Awarding Four Congressional Gold Medals to the United States Capitol Police and Those Who Protected the U.S. Capitol on January 2021

Floor Speech

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I thank Senator Schumer for his leadership.

With that said, we in the Senate were able to come unanimously behind this important, important resolution, which I will describe in a minute.

I also thank Senator McConnell, and I certainly thank my friend Senator Blunt for his leadership.

We must pass this legislation honoring the Capitol Police and other heroes who protected the Capitol on January 6 by awarding them this Congressional Gold Medal.

Senator Blunt joined me from the beginning in sponsoring the Senate version of this legislation and worked with me on the Rules Committee. And I thank the Presiding Officer, Senator Padilla, for his great service on that committee to continue the work of getting to the bottom of the security, planning, and response failures that we saw on January 6.

While that work goes on, it is important that we recognize the bravery and patriotism of those who defended our democracy and our lives with Congress's highest honor.

The insurrection at the Capitol was more than an assault on democracy. Oh, it was that in a big, big way, but it was also an actual life-or-death situation for the many brave law enforcement officers who show up here to do their work every day.

We will never forget the haunting shrieks of the police officer pinned in between the doors at the hands of rioters, pleading for help. We will never forget Officer Harry Dunn, who told his story again last week at the House select committee, recounting how he fought against the violent mob for hours and after it was all over, broke down in tears, telling fellow officers in the Rotunda that he had been called the N-word multiple times that day. And he looked at his friend, his fellow officer, and said: ``Is this America?''

These medals today, these Congressional Gold Medals that will be displayed for millions to see--one at the Smithsonian, one in this Capitol, one at the Metropolitan Police, and one with the Capitol Police--they answer that question.

No, Officer Dunn, that was not America, but these medals that recognize your bravery, this is America.

Then our own Officer Eugene Goodman, who after saving Senator Romney from walking directly into the mob of insurrectionists, ran by himself to take on a group of rioters and then diverted that mob away. We have all seen it on the video. We know what he was doing: allowing the rest of us to safely depart.

Tragically, the attack on the Capitol also cost the lives of four brave officers, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died the day following the attack. And I had the honor to meet his family.

Four other officers died following the events of January 6: DC Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith, his colleagues Gunther Hashida and Kyle DeFreytag, whos passings were reported just yesterday, and, of course, Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood.

We are also so inspired by the work of their loved ones who have come to Capitol Hill to fight for a 9/11-style Commission to look at the insurrection and why it happened, to get to the bottom of it and to advocate for the Capitol Police to support their officers.

It has been reported that at least 140 more officers sustained injuries from defending the Capitol. The courage of these officers will be remembered forever.

We responded. Senator Blunt and I joined with Senator Portman and Peters on the Homeland Security Committee to interview officials from multiple agencies and review thousands of documents. We convened major public hearings and then interviewed many, many other witnesses.

Our resulting bipartisan joint report focused on the security, planning, and response failures related to the violent and unprecedented insurrection at the Capitol, and it includes key findings and recommendations that must be put in place without delay. I am pleased that we have introduced our bipartisan bill, which will make sure that the new Police Chief will be able to call in help from the National Guard without calling a bunch of other people in the middle of a crisis.

We have just passed, on a bipartisan basis, thanks to Senators Leahy and Shelby, major security funding that will help to give the police the resources they need and fund the improvements needed to this Capitol.

We also have put in place two new Sergeants at Arms, one in the Senate and one in the House, as well as a new Police Chief, Chief Manger, whom I just met with for a lengthy period of time yesterday to go over all of our recommendations. By the end of the year, I will appear in this Chamber with a checklist to make sure that they are either done being implemented or in the process of being implemented to be done soon.

Another key priority that we called for in our report was advanced last week when the President signed into law, as I said, all of the funding that we need. And what that includes that I didn't mention, $4.4 million for mental health support for Capitol Police officers and the many officers who are still dealing, as we can see, with trauma to this day.

Passing this bill, which, of course, already passed the House--and, yes, I agree with Senator Schumer about how it is impossible to understand why some people voted against it, but it still passed with bipartisan support--is another step forward to honor the heroism and sacrifice of our law enforcement.

Those medals, when little kids walk by and see them at the Smithsonian, their parents are going to be able to tell them this happened. This attack happened, and there were brave police officers and staff and others in this building that stood up that day and protected our democracy, and we will be forever thankful to them.

We are hearing a lot about gold medals, and some of them by our own USA team that we are so proud of the last week at the Olympics.

This is our Olympics. This is our gold medal. And it goes to them, to the Capitol Police officers and the Metropolitan Police officers and others that protected us that day.

Thanks, Senator Blunt, who is here with us as well.

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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. 3325.
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Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues, every single one of them, including Senator Blunt and Senator Collins, who is here with us today, for supporting this legislation and honoring the heroism and patriotism of the courageous law enforcement officers who risk and in some cases sacrifice their lives to defend our democracy. I also want to thank Senator Blunt for his work on the Senate version of this legislation, as well as Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell, and I thank Senator Blunt for joining me today.

Now it is headed to the President's desk. No more motions, and this is done. I look forward to seeing this bill signed into law.

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