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On Wednesday, Senate Democrats and Republicans came together to advance a bill that would direct the Justice Department to speed up its review of anti-Asian hate crimes, in the wake of an outbreak of violent attacks on the AAPI community. Well, most of them came together, anyway. A mere six Republicans voted against it. And few are surprised about which ones.

They included Senators who helped spread voter fraud lies that inspired the MAGA insurrection of January 6. Ted Cruz was one of them. Josh Hawley — whose biggest critics seem to be journalists from his home state of Missouri — was another. Ditto Rand Paul, who’s long been against the government doing anything other than granting him employment. So was Tom Cotton, who became famous for saying the National Guard should move into New York to take care of BLM protesters. The others were Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville and Kansas’ Roger Marshall.

The vote comes just shy of a month after a brutal massacre in the Atlanta area that targeted Asian-owned massage parlors, leaving eight dead. Still, the bill — sponsored by Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono, the first Asian-American woman voted to the Senate — passed through the Senate, and with flying colors. Six isn’t bad, and besides, these six are the usual suspects. Cotton attempted to defend his nay vote, saying, “The ‘COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act,’ has been moved to the Senate floor with little commentary, factfinding, or Committee consideration.”

Still, people weren’t surprised that it was these six.

That didn’t mean people weren’t angry.

(Via The Daily Beast)