The Republican House has begun removing the metal detectors around the chamber in one of the first acts of its new majority.
Outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) added the security after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which furthered the locked-down state of the building that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republicans are also lifting other coronavirus measures and committed to a total restoration of public access.
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Goodbye magnetometer outside House floor. pic.twitter.com/6RtfgDk0Ks
— Alex Ruoff (@Alexruoff) January 3, 2023
Outgoing Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL), who helped craft the Capitol’s reopening plan, told the Washington Examiner in October that the detectors were a “farce.”
“That was something that Speaker Pelosi, in my opinion, used to keep the institution polarized rather than trying to find common ground. And as a matter of fact, you know, those metal detectors are at least for brave men and women in the Capitol Police,” Davis said. “That will allow those officers and the leaders of the Capitol Police to focus on the real, true threats to the Capitol Complex rather than running metal detectors over a bunch of members of Congress who are no threat at all to each other.”
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The new Republican rules will also end the practice of proxy voting, in which members can vote on behalf of absent colleagues. They will be adopted after the speaker of the House is elected, which may take several rounds of voting as embattled leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) may not have enough votes to win.
