07.20.21

Durbin: Republicans Must Drop Opposition To Emergency Supplemental Bill To Pay National Guard, Capitol Police

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, urged Senate Republicans to support an emergency supplemental appropriations bill, introduced by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT), that would address the urgent security needs facing the Capitol and the country.  The $3.7 billion bill would address the violent insurrection that took place on January 6, provide funding for costs incurred on the Capitol complex and the Department of Defense related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and provide the resources to support our Afghan partners as the United States’ mission winds down.

“We have a special security supplemental appropriation…which appropriates the funds to pay the National Guard units who left their families and came here to protect us, to pay the Capitol Police for the expenses they incurred on January 6, to fortify this Capitol against any future insurrectionist mob. And that supplemental appropriation bill, which should have been passed routinely weeks ago, is still languishing for lack of agreement on the Republican side. If you want to be respectful of law enforcement, whether they are men and women in uniform and police units or National Guard, wouldn't you pay them for the services they rendered to protect this Capitol and to protect the United States of America?” Durbin said.

Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.

Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.

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