Democrats press for long-delayed plaque to honor Jan. 6 victims, police heroes
President-elect Donald Trump will not should stroll beneath a plaque honoring Jan. 6 heroes when he takes the oath of workplace on the west entrance of the Capitol Monday.
That is as a result of greater than 4 years after the Capitol riot, a brand new dispute is rising over a plaque to honor the heroes and victims of the assault. A 2022 legislation handed by Congress, and signed by President Biden, required a plaque to be positioned on the west entrance of the Capitol complicated by March 2023. Republican Home leaders, all of whom are carefully aligned with Trump, have but to erect the plaque, nor have they supplied any timetable to take action.
In a letter to Home Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, a bunch of practically 60 Home Democrats wrote, “As Members of Congress, we owe a debt of gratitude to those courageous officers who defended the Capitol and allowed us to get to security. We request an replace from you relating to your timeline for following the legislation and putting this plaque.”
Among the many Home Democrats urgent for the plaque is Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado who was amongst these trapped within the higher stage of the Home Chamber as rioters laid siege to the Capitol. Crow and colleagues wrote to Johnson, “Day by day Congress fails to reside as much as our promised actions, we do a disservice to our women and men in uniform who assist shield members of Congress, congressional workers, our constituents, and the American individuals.”
Different Democrats who’ve signed the letter to Johnson embody former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, some members of the Home Jan. 6 choose committee and different Democrats who had been trapped in shut proximity to the violent mob.
Johnson’s workplace didn’t reply to CBS Information’ requests for remark or updates in regards to the plaque or its timetable. He additionally declined to reply questions final week in regards to the standing of the mission.
The letter from Home Democrats mentioned a Home administrator had testified that the “plaque was full,” and mentioned its placement “continues to await motion from Speaker Johnson.”
Greater than 140 cops had been injured throughout the Capitol assault. A number of others died by suicide within the days after the riot.
A number of Democrats and staffers who had been on the Capitol on Jan. 6 have accused Republicans of bowing to Trump by downplaying or ignoring the violence of the siege. Former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who unsuccessfully ran for a U.S. Home seat in Maryland as a Democrat final yr, informed CBS Information, “Speaker Johnson has not and can’t present any cause.”
“At this level he’s doing nothing however obstructing,” Dunn mentioned.
Democrats have been urgent Home leaders in regards to the plaque delay for months with out success. In Could, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who was on the Home Jan. 6 choose committee investigating the assault, wrote to Johnson for solutions in regards to the “failure to put in the plaque.”
Lofgren informed CBS Information, “I despatched Speaker Johnson a well mannered letter inquiring in regards to the delay final Could, and he by no means answered. My workplace adopted up, and we had been first referred to a obscure press reply. Then, crickets”
Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat who’s the rating member of the Committee on Home Administration, informed CBS Information, “The plaque must be put in as required by legislation. Refusing to show the Jan. 6 plaque is a part of the denialism that Republicans have made a central a part of their being: deny Jan. 6 occurred and the hurt it precipitated to the U.S. Capitol Police pressure and our American democracy.”
