{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-demands-noem-rescind-heinous-policy-on-hate-symbols", "Blumenthal Demands Noem Rescind \"Heinous Policy\" on Hate Symbols", "2025-12-16", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CT", "Richard Blumenthal", "B001277", "www.blumenthal.senate.gov", "blumenthal", "https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press", "scraper", "[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 Today, following reporting that the U.S. Coast Guard has allowed a new policy to take effect that no longer prohibits nor classifies swastikas and nooses as hate symbols, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem demanding that she \u201crevoke this policy and make it clear to the brave men and women serving in the Coast Guard that hate has no place in the service.\u201d\n\nIn a letter sent this evening following the Washington Post\u2019s reporting that the Coast Guard has newly defined swastikas and nooses as just \u201cpotentially divisive,\u201d Blumenthal wrote to Noem: \u201cGranting hate symbols like swastikas and nooses even an ounce of respectability is absolutely an anathema. This edict besmirches the Coast Guard\u2019s honor, and DHS should be ashamed. At a time when antisemitic and racist violence are at unconscionable levels, it is absolutely appalling that DHS is doubling down on such a hateful, destructive policy.\u201d\n\nThe text of today\u2019s letter to Noem is available here and copied below.\n\nDear Secretary Noem,\n\nI am outraged by the Coast Guard\u2019s new policy tolerating hate symbols and demand that you rescind it immediately.\n\nOn November 20, 2025, reporting revealed that the Coast Guard would no longer classify swastikas and nooses as hate symbols.[1] Instead, those symbols would be treated as \u201cpotentially divisive\u201d under the new policy, potentially allowing for their display. After widespread outrage and condemnation \u2013 and only after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dismissed the reporting as \u201cfake crap\u201d\u2013 the Coast Guard claimed to rescind this heinous policy the next day.[2] It is now clear that the Coast Guard had no intention of backing down, and today they quietly allowed this abhorrent policy to go into effect.[3]\n\nGranting hate symbols like swastikas and nooses even an ounce of respectability is absolutely an anathema. This edict besmirches the Coast Guard\u2019s honor, and DHS should be ashamed. At a time when antisemitic and racist violence are at unconscionable levels, it is absolutely appalling that DHS is doubling down on such a hateful, destructive policy.\n\nI urge you in unequivocal terms to revoke this policy and make it clear to the brave men and women serving in the Coast Guard that hate has no place in the service.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-demands-noem-rescind-heinous-policy-on-hate-symbols"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 3.918478963896632, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}