House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) is calling on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to honor the law enforcement officers who defended Congress during the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, pressuring the Speaker of the Chamber to dedicate a place in the building for a commemorative plaque.
Congress in March 2022 passed a law requiring such a memorial to be placed by March 2023. More than a year after that deadline, no plaque has been unveiled, and Jeffries is taking advantage of the arrival of Police Week, an annual event in tribute to the country’s police officers, to urge Johnson to comply with the legal provision.
“There is a law in effect that requires Congress to designate a significant location on Capitol Hill to honor the men and women responsible for law enforcement – including the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department and many others who responded on that fateful day to suppress a violent insurrection,” Jeffries said during a press conference at the Capitol.
“It’s time for House Republicans to honor the men and women in law enforcement who saved lives that day, including Democrats and Republicans, our employees, and most importantly, defending the Constitution.”
The January 6 violence has always provoked fierce disagreements between parties over who is to blame, tensions that have become even more pronounced in the more than three years since.
The attack was carried out by supporters of then-President Trump who came to Washington at his request to protest the result of the 2020 elections and invaded the Capitol in a failed effort to prevent Congress from formalizing his defeat by now-President Biden.
Although many Republicans initially condemned Trump’s role in the violent event, that criticism quickly softened as it became clear that voters in the Republican base supported him. And censorship has all but disappeared in recent months, as Trump defeated his main rivals to become the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee in November.
Some GOP lawmakers now refer to detained protesters as political “hostages” who have fallen victim to the Biden administration’s “weaponized” Justice Department.
Democrats rejected these accusations immediately, accusing Republicans of hypocrisy for praising law enforcement during Police Week while defending Trump supporters who attacked police officers on January 6.
Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), head of the House Democratic Caucus, said this week that it can be “difficult” to work with Republicans on police reforms “when they want to try to cover up what happened.” [on Jan. 6]when they will support some authorities but not others.”
Trump has been among the loudest voices defending the Jan. 6 protesters, regularly indicating he would pardon them if elected to a second term in the White House. That aggressive defense gave GOP leaders little incentive to highlight the violence unleashed on law enforcers at the Capitol on Jan. 6 the way a plaque unveiling would.
A spokesperson for Johnson said Thursday that “the Speaker’s office is working closely with [the Capitol architect] to mount the sign.”
He didn’t say when.
Meanwhile, Democratic leaders are signaling that they are ready to pressure the Speaker of the House until the memorial is in place.
“The sign is ready,” Jeffries said. “As I understand it, it is physically in the Capitol Complex and is simply awaiting a decision from the Republican majority to hold an appropriate recognition ceremony and place it in a place of honor here in the United States Congress.”
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
