© 2026 WGCU News
News for all of Southwest Florida
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Senate Unanimously Votes To Award Congressional Gold Medal To Jan. 6 Officers

NPR | By Claudia Grisales
Published August 4, 2021 at 12:48 PM EDT

The Senate has approved legislation to bestow Congress' highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, on the law enforcement officers who responded to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The House passed the measure earlier this summer, and the bill now heads to President Biden's desk.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer led the unanimous, bipartisan approval of the legislation on the Senate floor.

"I cannot imagine more worthy recipients than the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend this temple of democracy," said Schumer.

Rules Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar made a timely comparison to an honor reserved for the greatest and most dedicated athletes:

"Well, this is our Olympics, this is our gold medal," Klobuchar said, "and it goes today to the Capitol Police officers and the MP officers and others that protected us that day."

The committee's ranking Republican, Roy Blunt, said the medal honors the sacrifices police officers and their families make.

This story originally appeared on the Morning Edition live blog.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
National News
Claudia Grisales
Claudia Grisales is a congressional reporter assigned to NPR's Washington Desk.
See stories by Claudia Grisales
Trusted by over 30,000 local subscribers

Local News, Right Sized for Your Morning

Quick briefs when you are busy, deeper explainers when it matters, delivered early morning and curated by WGCU editors.

  • Environment
  • Local politics
  • Health
  • And more

Free and local. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

More from WGCU
  • Lee County School Board members discuss hiring a new board attorney.
    Education
    Lee school board to hire one attorney, and soon another
    Dayna Harpster
    Tuesday the school board is set to hire Robert Dodig, currently interim, as board attorney, soon to be followed by a chief staff attorney, a new position.
  • Australian pines may provide shade along the shoreline, but the invasive species also crowds out necessary native species, contributes to erosion, and is easier to topple than other trees in a storm.
    Environment
    Captiva residents urged to allow free removal of Australian pines, green iguanas
    Tom Bayles
    Captiva Island residents have been urged to allow free removal of Australian pines and green iguanas through a grant from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
  • Environment
    Introduction to Spanish Moss
    Dr. Jerry Jackson
    Spanish Moss is familiar to anyone who has visited Florida. It can appear anywhere as a result of the wind dispersing its seeds as it does the seeds of dandelions. But development of the draping clusters of Spanish Moss depends on the seed landing in the right place – on a horizontal limb of a rough-barked tree near water or in a very humid environment. Most Spanish Moss plants only grow to a bit over a foot long, but as they reproduce, one plant becomes many plants linked together by their limb-like scaly-surfaced leaves.There is safety and a future for the plants in such a mass. The cluster of plants holds moisture in – allowing them to survive dry times and also facilitating pollination as insects move from a flower on one plant to a flower on another in the cluster. A mass of Spanish Moss plants appears gray during dry times as the plant shrinks, but is green in appearance as rains allow the plant to swell with water and expose bare areas between the scales.