Congress has ordered the production and display of a plaque in honor of police officers who saved the U.S. Capitol complex on January 6, 2021. The plaque was ordered as part of the government funding law of $ 1.5 trillion approved by the Senate on Thursday afternoon.
The legislation includes billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine and critical funding for the U.S. military, veterans’ hospitals, national security, federal courts, the FBI, and almost every function of the federal government. But lawmakers also set aside one page of the 2,741 pages of legislation for the specific purpose of demanding a plaque honoring police heroes from the U.S. Capitol riot.
The law requires the plate to be produced within one year. Congress demands “listing the names of all U.S. Capitol police officers, the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and protective entities who responded to the violence that took place at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. “
At least 114 U.S. Capitol police officers were injured as they stopped the mob during the riots. Dozens of DC police officers were also injured. Several officers committed suicide as a result of the attack. A U.S. Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick of Virginia, died of natural causes shortly after being injured on January 6.
Sicknick’s girlfriend Sandra Garza told CBS News that she is grateful for Congress. Garza said she is pleased that Congress has ordered the plaque to include the names of each individual officer. He said: “Honoring people individually is very important. It validates their experience. And their pain.”
“For Brian and for the officers who sadly lost their lives, it’s important that (Congress) do that,” Garza said.
The new law requires that the plaque be placed on the west front of the United States Capitol complex. This was the side of the Capitol that saw the fiercest, largest, and most violent attacks of the mutineers, including vicious melee combat in a closed tunnel. At least one officer was caught and assaulted on a door on the west side of the Capitol.
Congressman Don Beyer, a Democrat from Virginia, praised the courage of the first responders, whose actions in defense of the Capitol “ensured that the peaceful transfer of power, a basic principle of our system of government, could continue.” He added: “It is right for Congress to ensure that these heroic actions will be commemorated for future generations, which is what this plaque will help achieve.”
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