Hawley lone senator to vote against anti-Asian hate crimes bill

Missouri U.S. Senator Josh Hawley was the only senator to vote against the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, which aims to combat the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The vote passed 94-1, with Hawley being the only ‘no’ vote.

Hawley previously told reporters that he’s concerned about how the measure mandates data collection in “expansive categories.”

“It just seems hugely, hugely open-ended, and overly broad to me,” he said.

The measure would expedite the review of hate crimes and provide support for local law enforcement in response to thousands of reported violent incidents in the past year. Police have seen a noted uptick in such crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The House is expected to consider a similar bill in the coming weeks.

More than 3,000 incidents have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a California-based reporting center for such crimes, and its partner advocacy groups, since mid-March 2020.

Republicans agreed to back the bill after the Senate also voted on and rejected a series of GOP amendments, including efforts to prevent discrimination against Asian Americans in college admissions and reporting about restrictions on religious exercise during the pandemic.

The Associated Press contributed to this report