Senate Republicans Block Domestic Terrorism Bill
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Legislative push that previously enjoyed bipartisan support came after mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket killed 10 Black people.
Senate Republicans blocked debate Thursday on a bill that would establish new domestic terrorism offices in the wake of a shooting that killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket this month, saying the legislation could let the government target conservatives for their political views.
The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act failed to reach the 60 votes need to advance under the threshold set by Senate filibuster rules, with 47 in favor and 47 opposed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) called the bill “a necessary and timely step to honor the memories of the dead in Buffalo, and to make sure mass shootings motivated by race don’t happen again.”
The bill would have created new offices within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, and would have required coordination between the agencies, as well as regular reporting on domestic terrorism threats.
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