The Senate on Tuesday passed legislation to award Congressional gold medals to the U.S. Capitol Police and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department in recognition of their valor during the Capitol Insurrection on January 6. The vote was unanimous.
While introducing the bill, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this about the officers who put their lives on the line that day:
“January 6th unleashed many horrors, but it also revealed many heroes.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
In June, the House passed the bill to award gold medals to honor the law enforcement officers who fought off the mob on January 6, but it did not pass unanimously. That’s because nearly two dozen Republican representatives voted “No.” Schumer brought up that vote when introducing the measure today, according to CNN:
Schumer also criticized the 21 House Republicans who voted against the awarding of the medal,saying that some of them "were some of the same folks who likened the January 6th attack to, quote, a normal tourist visit, who deny the events that day were an insurrection. The same folks who screamed the loudest about the dangers of defunding the police, refuse to defend the police. The very police who shielded them from a vicious mob." "For the life of me, I don't know how they sleep at night," Schumer said.
The bill now goes to President Biden to be signed into law.
Three medals will be awarded, one to the entire U.S. Capitol Police force, and one to the Metropolitan PD. Those medals will honor “the sacrifices of fallen officers and their families, and the contributions of other law enforcement agencies who answered the call of duty on January 6, 2021, can be recognized and honored in a timely manner.”
A third medal will be put on display at the Smithsonian Institution, with a plaque that lists all the law enforcement agencies that protected and defended the Capitol.