Mike Johnson announces Muslim dating app subsidy review after Trump's SAVE Act criticism

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson announced the formation of a permanent Sharia Compliance Review Committee on Tuesday, a preemptive measure to assess whether Muslim members of Congress are adhering to religious laws they have not advocated implementing.

The bipartisan committee, which will operate under the newly created Congressional Sharia Compliance Office, will review all legislation, committee assignments, and even floor speeches for potential violations of Islamic jurisprudence. The office will be funded through the House administrative budget at an initial allocation of $2.3 million.

"We're getting ahead of the curve here," Johnson told reporters during a press conference at the Capitol. "When there's this much popular sentiment about sharia law concerns, we owe it to the American people to be proactive. This isn't about targeting anyone—it's about ensuring our legislative process remains secure."

The announcement follows Johnson's refusal to condemn recent anti-Muslim comments by Republican colleagues. When asked about Representative Andy Ogles's statement that Muslims "do not belong in the United States," Johnson shifted focus to the need for "proactive verification measures" while creating a government entity specifically focused on monitoring Muslim lawmakers.

The Sharia Compliance Office will be staffed by six full-time analysts, none of whom speak Arabic or have formal training in Islamic law. Their qualifications, according to committee documents, include "a strong sense of American values" and "familiarity with action movies featuring Middle Eastern villains."

Representative Ilhan Omar, one of three Muslim members of Congress, expressed bewilderment at the announcement. "They've created an entire government agency to address a problem that doesn't exist," Omar said in a statement. "No one has proposed implementing sharia law. This would be like creating a committee to review legislation for compliance with Norse mythology because someone's worried about Vikings."

The committee's mandate includes reviewing legislation for "potential sharia influence" based on a 27-point checklist developed by consulting "various internet sources and concerned citizens." Criteria include checking if bills contain references to interest-bearing loans (prohibited under some interpretations of Islamic finance) or if legislation allocates funds during Ramadan without specifically noting the holy month.

"We're taking this very seriously," said Representative Jim Banks, who will chair the committee. "Every piece of legislation will be reviewed for sharia compliance before it comes to the floor. If there's even a whiff of Islamic law influence, we'll flag it for additional scrutiny."

The committee's first action was to place a hold on a agriculture subsidy bill after an analyst noted it contained provisions for date farming. "Dates are traditionally eaten to break fast during Ramadan," read the committee's initial assessment. "While this could be coincidental, we recommend further review to ensure this isn't a stealth implementation of religious practices."

Constitutional scholars have questioned the committee's legal footing. "The government is essentially admitting it's creating a religious test for office," said University of Chicago law professor Aziz Huq. "They're scrutinizing lawmakers based on faith rather than policy positions."

Johnson defended the committee against constitutional concerns. "The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from oversight," he said. "We're simply ensuring that religious law doesn't inadvertently influence our legislative process. This is about transparency, not discrimination."

The committee plans to issue monthly "Sharia Compliance Report Cards" for each Muslim member of Congress, grading them on a scale from "Fully Compliant" to "Concerning Levels of Compliance." These reports will be distributed to all congressional offices and posted on the House website.

Representative Andre Carson, another Muslim member of Congress, questioned the practical implications. "Are they going to monitor what I eat for lunch? Check if I'm praying toward Mecca during votes? This isn't security—it's theater designed to validate prejudice."

The committee has already requested additional funding for fiscal year 2026 to expand its monitoring capabilities. Proposed enhancements include installing cameras in offices of Muslim lawmakers to ensure they're not "secretly implementing sharia through administrative procedures" and hiring consultants who have "seen several documentaries about the Middle East."

A Republican staffer involved in the committee's formation, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the paradoxical nature of the endeavor. "We're spending millions to protect against something nobody's proposing," the staffer said. "It's like buying volcano insurance in Kansas because you're worried about lava."

Despite the criticism, Johnson remains committed to the initiative. "Sometimes the greatest threats are the ones you don't see coming," he said during a Fox News interview. "We're not waiting for sharia law to appear—we're meeting it at the door with paperwork and subcommittees."

As the committee prepares for its work, civil liberties groups are preparing legal challenges. The ACLU has announced it will file suit alleging the committee violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause by showing preferential treatment toward certain religious interpretations.

"This isn't about security—it's about stigmatization," said ACLU attorney Omar Jadwat. "They're creating a bureaucracy whose sole purpose is to treat Muslim lawmakers as suspicious based solely on their religion."

Johnson, when asked about the planned lawsuit, remained unfazed. "We welcome scrutiny," he said. "That's what we're all about here—scrutiny for everyone."

The Speaker's office has already drafted talking points for Republican members facing questions about the committee. The documents, obtained by reporters, advise lawmakers to emphasize that the committee is "proactive rather than reactive" and to note that "in times of heightened concern, extraordinary measures demonstrate seriousness."

Meanwhile, Sharia Compliance officers were already at work examining voting records for patterns. Their first discovery: Representative Omar had voted against a bill restricting abortion rights, which one analyst noted was "consistent with interpretations of Islamic law that prioritize women's health." The finding was flagged for further review.

With the committee now operational, Capitol Hill has acquired a new layer of bureaucratic oversight specifically targeting three members out of 535. As one Democratic staffer noted, "They've managed to create religious testing while claiming to protect against it. That takes a special kind of Washington logic."