Asian Hate Crime Bill awaits Biden's signature

BreaknLinks

Washington DC
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The US Lower House, House of Representatives approved a bill on Tuesday intending to control the Asian Hate Crimes which has been increased in recent days.

The Bill has now gone to President Biden and awaits for his signature to become a law.

It was passed with mostly bipartisan support but 62 Republicans voted against it. Previously, it was passed from Senate with only one vote from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who expressed concern about its scope.

The bill also orders the department to “expand public education campaigns aimed at raising awareness of hate crimes and reaching victims” and mandates a new online reporting system.

Some conservatives opposed the bill because it also would establish grants to state and local governments to finance incident reporting and to “train employees in identifying and classifying hate crimes.”

Some Republicans also accused that "the bill is giving away money."  Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said after the vote that he opposed the bill because it “does nothing to protect any individual victim or any individual group.” 

Some Democrats, including White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, accused former President Donald Trump of inciting anti-Asian discriminating by referring to COVID-19 as the “China virus.”

Publish : 2021-05-19 08:14:00

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