Texas Sen. Ted Cruz supports COVID hate crimes bill despite earlier opposition

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz voted Thursday for the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, which aims to get tougher with violence against Asian Americans.

Last week he voted against consideration of the measure. Cruz spokesperson Erin Perrine said the senator voted for the legislation after Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, worked with the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Maize Hirono, D-Hawaii, to define hate crimes more broadly.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also voted for the act, which passed 94-. Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri was the only no vote.

Hirono began pushing the bill last month as attacks targeting Asian Americans increased almost 150% from 2019 to 2020, according to analysis released by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino.

The bill now goes to the House. It would call on the Justice Department to create a position solely to review hate crimes related to the coronavirus pandemic, establish an online hate crime reporting system and issue guidance on the best practices to prevent racially discriminatory language when describing the pandemic.

The bill defines a “COVID-19 hate crime” as violence motivated by the attackers’ real or perceived notion that their victim’s identity relates to the spread of COVID-19.

The Senate considered three amendments to the bill. All were rejected, including one co-authored by Cruz.

His amendment would have denied federal funding to higher education institutions “if they have a policy or engage in discrimination against Asian Americans during recruitment or admissions.”

Hirono argued that “Discrimination against Asian American students or any students on the basis of race is already prohibited by federal law.”

She called Cruz’s effort “a transparent and cynical attack on long standing admission policies that serve to increase diversity and provide opportunity to students of color in our institutions of higher learning.”

The Supreme Court has said that the use of affirmative action in college admissions is not discrimination and race can be used as a factor in college admissions.

Cruz also backed an amendment to replace the section of the bill that outlined guidance for law enforcement agencies to “establish online reporting of hate crimes and incidents.”

Instead it would have required the Department of Justice to investigate whether COVIDrestrictions were applied equally between religious institutions and non-religious organizations and businesses.

“The first thing he does before he puts out his own idea of what we should consider instead is to strike key sections of the Hate Crimes Act,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said.