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WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. House of Representatives voted 328-86 Thursday on a resolution formally condemning the “horrors and failures of socialism,” causing a split among House Democrats.

The resolution states that “socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has time and time again collapsed into Communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and brutal dictatorships”; that it “has repeatedly led to famine and mass murders, and the killing of over 100,000,000 people worldwide”; and that it is fundamentally contrary to America’s foundational “belief in the sanctity of the individual.”

The Hill reports that every Republican voted for the resolution, joined by 109 Democrats. But 86 Democrats voted against it, and an additional 14 voted “present,” effectively refusing to take a position.

Supporters of the resolution framed it as an effort to put Democrats on the record regarding a philosophy they say animates the party’s economic policies. But some Democrats claimed the measure was really about, in the words of Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), “laying the groundwork to cut Social Security and Medicare.” Democrats have seized on some GOP lawmakers floating Social Security changes as a means of addressing the nation’s fiscal problems, but GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said “none of that is true” as far as the caucus adopting any plans to do so.

A few national Democrats openly embrace the “socialist label,” such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who has suggested that socialism really just means “having more democracy in our economy.”

“Hundreds of thousands of Russians, Chinese, Cambodians, Koreans, Cubans, and Venezuelans have fled from murderous communist dictatorships and have legally resettled here in America,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, one of the two lawmakers to spearhead the resolution. “They are a living testament to the barbarity of these socialist regimes and the promise of the American dream.”

Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL), the other architect of the resolution, said it makes a “bold statement that the People’s House unequivocally denounces this cruel and unjust ideology” and that the federal government “commits to never begin or normalize the implementation of socialist policies that inevitably lead to economic ruin and political authoritarianism.”

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