Senate votes to display Jan. 6 plaque after House GOP refuses to hang it at Capitol [View all]

Source: NBC News

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday unanimously agreed to hang a plaque honoring the officers who protected the Capitol when it was under attack by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6 five years ago.

The resolution requires the Architect of the Capitol “to prominently display, in a publicly accessible location in the Senate wing of the United States Capitol, a plaque honoring the members of law enforcement responding on January 6, 2021, until the plaque can be placed in its permanent location.”

The bipartisan resolution was introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., refused to hang the plaque as required by a 2022 federal law. Johnson’s office has argued that the law was “not implementable” because the legislative language from that bill said the plaque should display the names of officers who protected the Capitol, while the plaque that was produced named the law enforcement agencies that responded to the Capitol siege.

Johnson played a key role in President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, leading a legal brief that sought to disenfranchise voters in four key swing states that Joe Biden won. The Supreme Court in December 2020 rejected the eventual Texas lawsuit that Johnson and other Trump allies backed.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-votes-display-jan-6-plaque-house-refuses-hang-capitol-rcna253093