Stop Foreign Donations Affecting Our Elections Act

Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 3237, the Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act.

There is broad bipartisan, bicameral agreement that a security supplemental is necessary. I believe that.

The committee was actively negotiating towards legislation that could have come to the floor in that spirit. However, the majority jumped to the gate early, which leaves us with a nearly $2 billion bill with too many unresolved issues.

Agencies across six subcommittees need to be reimbursed for the events that occurred in responding to the Capitol on January 6. We agree. Repairs have to be done. Support for the Capitol Police must be provided.

But we do not need to make premature decisions before the ongoing security assessments are complete, to commit funding that goes well beyond the scope of January 6, or authorize programs without any debate.

The assessment that was done by General Honore only looked at the House side of the Capitol. That is part of the challenge, is we are funding something that is incomplete.

Madam Speaker, we would be better served by holding this until the Architect of the Capitol completes their comprehensive assessment on both sides of the Capitol complex and the entire grounds before allocating significant sums of money. This amounts to the kind of slush fund creation that heightens Americans' distrust of Congress, and we certainly do not need to militarize the Capitol to keep our Members and staff safe. We can do better.

The unilateral move by the majority will only delay much-needed reimbursements for the agencies that protect the Capitol. We need to reignite the bipartisan discussions, and we need to do it soon.

Madam Speaker, I strongly urge a ``no'' vote.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I have the upmost respect both for the chair of the full committee and the subcommittee, and I have really enjoyed working with him on this.

I couldn't agree more with a lot of what was said, that we need to act, and we need to do it. I have demonstrated with my actions that I am willing to support a bipartisan commission. I have been willing to hold accountable people who I see in positions of leadership.

I think my biggest challenge is that General Honore did a one-sided review of the Capitol. If you read his review, his number one requirement for all of this to work was the Capitol Police Board needs to be completely rejiggered. I don't know if he said ``wiped out.'' I am using my own term here. But it doesn't work.

In order for the gear that the Capitol Police need to work, they need to have training. In order for them to have training, they need to have leadership. In order for them to have leadership, they need to have a board that gives their chief some authority. We all know that is a problem.

Can I ask the chair of the full committee, does this bill, in any way, reform the Capitol Police Board?

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Connecticut.

Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentlewoman for her response. I would just add that we are stepping ahead of that reform by fully funding those requests, and I think that is where I am having some challenges. I am there. We are going to do this. I just think that putting funds in place to this tune of close to $2 billion, we need to know what we are going to spend that money on. We need to know that we got those reforms in place. I don't want to throw money at a situation unless we are going to reform it.

Part of the problem we saw on January 6 was the communications infrastructure. Certainly the gear. We have to deal with that. But it was so much more than that. It was the leadership. It was the leadership here. Certainly there was political leadership involved. I have spoken to that personally. That is part of the problem here. That is part of the problem with this bill, is we are putting the money there, but we are not reforming the system.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Womack).

I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Arkansas.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis), the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration.

Madam Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gooden).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I agree with a lot of the gentlewoman's sentiment that there is no question we must support the men and women of the Capitol Police. We must provide them the equipment, the training, and, most importantly, the leadership that supports their efforts.

Can I ask why you have not put together legislation to reform the police board if it is so all-important that we do so? It has been 5 months since January 6.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), the chair of the Committee on House Administration, for the purpose of answering a question.

Reclaiming my time, Madam Speaker, I think one of my challenges is it has been 5 months, and I myself have sat in meetings with the Senate Acting Sergeant of Arms, with police officers, with the police union. I have talked with the police union president. I have talked with individuals who were there on January 6. I have put together my own timeline of these events. And to say that, 5 months later, we are going to put the money before the actual reform to me says there is a dereliction of duty from the House Administration Committee.

I mean, how many hearings have taken place on January 6 in House Administration before today? You are telling me there was a meeting yesterday?

That is absolutely unacceptable that we are going to stand here today and say that we have to do this, Madam Speaker.

