Senate Democrats push bill to combat surge of Asian American hate crimes amid GOP resistance
Source: CNN
Senate Democrats are hoping to advance a bill addressing the surge of hate crimes against Asian Americans as soon as Wednesday despite the resistance of some Republicans.
The bill, introduced by Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono and New York Rep. Grace Meng, would assign a Justice Department official to expedite reviews of potential Covid-19-related hate crimes, establish an online database of such incidents and require new guidance to "mitigate racially discriminatory language in describing" the pandemic, according to a summary of the proposal.
But it's unclear whether Republicans will support the measure and allow it to pass in the next couple of days. At least one unnamed Republican senator is privately objecting to the bill and could force the Senate to take time-consuming steps to break a filibuster. Several GOP Senate offices have declined to respond to inquiries about the matter.
"We just want to get more information about who's reaching out -- data collection -- working with the state and county law enforcement on hate crimes," said Hirono. "You would think that all the Republicans would condemn the hate crimes that are being targeted against AAPIs but not enough of them have spoken up."
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senate-democrats-push-bill-to-combat-surge-of-asian-american-hate-crimes-amid-gop-resistance/ar-BB1fA4xO?li=BBnbfcQ&ocid=DELLDHP
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