Transcripts For CSPAN Hearing Focuses On Hate Crimes Targeting Religious Groups 20170502

Chairman grassley welcome, everybody, to a very important hearing that we have. Thank you for being patient while we get started here. Ill have an opening statement. Senator feinstein will. And then well godirble introduce our first panel. Then when were done there go to the second panel and introduce that at that time. The Senate Judiciary committee today is holding a hearing that we entitled responses to the increase in religious hate crimes. This is a subject of great bipartisan interest in the committee. Religious hate crimes harm victims. And also have a great impact on communities. Many of these crimes would never have been committed but for hatred. They run counter to americas values such as religious freedom and tolerance. Americans have the right to be safe against those who would treat them as members of religious groups rather than as individuals. Religious hate crimes are on the rise. Crimes against jewish people are the most common religious hate crimes, and they have increased. Religious hate crimes against muslims are the Fastest Growing category. These crimes increase by 67 between 2014 and 2015, the last year in which the f. B. I. Has records available. I have been contacted by fearful iowans. Fear for practicing ones religion should never happen in this country. This problem has been growing for some time, and its not new. Last week President Trump stated, quote, this is my pledge to you, we will confront antisemitism. We will stamp out prejudice. We will condemn hatred. We will bear witness. And we will act. End of quote. With these statements the president followed a tradition for Government Action dating back to George Washington who, in 1790, wrote to a synagogue in rhode island that, quote, the government of the United States sanctions to perfection cution, no assistance. End of quote. Government action to enforce the First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion is necessary if these rights are to be protected against those who commit these awful hate crimes. Law enforcement resources will need to be deployed to houses of worship, if necessary. Law enforcement may need to create specific task forces and provide special assistance to religious groups to enhance security or for other purposes. That reality may require people who read the First Amendment establishment clause so broadly as to prohibit any government assistance that aides a religious entity to re aids a religious entity to reconsider those views. I have this for instance. The Supreme Court recently considered the constitutionality of a Missouri State constitutional provision prohibiting government Financial Assistance to religious institutions and whether the state could prohibit a religious institution from receiving government grants in a program that would be available to secular entities. At oral arguments, Justice Alita asked the lawyer from missouri about a Grant Program such an existing federal program to enhance to quote, harden Nonprofit Organization facilities that are deemed to be of high risk for terrorist attacks. Continuing to quote, so if you have a synagogue that is at high risk of an attack by an antisemitic group or a mosque that is considered to be at high isk for attack by an antimuslim group with the would the missouri constitution permit the erection of boulders like we have around the court here, end the quote from alito. Astonishing to me the lawyer responded, no. The missouri constitution would not permit the state even on a mutual basis to administer a security Grant Program to protect houses of worship. The safety of buildings is important in itself, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that people are so often in those buildings and being targeted. The estimated the establishment clause should not be read to forbid government from saving the lives of people practicing their religion. I believe that religious hate crimes require a government governmental response. Our response is Financial Assistance to facilities that are targets. I hope that the Supreme Court does not issue a ruling that allows government to forbid religious entities from receiving assistance against attacks that is available to other organizations. Our Witnesses Today will shed light on this topic. We will hear from the Justice Department about efforts under way to combat religious hate crimes. We will then hear from civil rights and Law Enforcement organizations on the nature of the problems, and how to address it. We will also hear from a variety victim of religious hate crime. I look forward to their testimony. Senator feinstein. Senator feinstein thanks very much, mr. Chairman. And thank you very much for calling this hearing. I think its a very important topic and i think it goes to one of our core values as a country. And thats religious freedom and tolerance. We pride ourselves on being a unique and diverse society. Which means we have to accept many differences, different creeds, different colors, different ethnicities. Thats important to the concept of america to be a United Country that respects these differences. Into this creeps this suspicion and creeps hate. So the topic today is religious hate crimes. And i think it doesnt matter if its a hate crime based on ones religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, or any other element of our shared values in humanity as a country. Weve got to condemn every form of it, no matter who is targeted. I believe that to the death of my being. Im hopeful this committee can begin and continue to work on this. Even as we focus on one part of it, which is religious hate today. While the federal government has an Important Role to play in helping state and local governments address hate crimes, i want to make clear the change needs in my view to take place on the local level. Each Community Faces its own unique challenge when it comes to racial and religious bias. I think back as my time in local government for some 18 years, nine as a county supervisor, and ine as a mayor, and i remember when swastikas were painted on synagogues, and i got on the phone. I called the chief of bliss. I said you go down there chief of police. I said you go down there. You look at it. You have your people do something about it and i made a strong Public Statement that this was not going to be tolerated in my city. Same thing happened with other kinds of crimes designated at people because of who they are, their religion, their race, whether they are straight or gay. So my view is, its very important to address it. Its very important to say were not going to allow it. And its very important for leaders not to shrink from this but to lead in it. And so in a sense this is a start. I think everybody on this dais understands and wants to really create a Different Society that does not countenance this kind of hate. According to the antidefamation league, there have been reports of 541 antisemitic incidents in the first four months of this year. Thats an increase of 86 compared to the number of incidents recorded over the same period the year before. There have been 380 harassment incidents. 