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Senate
Republican leaders strong-armed Republican supporters of the federal
hate crimes bill, known as the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act, S.
625, to vote against a “cloture motion” on the bill, HRC asserted.
The
only way to have stopped a filibuster and allow the Senate to debate and
vote on the hate crimes bill would have been for 60 Senators to vote
“yes” on the cloture motion. A cloture motion is designed to limit
debate and allow a vote on a bill to prevent opponents from offering
unrelated amendments. But on a vote of 54 to 43 the cloture motion was
defeated-with 49 Democrats, 1 Independent and 4 Republicans voting in
favor of the measure.
“We
know that more than 60 Senators support hate crimes legislation, yet
only 54 Senators voted for cloture,” said HRC Executive Director
Elizabeth Birch. “While the Republican leadership talks about wanting
to move the business of the nation forward, when it comes to hate crimes
legislation, they went out of their way to grind the nation’s business
to a halt.” Although this motion was defeated, this strong vote-a
clear majority-should give the bill’s sponsors incentive to overcome
the partisan obstacles that are holding up the bill, says HRC.
“We
urge the bill’s sponsors and the Democratic leadership to work to
break the procedural logjam so we can pass this crucial bill that will
give local law enforcement the tools they need to investigate and
prosecute hate crimes,” said Birch.
This
legislation has passed the Senate twice. The first time was in 1999 when
it was passed by unanimous consent as an amendment to the Commerce,
Justice, State Appropriations bill. The second time was in June 2000,
when it passed 57-42 in a bipartisan vote. Both times it was removed in
conference committee. In the 107th Congress it was reported out of the
Judiciary committee in July 2001, 12-7, also with bipartisan support.
“Senate
supporters are considering next steps including options such as filing
another cloture motion or offering the measure to another legislative
vehicle,” said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg. The bill’s
lead sponsors are Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.; Gordon Smith,
R-Ore.; and Arlen Specter, R-Pa. The 33-year-old federal statute
currently used to prosecute hate violence is in need of updating. It
does not cover hate violence based on sexual orientation, gender or
disability and has an overly restrictive element that requires that the
victim be chosen because he or she was engaged in a federally protected
activity. The bill before the Senate offers a sensible approach to help
combat these violent crimes. It would extend basic hate crime
protections to all Americans in all communities by adding real or
perceived sexual orientation, gender and disability to the categories
covered and by removing the federally protected activity requirement.
The bill would also provide federal technical and financial assistance
to state and local law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute
hate crimes.
Since
the FBI began collecting hate crimes statistics, more than 9,700 hate
crimes based on sexual orientation have been reported. Since 1991,
reported hate crimes based on sexual orientation have more than tripled
and consistently rank as the third highest category after race and
religion. The FBI’s 2000 Uniform Crime Reports-the most recent year we
have statistics-showed that as overall serious crime decreased slightly
nationally, with the Crime Index at its lowest level since 1978,
reported hate crimes have continued to rise and increased 2.3 percent
from 1999 to 2000. Reported hate crime based on sexual orientation
comprised 16.1 percent of all hate crimes for 2000 for a total of 1,299.
The
Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political
organization, with members throughout the country. It effectively
lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to
ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans can be
open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.
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