Jerry Nadler: “I came here to rise in support of the motion to instruct offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and in…”

“I came here to rise in support of the motion to instruct offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) and in opposition to the motion to instruct offered by the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Graham), because I read the motion to instruct offered by the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Graham); and I am not sure whether it is worth supporting or opposing, because it does not deal with anything in front of the conference. The gentleman purports it to mean that this would oppose the hate crimes legislation, but we know that there is hate crimes legislation on the Federal books, and it has been there for 32 years. What the Senate proposes, and what I hope the House accedes to, is to increase the purview of that legislation from race, color, creed, and national origin, to include, which it does now, to include sexual orientation, gender, disability of the victim. And we certainly should, because an attack on someone based on those characteristics is an extra assault on society and ought to be punished in an extra way.”