161 bomb threats. Hats an increase of 127 over 2016. Bomb threats were called in to more than 80 Jewish Community centers, and childrens day schools, located in 33 states and two canadian provinces. One day, february 27 of this year, there were 31 threats called in to 23 Jewish Community centers and eight jewish day schools. Thats 31 bomb threats in a single day. These crimes spark tremendous fear, and thankfully the Justice Department has arrested the men responsible. And no one was injured or killed. Hate crimes against muslims and those perceived to be muslim have also increased at an alarming rate. And these crimes include horrific murders. Id like to draw your attention to a map which shows recent incidents of antimuslim hate crimes tracked by muslim advocates, an organization thats a leader on this topic. And you can see where they are consequence rated concentrated. I find that very interesting as well. It counts 254 separate incidents since november 15 to the present. In 2016 alone, the Southern Poverty Law Center also found the number of antimuslim hate groups tripled in 2016, going muslim in 2015 to 101 hate groups last year similarly, the f. B. I. s hate crimes data also captures this sharp increase during that same period. In my home state of california, according to researchers from cal state san bernardino, hate crimes against american muslims increased 78 in 2015. Attacks on perceived muslims also rose sharply. So what can be done . First, its incumbent as i said, on all leaders to loudly condemn these crimes. That includes race as well as religion. In my view, the rise in hate crimes is due in part to the perception that people in positions of power are indifferent to whats happening. Dont prioritize the protection of the rights of all americans, and dont speak out. Weve got to stand together and we have to make clear that hate has no place in our country and these crimes will be investigated and the seriousness will be taken into consideration in the sentencing. Second, we need to ensure that communities and Law Enforcement have the support and resources they need to prevent and investigate these crimes. Where state and local agencies and victims need federal support , the Justice Department needs to provide it. And third, the federal government must improve the reporting of hate crimes. And reportings key because it increases awareness and accountability. But its inadequate today. So if we dont have an accurate picture of whats happening, its much harder for justice and f. B. I. To address the problem. The hate Crime Statistics act of 1990 require the f. B. I. To collect hate crimes data and develop reporting guidelines for state and local Law Enforcement. Now, the quality of that data has improved over time. The Justice Department revised its incident report to collect data on hate crimes against sikh, hindu, arab, buddhist, mormon, jehovahs witness, and Orthodox Christian individuals. 26 of us requested that change. But we can and must do better. Many states and local jurisdictions still dont report hate crimes to the f. B. I. While the f. B. I. Typically reports 5,000 to 10,000 hate crimes, the true number is said to approach 300,000, which is 30 times the f. B. I. Estimation. Senator hatch and i just introduced a bill to update the churcharson prevention act of 1996 to prevent the intentional making of threats to religious property. Now, thats a big deal. Someone goes to anothers church and defaces it or puts a bomb threatening es graffiti on it, it has an impact on a wide range of people. So it has to be taken very seriously. Let me end by quoting Nobel Laureate and holocaust survivor, elie wiesel. Sometimes we must interfere. When new hahn lives are endangered, when Human Dignity is in jep yardy jeopardy, National Borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views. That place must at that moment become the center of the universe. So with that before us, chairman grassley, i want to thank you very much for working with us and also holding this hearing. Thank you. Chairman grassley thank you. I would now introduce our first witness, eric treene, he is special counsel for religious discrimination in a Civil Rights Division of the department of justice. An undergraduate degree from am Hearst College and law degree from harvard. I recognize you for five minutes, but if you have a longer statement to put in the record, and i never cut anybody off at just the exact five minutes, but when that happens kind of summarize the rest of your statement. Thank you. Go ahead mr. Treene thank you, good morning chairman grassley, Ranking Member feinstein, and respected members of the committee. I thank you for holding this hearing this morning to discuss the important top erik of enforcing federal hate crime laws to the focus on religious based hate crimes. Im sorry that acting attorney general tom wheeler cannot be here today due to a family emergency. The attorney general has made fighting Violent Crime one of his top priorities. Hate crimes are serious problem that the attorney general believes must be part of our National Effort to reduce Violent Crime. This is the case for two basic reasons. First, hate crimes make up about 4 of Violent Crime in america. Its thus part of a picture of Violent Crime in our country. Second, its are crimes meant to intimidate and terrorize communities. Were all concerned about ourselves, our families becoming victims of crimes, but when people are targeted for hate crimes, they experience omething on top of this. The experience the concern that theyll be attacked because they stand out in some way, because of their race, their religion, or their national origin. President trump in his first address to congress spoke about the threats against Jewish Community centers around the country, as well as the shooting of two interian men in kansas city, one fatally. He stated, were a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all its forms. Attorney sessions has stressed the violence against people of all religious backgrounds. While race based hate crimes remains the largest cat gorery, religionbased hate crimes are the second largest. There is some concerning trends. The f. B. I. Uniform crime report data show a 23 rise in religious hate crimes from including a 67 rise in antimuslim hate crime, and a 9 rise in antijewish hate crimes. The department of justice is committed to aggressively prosecuting these cases. On april 21, we charged a man arrested in israel with making threats to Jewish Community centers in the u. S. We obtained a conviction of a tennessee man on february 16 for soliciting another man to help him burn down a mosque in the all hamlet of islamberg, new york. On january 10, the department obtained a Death Penalty fo dylann roof, for the murder of worshipers at a bible study at a church in charleston, south carolina. My wreten testimony details the various hate crime laws we can use in these situations. These are powerful laws that allow us to bring federal resources to bear, to support our state and local Law Enforcement partners. And ensure that serious crimes have serious consequences. Congress has also provided us with strong resources for fighting hate crimes. With arsons were able to bring in the resources of the a. T. F. And f. B. I. To find and pursue the perpetrators. We do think we have good processes in place for working with our state and local Law Enforcement partners in an efficient and effective manner. But we can always get better and we must do better in reducing these deplorable hate crimes. Thats why the attorney general has made the hate crime subcommittee of his Violent Crimes Task Force One of the pillars of this effort. In the third week of june, the task force will hold a summit on Violent Crime. The following week on june 29, the hate crime subcommittee will hold an additional oneday summit focusing solely on identifying, prosecuting, and preventing hate crimes. The summit will allow d. O. J. Official to discuss with experts, community groups, and state and local Law Enforcement partners how to best reduce the incidents of hate crime in america. The summit and the subcommittee are also focused on the problem of incomplete hate crime data. We know that the u. C. R. Data undercounts hate crimes and we need to do bert. This will be part of the conversation at the summit and with this subcommittee going forward. We can fully address the problem ever hate crimes only when we ghri understand it. Except the committee and summit will also work on ways to improve training and outreach. Many members of majority communities due to language or cultural barriers are reluctant to come forward when they are victims of hate crimes. Outreach is critical to the success of any program to combat hate crimes. Since he joined the Civil Rights Division three months ago, acting assistant attorney general tom wheeler and i have met with muslim, jewish, sikh, hindu, and christian organizations and can attest to the importance of communications. For us as the government to hear whats going on and what we can do better, and to let the Community Know the areas where we need help from them such as helping to ensure that hate crimes are reported. I thank you for the dialogue you are facilitating here today and look forward to your questions. Chairman grassley fiveminute rounds. I think you covered my first question some. But because its the summit is so important in the work of the department and a major effort of the attorney general sessions, i guess id ask you to elaborate further if you want to on what the departments plans are for the summit, and