Who voted against the anti-lynching bill? These Florida, Kentucky and Texas lawmakers

After more than 100 years of trying to get through Congress, an anti-lynching bill that makes it a federal crime passed in the U.S, House on Wednesday.

Four lawmakers — Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Ted Yoho of Florida and Justin Amash of Michigan — voted against the measure, which passed 410-4, according to NPR.

The Emmett Till Antilynching Act was introduced to the House by Rep. Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, according to The New York Times. Till was lynched when he was 14 years old in 1955, allegedly after his whistled at a white woman in Mississippi.

Gohmert, a Republican from Tyler, told the Houston Chronicle that he took issue with “the federal nexus of lynching” and it “sends entirely the wrong message about how serious this is” because it has a 10-year maximum prison sentence.

“Under Texas law, the defendants could have gotten the death penalty,” he told the outlet. “I regret needing to vote no, but I just felt like this is too serious to be handled at such a low level.”

Massie, a Reublican from Garrison, told The Courier Journal that he voted against it, “because the Constitution specifies only a handful of federal crimes, and leaves the rest to individual states to prosecute.

“In addition, this bill expands current federal ‘hate crime’ laws,” he said. “A crime is a crime, and all victims deserve equal justice. Adding enhanced penalties for ‘hate’ tends to endanger other liberties such as freedom of speech.”

Yoho, a Republican from Gainesville, told Newsweek that he thought perpetrators should get the “harshest penalty under the law,” but that the bill took power away from the states.

“This bill today is an overreach of the federal government and encroaches on the principles of federalism,” he said. “Hate crimes fall under the jurisdiction of states, which has led to 46 states producing various hate crime statutes. In my home state of Florida, these crimes are already under state government jurisdiction and are punishable up to death.”

The House bill will now go before the Senate for approval before being sent to President Trump, who is expected to sign the legislation, according to The Texas Tribune.

This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Who voted against the anti-lynching bill? These Florida, Kentucky and Texas lawmakers."