POLITICS OCTOBER 29, 2018 / 5:18 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

Congressional Democrats seek more action on U.S. domestic extremists

Mark Hosenball, Julia Harte
5 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats on Monday called on U.S. law enforcement authorities to do more to track and prosecute far-right extremists after a mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue and the mailing of bombs to critics of President Donald Trump.

The government must do more to police “hate crimes and domestic terrorism” and prevent gun violence and the spread of white supremacist ideology, said New York Representative Jerrold Nadler and other House of Representatives Democrats in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte.

Calling for an emergency hearing before the committee, Nadler and the other lawmakers wrote that the panel “is charged with confronting the causes of racial and religious violence, assessing the adequacy of federal hate crimes statutes, and protecting the civil liberties of all Americans.” But they did not propose specific new legislation.

“It also falls to our committee to address gun violence in all its forms ... It is our responsibility to respond to this madness, and to do so without delay.”

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