the hate crimes subcommittee. Mr. Treene thank you, senator. The idea is to not just bring our expertise from the components of d. O. J. Working on this for f. B. I. , Civil Rights Division, u. S. Attorneys offices, Community Relation service, but also to bring in diverse communities. Religious communities, racial communities. Communities representing the lgbt persons. And hear about the totality of the problem, things that were doing well. Things were not doing well. Data collection. What we can do to make that better. I know director comey has testified about the longterm plan to migrate to a National Institute ibs dentbased reporting system, but also what we can do in the several years before that program is fully impremented. So theres lots to do. Fully implemented. Theres lots to do. I dont want to say its a listening session because we have ideas. But we want to hear from experts, local Law Enforcement, from communities about what we should be doing. Chairman grassley my second question is asking you for examples of religious hate crime investigations and prosecutions that the new administrations pursuing some of those could probably be carried over from the previous administration, maybe you dont have to i dont expects you to give us a long list now. You can supplement it with what you tell us now with some written material if you want to. Mr. Treene those are outlined in the written testimony. I just highlight a few. I know we have two senators here from minnesota. On march 8 we sentenced a judge sentenced in a case we brought a minnesota man to 12 months in prison for a threat to blow up a mosque. Bakersfield, california, senator feinsteins state, april 10 we obtained a 15year sentence for a man who fired a shotgun towards a latino family, then went down the street and fired his shotgun at a middle eastern mans convenience store. I mention this, were talking about religious hate crimes because one thing we found is the people who hate arent terribly discriminating in their victims. Someone is angry at muslims, theyll attack sikhs. Middle easterners. People who look different. So we always look at those as a general problem that we need to address holistically. We had a case in february 8, we received guilty pleas from a man who threatened two Grocery Store owners in orlando, florida, who were muslim. He told them they had 30 days to close their stores or be attacked. Thats the kind of violence that were aimed at. Where people are not only attacking people because of their race, but attacking them for exercising their civil rights. Their civil rights to have a job, to start a business, to move into the neighborhood of their choice. The hate crimes laws protect those underlying civil rights of people, too. To live freely in our society. Chairman grassley my last question deals with the fact that you have been d. O. J. Lawyer in religious freedom cases for many years. The most recent statistics on religious hate crimes that we will hear about today date from, think, 2014 and 2015. Is it your experience that religious hate crime instances have been on the rise for quite a few years now . Not just since the president ial election. Were there failures to combat religious hate crimes at the Justice Department that you witnessed in previous administrations . Mr. Treene your honor, citing hate senator, more used to being in court, senator. Hate crimes hate crimes are a perpetual problem in society. Hate tread is nothing new to our society or unique to america so its a problem weve been battling for many years. We have seen a trend in the f. B. I. Data. We have 201420 15, we saw a rise. The year before that, we saw a more modest rise. We dont have the data since then. I can say that we have many referrals that are coming in from community groups, from u. S. Attorneys offices and were taking this problem very seriously. We are throwing our resources at it. The attorney general believes this is a major part of his anticrime initiative and we will continue to aggressively pursue hate crimes. Senator grassley senator feinstein. Senator feinstein one of the things im bothered by is the statistics dont really give the right situation, it seems to me. Hate crimes for example, the f. B. I. Typically reports 7,000 to 10,000 hate crimes. Bureau of justice statistics estimates the true number may approach 300,000 which is 30 times the f. B. I. Estimation. The percentage of religiously motivated hate crimes nearly tripled between 2004 and 2012. How do you account for these discrepancies . Mr. Treene senator, the theyre based on two different midwestologies, and i agree the f. B. I. Midwestologies and i agree the f. B. I. Jount counts. The f. B. I. Is counting actual instances so each of those instances is, one, where a Police Officer in the field has received a reported case, maybe prosecuting it, maybe not. Is coding that in the data system as a hate crime. So its an actual crime that the police have been involved in. We know that some states are better than others in reporting. We are Getting Better at that. Were training every year about 1,400 new Police Departments locally. Expecting about 1,400 more trainings agencies trained this year. So those are actual cases. When you look at the bureau of justice statistics, thats done by a polling methodology. Senator feinstein can i interrupt you . How many cities dont report at all . Mr. Treene there are some states that dont report at all and there are some a number of cities. I dont have the exact number. Senator feinstein see, that might be a good thing to take a look at because if im right and the local leader makes a difference in all of this, staying quiet and doing nothing isnt helpful. Mr. Treene yes, senator. One thing we did last year in the summer, and we expect to do again is to reach out to our 94 u. S. Attorneys to and giving them we gave them a list of who what cities in their district are not reporting hate crimes and get them in their normal interactions with other Law Enforcement officials and mayors to say, is this something that you can help us with, so we have reach with those 94 u. S. Attorneys. Senator feinstein tell us who is on the hate crime subcommittee of the Task Force Crime reeducation and reeducation and Public Safety . Who is on this and what is that committee supposed to accomplish . Mr. Treene well, i can say generally its chaired by tom wheeler, the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights. It has on it representatives from the f. B. I. Hate crimes unit, other components of f. B. I. , Community Relations service. Senator feinstein its all government . Mr. Treene its all d. O. J. Its d. O. J. Coming together and talking about what barriers we have and then going out at the summit to hear from the community from experts and so on. Senator feinstein maybe thats a good place to start, to really try to see if this cant be infused nationally with local people who are there, who know their populations, who when they stand up hopefully people listen and suppose to some remote source in the federal bureaucracy. So i mean, thats what i would hope that this committee would take a look at doing and that is involving local leaders and encourage them to take a position. I have found that where local leaders step up and were not going to tolerate this, it does make a difference. Mr. Treene senator, i think thats a very good idea and i will take that back to the department leadership. Senator feinstein thanks. Thanks, mr. Chairman. Senator grassley senator hatch. Senator hatch well, thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this important hearing today. Religious liberty and the protection of the right of people to believe the way they want to and exercise religion is some of the nations foundational that said, i am troubled by some of the recent reports of increases in religious hate crimes. Not only in the United States but also throughout the world. Some of the recent examples include the more than 100 bomb threats made at Jewish Community centers throughout this country as well as the vandalism of jewish cemeteries in st. Louis, philadelphia and other cities. In response to these and other religiously motivated hate crimes, the president addressed this issue during a joint session of congress when he said, quote, we may be a nation divided on policies but we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in awful its very