Reclaiming my time, Madam Speaker, I am 100 percent in agreement that we must put the funding behind the men and women who stand between us and violence, not a question. I am there.

What frustrates me is that I am being told that if I don't vote for this today, somehow I am not standing behind our men and women in blue when the House Administration Committee should have led the way with the Honore report. It was put out months ago. They could have put these reforms in place, could have told us how this money would be spent. But they didn't. Why?

And then they say it is not bipartisan unless we do what they want? I am sorry, but this isn't my money. These are taxpayer dollars, and I want to make sure that we are not just saying we spent the money and we are not reforming the system.

For this to never happen again, those reforms need to be in place.

To me, it is a missed opportunity, and I will not stand here, Madam Speaker, to have it laid at our feet to say somehow we are not supporting the men and women in blue. I will not abide by that charge.

I believe if that is the truth, then we need to make sure that we are all doing our work in getting the reforms in place so that the money can follow. That is how this whole place is designed to work. It is in the Constitution. That is what we are supposed to do.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I agree with the Speaker of the House that we do need to trust; and we, at some point, need to rely on one another's better nature, honestly. I have been walking through that this year ad nauseam, and will continue to do so. And it is in that same spirit of comity that is part of the reason I raised this challenge. I have not been afraid to challenge my own team at all, but that is part of why I am also not afraid to challenge the other team.

If I refer back to General Honore's report, which is the basis for what we are being asked to vote on this for, under his piece, the Capitol Police Board Decision-making During Emergencies, he said: ``The Capitol Police Board's deliberate decision-making process proved too slow and cumbersome to respond to the crisis in January, delaying requests for critical supplemental resources. We recommend revisions to 2 U.S. Code 1970 and 1974 to give the USCP Chief the authority to request external law enforcement and National Guard support without CPB preapproval in extraordinary emergency circumstances. . . . `'

And he goes on to explain that.

So it is not like we have to do a lot of research to figure out what laws need to change in order to be compliant with General Honore's report. And that would give me a whole lot more--it would allow me to trust and verify that we are spending this money in the way that we should. But they are not doing it, Madam Speaker. That is what really bugs me.

We were in good negotiations trying to work this out, and all of a sudden last week, it is just done, we are not going to negotiate anymore. That is my problem.

What other pieces in this bill are not fully fleshed out?

I think it was a very important point to make that, look, I am for protecting this Capitol and the staff that serve here, and the men and women that serve here, and I will back up our police officers any day of the week and twice on Sunday, but it really bothers me that it is a priority when our security is threatened. We have got all these other emergencies around this country, things like the southern border, and we are just going to sit on it.

Madam Speaker, I am not saying hold everything back, as is being promoted. They are saying hold everything back just because we don't have everything else figured out.

Well, why don't we take the steps that we know that need to be addressed?

I mentioned the southern border. That is a crisis we know. But at least take General Honore's report and implement it, and then I wouldn't be as opposed to funding it.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzales).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I just want to say that I appreciate the debate that we have had today. I don't think any of us disagree on what we want. We want a safe and secure Capitol. We want to make sure that the people who work here are taken care of. We want to make sure that we are backfilling everything from overtime pay to mental health needs. And we want to make sure that that is all done to fix or to address some of the challenges we have had this year.

But, in addition, because we are talking about such a great sum of money and resources, I want to make sure it never happens again. There are other things that are happening alongside this. We have talked about the commission today, and we have talked about other things.

But our responsibility with this is to make sure, as appropriators, that we are spending money and we are verifying that it is being used to the best end. That is, right now, ultimately what I think we can do better with. It is true right now that the Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, are not in line with what this legislation is.

So if we take a little bit more time and we do this right, we can come out with something that we can all be proud of, that will do the job that it is intended to do.

I am very disappointed to recommend a ``no'' vote on the underlying legislation.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 409, I call up the bill (H.R. 3237) making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2021, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act.

