Dems to force Senate vote on COVID hate crimes bill in wake of Georgia attack

Senate Democrats are going to force a procedural vote Wednesday on a bill targeting "COVID-19 hate crimes," in an effort to get Republicans on the record on the legislation Democrats say is a no-brainer to fight hate against Asian-Americans. 

The bill introduced by Sen. Maize Hirono, D-Ill., in the Senate and Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., in the House would require the Justice Department (DOJ) to assign one employee to work full-time "to facilitate the expedited review of COVID–19 hate crimes." It's officially called the "COVID–19 Hate Crimes Act." In my experience here you tend to have snap floor votes on the partisan things, but you go through committee on these really important things.  And I think our AAPI community is feeling really traumatized right now and I don't think a snap partisan floor vote is going to give them the assurances we should be providing them The bill defines a "COVID-19 hate crime" as violence committed against a person due to their "actual or perceived race, ethnicity, age, color, religion, national origin" or other identity and its "actual or perceived relationship to the spread of COVID-19."