Sen. Blumenthal: The Tragedy in Australia Reflects a Worldwide Rise in Extremist Ideology

EXCERPT:

BLUMENTHAL: "The tragedy in Australia reflects a worldwide rise in extremist ideology, hate-based violence and anti-Semitism, and we need to counter it not just in rhetoric, but in real action. And that‘s why I‘m proposing $1 billion for three existing programs that I have helped to lead, namely the community relations service, which needs to be reconstituted, the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act. passed with unanimous support, and perhaps most importantly and prominently, the nonprofit security grant program, which provides for the physical security of synagogues, mosques and churches in this holiday time, particularly important, as well as training and staff physical enhancements for those institutions and protections of minority communities. And we also need to support local law enforcement. They often lack the resources to have special units to counter hate crimes. Prevention is so important, and the initial leads that might have been detected in the Bondi Beach hideous travesty and tragedy, I think, have to be pursued by local police and the FBI. We need to give them the resources and the tools to do it."