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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.
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A senior Senate Democratic aide also disclosed earlier Tuesday that there was an effort underway to pick up GOP support, including folding in separate hate crimes legislation from Sens. Jerry Moran
Moran said there was broad support among Republicans for his amendment and discussions underway about trying to wrap up the entire hate crimes bill on Thursday.
Senate leaders are currently discussing a potential deal on amendments with Democrats, hoping that they could pass the bill as soon as this week. I m hoping we can work out an agreement to get on the bill in a normal way, have some amendments, and move to final passage, McConnell told reporters.