[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 14 (Thursday, January 23, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H356-H360]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
General Leave
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material in the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Connecticut?
There was no objection.
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, here we are on the final legislative day of
inauguration week.
As a Democrat, this was a week of mixed feelings for me and for my
colleagues on this side of the aisle. I am also a genetic optimist, so
on Monday, I went to the inauguration, yes, concerned, but also
optimistic about new possibilities, committed as I always have been to
finding ways to work with my Republican colleagues for the benefit of
my constituents, and celebrating the peaceful transfer of power this
time.
This time because, Mr. Speaker, as we all know, 4 years and 17 days
ago today, in this Chamber, a brutal, violent, criminal attempt was
made to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in our democracy.
Thousands of people rioted and descended on the Capitol. They broke
windows, and they attacked police officers with heavy objects, with
bear spray, with their fists, with anything at hand. Several carried
firearms.
There were 140 police officers who were assaulted. Let me say that
again: There were 140 police officers who were assaulted that day.
All of us have memories of that day. I started the day up in that
corner of the gallery, and when it became clear that we had to
evacuate, because I was in the gallery with some colleagues, it took a
long time. We saw what was happening on the floor.
We saw the Capitol Police with weapons drawn as an object broke the
window of the main door to the House. We watched the Capitol Police
move a heavy article of furniture. In this country, it was an article
of furniture that prevented the rioters from getting into this Chamber.
We have all seen those images. This time, we had a peaceful transfer
of power.
Now, on Inauguration Day, I kept that optimism until the moment that
the new President took the decision to pardon not those who were
wrongly convicted for their actions on that day, not those who just got
caught up in the frenzy and maybe didn't know that they were committing
an offense by trespassing on the Capitol Grounds. The new President
pardoned every single person, including those involved in those
assaults on 140 police officers--every single one of them.
That was an uncomfortable moment for some of my colleagues,
particularly on the Republican side. They were asked, and, well, they
hadn't read the pardons, hadn't heard the story. It was an
uncomfortable moment.
The Speaker responded by saying, yeah, we are not looking backward;
we are looking forward. Then, very shortly thereafter, he reconstituted
a committee to investigate the people who investigated what happened
here on January 6.
{time} 1715
The Speaker of the House said, House Republicans are proud of our
work so far in exposing the false narratives peddled by the
politically-motivated January 6th Select Committee during the 117th
Congress; the false narratives.
Mr. Speaker, I get it. I get it. Sometimes people on my side of the
aisle do things with which I do not agree, and I try to have the
principle and the integrity to call them out for it.
You have two choices when people on your side do things that are
wrong: You can call them out, you can stand with principle, and you can
be clear; that is what leaders do. You can also obfuscate and try to
change history, try to suggest that what we all saw and experienced
traumatically wasn't what we all saw and experienced.
You can make stuff up, like maybe the FBI instigated it. Maybe it was
really Nancy Pelosi's responsibility. Maybe it was antifa. Oh gosh,
maybe the people who assaulted 140 police officers were just, like,
tourists.
That is not the way of leadership. That is some dark, dark and evil
way of proceeding. Why?
Because it dishonors the truth on which the stability of this
Republic relies and maybe just as importantly: It dishonors all of us
who were there that day and who saw with our own eyes what happened.
Maybe worst of all, it dishonors the brave men and women who put
their lives on the line that day to protect us. Those of us who put up
the signs on our office doors saying: Thank you, Capitol Police, only
to turn around and remain silent when the attackers of the Capitol
Police were pardoned on Monday.
These were people who put their lives on the line to protect us and
the democracy. I think it is worth spending a minute or two, Mr.
Speaker, to remind us who these people were and what happened.
Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, he stood outside the gates
here and fended off the attackers as they bear sprayed him in the face
and eyes.
The very next day, Officer Sicknick suffered two strokes and
ultimately died, making him the first fatality of January 6. Officer
Brian Sicknick was only the fourth Capitol Police officer to die in the
line of duty.
Julian Khater pled guilty to pepper-spraying Brian Sicknick, and he
was pardoned on Monday.
Officer Jeffrey Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department, he
fought off rioters in the Capitol that day only to be struck in the
face by a metal pole as the siege continued that night. You can imagine
the trauma. We feel it. We didn't get struck in the face by a metal
pole though. Days later, Officer Smith climbed into his Ford Mustang
and shot himself in the head.