ugly forms, unquote. The Vice President also denounced these acts of religious intolerance when he said theres no place in america hatred or acts of violence or antisemitism. As someone whose ancestors were persecute and driven from their homes, forced to settle down in the rugged Mountain West because of their mormon beliefs, i agree that america must not tolerate religiously motivated hate crimes or any hate crimes. I was joined by my Ranking Member in introducing the bill. I want to thank senator feinstein for joining me in authoring this bill which would expand the Church Arson Prevention act to criminalize the threats made to intentionally deface, damage or destroy any religious property r to threaten to obstruct by force or threat of force the enjoyment of a persons free exercise of their religious beliefs. I hope that in the coming weeks the senate will consider and pass this legislation as a demonstration of our commitment to be united against evil and hate. With that i just have a few questions. Let me, mr. Treene, ask you this. Can you please share what the department is doing to promote religious liberty of all people in this country . Mr. Treene thank you, senator. One of the things that we are at the Civil Rights Division focused on is aggressive enforcement of the religious land use and institutionalized persons act. Its a law you sponsored with senator kennedy in the senate and has done a great deal to expand religious liberty of all people. One of the things weve seen in recent years since 2010 is a rise in the number of antimuslim cases. So where someone opposes a mozz aluminum school or mosque, ose make up about 37 of our investigations whereas muslims make up 1 to 2 of the population. We have right now one case that we resolved in march and three that are ongoing involving mosques. We have these involving many different communities of faith and their ability to construct places of worship. We continue to aggressively pursue these cases. Senator hatch many are concerned that Crime Statistics in this country are not accurate because many jurisdictions do not fully participate in reporting those activities, those crimes. So im very concerned about that too. Is this an accurate assessment and what can be done to improve the accuracy of hate Crime Statistics in the United States . Mr. Treene no, it is true. The hate Crime Reporting relies on volume unary compliance by state and local governments. We have 14,000 agencies participating in the program. There are some that do not, as we discussed a moment ago. One goal is to get more involved and also those who are already involved give better training to officers to spot hate rhymes, to know what to look for, how to record so it gets captured in the data. Senator hatch there seems to be targeting of Police Officers by virtue of the fact they are Police Officers. What is the department doing to combat this troubling trend as well . Mr. Treene the attorney general has made fighting Violent Crime one of his very highest priorities. Certainly protecting our men and women who are out there in the field putting their lives on the line to protect us and face violence is an important part of that Violent Crime picture. On march 31, the attorney general issued a letter regarding Public Safety and Law Enforcement and talked about issues such as protecting Police Officer safety, boosting morale and also a number of other things including protecting the civil rights of all americans. Senator hatch thanks, mr. Chairman. Senator grassley senator klobuchar. Senator klobuchar thank you ery much, mr. Chairman and senator feinstein. Senator thune and i was at the prayer breakfast. I used a poem from walt wittman when he says i hear america singing the very carols i hear. In the poem he talks about shoemakers and masons and carpenters and all the various jobs americans hold. But i said that day we were talking about the varied religions and we had a rabbi on the stage. We had a big contingent of christians there and we had an imam in the front row. Its important we are having this hearing to make sure we know that america was built on the freedom of religion. I want to ask you first of all being from a state that has the largest somali population in the country, as youve acknowledged, we had a recent attack on a mosque. Weve had attacks on africanamerican homes. We, like many states, have threats against our Jewish Community centers. I just met with that community, but were also a state of these refugees, somalis, and what i would like to know as weve seen this rash of these threats and actual violent acts from your perspective at the Justice Department, what do you see is the cause of this increase in threats . Mr. Treene thank you, senator. Youre mentioning the somali population in minnesota. We handled a couple years ago and i was involved personally in a case involving a somali Muslim Community that wanted to rent out a purchase a senator klobuchar i am aware of that case. The u. S. Attorney, andy lugar and i worked on it. What do you see as the cause . Mr. Treene i just wanted to say at the end of that case there is a photo of a mayor imam and i mally think that shows the breaking down of those barriers of misunderstanding. If you look at polling data, people senator klobuchar what do you see as the cause . Why are we suddenly seeing the increase because the people are the same that we had 10 years ago pretty much . What is the cause . Mr. Treene one of the leading causes of antimuslim bias is not knowing a muslim. People who are more likely to have a friend whos muslim or knows someone are less likely to have the bias. Senator klobuchar why the increase in the last few years when we had the muslims in minnesota before that and now were suddenly seeing this number of threats against them and our Jewish Community . Mr. Treene i am not a sociologist. I can say that we are concerned by trends when we see Something Like a 67 rise in antimuslim hate crimes. We take action and we are bringing cases to try to resolve this problem. Senator klobuchar some of my views having been in the prosecutor after 9 11 and seeing when president bush stood up and said this isnt about one religion going around with our republican appointed u. S. Attorney and we didnt see a rash of hate crimes. We had one or two in my jurisdiction because of that. And so i think the language at the top matters. I recently heard of a story the parents at 9 11, they had been through that in minnesota and had experienced no bad language or threats and now here they are with their kids 10 years or so later and they are at a restaurant and some guy walks by and says you four go home. You go home to where you came from. And the little girl looks up at her mom and says, mom, i dont want to go home. You said we could eat out tonight. And you think of the words of that innocent child. She didnt even know what he was talking about because minnesota is the only home she knows. The United States is the only home that she knows. So my point is first of all, language matters. I am not holding i appreciate the work the Justice Department has done but i hope you pass this on to those at the highest officials of our government. You know, people in the last years, months saying muslims shouldnt be able to run for president. Maybe that wont happen in our lifetime but that is the dream of every child in this country, that they should be able to run for president if they are a citizen of this country. I think those words matter. I also think we have some additional funding were trying to get for Homeland Security, for faithbased Community Centers and i know thats out of Homeland Security but i hope youll look at that and talk to the attorney general about that. And then the third thing is some of the work that weve been doing in minnesota and other places is targeting extremism. I guess i end with that of what you think we should be doing more. There are some grants that have gone out and what is the Justice Departments views of trying to do more to root this out at its cause . Mr. Treene well, i would just respond when you mentioned Homeland Security and helping with communities of faith. One of the things we do at the Civil Rights Division in our outreach is hold joint meetings, joint Conference Calls with Community Leaders and one of the things that they have to offer for communities is protective security advisors, p. S. A. s. They