The Senate has passed a bill Thursday intended to curb hate crimes targeting Asian Americans during the pandemic.
Although GOP Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri opposed it, the measure was approved in a bipartisan 94-1 vote.
The legislation will head to the Democratic-led House with support from Speaker Nancy Pelosi. President Biden has indicated that he would sign the bill into law.
“The AAPI community is being targeted for hate crimes and other incidents and the Congress needs to stand up to condemn these kinds of actions,” Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat and co-author of the bill, told CNBC on Wednesday ahead of its passage.
The measure would assure that the Justice Department would accelerate its review of hate crimes as related to the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, the proposal would give state and local law enforcement more resources to keep track of incidents help support guidelines to eliminate discriminatory language used to describe the pandemic.
The legislation marks the most aggressive action Congress has taken in response to the ongoing violent attacks and harassment directed at Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic -- with many putting the blame directly on the shoulders of former President Trump and his references to the virus as “the China virus.”
According to a study released last month from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, hate crimes against Asian Americans escalated by 150% in 2020 in 16 of the largest U.S. cities.