Those who assaulted Officer Jeffrey Smith are now pardoned.
Officer Howie Liebengood grew up in the Senate. He followed his
father
[[Page H357]]
around. His father, at the time, was the Senate Sergeant at Arms. On
January 6, Officer Liebengood was posted to Senate security where he
faced down the rioters.
He came back to work, despite what he had seen on January 6, on
January 7, January 8, and January 9, unwilling to quit and
inconvenience his fellow, similarly depleted and exhausted, officers.
On the night of January 9, Howie Liebengood took out his service
revolver and shot himself.
Officer Gunther Hashida was a decorated Metropolitan Police
Department officer. Officer Hashida earned the Medal of Valor, the
Lifesaving Medal, and a variety of other medals throughout his 18-year
career. He served on the Department's emergency response team and
responded here on January 6. Officer Hashida took his own life at home
in July of 2021.
Officer Kyle DeFreytag was 26 years old. He had been on the job for 5
years when he deployed to the riot, to the insurrection. He was tasked
with enforcing the curfew put in place that evening. He was 26 years
old when he committed suicide.
The trauma suffered by these officers was not an accident. It wasn't
an act of God or an act of nature. It was done to them by people, each
and every one of whom has now been pardoned. Not just pardoned, but
they are out there now celebrating and thinking about what is next.
I have three questions for my colleagues before I invite them to
reflect on what this week has meant to them. The first question I have
is: We put up the signs on the doors that say: Thank you, brave police
officers.
Do we honor the heroic work of those who protected us, or do we
denigrate it by suggesting that it just wasn't that big a deal?
Is this just about signs on office doors, or do we raise our voices
and say: Those who attacked the people who protected us don't deserve a
pardon and certainly don't deserve celebration.
Question number two: Are we--and when I say we, each and every one of
us and each and every American--are we committed, without reservation
or condition, to the idea that our differences are worked out in here
with words and debate, not out there with bear spray and clubs?
Are we committed to that idea, or do we celebrate and pardon and
elevate those who wield bear spray and clubs?
I hear all too often something that is pernicious in moral thinking
and a corrosive of our political dialogue: the whataboutism. Yeah, I
was bad on January 6, but what about Black Lives Matter throwing bricks
through Starbucks' windows in Seattle? What about the Biden pardons?
Let me be clear, Mr. Speaker, I am not a fan of the Biden pardons
either. I am not afraid to say so because of that thing about
principles.
Yet, the whataboutisms that equates a violent attempt to change the
peaceful transfer of power with some idiot who throws a brick through a
Starbucks window in Seattle or Portland, that is a lack of discernment.
More to the point, what a moral failure. We don't let 3-year-olds
defend themselves with the idea that somebody else did it too.
How has this become an exculpatory thing in our politics?
Third and last, Mr. Speaker, and this is something that I think each
and every one of us should reflect on: Where is your line? At what
point do you say no? At what point do you find the courage to say no,
Mr. President, that is not right?
This week, we learned that for most of my colleagues on the other
side of the aisle, the pardon of the attackers of these police officers
was not outside that line.
At what point do you say no?
At what point do you remember that the Congress is here to be a check
and a balance on the President, regardless of the President's party?
Mr. Speaker, if you can't answer that question, if you don't have
that point, and if you don't have the commitment to principle and the
courage to stand by that point, well, Mr. Speaker, I fear for the
future of our Republic.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Landsman).
Mr. LANDSMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Himes for doing this
Special Order and including us. I appreciate his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I was legitimately shocked. I am certain that this is
the first time ever the President of the United States, certainly in my
lifetime, released hundreds of violent criminals from jails and sent
them into our communities. These are people who have now said that they
are determined to buy weapons to pursue more violence.
These are convicted criminals. They conspired to overthrow their own
government. They stormed this Capitol. They destroyed property, sacred
property. They attacked police officers.
On day one, a day that was supposed to be about fixing the economy,
lowering prices, actual border security, and real immigration reform,
the focus was on releasing these violent criminals.
Mr. Speaker, it is a betrayal to the American people, to law
enforcement, and it has made us all less safe.
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
Beyer).
Mr. BEYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Himes for having this
Special Order, and I thank him for his passion.
Mr. Speaker, I represent many of those people who protect us on
Capitol Hill, members of the Capitol Police, the Metropolitan/
Washington D.C. Police force, the Arlington County Police, police who
live in my northern Virginia district.
