12 Republicans Vote Against House Resolution Awarding Congressional Gold Medals to Capitol Police Who Responded to Riot

Samuel Corum/Getty Images

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to award Congressional Gold Medals to Capitol police officers who responded to the riots on January 6th.

The vast majority of Republicans voted along with Democrats on the resolution, but 12 Republicans opposed it — objecting to language of the resolution.

The 12 Republicans were, per CNN, Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, Andy Biggs, Andy Harris, Lance Gooden, Bob Good, Greg Steube, John Rose, Andrew Clyde, and Michael Cloud.

The reason given by members like Gohmert and Massie is the language in the resolution, including calling the violent storming of the Capitol an “insurrection.”

Gaetz in particular said he opposed “editorial comments about the January 6 sequence of events.”

Per Hill pool, Gaetz objects to the resolution’s “editorial comments about the Jan. 6 sequence of events” while Massie takes issue with calling Jan. 6 an “insurrection” and calling the Capitol a “temple.”

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) March 17, 2021

Matt Gaetz: “It's just offensive that we literally log-rolled recognition of the Capitol Police.. We had to combine it with these editorial comments about the Jan. 6 sequence of events, and.. logroll it with this exhibit at the Smithsonian.. that was a little much for me.”

— Michael McAuliff (@mmcauliff) March 17, 2021

The House is now voting on the bill to give Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police. It's stalled twice amid opposition from the House Freedom Caucus, which wants changes to the language. Louie Gohmert, for one, doesn't like how it refers to Jan. 6 as an insurrection.

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 17, 2021

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