Schumer, who held a press conference on the bill on Tuesday, argued that the end result should be bipartisan. The way to do that is for 60 senators is to vote to proceed to the legislation. I hope it will be many more than 60. Who would oppose this very simple but necessary legislation? Schumer asked.
The bill from Hirono requires the Justice Department to designate an official to review coronavirus-related hate crimes, beef up state and local resources and examine best practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language describing the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans haven t yet signaled if they would filibuster the bill, which would be their first filibuster under the Democratic-controlled Senate.