Hate Crimes Follow Up

Lap Top Lobbyist

June 18, 2004

We have received an incredible amount of mail this morning regarding the Senate passage of the Hate Crimes Amendment.

Many of you are asking, "Where do we go from here?" That is an excellent question. As things stand now, we do have one final chance to kill the amendment.

Defense Appropriations must still go before a Conference Committee. It is possible for the Conference Committee to strike the Hate Crimes Amendment from the final version of bill before sending it to the President for signature.

We will be monitoring the issue closely and keep everyone informed as to actions that can be taken when the Conference Committee is appointed.

Many of you have also expressed frustration in trying to find the amendment on the Senate website. The Hate Crimes Amendment is Senate Amendment 3183 (S.AMDT.3183) to Defense Appropriations (S. 2400) and you can find the legislation by going to the following hyperlink on the Library of Congress website:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:SP03183:

Some of you may be asking, why would an amendment on hate crimes be attached to Defense Appropriations?

While many of you know the answer, for those of you who don't; it is a common practice in Congress to attach an unpopular piece of legislation as an amendment to unrelated legislation that is likely to pass. It's one of many procedural tactics our legislators use in an attempt to conceal their actions from public scrutiny.

Obviously, it doesn't work as well as it used to... we wonder why?

Chris Carmouche
Laptoplobbyist.com