January 6 was not some distant abstract event for my constituents.
Democracy was on the line that day, but so were their lives, their
bodies, their physical safety, and well-being.
As events spiraled out of control on January 6, calls for help went
out on police radios, and they were answered by men and women in
uniform throughout the Metropolitan, Washington, Virginia, Maryland
area, some of whom were off duty. Many were off duty. They chose to get
dressed, jump in their cars, and race in to help us, to protect our
Capitol, to protect all who work here.
Hundreds of those officers still bear the wounds seen and unseen that
will never heal. The January 6 pardons and commutations were some of
the worst things that Donald Trump has ever done. With these pardons,
Trump embraced lawlessness and violence.
Trump pardoned the people who beat and tased my constituent, Officer
Michael Fanone, who was tased repeatedly in the neck. He described it
as being like torture, and it led him to have a heart attack at that
very time.
Trump pardoned the people who gave a brain injury to my constituent,
Officer Jeffrey Smith, days before he died by suicide. Congressman
Himes mentioned how he was beat in the head with a pole. His wife, Erin
Smith, said those injuries changed him in his final days. He was a
different person.
Officer Smith's death was later ruled as a line-of-duty death because
it resulted from injuries suffered here on our behalf.
Trump pardoned the people who attacked my constituent, Officer Brian
Sicknick. They sprayed him with pepper spray hours before his death
from two strokes.
The medical examiner said his death was from natural causes, but what
happened to Brian before his death during the attack on the Capitol
clearly led to his death.
Trump pardoned the people who chanted Nazi slogans, who yelled racial
slurs at our Black police officers, and those who called for the
assassination of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Trump's own Vice President,
Mike Pence.
{time} 1730
Mr. Speaker, Trump pardoned a man who was charged with throwing an
explosive device at the police in the Capitol. This was a man who had
previously been convicted of domestic violence, battery by
strangulation.
Trump pardoned a man who stomped on an officer's head, who beat other
officers with a flagpole, a crutch, pieces of furniture, and sprayed
officers with pepper spray. Trump pardoned a man who ripped off the gas
mask of a police officer, beat him in the face with it, and crushed him
in a door.
Trump pardoned hundreds of people who pled guilty to assaulting law
enforcement, many of them with deadly weapons. He pardoned or commuted
the sentences of over a dozen violent criminals convicted of seditious
conspiracy. By pardoning those who carry out
[[Page H358]]
these heinous crimes, Trump has made our country less safe. He betrayed
law enforcement heroes who protected the Capitol at great personal
cost.
These pardons send a message that violent crime, even against law
enforcement, will be sanctioned by Trump's government if it is carried
out in his name.
I urge my colleagues to remember the families of the five police
officers who died as a result of January 6: Officer Brian Sicknick,
Jeffrey Smith, Howie Liebengood, Gunther Hashida, and Kyle DeFreytag.
I urge everyone to remember the officers who defended the Capitol on
January 6, who put themselves at risk to protect us, and will carry the
scars of the seen and unseen as long as they will live.
These scars were inflicted by people who will face no further legal
consequences for those acts thanks to President Donald Trump. This
injustice is a gross betrayal of their service and sacrifice but does
not diminish their patriotism.
After January 6, many of my colleagues posted messages of support for
law enforcement and the Capitol Police. It was on their doors. It was
on their walls and in the halls of Longworth and Rayburn and Cannon. It
was even on social media.
Members like Speaker Johnson called for the prosecution of those
criminals who committed those acts of violence against the police who
guard the Capitol. Let me quote Speaker Johnson: To the fullest extent
of the law.
Republicans went on to hold votes on symbolic, nonbinding resolutions
expressing support for police. They told us to back the blue. Back the
blue. Their silence, or worse, their defense of Trump's pardons are
unforgivable. They can never again claim to back the blue with any
credibility.
Finally, a warning: With these pardons, Trump put violent, dangerous
people back into our communities. Many of them did terrible things on
other days besides January 6, 2021. All of them had just been
emboldened by receiving get-out-of-jail-free cards from this President.
Who knows what other criminal acts they will perpetrate next.
Unfortunately, we are all about to find out.
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his
comments.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).
Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for organizing this
Special Order, appropriately so, because this is the conclusion of the
inauguration efforts of this week.
