The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“VIOLENCE AGAINST ASIAN AMERICANS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S1907 on April 14.
The Department is one of the oldest in the US, focused primarily on law enforcement and the federal prison system. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, detailed wasteful expenses such as $16 muffins at conferences and board meetings.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
VIOLENCE AGAINST ASIAN AMERICANS
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, we live in partisan times, but there are moments when we can break through the typical divisions and work together on matters of real urgency. The anti-Asian hate crimes legislation this week is such a matter. It is a very straightforward and relatively modest bill to address a pressing and important issue in the country. It would designate a point person at the Justice Department to identify hate crimes towards Asian Americans related to COVID-19--telling Federal law enforcement to make these hate crimes a top priority during the pandemic.
Just as important, it would send a strong message to two groups: to the Asian-American community that the country is paying attention to them and to all of America that this kind of bigotry cannot be tolerated.
I was gratified to hear the Republican leader yesterday say that the Senate Republican conference wanted to move forward on the bill.
This bill was never intended to be some kind of ``gotcha'' legislation. It is led by Senators Hirono and Duckworth, two outstanding Asian-American Senators who rightfully want to respond to the rising tide of anti-Asian violence over the past year. When they asked me to move the bill quickly, I thought that was exactly the right thing to do, and here it is on the floor.
The fact that Leader McConnell said yesterday he believes discrimination against Asian Americans is a real problem and wants to move forward and be constructive is a very good thing, and I salute him for it. The entire Senate ought to stand up against the recent surge of anti-Asian violence. We can take the first step later today by voting to proceed to the legislation.
As I said yesterday, my intention is to have a bipartisan amendment process, beginning with the amendment offered by Senators Moran and Blumenthal--one a Republican and one a Democrat. In consultation with the Republican leader, we can work out an agreement on other germane, non-"gotcha'' amendments to the bill if Senators have them. We should be able and should really try in earnest to reach a final resolution and pass the bill through the Senate very, very soon.
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