Like many of us in the Capitol community, I am still shaken by the violence and terror of that day and the tragedies in its aftermath: the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, the Good Friday attack that killed Officer Billy Evans, and the emotional trauma that has led to the deaths of Officer Howie Liebengood and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Jeffrey Smith by suicide.

Congress owes it to every single person who works in or visits the United States Capitol to provide funding to recover, rebuild, and keep all who serve in the legislative branch safe, healthy, and secure.

The Appropriations Committee has acted very carefully to construct this package. We conducted a bipartisan briefing in January, discussed the issue at 12 subcommittee hearings, and closely reviewed the recommendations of Task Force 1-6 Capitol Security Review, led by Lieutenant General Russel Honore and comprised of senior, retired law enforcement officials and military leaders. We have also heard from inspectors general and consulted security experts in and out of government.

This bill is narrowly tailored to respond to January 6 and to protect the Capitol going forward. It contains $1.9 billion in emergency funding to reimburse the National Guard and District of Columbia for their response; provide the Capitol Police with overtime pay, retention bonuses, equipment replacement, and wellness and trauma support; ensures the Department of Justice can prosecute every person who attacked law enforcement and ransacked this building; provides bonuses and help to custodial staff; and it renames the Capitol Police Wellness Center in the memory of Officer Howie Liebengood.

As recommended by the Capitol Security Review, this legislation protects the Capitol by providing resources to harden windows and doors; construct security screening vestibules; install new cameras; and provide specialized training, riot control equipment, and body cameras for the Capitol Police.

To augment the Capitol Police, the legislation establishes and funds a dedicated quick reaction force of National Guard personnel, another recommendation of the Capitol Security Review.

This legislation also bolsters security for Members of Congress, with dedicated funding for enhanced security and threat assessments, coordinated Member travel security, and upgrades to security in district offices.

It has, most importantly, won the endorsement of the Capitol Police, to meet its evolving mission, and Lieutenant General Honore urged Congress to pass this funding.

We all sit in this Chamber, and we lived with the violent assault on our democracy and our lives. We must act now to fulfill our obligations and also our oath of office.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Roybal-Allard), the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I respectfully say to the gentlewoman from Washington State that the situation we face is dire. The Capitol Police do not have the equipment they need to secure the Capitol, and other security vulnerabilities have not been resolved.

Also, the Capitol Police force is reeling as January 6, the deaths of Officers Liebengood and Evans, overtime, and other issues continue to take a toll on officers' mental health. We cannot wait until the report of a commission.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), the chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee.

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio.

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio.

Madam Speaker, I am happy to respond to the gentlewoman from Washington State, but, quite frankly, that is an issue that falls within the jurisdiction of the House Administration Committee. The chair is Zoe Lofgren. It is my understanding that Chairman Lofgren is, in fact, addressing that issue.

I concur that we have to deal with the issue of the Capitol board, but it does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I just want to remind the gentleman that the last time a supplemental bill was brought before the Appropriations Committee was in 2009, under the direction of Chairman David Obey.

I also want to make a point that it did take an inordinate amount of time for reinforcements to come and assist the overrun Capitol Police. To have that not happen again, the Capitol security review, General Honore recommended a dedicated force ready to respond to any incident, just as we have the D.C. Air National Guard, which has a mission to protect the region's airspace.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree), the chair of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from

Illinois (Mr. Quigley), the chairman of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), the chairperson of the Committee on House Administration.

I yield the gentlewoman from California an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Speaker, I would hope the gentlewoman from Washington State would put her frustration aside--we all get frustrated in this body by so many things--and vote to support the folks who took care of us that day to deal with their backpay and a variety of other issues that were important.

I yield to the gentlewoman from California.

Madam Speaker, the point is, we are reimbursing the costs that were incurred that day.

I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stanton).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me just try to address a couple of issues that have been raised here during this debate.