On January 6, 2021, I expressed numerous times to my constituents and
to my colleagues that it was the saddest day of the 20 years that I
have had the privilege and honor to serve in the Congress. That day the
world watched as a violent mob of insurrectionists breached the
Capitol, attacked the police viciously, and tried to overturn a fair
and free election.
I was one of 25 Members trapped in the House gallery for 40 minutes
as we observed the counting of the ballots as part of our
responsibility every 4 years. Let me just say this was not a peaceful
protest, as some have tried to portray it, including President Trump
and Speaker Johnson.
Let me repeat this. The photos and the videos that we have all seen
over the last 4 years make it very clear. This was no lovefest. It was
not a peaceful protest. It was a violent insurrection attempt to
overthrow a fair and free election. I feel very strongly about this,
having been trapped up in that gallery with my colleagues here for 40
minutes.
On that day I came to the House Chamber with my colleagues to certify
the 2020 Presidential election which President Joe Biden had won
overwhelmingly. Four years later, this week, my colleagues and I are
speaking out to ensure that no one rewrites history with a false
narrative which we see being attempted to take place.
Just a handful of brave Capitol Police Officers up in that gallery
that day stood between us and the violent mob that had already breached
the Senate Chamber and now were trying to force their way in here to
the people's House.
I took this photograph when I was crouched down there with my gas
mask because of the attempt of this violent insurrectionist group of
people. I remember crouching on the floor with my colleagues, thinking
how could this be happening. I thought it was surreal and unbelievable
that it would happen in the United States of America, the oldest
democracy in the world.
As a student of American history, I thought to myself that as strong
and as resilient as our democracy and our country has been historically
during wars and depressions, it was a stark reminder to me, while we
were up there wondering what our fate might be, how fragile our
democracy can be.
This week President Trump pardoned over 1,500 perpetrators convicted
for assaulting police officers and, as was noted by some of my
colleagues here this afternoon, some who lost their lives. These are
some of the folks, these Proud Boys, that were trying to break into the
Chamber. The police had them on the ground. They had their hands bound.
We finally got out of this Chamber and walked out. As we were being
escorted to a safe place, we saw people trying to break in to get us,
to get the Speaker, to hang the Vice President at the direction of
President Trump. They were trying to overthrow the results of the 2020
elections.
I do not believe these pardons that took place here this week were
justified, and I think the majority of Americans don't believe they
were either. We cannot allow history to be rewritten. The facts are the
facts. The documentation, the hearings, and the videos are proof of
what happened that day.
Four years ago those violent insurrectionists chose a different path
at President Trump's direction. They shattered the sacred tradition of
a peaceful transfer of power which has been the cornerstone of our
democracy, dating back to our first President, George Washington.
Let's talk about this week. While I didn't agree with the outcome of
last year's election, I respected it. That is the essence of a
democracy. This Monday, at the inauguration, we had a peaceful transfer
of power led by President Biden and the other former Presidents. That
is the way it is supposed to be. It wasn't that way 4 years ago. No, it
wasn't that way 4 years ago.
Let me just say something, and I wish more of my Republican
colleagues had the profiles in courage that I think is required.
Democrats are not election deniers. We may not have liked the results
of last year's election, but we accepted them. We cannot allow history
to be rewritten nor can we forget the sacrifices of the brave Capitol
Police who risked everything to protect our democracy.
The Capitol Police stood on the front lines, giving their all to
defend the ideals that we hold dear. They should be appropriately
honored with more than simply a sign on our doors. We owe it to their
families and to our constituents to ensure that the truth remains clear
that justice is served and that we never let those who sought to tear
us apart rewrite the story on January 6, 2021.
Mr. Speaker, let me close by expressing the simple, plain truth. As a
young boy, my mother told me: The truth is the truth. America is a
great country. Some of us like to say it is the greatest country in the
world because we honor the truth. That is why we are here today. That
is why this Special Order is important. That is why I want to thank my
colleagues for speaking out. America is a great country because we
honor and respect the truth.
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for his
comments.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson).
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because in light
of the President's January 6 pardons, someone has to stand up for the
people who defend this building, who defend the Representatives of the
United States of America, and who defend this magnificent institution.
I thank my esteemed colleague, Congressman Himes, for reserving this
Special Order hour because it is time that truth speaks.
Just the other day at the beginning of this week, the members of the
Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police protected us once again as we
engaged in inauguration ceremonies of the 47th President of the United
States of America. The irony is that while they
[[Page H359]]
were protecting us, the Chief Executive Officer of the Federal
Government was preparing to undermine the spirit and the substance of
that protection.
