Steven Hall
Twenty-one House Republicans voted Tuesday against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to all police officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riots.
The legislation for the medals received bipartisan support with a vote of 405-21. All votes against the legislation were from Republicans.
Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado was one of the congressmen who voted against the bill, and she accused Democrats of using the death of Billy Evans to score political points, according to The Denver Post. Evans, who is referenced in the bill, was killed on April 2 when a driver ran into him at a Capitol barricade.
“Once again Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats prove that there is no level they won’t stoop to. Using the death of an officer in April to try and score cheap political points is shameful,” Boebert said in a statement, according to The Denver Post. “I’m not here to play their partisan games,” said Boebert.
The House voted previously in March to award Congressional Gold Medals to law enforcement agencies that protected the Capitol during the riot. That bill awarded medals to the Capitol Police, Washington, D.C.’s Metro Police Department and Eugene Goodman for diverting rioters away from the Senate chamber. It passed with a 413-12 vote, with a dozen Republicans voting against it.
There was also bipartisan support in the Senate in January to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Goodman for single-handedly holding back a mob armed with weapons and Confederate flags.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said the most recent bill represented a bipartisan opportunity to honor law enforcement members who she described as martyrs for our democracy.
“As we pass this legislation, we, as members of Congress, have a responsibility to do so (much) more than simply laud these officers (as) heroes,” she said, according to USA Today. “We must respect them. We must support them with resources and funding. We must keep them safe. And we must ensure a January 6th attack can never happen again. That is about our respect for their service and our responsibility to honor their sacrifice.”
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