Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I'm reintroducing a piece of legislation that I first introduced in 2017: the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act.

Back then, we knew there was an urgent need to address the crisis of hate and violent extremism in America.

In the years since, that crisis has only gotten worse, and Congress has failed to take meaningful steps to address it.

We can change that, and we can change it now.

Earlier this week, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on gun violence in America.

It happened just one day after a mass shooting in Boulder, CO claimed 10 lives and just 1 week after a shooting spree at 3 Atlanta-area spas claimed 8 lives.

During the hearing, I mentioned how these tragedies--mass shootings, acts of terror, hate crimes--they occur with such frequency, that we can't keep track.

Each life lost is added to our national tally of failure. A failure to save American lives.

And behind each number is a person.

We lost eight of them last week in the Atlanta area in a hateful act of violence.

Each of them had a name and a story.

Xiaojie Tan was a hard-working mother, wife, and business-owner.

Soon Chung Park was a mother and grandmother who loved to stay active. Her family was sure she was going to live to 100.

Hyun Jung Kim was a former elementary school teacher who had immigrated to the United States from South Korea. She dedicated her life to raising her two sons.

Delaina Ashley Yaun was a newlywed and a mother of two, one of whom was an 8-month-old baby. She and her husband were getting a couple's massage at the time of the shooting.

Young Ae Yue was a wife and mother of two sons who looked forward to sitting down for a traditional Korean dinner every Sunday night.

Paul Andre Michels was a loving husband and a U.S. Army veteran.

Daoyou Feng had recently started working at one the massage parlors that was attacked. She was described by a friend as ``kind and quiet.''

Sooncha Kim was a wife, mother, grandmother, and avid line dancer. She and her husband had been married for 50 years.

All of their lives were cut short by a lone gunman with hate in his heart.

How many more lives must we lose before we act?

How many more vigils, funerals must we hold?

How many more families must be devastated forever?

While the motives behind these horrific attacks are still being investigated, it is impossible to ignore that six of the victims in the Atlanta attack were Asian-American women.

It happened at a moment when violence against members of the Asian- American and Pacific Islander community has been on the rise.

Two of my colleagues in the Senate have shown tremendous courage in the wake of last week's attack in Atlanta.

I am proud to have Senator Hirono as my colleague on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I am proud to serve alongside Senator Duckworth and represent our home State of Illinois.

The two of them have, rightfully, criticized the Federal Government for failing to protect members of the AAPI community from acts of hate and violent extremism.

And they have every reason to be angry.

A year ago, they warned us.

They-along with Vice President Harris, who was serving in the Senate at the time-introduced a resolution expressing alarm that people are, quote, ``living in fear and terror following the dramatic increase of threats and attacks against those of Asian descent.''

They called on us, the Members of this body, to have a ``singular focus'' on protecting the safety of AAPI people, along with every American.

We failed to do that.

Since the pandemic began last March, nearly 3,800 hate incidents targeting members of the AAPI community have been reported.

Now these Americans are afraid to walk the streets of their own neighborhoods.

It is one of many examples that highlight the dire need to transform the way we deal with domestic terrorism in this country.

Even before the pandemic began, a tide of hatred had begun sweeping over America.

In 2019, the FBI reported that hate crimes had increased to the highest level in more than a decade.

Another report, from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, found that the number of hate-motivated aggravated assaults in America had increased by nearly 50 percent between 2013 and 2019.

Since hate crimes are historically underreported, we know that the increase is probably much greater.

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security warned that violent, White supremacy is now ``the most persistent and lethal threat in the homeland.''

Violent extremism is a threat to all of us, whether it is a lone gunman in Atlanta or hordes of blood-thirsty extremists battering down the doors of this very chamber.

The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act will enhance the Federal Government's ability to prevent these acts of extremist violence.

It will establish offices to combat domestic terrorism at the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Those offices would regularly assess the threat of violent extremism so law enforcement can focus their limited resources on the most significant ones.

The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act would also provide training and resources to assist State, local, and tribal law enforcement in addressing those threats.

I want to thank Majority Leader Schumer for working expeditiously to bring this bill to the floor.

I want to thank Senators Hirono and Duckworth for their leadership and for joining me in cosponsoring a version of this legislation that combines the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act with their COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act.

This combined bill, which we have named the ``Domestic Terrorism and Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2021'', would both combat the broader threat of domestic terrorism and ensure that the Department of Justice is promptly addressing the particular threats facing the AAPI community.

Over the past week, in response to the attacks in Atlanta and Boulder, CO, I have heard Senators on both sides of the aisle make speeches about taking action to prevent acts of domestic terrorism.

Well, I can think of no better first step than voting in support of this legislation. To be clear, it is just one step. There is more we can and must do to combat domestic terrorism.

But we have been waiting 4 years too long to sign this bill into law.

Too many Americans have died.

Let's work to save ourselves from another 4 years of unthinkable tragedies.

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