The very idea of pardoning people who violently attack police
officers who were protecting the United States Capitol is anathema and
should be offensive to every Member of this body. I simply cannot think
of a more disgraceful act than to disrespect the life and blood and
legacy of the men and women of the Capitol Police and Metropolitan
Police who in some cases literally gave their lives to protect this
institution and us as Representatives.
To pardon people who relished and participated in acts of political
violence that led to the death of innocent people is something that
cannot be and should not be overlooked. It cannot be explained away nor
can it be facilitated by politics and regular parliamentary procedure.
What the 47th President of the United States has done in pardoning
the people who attacked the police officers is simply wrong. I echo the
words of my dear colleague, Congressman Costa. We have been taught
right versus wrong. Every Member of my esteemed party and Members on
the opposite aisle should join us in raising their voice. We are
setting a precedent. We should know and we should call out when
character counts.
It is offensive, to say nothing of the fact that it is a violation of
the moral law that makes this country one of the finest flowers in the
gardens of the Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell the members of law enforcement who
protect this building and who protect our lives that the Members of the
Democratic Party see them. We understand them, and we respect them. We
respect their character.
We are ashamed at the behavior of this institution. We are ashamed at
the behavior of the 47th President of the United States of America. We
are ashamed that our officers have been disgraced and humiliated while
they come here to protect us every day. We have not afforded them the
same protection that they give us every day.
We honor them. We respect them with giving them this hour to tell
them that we have not forgotten those that have given their full
measure of their duty to this country to protect us and to ensure that
this democracy goes forward, even as they have been betrayed.
We do not support the unsolicited and unwarranted disrespect extended
to them by the President of the United States of America. There were
quotes given by Reverend Martin Luther King the other day. There is one
quote I would like to share:
``Expediency asks the question, `Is it politic?' Vanity asks the
question, `Is it popular?' But conscience asks the question, `Is it
right?' ''
There comes a time that we must take a position that is neither with
politics nor does it have to be popular. We must ask the question that
conscience raises: Is it right?
{time} 1745
At some point, we have to stop functioning in this building as if
political parties are the only thing that matters. At some point, we
have to summon the courage to do what is right, even when it is not
necessarily politically expedient. This is one of those times.
What happened on January 6 was violent. What happened on January 6
was a disgrace to the men and women who serve this institution
honorably. Anybody who tries to make it out to be anything other than
that, than actually what it was, is lying about what we saw with our
very own eyes.
We shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us all free. How can
we go forward if we cannot go forward in the truth? No lie can live
forever.
The election of 2020 had been decided. The people who came here on
January 6--that was not a day that most people in American history know
what procedurally happens here. What happens here was supposed to be
the transfer of power with the electoral college votes that we
ceremoniously pass.
No, people were summoned. People were called. Who called them? What
were they called to do? They came here and built a noose and gallows
outside to hang the Vice President of the United States of America.
We sit here in silence? We act like it never happened?
What concerns me most now is that we are sowing the seeds for future
anarchists. We are sowing the seeds for future insurrectionists. We are
sowing the seeds for future levels of violence.
I would remind my colleagues that history is watching, the future is
listening, and our children are observing everything that we do.
Before we get up and speak recklessly about a mob that violently
attacked police officers, we would all be wise to consider how our
words will age in years to come and whether future generations will
condemn what we said or that we remained silent about this issue.
Mr. Speaker, the reality is no lie can, will, or shall live forever.
Whether today or tomorrow or whether in days or decades to come, truth
will have its day. We shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us
free.
Let us work to do what is right, even when it is hard. Let us affirm
what is good, even when it is politically dangerous.
Just yesterday, in this same Chamber where the officers were
defending us, insurrectionists of January 6 came in here and sat up in
the gallery.
Just this past week, there were 32 miles of fencing all around our
beautiful Capitol.
If we had known then what we know now, police should have had the day
off so these people could have roamed this building freely. That was
their intent, to destroy and kill.
The constitutional ideals that make this Nation as good as its
promise are what each of us should be in service to do. When history
calls, we must be available to something greater than ourselves.
I pray that we will answer this call. I pray we will not dishonor
what is right. I pray we will stand up for those who consistently stand
up for us.
I take a point of privilege to say thank you from the bottom of my
heart to those officers who came to work on that dreadful day to do
what was right and normal and moral but who had been betrayed.
