Two Massachusetts lawmakers are among a group of Democrats working on and promoting legislation designed to help combat domestic terrorism. The issue is getting renewed attention following a mass shooting in Buffalo on Saturday. 

Representative Jim McGovern (D- Mass.) and Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) are involved in the dialogue on domestic terrorism at this point because both hold important positions in Congress. Clark is the assistant speaker of the House and McGovern is chairman of the powerful Rules Committee.

On Tuesday, the bill known as the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act was debated at a Rules Committee hearing. The hearing is just one of the phases the bill has to go through before it can go up for a vote in the House. The proposal, however, is not new and was actually introduced in January 2021 but went nowhere. It was drafted following earlier incidents of domestic terrorism including the anti-Semitic shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and a shooting at an El Paso Walmart that took the lives of 23 people.

The legislation would create dedicated domestic terrorism offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Those offices would be in charge of analyzing and monitoring domestic terrorist activity and require the Federal Government to take steps to prevent domestic terrorism. In his opening statement, at Tuesday's Rules Committee Hearing, McGovern explained why taking up the legislation is so important right now. 

“Domestic terrorism is not new. But domestic terror plots and attacks are at the highest level they have been in decades. Look no further than the horrific mass shootings this weekend in Buffalo, New York, which was fueled by white supremacy and hate," McGovern said. 

The first person to testify, other than the bill's sponsor Rep. Jerry Nadler, was Republican Darrell Issa. The congressman from California argued that more oversight is the last thing that's needed to address domestic terrorism. 

“The last thing that this country needs is more domestic surveillance," Issa said. "This DOJ has not earned the right to be given the power to conduct more domestic surveillance. Because we know this DOJ and this FBI have already abused that power given to it by this Congress."

During a press conference with leading House Democrats, also on Tuesday, Clark expressed her frustration with the Republican response to the shooting in Buffalo. 

“It was driven by a young man who was radicalized online by replacement theory," Clark said. "The idea that white Americans are being replaced. It is anti-Semitic, it is racist, and it is very destructive. And it is a pillar of the current GOP. They won't call it out. They won't apologize. They won't back off. Their agenda right now is fueled by these very forces of white supremacy, of white nationalism, and they are not changing course."

Separately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke with reporters about the Buffalo shooting on Tuesday. McConnell condemned the killings in Buffalo. He said that the mass shooting was "carried out by a completely deranged young man." McConnell, however, did not explicitly criticize replacement theory. 

After a vote of eight to four in the Rules Committee, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act passed and will now be debated in the House as early as Thursday.