do walkthroughs into any kind of Critical Infrastructure but that includes places of worship, religious schools, other schools. And point out vulnerabilities to arson, to active shooter, other security issues. And so thats something very positive thats going on that we are making a point of talking to the community about. Next week were sponsoring cosponsor with fema is arson Awareness Week focusing on house of worship arson. And to heighten awareness of these issues and for communities to take advantage of those federal resources that are out there for them. Senator klobuchar thank you very much. Senator grassley senator kennedy, youre next. If you are not ready, senator lee is ready. Senator kennedy i was going to defer to senator lee. Thank you. Senator lee thank you so much, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator kennedy. Appreciate it. Sir, what can you tell us about what the departments doing to reach out to vulnerable communities . Mr. Treene one of the things the Civil Rights Division has traditionally done and since assistant attorney general tom wheeler made a special commitment to is to reach out to communities. We have a quarterly meeting with muslim, arab, sikh, south asian anddue organizations where we bring in and hindu organizations where we bring in the Civil Rights Division, talk about the range of issues. Not just hate crimes. Thats a major part of it. But all the different issues of discrimination thats facing that Community Based on the bash lash that started after 9 11 and has continued to the present. E also do outreach to many communities of faith as well as many different civil rights organizations. Senator lee thank you. I know you cant comment on pending investigations, but can you confirm that you do have investigations that are ongoing and possibly some pending prosecutions . Mr. Treene yes, we do. We have a number of investigations into antireligious hate crimes of various sorts and we also have an Ongoing Investigation into the j. C. C. Threats. Of a man we rest identified. After some real heavy work by the f. B. I. , and they really ran this one to the ground. The mans been charged in federal court in florida, in georgia, but the investigation continues. Enator lee to your knowledge, sir, has the administration changed any of its policy to prosecuting hate crimes since the beginning of its administration . Mr. Treene no. The attorney general has been consistent and strong in his message that hate crime is Violent Crime and we need to do everything we can with all the tools in our prosecutorial toolbox to fight this problem. Senator lee ok. Its my understanding that the attorney general established this hate crimes subcommittee. Is that something that existed before . Mr. Treene no. Its a new subcommittee thats part of his task force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety. Thats his premiere initiative and then he made hate crime a hate crime subcommittee a principal part of that initiative. Senator lee as part of the work of the subcommittee is a part of the work of the subcommittee looking at whether we are experiencing an increase in hate crimes . Mr. Treene they are looking at the data questioned. They are looking at processes. Do we have all the tools we need . Are there reforms we should recommend within the department . Are there things we should do internally differently in how we work with u. S. Attorneys offices, how we work with state and local Law Enforcement . Literally everything is on the table how we address the hate crime problem. Senator lee i imagine looking at that and trying to figure out where the trend is, its got to be frustrating to realize anytime youre looking at the data youre already a year at least removed from the data and thats got to make it difficult to track that. Is there Anything Congress can do to help you with that . Mr. Treene yeah, the data conversation is really part of an ongoing conversation. I know director comeys testified about it, and there are longterm plans for migrating to a new data system. There are shortterm solutions that should be explored. But, yes, i mean, having good data helps us allocate our resources. That said, we know now we have a hate crime problem and a religious hate crime problem regardless and we dont need to wait for the data to know that. And we are putting resources into combating that. But having better data does allow us to do that more effectively and efficiently. Senator lee thank you. Thank you for your work on this issue. An ive in a country that is island oasis of religious freedom in many respects and yet notwithstanding that status we are not free from the type of bigotry that has caused so much suffering in so many parts of the world. And we want to make sure that our Law Enforcement personnel have the tools they need to combat violence, combat bigotry as they see it. We thank you for your service. R. Treene thank you, sir. Senator grassley senator franken. Senator franken thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you to the Ranking Member for this important hearing. Mr. Treene, thank you for joining us today. Especially on such short notice. You began your written testimony by underscoring efforts the Trump Administration has made to address hate crimes and your oral testimony. In addition to Justice Department investigations in the hate crimes and other potentially bias motivated incidents you pointed out President Trump condemned hate during his first address to congress and last week he, quote, reasserted his resolve to, unquote, to confront hate crimes in an event here in the capitol. Now, these are all important steps and the president should commended for clearly and unequivocally condemning hate. Far too often, whether threw missteps or associations with controversial figures, the white house fails to speak clearly in opposition to bias and hate. Far too often the white house sends mixed messages. Mr. Treene, as we attempt to understand the factors contributing to the rise in hate violence and rhetoric, im curious the message you think sends to individuals that may engage in that kind of reprehensible behavior when the president selects steve bannon as his chief strategist . Steve bannon, after all, is the former chairman of bright bart news and Breitbart News and , fficked ideology of racism misogyny, xenophobia, antimuslim probable go anda and antisemitism. What message does mr. Bannons presence send, mr. Treene . Mr. Treene senator, the message that i feel strongest as a prosecutor and attorney for the department of justice is the consistent message that ive gotten from the attorney general, to pursue hate crimes, to continue doing the work weve been doing. Senator franken im not saying the message you got, because youre not committing any of the religious hate crimes. Im talking about the people who do, what message does it send to them, not you, that mr. Bannon is chief strategist . Mr. Treene i am encouraged as you were by the president s remarks before congress. Senator franken thats not answering my question. Mr. Treene i can only really speak for myself and i have consistently been given the message to continue to pursue cases on behalf of muslims. Senator franken you are the special counsel for religious discrimination. Certainly you must have some perspective on this that you can share with us on what it means when the president selects as special counsel someone whos trafficked in antimuslim propaganda . Mr. Treene senator, with all due respect, you know, i am here talking about hate crimes and can only stress that ive had a consistent message that we should continue to pursue hese mosque cases, involving and these hate crime cases regardless the religion of the victim. Senator franken i understand that. Im asking you a question. What does it listen. The president came to minnesota the sunday before the election. His first public appearance there. He told the people gathered at the our airport, an airport , ere about 1,000 somalis were that minnesota suffered enough because of the Somali Refugees that were there. What kind of message does that who o these people desecrate mosques, who attack people who are muslims or think theyre muslim . What kind of message does that send to them . Mr. Treene senator, ill say with all respect that in my role i am concerned with sending out a message that we will enforce the law for all persons that