Reverend Martin Luther King also said there comes a time when silence
is betrayal. I feel that many of our officers have been betrayed.
We can fix this. We can stand up. We can speak up. We cannot betray
the legacy of those officers who have been slain, violently killed.
They did not give their life. Their life was taken from them. They
should be with their loved ones today. Let us not curse their memory by
not erecting a statue and a monument to their brave souls.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to say a very special thank-you to my
colleague, Congressman Himes, for having the courage and the fortitude
to stand up. Let the record reflect in years to come that we did our
best to make sure we honored our commitment to this country.
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for his
words.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Vermont (Ms. Balint), my
fellow New Englander.
Ms. BALINT. Mr. Speaker, day one, our President made our country less
safe. Day one, with an irresponsible stroke of his pen, Donald Trump
released 500 violent felons back out onto our streets.
These are the criminals who brutally attacked cops who were
protecting this building. These were the people who betrayed our
country, our democracy. I am not talking about the people who merely
showed up that day to protest and didn't commit crimes. This is about
the attackers who beat cops with pipes and flagpoles and tasers and
mace, who literally stomped on police and tried to poke their eyes out.
These were the sweeping pardons that Donald Trump made on day one.
These pardons disproportionately benefited the most violent among the
mob. Now, they are back out on the street, heading to our communities.
A number of them have already publicly commented that they are going to
go buy some more guns, that they are out for retribution and have no
remorse for what they did.
Of course, Americans are angry by this, and rightly so. It is an
awful thing that the President has done, and it puts Americans in
danger.
Among those who are angry is the Fraternal Order of Police, the
largest
[[Page H360]]
police union in the U.S., and the International Association of Chiefs
of Police. They understand, more than anyone, that this puts law
enforcement at risk.
In a statement, they said: ``When perpetrators of crimes, especially
serious crimes, are not held fully accountable, it sends a dangerous
message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not
severe.'' They further worried that it could encourage more violence
against law enforcement.
If you can viciously attack a police officer and get off scot-free,
what kind of message is that?
So, violence is acceptable if it is committed on Donald Trump's
behalf? It is okay to beat a cop if it is in the service of keeping him
in power?
This is incredibly dangerous. I have to say, it looks an awful lot
like the actions of someone who would like to be a dictator.
How can the officers who protect us believe that we actually value
them if the President doesn't believe in holding people accountable who
attacked them? How?
Over the last 2 years, I have had the opportunity to get to know many
of the officers on the Capitol Police force. They take their jobs
incredibly seriously. They have our backs every day. They put their
lives on the line not just to protect our flesh and blood but to
protect the very democracy, to protect the ideals of this country.
Like many of those who spoke before me have said, it is important to
make this connection. These pardons are part of a concerted effort to
rewrite what happened on January 6. This desecrates the memory of
Officer Brian Sicknick, who lost his life in defense of this building,
and it diminishes the great sacrifices that were made by thousands of
officers that day.
If we don't push back on this perverted rewriting of history, we can
look forward to our children and our grandchildren learning about the
glories of January 6, 2021.
It has to be remembered for what it was. It was a domestic terrorist
attack, plain and simple.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem to be trapped in a
lie that they can't get out of. I know by the eye rolls. Actually, even
before we went into the inauguration, I saw some of my colleagues on
the other side of the aisle doing impressions of the incoming
President, making fun of him. They are now trapped in this lie that
they have perpetuated for years now, and they don't know how to get out
of it.
What Donald Trump has done on day one is to say to the Capitol
Police: I value violent felons more than I value you.
I know I speak for so many Americans today when I say that makes me
sick.
Mr. HIMES. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Vermont for her
words as we close this up.
As is so often true in this Chamber, we heard lots of words, and I
think they were powerful words, honoring those who protected us and
honoring the truth, but what can we do? What is the action? What can we
actually do?
Under the law passed a few years ago, Congress is required to produce
a plaque to honor those officers who sacrificed so much on that fateful
day 4 years and 17 days ago.
I have a little photograph of it here. The plaque reads: ``On behalf
of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary
individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy
on January 6, 2021. Their heroism will never be forgotten.''
You can only look at the photo of the plaque because the plaque has
never been put up, as required by law, in the Capitol of the United
States. It is a little curious. We say, ``Their heroism will never be
forgotten,'' yet the plaque, as required by law, is not yet displayed
in the Capitol of the United States.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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