Hate Crimes Amendments Passed, however...

So the 3 amendments passed yesterday. These amendments will limit the extension of the federal hate-crimes law.


After the voice-vote, HRC released a statement, here's some of it

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, responded today to votes relating to the hate crimes provisions in the Defense Department authorization bill. The Senate passed four amendments to the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act: three offered by Senator Sessions (R-AL) and one offered by Senator Kennedy (D-MA). The Matthew Shepard Act was added this past Thursday, July 16, to S. 1390, the Senate version of the Department of Defense Authorization bill.

“Today’s vote brings us closer than ever to seeing the Matthew Shepard Act signed into law,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “We urge Congress to eliminate these unwelcomed amendments and send the Matthew Shepard Act to the President’s desk quickly.”

The Senate adopted three amendments by voice vote. One amendment, SA 1615, adds the death penalty to the provisions of the Matthew Shepard Act. HRC strongly opposed this unwelcome amendment and hopes to address it as the Act continues through the legislative process. The Amendment was offered by and supported by Senators who oppose the Matthew Shepard Act in an effort to derail the Act. Fortunately, a side-by-side- amendment offered by Senator Kennedy was also added to the bill. The Kennedy amendment provides for additional restrictions in the use of the death penalty under the Act.

The third amendment requires the Attorney General to promulgate guidelines with “neutral and objective criteria for determining whether a crime was motivated by the status of the victim.”

A final Sessions amendment, SA 1616, was adopted by a vote of 92 to 0. This amendment creates a new federal criminal offense for cases involving assaults or battery of a U.S. service member – or a member of the service member’s immediate family.

These amendments can be removed in the final, final vote. However, it can still be vetoed by the Obama.


Source

3 possible amendments that can Kill the Hate Crimes Bill

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) wants to add 3 other amendments to the hate crimes bill today. According to the HRC staff, they are not feeling it at all. In fact, they found the amendments to be foolish, unhelpful and should not be adopted.

So what are these 3 vile amendments? Well here they are, via HRC:

* The first Sessions Amendment would allow the death penalty to be applied in hate crimes cases under some circumstances. This Amendment is unnecessary and is a poison pill designed to kill the bill. The Amendment is being offered by and supported by Senators who oppose the Matthew Shepard Act. It’s ironic that the very Senators who have falsely argued that this bill would put clergy in jail because of their beliefs think that those same clergy should be subject to the death penalty.

* The second Sessions Amendment would place an additional burden on the Justice Department to revise its long established guidelines for hate crimes cases. This Amendment is unnecessary. The Department already has well-established, clear and precise guidelines to govern cases involving bias-motivated violence that work well.

* Finally, the third Sessions Amendment would provide additional penalties for crimes involving servicemembers or their families. This Amendment is unnecessary. Existing statutes already provide special penalties on attacks against members of the Armed Services and veterans. In addition, the vague language of the Amendment is problematic. The Amendment provides for additional penalties for injuring the property of a serviceman or immediate family member. The scope of “family member” or what constitutes an “injury” to their property is unclear.

Again, HRC are not feeling these additions. They believe these amendments are created to kill the bill and stall the process. Hopefully, senate will vote down these amendments.

The discussion starts today.