Madam Speaker, I want to recount the Committee on Appropriations has worked for months to gather information to inform this bill. There were 12 subcommittee hearings. Actually, legislative branch, as the gentlewoman from Washington State knows, had at least eight hearings, and every subcommittee held more than one committee hearing.

In addition to that, other committees, House Administration, Committee on Oversight Reform, all had hearings with regard to this issue and the path forward. Beginning in April, Committee on Appropriations engaged in intense good-faith negotiations with our Republican counterparts. And unfortunately, it appears, I believe, that the leadership has prevented them from reaching an agreement in a timely manner.

Madam Speaker, I would just mention that the minority leader, he looked to sufficient time included in an end-of-the-year funding bill to strengthen the security of the Capitol complex. So in truth, the view was not to do it, not to continue in negotiation, but in fact, to delay a decision on this until the end of the year. We cannot wait in order to be able to effectuate security of this Capitol for all who work here and all who visit here.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Ms. Wexton), a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I am disappointed that the gentlewoman from Washington State will not find her way to vote for the bill. We have worked on many issues together on the Appropriations Committee, yes, in fact, in meetings about the Capitol Police Board and other efforts. As it has been stated, we worked for months on the Appropriations Committee with numerous hearings in order to be able to engage on a bipartisan basis.

Unfortunately, the leadership of the minority leader, I believe, saw that the direction that this bill should go in is in the end of the year. In that case, we cannot begin to fix the problems that occurred.

Madam Speaker, I remember January 6, as we all do. I sat in the Gallery. I sat right up there as we counted the electoral votes, which was our constitutional duty, in order to certify the election of the President of the United States.

I was here, at the podium, when the Capitol policeman said, The rioters have breached the Capitol. They are in the rotunda. They are on their way to the House Chamber, to those doors right there, those doors that were shattered and smashed that day, and where there were barricades that were put up against it.

We were told to grab a gas mask. I didn't know we had gas masks here. We did that, and no sooner than that, we were told we have to evacuate, you make your way.

I can still trace my steps around the perimeter of this gallery, all the way around, going underneath these barriers here. All of us, Democrats, Republicans, and members of the press who were there that day, and young people who came here to work, we were together. We were holding on to one another because we knew there was imminent danger.

I won't ever forget us getting around to that side of the gallery when the Capitol Police said to hit the floor because of gunshots-- gunshots. We all hit the floor, Democrats and Republicans, at the order of the Capitol Police, to protect us from what was going on that day.

As I lay on the floor with very little juice in my cell phone, I called my husband. I didn't want to say to him, ``I love you,'' because it brought back to me the remembrance of 9/11 and those last words that people uttered. I just said: ``I am fine. I am going to be evacuated. Call the kids and let them know it is okay.''

This bill is not about politics. It is not about settling scores. It is about ensuring that every person who comes onto the Capitol Grounds is safe and is protected.

The funding is not optional. This vote is not a show vote. It is about protecting the seat of democracy and the men, the women, and the young people who work here.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to do the right thing and pass this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, the chair of the Committee on Appropriations. I thank her for bringing this important legislation to the floor. It is the product of great, intense review of what is needed to go forward, and it is lean. There are many other suggestions that people have. This is what is urgent for us to do now.

I thank the Committee on Appropriations, which is one of the committees of jurisdiction, having a series of hearings on the subject, all of the subcommittees of jurisdiction--I think there are six on there--and then even the Legislative Branch Committee, which has the most responsibility, had maybe seven hearings.

In addition to that, let's start on that horrible day. Springing right from that, I called upon General Honore to review what has happened. I saw the work that he did in Katrina. That is how I got to know his work, and I knew that he would be an objective reviewer of what we needed. He put together a very blue ribbon committee of law enforcement and national security advisers--national security at the general level, generals in the military--and they put forth their recommendations of what we needed to do in the short term and in the long term. And many of those suggestions, in the short term, are in this legislation.

