The GOP's Dirty Dozen

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Yesterday the United States House of Representatives passed legislation to present the Capitol Police and the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department with Congressional Gold Medals for their heroic efforts in protecting members of Congress and the legislative branch of government during the rioting and insurrection of January 6th.  The measure also included a third gold medal to be presented to the Smithsonian for display and research purposes.

The bill to award those Gold Medals passed 413-12, with all Democrats and a majority of Republicans voting to bestow that honor on the brave police who had placed themselves between the rioters and the members and employees of Congress.

Speaker Pelosi described January 6th as "a day of horror and heartbreak."  She added that it was also "a moment of extraordinary heroism" when police put themselves between members of Congress and the violence.

While the legislation passed in a highly non-partisan manner, the twelve negative votes did all come from Republican members, and all but two of them were from states that had been part of the Confederacy in the Civil War.

(Several of the rioters had carried Confederate flags on long staffs through the Capitol Building during the insurrection, and some had even used their flags and staffs as weapons.  One Capitol policemen and four other individuals died during the attack, and there were numerous injuries and untold amounts of property damage.)

The members voting against the legislation honoring the Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police were: Tom Massie (Kentucky), Matt Gaetz (Florida), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Andy Biggs (Arizona), Andy Harris (Maryland), Lance Gooden (Texas), Michael Cloud (Texas), Andrew Clyde (Georgia), Greg Steube (Florida), Bob Good (Virginia), and John Rose (Tennessee).

Some justified their negative votes by saying that they had been offended by the use of the term "insurrection" to refer to the events of January 6th in the legislation, and Rep. Gohmert submitted an alternative bill that dropped the use of that word.

Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the number three Republican in the House hierarchy, termed Gohmert's alternative bill "outrageous."   She declared forcefully, "What happened on January 6 was an attack on the Capitol.  The officers who defended us, both Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police, all the law enforcement officers who defended us put their lives on the line - some lost their lives - and there should be no question that we're awarding people a gold medal for their actions that day."

But twelve Republican members of Congress did not see the events of that day in exactly the same way that Nancy Pelosi and Liz Cheney did.

The Senate passed a similar bill last month, but their version awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to just one person, Officer Eugene Goodman of the Capitol Police Department, the man who put himself between rioters and the Senate Chamber and misdirected the rioters elsewhere.  Now the two bills - the one from the Senate and the one from the House - will have to be "reconciled" into one bill to be approved by both bodies.

Perhaps then America will have a clearer picture of how our congressmen and senators actually feel about the men and women of our country's law enforcement agencies.    Do our national politicians really believe Blue Lives Matter - or is that just a handy political slogan that they use to fire-up voters?  Twelve Republican representatives have already given some indication of their true lack of support for law enforcement, and maybe now we will be able to see where the other members of Congress stand as well.

America is watching, Congress.  Tell us how you really feel!