Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has assured Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat, that her COVID-19 hate crime bill, S. 937, will be a top Senate priority this month, even though not a single Republican senator will endorse it. So, what’s the GOP’s beef with the bill?

Ostensibly, the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act seeks to address the rise of hate crimes and violence targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. It would require the Justice Department to assign someone to expedite the review of “COVID-19 hate crimes” and directs the attorney general and the secretary of Health and Human Services to “issue guidance describing best practices to mitigate racially discriminatory language in describing the COVID–19 pandemic.”