Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of Senate amendment No. 1445 that Senator Hirono and I have introduced. I want to begin by thanking my colleague from Hawaii for working with me on this amendment and acknowledging her leadership. I also want to thank Senators Grassley, Blumenthal, Moran, and Warnock for their contributions as well. Crimes motivated by bias against race, national origin, or other characteristics simply cannot be tolerated. Our amendment both denounces these acts and marshals additional resources toward addressing and stopping these despicable crimes. The amendment that the Senator from Hawaii and I are offering today will improve the underlying bill in a number of key ways, while it will affirm our steadfast commitment to stand with the Asian-American, Pacific Islander community against all forms of violence and harassment. First, our amendment strongly condemns the hate crimes targeting the AAPI community. In the past year, Stop AAPI Hate reported nearly 3,800 cases of anti-Asian discrimination. The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that the reporting of anti-Asian hate crimes increased by 145 percent in 16 major cities even though hate crimes declined in those cities overall. Racially motivated discrimination and violence should never be tolerated. I want to thank Senator Grassley and Senator Warnock for their contributions to this section of our amendment.…”