regardless of somebodys nationality, their religion, that the department of justice stands ready to protect their rights. Enator franken thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Treene, i grew up in a segregated country. Some would say segregated south. And of course the south was segregated but so was our country because its been my experience that racism and bigotry doesnt understand geographical lines. And i know we still have problems in this country, as senator franken talked about. Senator kennedy but it seems to me i mean, it struck me listening to your testimony, were here talking about hate crimes. Thats something that not that many years ago in america we wouldnt be talking about. I think thats a good thing. Again, while we have a lot of problems in our country in terms of the way we stereotype proud of m pretty whats happening in this country. I mean, in 150 years, weve gone from institutionalized slavery, to give one example, to the president of the United States who happens to be africanamerican. And in the grand scheme of things, 150 years is not that very long. Having said that, we still have work to do, i understand that, we want to be able understand our terms. Tell me your definition of a hate crime. Mr. Treene the term hate crime can be a little misleading because there are many kinds of crime caused by hate. Senator kennedy dont filibuster me. Mr. Treene all im saying, hate crime there are a lot of crimes motivated by hatred. Neighbor over neighbor versus something. We all recognize i think bias crime is a better term but hate crime has caught on both domestically and internationally. Senator kennedy is it based on status or illegitimate status . Mr. Treene based on a particular status that the legislature has decided is in need of particular protection. Senator kennedy like race . Mr. Treene race, gender, sexual orientation. Senator kennedy a lot of hate crimes are committed at all hate crimes are committed, at least in america, in a state or county or parish but theyre prosecuted by local officials. Whats the Justice Department doing to assist them and make sure they take it seriously . Mr. Treene right. There are hate crime statutes in 45 states but those that do have them cover some of the senator kennedy which five dont have them . Mr. Treene i dont know that, senator. There will sometimes be crime where there is a gap in coverage in the state. Our prosecutors work with state and local Law Enforcement to determine, you know, is it better for them to proceed, better for us to proceed . Its a cooperative endeavor. I mean, sometimes regular crimes, if someones murdered, someones facing capital murder, we dont need to step in. Doesnt need to be a hate crime. Sometimes you might have arson of a place of worship and the arson laws will only give a couple years. Whereas we can bring a prosecution and give 15 years for burning down a church or mosque. So we work with state and local officials. Senator kennedy what hate crimes do we see the most of . I assume race. Mr. Treene race is number one and then religion. Senator kennedy religion. Ok. Which particular religion . Jewish religion . Mr. Treene jewish religion. The f. B. I. Statistics says 650 in 2015, and then i think it was 26407b some antimuslim jewish number one and then muslim number two. Both representing roughly small portions of our population which is of particular concern. Senator kennedy ok. Does mr. Bannon work for the department of justice . Mr. Treene no, sir. Senator kennedy the attorney general have any jurisdiction over the white house . The white house staff . Mr. Treene no, senator. Senator kennedy ok. Is there any doubt in your mind, any doubt whatsoever that in your opinion the attorney general of the United States ntends to pursue hate crimes vigorously . Mr. Treene he has consistently given us the encouragement to pursue these cases vigorously, yes. Senator kennedy is there any doubt in your mind . Mr. Treene no. Senator kennedy zero . Mr. Treene no, senator. Senator kennedy nada . Mr. Treene no, senator. Enator kennedy thank you. Senator grassley theres some disagreement. If shes next let me know because i am going by a list. There is disagreement . Hirono. Hirono, coons, blumenthal, whitehouse. Proceed, senator hirono. Senator hirono thank you, mr. Chairman. There is no accident there is a rise in hate crimes because we are in an environment that the president targets muslims with his language and of course during world war ii there was a tremendous antijapanese leading to the internment of 120,000 japanese americans and during the height of the fears japanese importing of cars, one was murdered. Here is where the federal government plays a role. While the murderers were prosecuted at the state level they were acquitted. It took the federal government to pursue those murderers. So after the most divisive campaign, we are in an environment where some people think its ok to express their racism through not just words but through over threats. So i know we acknowledge and you acknowledge that there is a rise in hate crimes and theres underreporting. So i just wanted to ask you, you know, last week the department of Homeland Security launched the victims of immigration crime engagement office, or voice. So on the one hand we have an administration who purports to focus on yet crimes yet the voice office puts immigrants at ly by releasing personal identifiable information and not necessarily Accurate Information and information about children, also. How can we be assured we are not demonizing immigrants, many of whom are actually victims of hate crimes when you have an office like this where people are encouraged to provide information about immigrant crimes committed by immigrants . Your thoughts. Mr. Treene yes, senator. Thank you. At the Civil Rights Division we frequently interact with the office of civil rights and Civil Liberties at d. H. S. I dont know about the office that you raised, but one of the things we do, i mentioned earlier, we have quarterly eetings with communities and communities raise issues like the one that youve raised. This is something we can discuss with civil rights and Civil Liberties office and pursue. I currently dont have any particular information about the voice office. Senator hirono i would ask that you pay some attention to whatever was the reason for the voice office and whats coming out of it and any endangerment of people. In fact, if the information is released through voice is inaccurate, i would say the federal government is subject o some litigation. Going on to the i realize the Civil Rights Division has created a subcommittee on hate crimes that is embedded in a larger task force targeting Illegal Immigrants and drug trafficking. Im concerned that the hate crimes subcommittee is under a larger task force thats focused on immigration enforcement. Can you assure us that the hate crimes subcommittee is given sufficient priority within the Civil Rights Division . Mr. Treene yes, senator. The overall task force is the task force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety. And in recognition of the fact that the attorney general believes that hate crime is a Violent Crime problem thats part of the Violent Crime problem in america, hes put one of the key subcommittees there as a hate crimes subcommittee thats headed by the head of the Civil Rights Division. And so it has a great deal of autonomy but its also part of that broader effort. Sort of that marquee effort to combat all forms of Violent Crime in the u. S. Senator hirono targeting Illegal Immigrants and its very clear this administration s targeting is not a fan of immigration. O i would hate for the subcommittee to become part of the fervor focusing on illegal immigration. So please assure me thats not going to happen. Mr. Treene to my understanding, the task force, the overarching task force is focused on all forms of Violent Crime and that isth focus. And hate crimes are a part of that picture. I dont have any indication that it is focused on senator hirono is the subcommittee going to issue their own reports . Also, education racism is learned. And so id be really interested to know how your subcommittee will focus on starting early through the educational through educational efforts, because prosecution is one thing. I dont know how much of a deterrent prosecution is, albeit very important, but really