Senate OKs Bill to Fight Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans

April 23, 2021by Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
Senate OKs Bill to Fight Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., accompanied by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaks at a news conference after the Senate passed a COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act on Capitol Hill, Thursday, April 22, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would help combat the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a bipartisan denunciation of such violence during the coronavirus pandemic and a modest step toward legislating in a chamber where most of President Joe Biden’s agenda has stalled.

The measure would expedite the review of hate crimes at the Justice Department and provide support for local law enforcement in response to thousands of reported violent incidents in the past year. Police have seen a noted uptick in such crimes, including the February death of an 84-year-old man who was pushed to the ground near his home in San Francisco, a young family that was injured in a Texas grocery store attack last year and the killing of six Asian women in shootings last month in Atlanta.

The names of the six women killed in Georgia are listed in the bill, which passed the Senate on a 94-1 vote. Biden applauded the measure, tweeting, “Acts of hate against Asian Americans are wrong, un-American, and must stop.” The House is expected to consider similar legislation in the coming weeks.

Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, the legislation’s lead sponsor, said the measure is incredibly important to Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, “who have often felt very invisible in our country, always seen as foreign, always seen as the other.” She said the message of the legislation is as important as its content and substance.

Hirono, the first Asian American woman elected to the Senate, said the attacks are “a predictable and foreseeable consequence” of racist and inflammatory language that has been used against Asians during the pandemic, including slurs used by former President Donald Trump.

Illinois. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot who lost her legs during a 2004 attack in Iraq, said she had been asked what country she was from while wearing her U.S. military uniform. Duckworth, the first member of Congress born in Thailand, said there is more work to be done, but the bill’s passage tells the community that “we will stand with you and we will protect you.”

It’s unclear whether the bipartisan bill is a sign of things to come in the Senate, where Republicans and Democrats have fundamental differences and often struggle to work together. Under an agreement struck by Senate leaders at the start of the year, Republicans and Democrats pledged to at least try to debate bills and see if they could reach agreement through the legislative process. The hate crimes legislation is the first byproduct of that agreement. Some said it doesn’t need to be the last.

Hirono said it is her “sincere hope that we can channel and sustain the bipartisan work done on this important piece of legislation” to a larger bill that would change policing laws, which Senate Republicans are negotiating with House Democrats. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican, said ahead of the vote that he hopes the bipartisan example of the hate crimes bill will extend to an infrastructure package that has so far divided the parties.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the legislation shows that the chamber can work in a bipartisan fashion, and he aims to make that happen as much as possible. “That doesn’t mean we forgo our principles. It doesn’t mean we cut back on the boldness that is needed,” he said. “It means we try to work with our Republican colleagues wherever we can.”

But unlike many of the larger, more controversial policy issues Democrats hope to tackle in their new majority, efforts to combat the rising violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have almost universal backing. More than 3,000 incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based reporting center for such crimes, and its partner advocacy groups since mid-March 2020.

Republicans said last week that they agreed with the premise of the legislation and signaled they were willing to back it with minor changes, an unusual sign of comity amid frequent standstills in the polarized Senate. Hirono worked closely with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, to incorporate some additional Republican and bipartisan provisions, including better reporting of hate crimes nationally and grant money for states to set up hate crime hotlines.

The revised bill would also replace language in the original legislation that called for “guidance describing best practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language in describing the COVID–19 pandemic.” The legislation would instead require the government to issue guidance aimed at “raising awareness of hate crimes during the pandemic” to address some GOP concerns about policing speech.

Republicans agreed to back the compromise bill after the Senate also voted on and rejected a series of GOP amendments, including efforts to prevent discrimination against Asian Americans in college admissions and reporting about restrictions on religious exercise during the pandemic.

Only one Republican, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, voted against the bill. In a statement, Hawley said he believed the legislation was too broad, and “my view is it’s dangerous to simply give the federal government open-ended authority to define a whole new class of federal hate crime incidents.”

Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., introduced a similar bill in the House, which she says is expected to be considered in May.

“For more than a year, Asian Americans all across our nation have been screaming out for help,” Meng said, and the Senate showed that “they heard our pleas.

A+
a-
  • Congress
  • Hate Crimes
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Congress

    June 12, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    House Republicans Narrowly Pass Bill to Claw Back PBS, NPR Funding

    WASHINGTON — The House voted 214-212, largely along party lines, to cut federal funding for public media and foreign aid,... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The House voted 214-212, largely along party lines, to cut federal funding for public media and foreign aid, a move intended to enshrine the first major cuts proposed by President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency. Four Republicans voted with House Democrats against the... Read More

    June 12, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    Republicans Rout Dems for Fifth Straight Year in Congressional Baseball Game

    WASHINGTON — The Republicans won the Congressional Baseball Game for the fifth straight year Wednesday night, pummeling the Democrats, 13-2... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Republicans won the Congressional Baseball Game for the fifth straight year Wednesday night, pummeling the Democrats, 13-2 at Nationals Park. As he seems to do every year, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., pitched five strong innings for the GOP, giving up the Democrats’ two... Read More

    What's Targeted in Trump's Request for $9.4B in Budget Cuts From Congress

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is looking to cancel $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress. That's just a sliver... Read More

    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is looking to cancel $9.4 billion in spending already approved by Congress. That's just a sliver of the $1.7 trillion that lawmakers OK'd for the budget year ending Sept. 30. The package of 21 budget rescissions will have to be approved by both chambers... Read More

    House Members, Veterans Condemn Efforts to Scrub DEI From Military

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., a former Air Force officer, was joined by other women veterans on Capitol Hill... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., a former Air Force officer, was joined by other women veterans on Capitol Hill on Thursday to condemn President Donald Trump’s efforts to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the military. Among those appearing with Houlahan as a... Read More

    June 6, 2025
    by Dan McCue
    House Looks to Formally Slash PBS, NPR and Other Funding Next Week

    WASHINGTON — The House Rules Committee on Tuesday will mark up a $9 billion-plus rescissions package from the White House,... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The House Rules Committee on Tuesday will mark up a $9 billion-plus rescissions package from the White House, setting the stage for a floor vote next week that will immediately implement the cuts. The carve-backs requested by President Donald Trump include slashing more than... Read More

    Senate Called on to Nix Domestic Violence Services Cuts in Trump Bill

    WASHINGTON — Members of the Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence gathered outside the Capitol on Thursday to call... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Members of the Bipartisan Working Group to End Domestic Violence gathered outside the Capitol on Thursday to call for a “day of action” against dramatic cuts to federal funding for domestic violence programs included in the Big Beautiful Bill Act currently working its way... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top