As lawmakers hosted the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony to honor the law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) criticized a handful of Republicans who shunned the ceremony by voting against it earlier this year.
“I don’t see how anybody with any self-respect could vote against honoring the brave men and women who fought and defended the Capitol and the Constitution that day,” Cheney said as she walked into the ceremony, according to a CNN reporter.
JAN. 6 COMMITTEE TO MAKE CRIMINAL REFERRALS TO JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Lawmakers met in the Capitol rotunda on Tuesday afternoon to award four congressional medals representing the hundreds of law enforcement officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Trump supporters breached the building in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election. The medals will be placed in four locations throughout the district, including the Capitol Police headquarters, the Metropolitan Police Department, the Capitol, and the Smithsonian Institution.
The medals, the highest honor one can receive from Congress, were approved last summer after the House and Senate passed resolutions to present the awards. The Senate passed its version of the legislation by voice vote with no objections.
However, the decision was not unanimous in the House as 21 Republicans voted against the legislation, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who rejected the proposal because she did not agree with calling the riot an “insurrection.” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) also voted against the bill, echoing similar sentiments.
“There are pending cases or trials right now, indictments against people, and I think if we called it an insurrection, it could have a bearing on their case,” he said after the vote in June 2021. “If they just wanted to give the police recognition, they could have done it without trying to make it partisan.”
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The medals were presented to police representatives by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). However, there was a moment of tension onstage as the representatives shook hands with Schumer but walked past both McConnell and McCarthy as they exited the stage.
The congressional medals are among Pelosi’s final ceremonial acts as she steps down from her House leadership position in January.