hatred is learned. Id like to know what kind of focus youre putting on the prevention side through education. Mr. Treene i agree with that. In the Civil Rights Division we ensure equal Educational Opportunity and students are able to be educated free of bases. Ent on protected senator hirono i have further questions for you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Treene, thank you for being here. I think some has been said about some of the advisors the president has brought in, but i think in the department of justice we can go back to 2009 and see an attorney general, then senator, whos a Ranking Member who had a concerned about the uptick in hate crimes and prompted a discussion and ultimately a hearing on it. Senator tillis it sounds like to me youre not getting anything but keep your foot on the accelerator in terms of pursuing hate crime prosecutions . Mr. Treene thats right, senator. Senator tillis you mentioned 45 states implemented some legislation. In looking at how you can work more closely with state, local or tribal government, are there any particularly, i think, forwardleaning states in terms of how well theyve done at the state level . And the reason i ask that question is to get more leverage in terms of just judicial capacity to be able to prosecute, have the resources. Mr. Treene i am a little reluctant to put out several states for fear of leaving out others who are doing a good job. I was talks just yesterday with one of our senior prosecutors about new york and he said, you know, i just cant remember the last time that we after looking at a hate crime thought we need to come in because they were doing such a fantastic job. Kudos to them. There are kudos to others and i dont want to leave others out by listing several. Senator tillis how are your resources going . Are you properly resourced for the cases you are dealing with . Mr. Treene yeah. I would hold back on answering that because i know were coming up on budget time. I know were able to do a lot of great work. Every agency will say we can use more but ill leave that to the departmental folks who are making requests on behalf of the whole department. Senator tillis what about other devices or authorities that we should consider at the federal level to give you more tools for prosecution . Mr. Treene the summit well have in june, well look at legislative proposals. There are any number senator tillis any generally accepted that youd like to see . Mr. Treene i dont want to jump the gun and discuss what i think is good when we havent had the time. Were creating a space for community and local prosecutors, f. B. I. , civil rights to come together and work through this. I dont want to get ahead of that. Senator tillis one thing in the task force that i would really encourage you to look at i was in the state of North Carolina legislature for a few years. Making sure that Data Collection is very important. We need more information to be more instructed in how we pursue these kinds of crimes and identify trends. There can be heavyhanded Data Collection which creates a distraction for people in Law Enforcement and the courts, and there can be rightsized Data Collection. I hope you have the right minds on the task force looking at that if that comes forward as a recommendation. Mr. Treene yeah. Thats why we want to include state and local Law Enforcement in the discussion. They are the ones that will be facing the burden of Data Collection at the user end. Senator tillis thank you. Thank you, mr. Chair. Senator grassley before i call on senator coons, senator leahy and durbin werent able to come here so theyve asked if i could put a statement in the record for them so without objection that will happen now. Senator coons. Coons coons thank you very much, senator coons thank you very much, chairman grassley, Ranking Member feinstein. Thank you, mr. Treene, for your testimony today. We are deeply concerned about the rise in hate crimes targeting religious minority faiths in the United States and their steady rise. In delaware i have been alarmed to see our Jewish Community targeted with multiple bomb threats and to see our Muslim American neighbors and friends fearful as a result of the toxic rhetoric and instances of violence around the country. You, sir, testified there is a notable uptick in hate crimes against muslims and those who perceive to be muslim. In my home state we had a period of positive rallies promoting tolerance at our j. C. C. , at our main mosque, at our general assembly. But citizens from my state are asking for a clear unified message from federal Law Enforcement and from our federal government. And you and the administration have gotten that message. 100 senators joined a letter back in march calling for d. O. J. , d. H. S. , f. B. I. To take Swift Response to widespread bomb threats against j. C. C. s and ill just submit for the cord its pretty rare that 100 of us agree on anything. Chairman grassley, Ranking Member feinstein led a letter to attorney general sessions saying the d. O. J. Needs to directly address the number of motivated hate crimes. Mr. Treene, i have a few questions for you. How do you establish priorities when there are so many different groups that are feeling unsafe, they feel threatened . They feel the percent portion of threats against them, as you suggested in your testimony, steadily going up. How do we pursue prosecution, and how do we change the temperature . My second question, frankly, follows on what senator franken asked. I am encouraged by your state that youve gotten a consistent message from attorney general sessions, to keep prosecuting hate crimes. But this is in response to a significant deficit created in the course of the campaign where all suggests that candidate trump in rally after rally senator franken cited one in minnesota made statements about a muslim ban, about immigrants, about those of minority faiths that i think led to an inflaming of passions in an unconstructive way. And i do think the continued presence of steve bannon as one of his most senior advisors continues to send mixed messages. While i am encouraged that you say the attorney general has sent a consistent message which is good i am concerned there is a mixed message being sent to our country that President Trump last week at he event made positive appropriate statements regarding racially motivated hatred and violence but there is a lot of work to overcome an accumulated deficit, a message spread far and wide in the campaign and Steve Bannons presence in the white house continues to reinforce that is a mixed message. How do you set priorities, sir, and how do you set those priorities in a way that deals with this deficit of confidence among some religious minorities in the country who feel they were targeted in the course of the campaign . Mr. Treene yes, thank you, senator. On the question of priorities, we want to be able to ensure that every hate crime that occurs in the United States is punished. The perpetrators are caught and they are punished with the just punish and thats something the federal government alone cannot do but we have 94 u. S. Attorneys working with state and local Law Enforcement. Its a very complex our system of governance is complex, but its a complex system of working with state and locals, finding and giving cases. Maybe we dont think theyre pursuing it strongly enough and then stepping in and having a tough discussion or more often having a give and take about where who should be prosecuting this case. Its complex but we are a country with 50 different states and a web of federalist laws. So thats how we do it. But its something we think we can do better and thats part of the purpose of this task force and the summit were having in june. On the question of messaging, one of the things we always try to do is we send a message in our actions and our prosecuting case. Tom wheeler has been very strong in his press statements and the u. S. Attorneys press statements in these hate crimes, especially the muslim hate crime saying the attack on one faith is the attack on our fundamental principles and we as americans cannot stand as one group is attacked. And i think that messaging is very important coming from the Civil Rights Division and coming from the attorney general and the whole Justice Department. Senator coons thank you. I expect at some point the administration will nominate