There are those who say, well, we can't wait till we do the commission report--when they vote against the commission report--until we do this, like next year or the end of the year. No, the need is immediate, and it is now.

So I thank Madam Chair DeLauro of the Committee on Appropriations, these subcommittee chairs for the multiple hearings that they have had on this subject, and I thank the chair of the House Administration Committee for the hearings that they have had in that committee as well to hone in on what is urgently needed now.

I also salute the chair of the Committee on Homeland Security, Chairman Bennie Thompson, working in a bipartisan way with Mr. Katko, to bring the legislation--so important--in a bipartisan way to the floor yesterday. And I salute the work that they did.

Madam Speaker, here we are, we have specific needs, honed to how we listened to the Architect of the Capitol as to what we need to harden the Capitol, the windows and doors.

There are Members who have said, ``Why are we doing that?'' It was just a normal day of tourism in the Capitol, while that same person who said that is pictured in the news pushing furniture up against the door to keep the brawlers out of this Chamber.

Normal day in the Capitol? Not so.

So we know what is possible now. Who could have imagined that the President of the United States would incite an insurrection? Should we have been prepared for that? Who would have imagined that? But could we have been prepared better? Yes. And we know what we must do now.

This has been an important week in the House as a revised gold medal legislation is being submitted. It is bipartisan. I am pleased to hear that the Republican leader, Mr. McCarthy, supports adding those who were attacked, assaulted, in fact, killed--the one killed, Billy Evans--on Good Friday. So that is in the works and we will take that up as soon as we come back.

Yesterday, we had a big, strong bipartisan vote on the commission. Today, we are saying this is what we need to do now. We may need to do more as the commission does its work, as the committees of jurisdiction continue their hearings. So today, we continue to defend the Constitution and the Capitol with an emergency supplemental bill.

Now much of what is happening in the Capitol in terms of restriction of visitors and the rest relates to COVID. And as that unfolds more favorably, we need to be sure that when we have children come and families enjoy and legislators passing laws and the press covering it all, and people coming to see the people's House in action, that they will be safe.

Madam Speaker, the legislation, again, builds on the action that happened yesterday, and hopefully, we can move quickly through the Senate and make the necessary appointments so that the product of that will be respected by the American people.

General Honore's report--I mentioned General Honore--he said, ``The breach of the Capitol on January 6 brought into stark relief the need to immediately improve the security of the Capitol complex and the security of Congressional Members and staff, and the workers who make our lives possible here. Immediate action is therefore required.'' Immediate action is therefore required: General Honore.

This supplemental, again, protects Members of Congress, of course, the Capitol, employees, visitors, including bolstering the physical security of the complex, creating a new reaction force for cases of emergency.

It responds to the direct costs of the attack on the Capitol. There were direct costs, including related to response and presence of the National Guard--that has to be paid for--District of Columbia and other Federal agencies, and to the prosecution of the insurrectionists.

Proudly, it recognizes the sacrifices of the Capitol Police; supporting them with overtime pay, bonuses, and trauma support, as well as specialized training and equipment. And it honors the late Officer Howie Liebengood by creating the ``Howard C. `Howie' Liebengood Center for Wellness.''

We are very pleased and proud of that, and we thank the Liebengood family for their involvement in that creation, and my colleague, Congresswoman Wexton of Virginia for her role in this.

Protecting the security of the Capitol so we can do our constitutional work on behalf of the American people should not be controversial. Four

months ago, multiple lives were lost. Over 140 law enforcement officers were physically harmed. Trauma and terror were inflicted on our colleagues, our staff, and ourselves.

Today, in passing this legislation, the House is taking a strong step forward to bring healing to our congressional community and to ensure that this horror can never happen again.

Let me close again by quoting General Honore's report:

``As you consider the recommendations of this task force, we must not forget it was the riotous actions of an angry mob that laid bare the vulnerabilities of the Capitol complex.

