Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic bill that would grant the federal government new powers to probe alleged domestic terrorism on Thursday.
The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 would require the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to adopt new procedures for investigating and monitoring domestic terrorism.
The bill would direct the federal government to create an “interagency task force” to screen “white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of the uniformed services and federal law enforcement agencies,” according to its official summary.
The bill failed to pass the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster in a 47-47 vote.
The law previously passed the House in a near party-line vote, with Rep. Adam Kinzinger joining Democrats in support of the bill.
Sen. Rand Paul took the floor to criticize the bill as an insult to police and the military.
Paul rejected the notion that police and the military are hosts to a neo-Nazi infiltration.
Sen. Rand Paul tears into insulting bill from democrats claiming police and military infiltration of white supremacy “It’s slanderous“. pic.twitter.com/4WZSXZ4LSR
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) May 26, 2022
“It would be the Democrat plan to brand our police as white supremacists and neo-Nazis,” said Paul of the bill, rejecting the notion of what he called a “thought police” for the military and law enforcement.
Are the police and military domestic extremists?
“I’ve met policemen throughout Kentucky and I’ve not met one policeman motivated or consumed with any kind of racial rage.”
“What an insult it is to put a bill before this House that says, ‘our Marines are consumed with white supremacy and neo-Nazism,” said Paul of the bill.
The law would require the FBI, DHS and the Department of Justice to submit reports to Congress every six months on alleged “white supremacist and neo-Nazi infiltration of Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and the uniformed services.”
The same biannual reports would also brief Congress on the threat posed by the same extremists.
The law’s text doesn’t mention anarchist extremists or Islamic terrorism, singling out only those on the far right instead of applying a universal domestic terrorism standard.
Other Republicans criticized the bill for authorizing the federal government with counter-terrorism powers it already has.
“It’s a lot of stuff they already have authority to do,” said Sen. John Thune of the law’s provisions, according to CNN.
Sen. Chuck Schumer changed his ‘yes’ vote to ‘no’ after the bill failed to pass the filibuster threshold, giving the Senate Majority Leader the ability to bring up the legislation again at a later time.
