[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 17, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E262-E263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




AWARDING THREE CONGRESSIONAL MEDALS TO UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE AND 
        THOSE WHO PROTECTED THE U.S. CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6, 2021

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 16, 2021

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong. support of H.R. 
1085, legislation awarding three congressional gold medals to the 
United States Capitol Police and those who on January 6, 2021 displayed 
selfless and heroic service in defense of American democracy in 
protecting the U.S. Capitol from the violent assault of domestic 
terrorists.
  The United States Capitol Police dates back to 1800 when the Congress 
moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. and a lone watchman was 
hired to protect the Capitol Building.
  In 1827, President John Quincy Adams asked that a regular Capitol 
Police force be established and on May 2, 1828, Congress passed an Act 
that expanded the police regulations of the City of Washington to 
include the Capitol and Capitol Square.
  The United States Capitol Police expanded its force after the 
terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and again following the 
historic merger with the Library of Congress Police in 2009.
  In addition to the more than 2,000 sworn members of the force, the 
United States Capitol Police Department has over 350 civilian personnel 
who provide operational and administrative support and its diverse 
workforce is comprised of employees from nearly all 50 states and the 
U.S. territories.
  The United States Capitol Police embodies the best in American 
policing and serves as a model in security, urban crime prevention, 
dignitary protection, specialty response capabilities, and homeland 
security.
  As ambassadors of the Congress, officers of the United States Capitol 
Police Department are often the first face that visitors and employees 
encounter, leaving a lasting impression that is reflective of the 
Legislative Branch and its role in America's democracy.
  Officers of the United States Capitol Police Department each day 
proudly protect the legislative process, the symbol of the nation's 
democracy, the people who carry out the process, and the millions of 
visitors who travel here to see democracy in action.
  No finer example of the selfless devotion to duty, love of country, 
and fidelity to their oath to preserve, protect, and defend the 
Constitution of the officers of the United States Capitol Police 
Department's than their valiant, heroic, and courageous response to the 
January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol Building by thousands of 
domestic terrorists, insurrectionists, and rioters sent there by the 
President of the United States to ``fight like hell'' to disrupt and 
derail the constitutionally required Joint Meeting of Congress to open, 
count, and publicly confirm the vote tally of the presidential electors 
and announce the persons who had been elected President and Vice-
President of the United States.
  District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Metropolitan Police 
Department have a distinguished record of protecting all groups, 
regardless of their beliefs, who come to the nation's capital to 
exercise their First Amendment rights peaceably to assemble, and to 
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
  At the direction of Mayor Bowser, and in advance of the scheduled 
demonstrations, mutual aid was requested by the Metropolitan Police 
Department from several area police departments to be on standby in the 
District, including neighboring law enforcement departments, the 
Metropolitan Transit Police and non-law enforcement agencies such as 
the District's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency and 
the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department.
  The sustained assault on the Capitol precipitated an equally 
unprecedented response, necessitating the urgent request of the United 
States Capitol Police for the Metropolitan Police Department to come 
defend the Capitol to which the Metropolitan Police Department 
responded immediately with several Civil Disturbance Unit Platoons and 
proceeded to deploy to the west front of the Capitol and arrived within 
minutes.
  The violent mob overran protective measures at the Capitol and by 
1:50 p.m., Metropolitan Police Department had declared the assembly to 
be a riot and immediately began working to achieve the objectives of 
stopping domestic terrorists from entering the Capitol building and 
removing those that were already inside, secure a perimeter so that the 
Capitol could be cleared for lawmakers to resume the Joint Meeting of 
Congress to demonstrate to the nation and the world the robustness and 
vitality of America's democracy, and making arrests of anyone violating 
the law.
  During the height of the siege of the Capitol, approximately 850 
Metropolitan Police Department members were at the Capitol, with 
another 250 in the area to directly support the response and aftermath.
  Madam Speaker, people around the country and the world were shocked 
and moved by the video of a Metropolitan Police Department 
Officer being beaten by a crowd of insurgents, including one wielding 
an American flag, and of another in agony as he was crushed between a 
door and a riot shield but also awed by their bravery in the face of 
this unprovoked and vicious attack, bravery that was matched that day 
by countless other unheralded Metropolitan Police Department officers.

  The January 6, 2021 siege of the Capitol assault resulted in one of 
the worst days of injuries for law enforcement in the United States 
since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
  Madam Speaker, officers of the United States Capitol Police 
Department, the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., and 
other uniformed law enforcement officers stood their ground in defense 
of American democracy while being attacked by the angry mob of domestic 
terrorists with metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants, and other 
weapons.
  At least 138 officers, 73 from the United States Capitol Police 
Department and 65 from the Metropolitan Police Department in 
Washington, sustained injuries during the attack on the Capitol 
Building, several of which required hospitalization.
  The injuries sustained ranged from bruises and lacerations to more 
serious damage such as concussions, rib fractures, burns and even a 
mild heart attack.
  One United States Capitol Police Department officer died from 
injuries sustained while physically engaging with protesters and two 
officers involved in the response have died by suicide.
  Dozens, if not hundreds, of officers whom law enforcement officials 
estimate will suffer in years to come with post-traumatic stress 
disorder and the dozens who contracted the coronavirus from the 
unmasked domestic terrorists and rioters who stormed the Capitol.
  At least 38 Capitol Police officers have tested positive or were 
exposed to the coronavirus as well as nearly 200 National Guard 
personnel who were deployed to protect the Capitol.
  Madam Speaker, the seven hours between the urgent call for help from 
the Capitol Police to Metropolitan Police Department and the resumption 
of work by both houses of Congress will be indelibly etched in the 
memories of every law enforcement officer who was on the scene, as it 
is in the minds of the Senators, Representatives, congressional and 
support staff, and members of the media corps who were forced to seek 
safety behind locked doors.
  Despite being overwhelmed and outnumbered, the indomitable forces of 
American

[[Page E263]]

democracy, symbolized by the resolve of the officers of the United 
States Capitol Police Department, prevailed and the seditious attack 
was quelled, the Capitol Building preserved, and the lives of United 
States Senators and Representatives protected, as well as those of 
congressional and support staff, and order was restored so that the 
Joint Meeting of Congress was resumed and completed its 
constitutionally required duty of counting and announcing the votes of 
the presidential electors, an essential step in the peaceful transfer 
of power that has been a hallmark of American democracy and the example 
to the world for more than two centuries.
  Madam Speaker, the gold coin authorized to be minted by this 
legislation and displayed at the United States Capitol Police 
headquarters, to the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, 
D.C., and exhibited on display by the Smithsonian Institution conveys 
the thanks and appreciation of a grateful nation for the selfless and 
heroic service exhibited by these sentinels of the republic in defense 
of American democracy in responding to the January 6, 2021 assault on 
the U.S. Capitol by domestic terrorists.
  This tribute is, as President Lincoln noted at Gettysburg, 
``altogether fitting and proper'' for heroes of the republic.
  The action we are taking today should encourage all educational and 
media institutions throughout the United States to teach and celebrate 
the story of the heroism of the officers of the United States Capitol 
Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department, and all other 
law enforcement officers who, out of true faith and allegiance to the 
Constitution of the United States, selflessly risked their lives to 
protect the Capitol Building and its personnel, the Congress, and the 
spirit and fact of democracy in America.
  Madam Speaker, I urge all Americans to read, celebrate, and revere 
the Constitution of the United States, fidelity to which is the surest 
best means of forming a more perfect union, establishing justice, 
ensuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense, 
promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessing of liberty to 
them and their posterity.

                          ____________________