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Bill calls for an interagency task force to help prevent political violence
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Bill calls for an interagency task force to help prevent political violence

While concerns about political violence are high on a contested election day, new legislation from Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Washington, aims to establish an interagency response to help diffuse future conflicts.

The Political Violence Prevention Act would establish a presidentially appointed task force composed of no fewer than 24 officials from the National Security Council, the Domestic Policy Council, several Cabinet-level departments, and a number of other federal agencies to provide policies and recommendations to help prevent and respond to acts of political violence over the next two years.

The bill, presented on November 1would set up the task force no later than 180 days after enactment, empowering it to help develop specific programs and policy issues based on its recommendations to promote “issues of national unity, building civic bridges, and preventing political and motivated violence of hate. .”

Those recommendations would come from a series of reports written by the task force to the president and Congress every six months, outlining the group’s activities and recommendations, along with any updates from subsequent reports.

Two years after its establishment, the task force will issue a final report to the president and Congress detailing its findings, progress made on recommendations, descriptions of specific agency programs related to the task force’s operations, and the activities it has undertaken.

Agencies included in the proposed task force would include the departments of Agriculture, Labor, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Interior, State and Commerce.

The Office of Management and Budget, the Corporation for National and Community Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Office of the Surgeon General, the Small Business Administration, the Election Assistance Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the FBI would also provide representatives .

Legislation comes as examples of doxxing and online threats to federal employees increased recently, in the middle other threats of violence.

The draft law was submitted to the Judicial Committee of the Chamber.