Progress On Hate Crimes In The Senate?

For the more than a month since the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act passed in the U.S. House, Ted Kennedy's Senate version of the bill has laid moribund. But today the HRC is telling the Washington Blade that a move is afoot to attach the Senate bill as an amendment to another item, rendering it immune to revision and hopefully ready to move forward.

Trevor Thomas, an HRC spokesperson, told the Blade in a statement Monday that the Senate settled on this method of passage. "We understand that Senate leadership does not believe a hearing or mark up on the bill is necessary and plans to bring it directly to the floor as an amendment to another moving vehicle," he said. the bill passed the House on April 29, 249-175, as a standalone measure. The legislation would allow the U.S. Justice Department to assist in the prosecution of hate crimes committed against LGBT people that result in death or serious injury.

The Blade reported last month that the Senate was debating whether to pass hate crimes legislation as an amendment or as a standalone bill. Thomas said the Senate determined it would pass the legislation as an amendment because the chamber's leaders believes that's "the most efficient way" to send the measure to the president's desk. Jim Manley, a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), said he couldn't confirm whether the Senate had decided to pass hate crimes legislation as an amendment, but he noted that's how the Senate passed the legislation in previous sessions. He deferred to the legislation authors for further comment.

You may recall that the "attach it to another bill" strategy failed on December 7th, 2007, when Senate Democrats stripped the act from the military appropriations bill to which it was attached, rather than approve more funding for the Iraq war. The HRC says they are calling for the Senate to pass the current bill before the end of summer.