Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, 2021

Floor Speech

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Ms. PINGREE. Madam Speaker, I thank the chair of the full Appropriations Committee, who has done an incredible job pulling all of these challenging issues together and putting this funding bill on the floor today.

The activities of January 6 were terrifying, whether you were sitting here in this Chamber or whether you were watching from anywhere around this country or around the world, viewing a violent assault on our democracy.

Thanks to the work of the Capitol Police and others in law enforcement, the loss of lives was so much less than they could have been. But as we all know, very tragically there were losses of life in our Capitol Police. Our police were brutally beaten, and we could watch it all happen.

That is why I rise today in support of this emergency security supplemental appropriations bill. The bill is the product of months of careful and deliberate analysis of the resource needs to enhance the security at the Capitol.

I am privileged to be the chair of the Appropriations Committee's Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. I strongly support the funding this bill would provide to the National Park Service. Large-scale special events and demonstrations are a common occurrence in the District of Columbia, and they often move from the National Mall to the Capitol complex. U.S. Park Police and Capitol Police work closely to share information and law enforcement resources to handle these events.

The funds provided in this bill would be used to backfill the Park Service's resources that were unexpectedly depleted during the January 6 attack and to prepare the agency for possible future threats.

I believe that it is critical that Congress provide sufficient resources to meet the security challenges, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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