``We must not long endure any discourse that prevents or delays efforts necessary to strengthen the security of the U.S. Capitol complex and enhance the safety of those who serve the American people in Congress.''

Madam Speaker, I urge a strong bipartisan vote on this emergency security supplemental to respond. And as the gentlewoman from Washington pointed out, there are many more things that we need to do, but we have to prioritize. We have to sequence. We can't wait until we know every answer before we start with the solutions that we are well- aware and that we know of.

Again, some of this will depend on the resources in this legislation that will enable us to find out what it does cost to protect the Capitol in a way that is the least offensive to all of us, that says that this Capitol sits confidently, but assured that we will be protected when necessary, but that we don't need all of that protection outside, the fences and the rest, all the time. If we need it, we will have it when we need it.

Again, those are decisions that have to be made from a technical standpoint, as well as a security and safety standpoint, and this legislation enables that to happen.

There are those who say: Well, it didn't work then, so why is it going to work?

You know what, let's have confidence.

There is one word that I would say we need to rely on in all of this, and that is the word ``trust.'' Let us trust in each other that our purpose is the same; that we relied on the expert advice of generals and law enforcement and the rest, as to what we need immediately--to use their word, ``immediately.'' Let us trust that we can have the review that is necessary. We must have a review of the hierarchy of authority here.

What is this police board? How is that graded? Why can't we do that in a different way?

We have a search committee looking for a new chief of police. Our current chief of police may be in that mix, I don't know, because this is an objective search for a police chief.

So we look forward to working in a bipartisan way because that cannot be anything but nonpartisan. The House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, honor our responsibility, our housekeeping responsibilities, to keep this place safe, and to have a chain of command that is clear.

Where is the responsibility for this? Is it in that police board, of which the police chief is not a member?

I agree with the gentlewoman, those kinds of issues are not resolved, but that should not hold up getting what we need in place right now. As the virus is relaxing some of the restrictions, we will be able, again, to function this summer as the U.S. Capitol, the welcoming beacon of democracy that it has always been, but with the assurance that it will be safe.

Madam Speaker, hopefully we will have a strong bipartisan vote on this. And I am very proud of what happened yesterday. I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership in that regard.

Madam Speaker, I praise the Appropriations Committee for bringing this to the floor. I thank the Homeland Security Committee for their great work and also as the authorizer. I also thank the House Administration Committee for the piece of this that they have.

Madam Speaker, let me just say we had a vote here yesterday to create a commission, a bipartisan commission, to go through all of these initiatives in a bipartisan way, and it was rejected by the vast majority of those on the other side.

We are trying to do this in a bipartisan way. It is what the American people want. It is what the American people deserve. This bill here is largely based on the recommendations from General Honore, who went to great lengths with four or five or six other generals to analyze what happened on January 6 and provide us with recommendations.

The time is now. We have to act. We hear about the rank-and-file police officers here who have 12-hour shifts, 16-hour shifts, don't have the equipment that they need, securing of the Capitol, the trauma that happened here. None of us are going to forget those events.

But this is a narrowly tailored bill to provide long overdue support. Here we are, working ourselves into the end of May. This is support for direct costs incurred by the attack on the Capitol and to restore the faith that Members of Congress can safely carry out our constitutional duties.

It demonstrates a strong commitment to continue to allow Americans from across the country to be able to come to the Capitol. We are not militarizing the Capitol. We are going to have a quick response force in case something happens similar to if there was a threat to the President, a threat to Washington, D.C., we start flying fighter jets overhead. This is the equivalent. We are not trying to militarize anything.

There is critical support in here for the Capitol Police to maintain the current workforce until we can hire and recruit more officers, such as backfilling overtime, hazard pay, and tuition credits, so we don't lose more of the Capitol Police to other agencies.

The bill includes $3.3 million for the Capitol Police's intelligence division, which was a huge part of the failures that occurred on January 6. So we want to invest and make sure that we have the intelligence capabilities that we need.

