After nearly two weeks of negotiations, the Senate voted on Thursday to pass legislation designed to curb the increase of anti-Asian hate crimes during the pandemic. The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act was approved 94-1 in a sweeping showing of bipartisan support. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was the only holdout.
Hawley has argued the bill is too broad and "open-ended" because it mandates "all this data collection in expansive categories that the federal government will collect and maintain," CNN reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Senator Collins and I identified changes that will broaden support for the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act while retaining the bill's core purpose to combat anti-Asian hate," Hirono said in a statement.
The legislation now designates a Department of Justice official to oversee the review process for all pandemic-related hate crimes and work with Health and Human Services to raise awareness of the crimes in general. Local law enforcement agencies are called upon to establish reporting hotlines and hate crime tracking infrastructure, NPR reports.
In an additional provision authored by Sen. Richard Blumental (D-Conn.) and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the bill establishes educational and volunteer grants to help rehabilitate defendants in hate crime-related cases.
Pending passage in the House, the bill will move to President Biden's desk to be signed into law.
-
Regal Scottish castle hotelsThe Week Recommends These rural retreats are perfect for a Traitors-inspired cosy winter break
-
Will the public buy Rachel Reeves’ tax rises?Today’s Big Question The Chancellor refused to rule out tax increases in her televised address, and is set to reverse pledges made in the election manifesto
-
Margaret Atwood’s ‘deliciously naughty’ memoirIn the Spotlight ‘Bean-spilling’ book by The Handmaid’s Tale author is ‘immensely readable’
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Trump pardons crypto titan who enriched familySpeed Read Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from LouvreSpeed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 yearsSpeed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Firespeed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan churchSpeed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
