The Senate overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to advance a bill addressing the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Led by Democrats Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Rep. Grace Meng of New York, the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act will require federal officers to \"facilitate the expedited review\" of hate crimes.<\/p>\n
\"It defines COVID-19 hate crime as a violent crime that is motivated by two things: (1) the actual or perceived characteristic (e.g., race) of any person, and (2) the actual or perceived relationship to the spread of COVID-19 of any person because of that characteristic,\" according to the bill's summary.<\/p>\n
In a rare bipartisan effort, a vast majority of senators voted 92-6 to advance the bill bringing it one step closer to passing.<\/p>\n
But the legislation could still face a difficult path forward. Republicans only supported the procedure on the agreement they could add amendments to the bill after it advanced: They added 20.<\/p>\n
Hirono told HuffPost reporter Igor Bobic, some of the amendments added, \"have absolutely nothing to do with the bill.\"<\/p>\n
Senate leaders will now have to agree which amendments to consider in order to pass the bill through the Senate, \"very, very soon,\" Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Here are the six Republicans who voted \"no.\"<\/p>\n
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Read the rest here:<\/p>\n
These are the 6 Republicans who voted against a bipartisan bill on anti-Asian hate crimes - Business Insider<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Senate overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to advance a bill addressing the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by Democrats Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Rep Continue reading