US Senate to Vote a Bill on Hate Crimes against Asian Americans

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On Thursday, US Senate will vote on a bill addressing hate crimes against Asian Americans next week. The move came after the Senate overwhelmingly voted to advance the legislation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are negotiating the number of amendments to be considered for the legislation. Schumer delivered a speech on the Senate floor and said, “I expect the Republican leader and I, in consultation with the relevant committees, will be able to figure out an appropriate number of reasonable, germane, non-gotcha amendments for the Senate to consider”. The bill came following a spike in anti-Asian discrimination and violence during the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, US Senate voted 92 to 6 to open debate on the bill.

The bill would expedite the federal government’s response to hate crimes against Asian Americans and strengthen guidance for state and local government hate crime reporting. However, Republicans had raised some concerns regarding the bill. US Senate leadership reached an agreement wherein GOP legislators agreed to advance the bill in exchange for votes on specific amendments. One of the amendments is a bipartisan proposal by Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal and Republican Senator Jerry Moran. The proposal would provide grants to state and local governments to help improve hate crime reporting. Schumer said Republican Senator Susan Collins also has some modifications to the bill. On Tuesday, Collins raised concerns about the bill and informed reporters that she disagreed with tying hate crimes specifically to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday, Schumer said, “We are working with Senators Moran and Grassley and Collins in a very bipartisan way, and we should be able to wrap up this bill next week”. Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono is one of the sponsors of the bill. She said, “Senators are working on some further language. So far, so good with Susan Collins, and I’ll certainly be accepting the Blumenthal-Moran amendment. Many of the other amendments being discussed have nothing to do with the purpose of the bill. One is if you think that you’re going to be the victim of a hate crime, you can conceal and carry a gun, and then no state can prevent you from doing that. It would not be good because the state of Hawaii does not allow conceal and carry. So that is a non-starter amendment as far as I’m concerned”.