Federal Hate Crimes Bill to be Voted on in U.S. House

The federal hate crimes bill (Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act), H.R. 1592 is up for a vote in the United States House of Representatives on Thursday. The bill previously passed the House Judiciary committee by a vote of 20-14 last Thursday following a 10-hour hearing.
The legislation adds sexual orientation and gender identity to previously enacted categories which trigger classification of certain crimes as hate crimes.

UPDATE THU 5/3/07 10:16AM: The White House has released a statement that it will likely advise the President to veto the federal hate crimes bill if it were to reach his desk!

[...]

The White House, in a statement, said state and local criminal laws already provide penalties for the crimes defined by the bill and "there has been no persuasive demonstration of any need to federalize such a potentially large range of violent crime enforcement."

It also questioned the constitutionality of federalizing the acts of violence barred by the bill and said that if it reaches the president's desk "his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill."

The White House also noted that the bill would leave out other classes such as the elderly, members of the military or police officers

Geeesh, in 7 years the Preznit has vetoed two bills (one on stem cell research two years ago and the one on Iraq war funding just two days ago) and now he's threatening to veto this?