Congress Passes Bill to Counter the Rise in Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

The House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday to address the increase in hate crimes and violence against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, clearing the legislation for President Biden to sign.

The COVID–19 Hate Crimes Act passed by a 364-62 vote; all 62 votes against the bill were from Republicans. The Senate approved the legislation last month.

A rise in COVID-19 cases, the first instances of which were reported in China, has been linked to an increase in attacks on Asian Americans. Democrats have pointed to former President Donald Trump’s frequent use of racist phrases such as “kung flu” to describe the coronavirus as a link to the increase in anti-Asian sentiment.

The legislation, introduced by Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., and Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, instructs the Department of Justice to designate a point person to expedite the review of hate crimes related to COVID-19.

The bill also would expand efforts to make the reporting of hate crimes more accessible at the local and state levels, including providing online reporting resources that are available in multiple languages.

Speaking on the House floor ahead of the vote, Meng recalled how over the past year, the Asian American community has faced an “additional pandemic: the virus of hate and bigotry.”

“The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act is a necessary step to confront the second pandemic of racism and discrimination. We cannot mend what we do not measure,” she said.

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The legislation passed the Senate last month with a rare bipartisan vote of 94-1. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri voted against the measure.

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The community experienced a dramatic spike in the number of hate crimes in the past year. The organization Stop AAPI Hate documented 6,603 hate incidents from March 2020 to March 2021, and leaders said the true number is much higher as many attacks go unreported. {snip}

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