The insurrection could cost taxpayers an extra $71 million
Capitol Police have requested tens of millions of dollars in funding as a direct result of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The fallout from the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol could cost taxpayers more money, with Capitol Police requesting an additional $71 million in funding to “meet the emerging threats and risk” the attack created.
Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda D. Pittman plans to make the request Wednesday morning at a hearing specifically related to the department’s budget. Pittman plans to say, according to her prepared testimony, that the insurrection created more need to protect members of Congress as well as the Capitol building itself.
“The [U.S. Capitol Police] is steadfast in ensuring that an incident of this nature will never occur again, especially with the realization that the possibility of a similar incident occurring in the current environment is a very real and present danger,” the testimony reads. “The events of January 6, 2021, demonstrate that the USCP must continue to quickly assess, adjust, and utilize the tactics and methods necessary to successfully carry out our mission in any scenario.”
Last week, Pittman told Congress, “We know members of the militia groups that were present on Jan. 6 have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union.” She said the threat warrants the funding required for extra security measures.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security said in a report in late January that the United States is seeing an increase in domestic terror threats just like the Jan. insurrection.
A DHS bulletin from Jan. 27 said that “anger over … the 2020 election results” has created a “heightened threat environment across the United States, which DHS believes will persist in the weeks following the successful Presidential Inauguration.”
Those facts bely the complaints by House Republicans — many of whom voted to overturn President Joe Biden’s win even after the deadly insurrection — who are complaining about security measures Capitol Police have taken since the attack, including putting up fencing around the Capitol complex.
House Republicans have also thrown a fit about the installation of metal detectors outside the House floor, which were put up after the insurrection.
It’s unclear whether Congress will grant the Capitol Police’s request for additional funding.
But if it does, it will add to the already huge cost of the attack, which Donald Trump helped incite with lies about voter fraud. And Republicans continue to tell those voter fraud lies, despite the fact that they’ve been debunked over and over again by dozens of judges, by Trump’s former attorney general, and by FBI Director Christopher Wray, who on Tuesday again said there was no significant fraud in the 2020 election.
Repairs to the Capitol building and additional security measures have already cost $30 million, the architect of the Capitol told Congress in a Feb. 24 hearing.
More than $480 million has already been spent on deploying military units to guard the Capitol through the middle of next month, according to a report from the Washington Post.
The Post noted that states have also had to shell out nearly $30 million for security for election officials and lawmakers following threats from Trump supporters.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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