By a narrow margin, the House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve $1.9 billion in spending to bolster Capitol security in the aftermath of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection.
The bill was developed based on the findings of the task force led by retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who conducted a review of Capitol security in the aftermath of the riot.
The final vote was 213-212, largely along party lines, with three Democrats voting no and three simply voting “present” on the bill.
The measure would reimburse the National Guard $520.9 million and Washington, D.C., $66.8 million for costs incurred required to secure the Capitol, in addition to providing $250 million for security on the Capitol grounds, $162 million to reinforce doors and windows at the Capitol, $200 million to create a “Quick Reaction Force to augment the Capitol Police” and $39.5 million to help prosecute riot suspects.
By contrast, the bill to form a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the Capitol riot passed much more easily — with 35 Republicans joining every House Democrat to pass the measure — but both bills face uphill battles in the 50-50 Senate.
Democrats grew frustrated during the debate on both bills, charging that Republicans are looking away from the insurrection that they witnessed themselves out of fealty to Trump.
“We have a major political party in the country that’s ignoring it — we’re trying to solve a problem, they clearly don’t want to sit down and talk about it,” said Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, chairman of an appropriations subcommittee handling legislative branch security.
In an impassioned floor speech Wednesday night, Rep. Ryan expressed his anger and frustration towards his Republican colleagues over their opposition to creating the commission.
"We have people scaling the Capitol, hitting the Capitol Police with lead pipes across the head and we can't get bipartisanship," Ryan said. "What else has to happen in this country? Cops – this is a slap in the face to every rank and file cop in the United States."
Ryan compared the situation to the Republicans' investigation of the Benghazi attack in 2012: "You guys chased the former secretary of state all over the country, spent millions of dollars."
"If were going to take on China, if we're going to rebuild the country, if we're going to reverse climate change, we need two political parties in this country that are both living in reality – and you ain't one of them," he concluded.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro recalled her own experience being trapped in the House gallery that day as the attackers tried to break in, calling her husband to tell him she was OK after Capitol Police told her to duck on the floor.
“This bill is not about politics, it’s not about settling scores,” DeLauro said. “It’s about ensuring that every person who comes into the Capitol is safe and is protected.”
Republicans argued that the spending bill is too expensive and that no fencing is needed. Many of them said lawmakers should be spending money on border security, not Capitol security.
Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, argued that Democrats would rather spend money on a wall “around this building in D.C.” than they would on finishing a border wall advocated by Trump.
The Democrats who opposed the security legislation were some of the most liberal in the House. Some have expressed the view that police treat people of color unfairly. Democratic Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota voted against it.
Those Democrats “wanted to make sure that there were accountability measures” on the security, said Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat who voted for it. Omar said just before the vote that she had “not been convinced of the importance of the money.”
Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Jamaal Bowman of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan voted “present,” effectively saving the measure from going down to defeat.
Months in the making, the emergency spending package incorporates the recommendations from an outside panel of experts to beef up security after the violent mob attack.
Already, National Guard troops have been protecting the building for months and public access is severely limited. Though razor-wire-topped fencing that stood as a stark reminder of the siege has been removed, an extended perimeter fence remains in place, cutting off access to the lush grounds that have been popular with visitors.
Some lawmakers have raised objections to the proposal for the National Guard to maintain a “quick response force” nearby — an effort to improve response time after it took hours for Guard troops to arrive on Jan. 6 as officers were being brutally beaten by the rioters.
Leading Republicans on the armed services committees in the House and Senate oppose relying on the troops for the work of protecting the Capitol, a sentiment shared by many members who have pushed to open the reopen the Capitol grounds immediately.
Democrats said they, too, are uneasy with many of the military-like measures, but say they have little choice but to protect the building. The delays in sending the Guard to the Capitol have been blamed in part for the failure to contain the violence. Five people died, including a Trump supporter shot and killed by police as she tried to climb through a broken window to access the House chamber, and a police officer who fought off the mob and died later.
“We’ve never had a quick response for us here, you know, we’ve never had an insurrection either,” Ryan said. “So thinking has to evolve in order to try to solve some of these problems.”
More than 400 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.