"We write to request clarification concerning reported changes to the Department of Justice's Countering Violent Extremist (CVE) program," the lawmakers wrote, citing recent reports that US President Donald Trump will alter the program to focus solely on Islamist terrorism and ignore the white supremacist threat.
The letter noted that over the past 15 years, white supremacists have killed nearly twice as many Americans as Islamist extremists, and have carried out nearly three times the number of violent attacks.
The lawmakers asked Sessions to reveal whether the CVE program will in fact be transitioned and asked that the attorney general detail the Justice Department's efforts to combat white supremacist terrorism.
The letter comes just weeks after violence erupted on August 12 at a white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. White nationalist demonstrators clashed with counter-protesters, with the violence culminating when a Nazi sympathizer drove his vehicle into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing a woman and leaving 20 others injured.
