Senate Passes Anti-Asian Hate Crime Bill

The Senate has passed with a wide bipartisan majority Thursday a bill that has denounced discrimination against Asian people and their communities in the U.S. and would thus create a new position at the Justice Department to expedite reviews of potential Covid-19-related hate crimes, according to CNN.

The vote was a landslide 94-1 and the only vote that opposed the bill was Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley.

In a tweet Thursday evening, Hawley explained that his opposition was rooted in “big free speech questions” raised by legislation.

“My big problem with Senator Hirono’s bill that the Senate voted on today is that it turns the federal government into the speech police – gives the government sweeping authority to decide what counts as offensive speech and then monitor it,” he said.

Republicans like him were very skeptical of the legislation known as the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, but Maine GOP Senator Susan Collins and others teamed up with Hirono to reach a general consensus.

The bill would direct the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to issue guidance raising awareness of hate crimes during the pandemic, and work with agencies to establish online reporting of them. It now goes to the House before being signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that the bill is proof that the Senate can work to solve important issues, and would tell bigots “we’re coming after you.” 

The bill was sponsored by New York Democratic Representative Grace Meng and Hawaii Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono. The bill gained a lot of momentum after the shootings of six Asian women in Atlanta on March 16th as well as more anti-Asian violence for the past year.