An honorary plaque listing the names of all police officers who responded to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol will be placed at the western front of the building, per a massive spending bill advancing in Congress this week.
The provision marking the heroism of those who faced the deadly insurrection was tucked inside a massive $1.5 trillion spending bill lawmakers are racing to pass in order to avert a government shutdown by midnight on Friday.
It directs the Architect of the Capitol to list the names of all of the officers of the U.S Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police Department and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies who responded to the violence, and post them on a plaque in a permanent location on the western front of the U.S. Capitol.
The west side of the Capitol is where hundreds of Donald Trump supporters toppled barricades, overran a police line, stormed up the building’s steps and broke into the building ― leading to a brutal battle that led to the injuries of more than 140 police officers.
“What we were subjected to that day was like something from a medieval battlefield. We fought hand-to-hand and inch-by-inch to prevent an invasion of the Capitol by a violent mob intent on subverting our democratic process,” Capitol Police Officer Aquilino Gonell said during an emotional hearing on the Jan. 6 attack last year.
Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone described being “beaten, Tased, all while being called a traitor to my country. I was at risk of being stripped of and killed with my own firearm.”
“I was electrocuted again and again and again with a Taser. I’m sure I was screaming but I don’t think I could hear even my own voice,” Fanone added.
In addition to the honorary plaque, the government spending bill provides an $87 million increase in funding to the U.S. Capitol Police, which has suffered due to low morale and exhaustion following the attack.