someone to head the Civil Rights Division and will send a unified message that we prosecute hate crimes, particularly against religious minorities, particularly against those where there has been a steady uptick in hate speech and hate crimes against them will be high in his or her priorities. Senator grassley senator blumenthal. Senator blumen that will thank you for your testimony. Your job is to fate hatred or bias based on race or ethnicity, is that correct . Mr. Treene and based on sexual orientation. Blumeblume you were a law mr. Blum you were a law clerk mr. Blumenthal you were a law clerk for judge walker . Mr. Treene yes, sir. Senator blumenthal do you think its bad that a president denounced a judge based on his ethnicity . Mr. Treene i am here representing the department on hate crimes and i dont think its appropriate for me to speak about that. Enator blumenthal really . A federal judge denounced based on ethnicity and you have no comment . Mr. Treene well, im here to discuss the issues of religious intolerance and hate crimes and dont believe its appropriate to go far field into many other areas that might be out there. Senator blumenthal i recognize we cant extract an answer from you here but im surprised that you do not have a concern about denounceation by the president of the United States of a deral judge based on his ethnicity. And i hope youll reconsider and perhaps submit something further in writing. Because culture and leadership are important in this i want to just tell you a story that i think illustrates the importance of leadership. Hate crimes are insidious because they harm not only the victim but also the community. And in connecticut we had an incident that deeply divided our community and created tremendous contention when one of the mosque neighbors in meridan shot the building and s then charged under federal hate crimes laws by the United States attorney for connecticut. Nstead of this man being ondemned to incarceration, at the e was assigned advocacy at the mosque itself to do Community Service. And in fact he performed Community Service at the mosque and tried to bring together the entire community. His example of Community Service at the mosque was the result of the leaders of the Muslim Community in meridan advocating to the u. S. Attorneys office and the court that incarceration would have a less constructive effect than that kind of Community Service. So i have submitted a bill called the no hate act that ould permit an encourage judges to recommend Community Service and education as an additional sentence for people convicted under hate crime laws. I visited the mosque. N fact, i observed the individual who fired these shots through the press at the mosque and i think i may have heard there, and leaders of the mosque describe their personal experience. The kind of awareness and education and cultural contribution made by this kind of statute would be substantial, would you agree . Mr. Treene very much so, your honor senator. I just mention in my work i interacted with many muslim communities around the country and heard stories like what you just told. One in measure freaseburg, tennessee, where one of the chief opponents of a mosque there went into an emergency room with a heart problem and lo and behold the cart yolks who was brought in to help her was one of the Board Members of the mosque. And after he treated her with great respect, even knowing who she was, and he left, she started crying and told the e. R. Doctor that she just didnt know. She just didnt know this is who he that he could be like this. Its that ignorance that we need to overcome. Senator blumenthal i agree. Senator hirono made a reference to the importance of culture and learning and so forth. There is a great song in a musical called South Pacific about prestigious it has tore prejudice, it has to be carefully taught. I think unteaching that kind of bias and prejudice is something all of us have to do and in 13 senators, 12 of my colleagues have joined in this effort, including senators durbin, klobuchar, hirono, in a letter calling for the white house to establish a president ial task force on hate crimes. Would you think thats a good idea . Mr. Treene thats certainly something that i will take back to the acting assistant attorney general wheeler and the subcommittee as one possible recommendation. Senator blumenthal thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. By the way, calling senator blumenthal your honor is not bad thing. I think he argued more cases before the Supreme Court more than any other living senator. Dont worry about that. I appreciate your commitment to making sure that hate crimes get prosecuted and i want to echo the view i think you heard loud and clear from all my colleagues that its a bit disconcerting to have an administration that often telegraphs enthusiasm for division and for discrimination while at the same time youre being asked to prosecute fully and fairly where these cases turn up. Senator whitehouse if thats not a message you received from this hearing, let me say that it should be. One cant just wait around for a hate crime to take place and then prosecute it, as you well know. Its also very important that proper investigation be done into organizations that promise or threaten hate crimes. There are neo nazi groups in this country. There are white supremacist groups in this country. There are socalled militia roups in this country that create a significant risk of iolence and even terrorism and a lot of what they would do in the way of criminal activity i think would be safely described as a hate crime given the motivations that bring those groups together. Could you tell me a little bit the investigative side obviously we cant go into details, but are you satisfied , t efforts to monitor infiltrate, get warnings of violent behavior from and in other ways put the Law Enforcement spotlight onto these groups is adequate . Mr. Treene thank you, senator. Certainly organized hate crimes are a significant problem in the u. S. Its one that particularly affects the Jewish Community. I think if you look at antisemitic crimes are disproportionately committed by organized groups as opposed to individuals who just go off on their own. If you look at our cases, i really am reluctant to talk about investigative techniques except to the extent in cases like the Robert Doggert case i mentioned earlier in the testimony which is a man from tennessee who was reaching out to others on the internet to in this attack on a mosque a community in islamburg, new york, a very Small Community formed by Africanamerican Muslim converts in upstate new york. And there the f. B. I. , using informants, was able to infiltrate and obtain the information we needed to prove at trial and have him convicted on four counts. So its certainly the tool in the f. B. I. s toolbox. Senator whitehouse do you see that as an episodic effort because somebody bumped across information that caused the investigation to emerge, or are you comfortable that the f. B. I. Has a systemic and systematic effort to infiltrate and gather intelligence on white supremist, militiatype groups that threaten violence to american citizens . Mr. Treene at the Civil Rights Division, we are on the prosecutorial end so we work with the f. B. I. As our investigators. I would largely defer to f. B. I. To testify on those issues. Senator whitehouse are you satisfied from what you see . Mr. Treene yes, i am. Senator whitehouse that the f. B. I. Has an effort to gather intelligence about potential violence from such organizations . Mr. Treene yes. In the cases that i have worked on, that has been my experience. Senator whitehouse great. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Senator grassley thank you very much for your testimony. I know its a long series of questions you had. Its very important to have the administrations and your departments view on it. I thank you very much and youre dismissed. Mr. Treene thank you. Senator grassley would the next panel come as i introduce you . Our second panel has four witnesses. You can continue watching the rest of this hearing live online. Just go to cspan. Org. Click on the link thats right on our homepage. Going to take you now live to the floor of the house. Lawmakers about to gavel in. First up, legislation that would allow companies to offer comp time instead of overtime pay to