Roy rails at GOP over hate crime bill
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Chip Roy called Senate Republicans “utterly worthless” and “an absolute embarrassment” for helping pass a bill aimed at quelling a growing number of hate crimes against Asian Americans during the pandemic.
The bill, which would create a position at the Justice Department to oversee prosecution of hate crimes related to the pandemic and expand avenues to report such incidents, drew the support of nearly every Republican in the Senate, including two of Roy’s former bosses — U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn.
Roy, an Austin Republican who worked in both Cruz’s and Cornyn’s Senate offices before he was elected to Congress, tweeted that even with Republican amendments, the legislation still goes too far. The Senate passed the bill on Thursday with just one no vote.
Roy tweeted that the bill leaves the Department of Justice “with carte blanche to define hate ‘incidents’ ” and ties
“awful crimes to speech & thought.” He blasted Senate Republicans for claiming victory because the bill is “slightly ‘less bad’ ” than the original version forwarded by Democrats.
“This is the swamp in action,” Roy concluded.
Roy’s tweets previewed some of the opposition the bill is likely to face as it heads to the House, where Democrats nonetheless are expected to have more than enough votes to pass it.
The bill comes as the number of hate crimes Asian Americans reported nationally skyrocketed over the last year, with Texans reporting the fourth-most in the nation in 2020, according to one recent study. A Pew Research Center survey this week found a third of Asian Americans fear someone might threaten or physically attack them. Incidents reported in 2020 included racial slurs and people spitting on them or coughing on them.
The AAPI Victory Fund, a super PAC focused on mobilizing Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, vowed to “marshal resources against Roy” and “work until he is defeated.”
“Roy has proven time and time again that he wants to be known as the Anti-Asian Congressman,” AAPI Victory Fund President Varun Nikore said. “He made his bed, now he will lay in it.”