolls from many in the Democratic Party.
- "The socialism resolution is useless. It does nothing. It does not matter," said one top Democrat.
The House passed a largely symbolic resolution on Thursday that denounces the "horrors of socialism."
Most Democrats joined every House Republican in voting for it.
But 86 Democrats voted against it, and another 14 voted "present."
The resolution, sponsored by Cuban-American Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, is part of a series of messaging bills teed up by the new Republican majority; with each chamber of Congress controlled by opposing parts, the chances of getting bipartisan legislation to the president's desk is slim.
The 3-page bill lists a number of facts — including death tolls from historic events such as the Great Leap Forward in China — before declaring that the United States is "founded on the belief in the sanctity of the individual, to which the collectivistic system of socialism in all of its forms is fundamentally and necessarily opposed."
The bill, largely designed to split the Democratic caucus, was met with a variety of responses from Democrats ahead of the vote.
"New Dems strongly reject socialism — period," said the leadership of the moderate New Democrat Coalition in a statement on Wednesday that called on House Republicans to "set aside political games."
Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, also denounced the resolution during a floor debate on Wednesday.
"The socialism resolution is useless. It does nothing. It does not matter," he said. "Are we talking about public schools? Are we talking about roads? Are we talking about Social Security? I mean, give me a break."
In a brief interview with Insider at the Capitol on Wednesday, Salazar defended the merits of the resolution.
"I think it's the best resolution that has ever been presented before the United States Congress," she said. "Our youth are being penetrated by this ideology through media and academia."