We want to make sure that the Capitol Police have all the equipment that they need, as the gentlewoman from Connecticut just said, gas masks, tactical vests, body armor.

I am proud of this bill, and I am proud this bill supports the emotional needs of Members of Congress, congressional employees, and the Capitol Police, with funding for both the Office of Employee Assistance and the Capitol Police wellness program.

This emergency supplemental appropriation renames the Capitol Police wellness program the Howard C. ``Howie'' Liebengood Center for Wellness. The bill provides funding for six new Capitol Police mental health counselors and wellness resilience specialists. This is an extremely necessary investment in our workforce, and it will help them grow and heal from the events of January 6 and the sad day of Good Friday.

I am also pleased that this bill establishes funds for future Capitol Grounds security.

It also establishes funds for future Capitol Grounds security, including upgrades to windows, doors, security screening vestibules, and the installation of new cameras around the Capitol Building and House Office Buildings.

It includes $350,000 for hazard pay to the custodial staff that were working on the campus on January 6 and helped in the aftermath to get things cleaned up so we could continue our business. The employees have received the Architect's Exceptional Service Award and are recognized as valuable members of the Capitol community.

We have had many tough conversations with our colleagues, in looking at the Capitol security review and recommendations from General Honore. We also include $21 million to address Member security while traveling and in district offices.

We are living in a new reality. To address providing a safe and healthy community, we have included funding to reimburse and further support our legislative branch agencies in response to the coronavirus: Telework, sanitizing, cleaning our Capitol complex and district offices.

Madam Speaker, I am proud of the hard work of so many. I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut for being a force to get this bill done. This supplemental needs to pass. We need to act.

We have to act. If the American people can't see us acting in a bipartisan way when a group of people storm the Capitol, and we can't even pass a bill with Republican support to fix the doors and windows and provide more police officers, how are we going to do anything else?

Madam Speaker, this is a good bill. Please vote ``yes.''

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3237, a bill to provide funding for Capitol security and other purposes.

Unfortunately, after several weeks of discussion, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have chosen a path of partisanship instead of working together. I want to explain how we ended up in this situation.

In January, the Speaker of the House directed a retired lieutenant general and his team to review security needs on the House side of the Capitol following the events of January 6. This review was directed without even consulting House Republicans or the Senate.

Even though the review by General Honore began as a partisan effort, members of the Appropriations Committee hoped things could get back on track and we could negotiate a funding agreement that could be supported by both parties in both Chambers.

That is why it is so disappointing that we are now left with the bill before us. This is a one-sided solution that does not even have buy-in from Democrats in the Senate.

The bill we are considering today implements permanent recommendations before ongoing security assessments are complete; it creates a multi-million-dollar fund for future expenses at the Capitol prior to knowing what is really needed; and it delays much-needed reimbursements for agencies that have protected the Capitol since January 6, such as the National Guard and the Capitol Police.

It also provides $200 million to establish a force within the D.C. National Guard to respond to incidents at the Capitol, raising serious concerns about the role of our military on American soil.

Some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have also raised concerns about using the National Guard in this way.

The chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Leahy, has said that it is important for the Capitol to remain open and accessible to the public and not feel like a militarized zone. I agree with him.

Matters of such importance like this should be handled in the proper way, marked up in the Appropriations Committee and authorizing committees so that Members' positions can be fully considered.

At the very least, amendments to this bill should have been allowed on the House floor today. Unfortunately, Members on both sides of the aisle have been shut out.

Madam Speaker, the events of January 6 were tragic and exposed serious security vulnerabilities around the Capitol complex, as well as an inability to properly respond and act when intelligence is provided.

Congress must prevent anything like this from ever happening again, but the bill before us today is not the solution.

There is no reason why we cannot continue discussing in good faith and reach a bipartisan compromise.

For this reason, I must urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this package. I hope we can get back to the negotiating table soon.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Herrera Beutler), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch.

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington.