Ninety-two senators voted last week to promote a hate crime bill in Asia. But its course probably depends on the Democrats agreeing to soften the language, as Republicans say that ties hate crime too closely to characterize COVID-19 as the “China virus.”
Even Republicans who voted to promote Senate-sponsored hate crimes legislation. Mazie Hirono
Mazie Keiko HironoTrump Awaits Senate’s Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Fight Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Bill Overcomes First Senate Barrier Biden to Use Erika Moritsugu as New Asian American and Pacific Islander MORE (D-Hawaii) sees it as a jab at President Trump
Donald TrumpGraham: ‘I could no longer agree’ with Trump’s support for the withdrawal of Afghanistan troops. GOP believes the Democrats will hand them over in the 2022 campaign. Former GOP agent installed as NSA’s top lawyer resigns MORE. The bill links its characterization of COVID-19 as the “China virus” to racist and hateful acts.
Republicans also see that language in the bill opens the door for politically correct thinking police groups. They are specifically critical of a provision instructed by the Attorney General Merrick Garland
Merrick GarlandABC lands the first one-on-one TV interview with Garland since Trump’s confirmation of the Senate’s anti-Asian hate crime fight The Memo: Tense nation readies for Chauvin ruling MORE and Secretary for Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra
Xavier BecerraTrump threatens NIH Senate fight against Asian hate crimes overthrows Trump’s ban on fetal tissue research Overnight Health Care: Johnson & Johnson delays criticism of CDC panel | Pfizer CEO says third dose of COVID-19 vaccine likely needed within one year CDC finds that less than 1 percent of people who are fully vaccinated have received COVID-19 MORE provide guidance on ‘best practices’ for language describing the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I certainly condemn hate crimes against Asian Americans or any other ethnic group,” Sen. Susan Collins
Susan Margaret CollinsTrump is waiting for the anti-Asian fight against the hate crimes of the Senate. The moderate’s OB infrastructure bill is a tough sale with the Democrats. OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Senate confirms Mallory is White House leader in White House | US emissions fell 1.7 percent in 2019 Within Trump further slows rule that drillers will make MORE pay less to feds (R-Maine), an influential moderate who voted to advance the bill.
Yet Collins, who has criticized Trump and voted in his indictment to convict him, indicated that she thinks the bill focuses too much on linking hate crimes to how people talk about COVID-19.
‘The bill has some drafting issues that I hope can be rectified. “It seems that the hate crime has to be linked to COVID, which is quite strange,” she told reporters.
Sen. John Cornyn
John Cornyn Media complicity in the rise of the ‘zombie president’ conspiracy that threatens Trump over Senate anti-Asian hate crimes, Senators fight in the dark over MP’s decision MORE (R-Texas), who voted to advance the bill, said he was generally concerned about the criminalization of speech.
“I’m generally concerned that people are offended by something someone says and it’s clearly protected by the first amendment,” he said. “The parameters of inadmissible speech are quite clear by the precedent of the Supreme Court.”
“It’s a problem with where we are these days,” he added.
Republicans warn that there is no guarantee that there will be enough votes to pass legislation for a final yes-or-no vote if Democrats do not agree to changes.
Yet there are also some risks for Republicans given the real increase in anti-Asian hatred, which has caught a new level of national attention after eight people, including six Asian women, were killed in a series of shooting incidents in the Atlanta area. is dead.
IDP assistants acknowledge that there is a risk of blocking hate crime legislation, which is why so many Republicans voted in favor of the motion.
One Republican associate in the Senate said while GOP lawmakers are skeptical about the bill, they do not want to block a debate on the floor and give Democrats more ammunition to name their obstruction.
“This is not what we wanted to fight the filibuster about,” the source said.
Senate Republicans want to broaden the legislation to prevent them from voting to reprimand the former president, who wants to speak out against his critics quickly.
And now they are vulnerable to attacks if the bill is not changed, given the public comments of the six GOP senators who voted against it.
One of the six, Sen. Ted Cruz
Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzTrump awaits Senate anti-Asian hate crimes fight against Republicans who supported Trump accusation sees fundraising boost in US. (Texas) says the measure is a thinly veiled bill on the message to punish criticism of China.
“This legislation … is not designed to do anything to prevent or punish actual crimes,” Cruz said in a statement. ‘It’s rather a Democratic message vehicle designed to acknowledge the demonstrably false idea that it’s racist in any way, that Covid-19 originated in Wuhan, China, and that the Chinese Communist Party is actively seeking information about the outbreak lied and suppressed so that it could become a global pandemic. ”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Who also voted against moving to the bill, said he sees it as an opportunity for Trump.
“We do not have to get involved in this, to write a big bill that it is racism when you say that this virus that killed millions of people came from China,” he said. “Of course, it’s anti-Trump and he’s gone, we have to ignore it and do it the right way.”
Democrats are unlikely to want to soften the language, as most, if not all, believe Trump is responsible for the increase in anti-Asian American violence over the past year because of his rhetoric.
Democrats point to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health last month, which found that anti-Asian sentiment is expressed in Trump’s tweets, in which COVID-19 is called the ‘Chinese virus’, which perpetuates racist attitudes let continue.
An assistant to the GOP notes that Hirono, Sen. Tammy Duckworth
Ladda (Tammy) Tammy DuckworthTrump threatens to fight Senate Asian hate crimes. Lawmakers demand justice for Adam Toledo: ‘His hands were up. He was unarmed ‘The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Tax March – CDC in limbo over J & J wax’s ruling; Rep. Brady retires MORE (D-Ill.) A then Sen. Kamala Harris
Kamala Harris Media complicity in the rise of the ‘zombie president’ conspiracy threatening Trump over the Senate’s anti-Asian fight against hate crimes goes to the dogs – Major and Champ, it’s MORE (D-Calif.) Introduced a resolution in May calling on Trump and other Republicans to call COVID-19 the China virus.
“Inflammatory and racist rhetoric from officials at the highest level of our government has contributed to a disturbing increase in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic,” Hirono said at the time.
Duckworth linked attacks on Asian Americans to Trump’s rhetoric.
“After Donald Trump repeatedly used his platform to racize this disease, we continue to see an increase in rhetoric and action against the Asian American community due to misleading fears surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak,” she said.
A Republican associate in the Senate said the bill would provide federal authorities with guidelines on how to talk about the virus in a politically correct way. “
“That part of the bill is very explicitly designed to restrict and control how people talk about the virus and the fact that it comes from China,” the assistant said.
GOP senators are keen to do anything to provoke Trump, who has haunted the Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell
Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTrump awaits fight against Senate Asian hate crimes The appointment of a credible, non-partisan commission on January 6 should not be difficult. Why President Biden is more into infrastructure (R-Ky.) Last weekend because he did not support his unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
GOP senators have said it is a signal that they want to put past feuds with Trump behind them and focus on uniting the party before 2022.
Sen. Jerry Moran
Gerald (Jerry) MoranTrump awaits Senate anti-Asian fight against hate crimes Anti-Asian hate crime bill overcomes first Senate hurdle Senate GOP signal that they will no longer filter the debate on hate crimes bill (R-Can.) Hope to broaden Hirono’s bill by amending it with the No Hate Act, a two-pronged proposal to improve hate crime reporting, encourage law enforcement and hate crime training, and allow state grants. give to set up hate and manage criminal hotlines.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer
Chuck Schumer ‘Better Build’ Demands New Approach to US Science and Technology Pew poll: 50 percent vote Democrats in Congress. Former State Representative Vernon Jones Challenges Kemp in Georgia MORE (DN.Y.) said he would enable colleagues to consider amendments to the Collins and Moran bill.
‘I have committed to starting the process with the dual Moran-Blumenthal amendment. “I understand my Republican colleague from Maine has some amendments to the bill that we welcome, and that negotiations are underway,” he said Thursday.