[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 6, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S55-S56]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ANNIVERSARY OF JANUARY 6
Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, it was this time of the evening 5 years
ago that the Senate had returned here to this Chamber and then gone
back across to the House of Representatives to continue counting the
ballots from each State, the ballots for the electors, the electoral
college, the number of which would determine who would be the next
President of the United States.
It is steeped in tradition. It is a complicated system because we
don't have a direct election for a President, and it involves these
beautiful boxes that would be displayed here on the Senate desk. They
have the official statements and envelopes from all the secretaries of
state across the country saying: We are validating that this is the
slate from our State elections.
And then when the counting would begin in the House, we would parade
over to the House of Representatives, and the ballots would start to be
opened, one State and then another. And it was that evening when we
started with the alphabet, beginning with the As, and when we came to
the third State starting with an A, Arizona, there was an objection to
validation of the slate.
[[Page S56]]
And it is at that moment that we journeyed back from the House of
Representatives here, and those beautiful wooden boxes with straps and
buckles were replaced on the table here before the dais of the Senate.
And then as we were in that moment of preparing to debate whether or
not we would agree or disagree with the acceptance of the slate of
electors from Arizona, that is when all hell broke loose. That is when
rioters stormed the Senate steps, beat up the police officers, pushed
through, and came into the Capitol seeking to stop the peaceful
transfer of power, a moment none of us ever expected to witness in our
lifetime.
In the course of that riot, more than 170 police officers were
injured, and as a consequence of that day, five police officers died.
I would never believe it if I was reading a book, a novel, a fiction
story about the Senate that rioters would storm the Capitol. I would
never believe that this Chamber would be taken over by those rioters,
that their fierce assault with flag poles and fire extinguishers and
all sorts of handcrafted weapons would result in the death of a group
of officers and more than 170 being injured. But it happened.
The end of that day was a good story because we returned to this
Chamber, and we re-paraded over to the House and continued the counting
and proceeded to establish who would be the next President of the
United States of America.
But it feels particularly important today to honor those who defended
this Capitol. It was certainly not within their frame of reference the
degree to which that riot would be ginned up. Ginned up are the words
of our then-sitting, outgoing President, President Trump, who wanted to
interrupt the counting of the ballots, so he could continue to be
President, break this chain of peaceful transition that had existed for
200-plus years.
It really was not within the frame of reference of any of us; it was
outside the box of what we considered possible, what happened this
evening 5 years ago. This is why earlier today, I was shocked to read
that the plaque that we had passed a law to commemorate the service of
the officers, that that plaque had been cast in bronze, but never
actually displayed as required by the law that we adopted in 2022.
Here we are on the 5-year anniversary, and we have never put up this
plaque. I have the plaque right here. It is incredibly elegant, a
picture of the Capitol, and it says:
``On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the
extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended
this symbol''--
The Capitol.
``this symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021. Their heroism
will never be forgotten.''
And yet this plaque is forgotten--stuffed into a room, out of sight,
never mounted.
How can that possibly be the case? We passed a law that this would be
displayed. So, well, this is the night to fix that. This is the night
to come, draft a simple resolution, and say: We here in the Senate,
Democrats and Republicans together, want to see this plaque up on a
wall.
Our leadership on both sides has already agreed to put up the plaque,
but to do so in the course as required by the 2022 law requires some
agreement from down the hall in the House of Representatives that, for
whatever reason, hasn't been secured. But we can at least get it placed
up here on the second floor of the Senate, the floor where we sat 5
years ago, the floor where the House sat 5 years ago. The Chambers are
on this floor where we had the ballots from the States across the
country that contained the electoral college slates.
So I drafted a resolution, and I wanted to be able to get unanimous
consent tonight, but I also want it to be bipartisan. And it turns out
that sometimes the gears here move more slowly, even on simple tasks,
than one would like. But instead of asking for unanimous consent on
this resolution tonight, instead, I am going to work with a colleague
across the aisle, a colleague, a Republican from North Carolina, Thom
Tillis, who came here earlier today with the same sentiment in his
heart that I have in my heart that this plaque needs to be up, needs to
be up in the hallway here on the second floor.
And pending resolution of agreement with the House on where it should
be, we can put it up here.
So I will read you the resolution, and here it is:
Directing the Architect of the Capitol to prominently
display in a publicly accessible location on the second floor
of the Senate wing of the United States Capitol, a plaque
honoring the members of law enforcement responding on January
6, 2021, until the plaque can be placed in its permanent
location; whereas, the United States owes its deepest
gratitude to these officers of the United States Capitol
Police and the Metropolitan Police Department of the District
of Colombia, as well as officers from other Federal, State,
and local law enforcement agencies and protective entities
who valiantly protected the United States Capitol, Members of
Congress, and staff on January 6, 2021; whereas, section 214
of division 1 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022
directed that a plaque be placed on the western front of the
United States Capitol to honor the extraordinary individuals
who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy,
the United States Capitol, on January 6, 2021; and whereas
their heroism should never be forgotten, now therefore be it
resolved that the Architect of the Capitol shall prominently
display the plaque authorized by section 214 of division 1 of
the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 in a publicly
accessible location on the second floor of the Senate wing of
the United States Capitol until such time as the plaque can
be placed at a permanent location on the western front of the
United States Capitol.
So my colleague from North Carolina Senator Tillis and I are carrying
this sentiment in our heart; that here on the fifth anniversary, in
which so many officers sacrificed so much, sustaining injuries, five
sustaining death as a result of what transpired here, this plaque needs
to go up, and it needs to go up this week.
But tonight, I am not asking unanimous consent because I want
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to be able to do what is
appropriate in the U.S. Senate, to be familiar with this, so that they
can willingly--and, hopefully, enthusiastically--agree that this will
be done.
Let not this representation of our appreciation of the sacrifice of
the Capitol Police and other police departments--Federal, State, and
local--that came to the defense of this Capitol, let this symbol of our
appreciation not sit, stuffed into a back room, but be prominently
displayed here on the second floor of the Senate wing of the Capitol
because their heroism must never be forgotten.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.
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