Bipartisan lawmakers unite as global Islamist network faces unprecedented U.S. pressure and Middle East condemnation.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday advanced major legislation requiring President Donald Trump to formally designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization—marking a decisive step in the United States aligning with Middle Eastern allies who have long identified the group as a radical, destabilizing Islamist force.
The bipartisan bill, spearheaded by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), passed with unanimous Republican support and backing from several Democrats, including Reps. Brad Sherman, Brad Schneider, Jared Moskowitz, and George Latimer. These Democrats argued that Washington must stop ignoring the clear warnings from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE—all of which outlawed the Brotherhood years ago due to its ideological link to jihadist violence.
However, Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (D-NY) opposed the measure, claiming it was overly broad and could affect Muslim visa-holders. His criticism echoed arguments frequently used by Brotherhood-linked advocacy groups, warning the bill might be used against “Muslim-Americans” or civil rights organizations.
Moskowitz dismissed that narrative entirely.
“This is not about banning Muslims. This is about targeting a dangerous extremist movement,” he said. “Our allies who know this group best have already banned them. Why are we decades behind?”
Meeks’s concerns stand in stark contrast to moves across the Middle East, where governments have openly documented the Brotherhood’s role in fueling radicalization, political destabilization, and terror financing networks stretching from Gaza to Lebanon and Turkey.
The committee vote came just days after Trump signed an executive order directing the State Department and Treasury to begin designating specific Brotherhood chapters—including those in Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan—as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). The order cites their involvement in orchestrating violence, spreading extremist ideology, and assisting groups like Hamas, which itself originated as a Muslim Brotherhood branch.
The Brotherhood fired back, accusing Trump of being “detached from reality”—a claim that rings hollow given that multiple Arab states, and now several U.S. states, have outlawed the group based on extensive evidence of radical activity.
Days earlier, Texas Governor Greg Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as terrorist and transnational criminal organizations, blocking them from acquiring land and enabling expanded state-level enforcement. Senator Ted Cruz has long pushed for a federal designation that would strike a crippling financial blow to the group’s global infrastructure.
The Muslim Brotherhood—whose ideological influence shaped Hamas, Al-Qaeda-linked movements, and various extremist networks—remains outlawed in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, and now faces the most significant pressure it has ever seen from Washington.
