House Votes on Domestic Terrorism Bill After Buffalo Grocery Store Massacre

The House of Representatives moved forward with swift passage of legislation on Wednesday that would devote more federal resources to preventing domestic terrorism in response to the racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

The vote follows the horrific and racially motivated mass shooting over the weekend at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 people dead and 3 others are injured. The Justice Department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime and “an act of racially motivated violent extremism.”

The measure is intended to prevent another attack like the one in Buffalo on Saturday when an 18-year-old white man drove a special three-hour drive to perform racist, live-streaming footage of the incident. spinning hysterically in a crowded supermarket where he had done surveillance before. The gunman, who calls himself a white supremacist and opposes in his own so-called “manifesto,” was investigated for threats less than a year before the tragedy. police at Tops Family Market but was still able to get hold of the AR-15 he was using.

As I witnessed the growing demonstration of hatred towards the Jewish community and signs of Nazi Germany across our country, I was deeply indignant and disappointed. We must take action against the growing tide of anti-Semitism and pass HR 350 – the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act. pic.twitter.com/GJXEl26kxU

– Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, JD (@Sheila4Congress) February 4, 2022

The legislative effort is not new, as the House passed a similar measure in 2020 only to have it fail in the then Republican-controlled Senate. While there is still a lack of support in the Senate to move forward with gun control legislation they say is necessary to prevent mass shootings, Democrats are instead pushing for broader federal focus on domestic terrorism.

The House of Representatives will pass legislation today to combat domestic terrorism and white violence.

– Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) May 18, 2022

“We in Congress can’t stop people like (Fox News host) Tucker Carlson from spewing hateful, dangerous alternative theory across the waves. Congress cannot ban the sale of assault weapons. The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act is what Congress can do this week to try to prevent future buffalo shootings,” said Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL), who first introduced this measure in 2017, said.

My Domestic Terrorism Bill just passed the House of Representatives with an overwhelming bipartisan vote!

Groups such as the Boogaloos, the Uprising, and white Nationalist militias around the country are organizing. And so are we. pic.twitter.com/iFFb70YEeQ

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– Representative Brad Schneider (@RepSchneider) September 21, 2020

Democratic supporters of this measure would fill a gap in intelligence-sharing between the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI so they can better track and respond to threats. growing threat of radical white terrorism. Under current law, three federal agencies have worked to investigate, prevent, and prosecute acts of domestic terrorism. But the bill would require each agency to open special offices dedicated to those tasks and create an interagency task force to combat the intrusion of white supremacy in the military. .

Schumer said he will force a procedural vote next week on the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which is expected to be passed by the House of Representatives later today. The bill, creating federal offices focused on domestic terrorism, was opposed by the House of Representatives, who argued it gave the DOJ too much power.

– Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 18, 2022

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will cost about $105 million over five years, with most of the money going toward hiring staff.