Pete Aguilar Calls Out Speaker Mike Johnson For Failing To Honor Capitol Police With Jan. 6 Plaque

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At a House Democratic press briefing on Wednesday, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) was asked about working with Republicans to honor police.

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Transcript

00:00 Scott.

00:01 You mentioned, Vice Chair Lew mentioned some of the police bills that are up this week

00:02 and hearings on police matters and all the events going on this week.

00:03 Do you all find it more difficult to work with Republicans on police issues when they

00:04 call January 6th defendants hostages and deny the impact on police and Capitol attack?

00:20 Yeah, it's pretty hard.

00:22 I think all of us, and we've talked about this before, I mean all of us, you know, come

00:28 into these chambers, into our jobs, and we want to try to work with our colleagues to

00:33 get things done.

00:34 We want to get to yes on bills.

00:36 You know, this morning at caucus we talked about some of the police week bills that Democrats

00:41 supported in the 117th Congress, allowing more flexibility for local law enforcement

00:47 when they're applying for grants, boosting mental health resources for law enforcement.

00:53 I know Amelia Sykes is carrying a bill that will offer additional law enforcement support.

00:58 You know, these are things that we can do, you know, when we're working together and

01:03 when we are in charge.

01:05 And when Leader Jeffries is Speaker Jeffries, those are the types of bills that we will

01:09 advocate.

01:10 But yeah, Scott, I mean it's a little more difficult when they want to try to whitewash

01:15 what happened, when they will stand with some law enforcement but they won't stand with

01:21 others.

01:22 You know, specifically, I know Zoe Lofgren has written a letter to Speaker Johnson advocating

01:29 for the plaque that was passed as a commemoration of January 6th.

01:34 This was passed into law.

01:35 It was supposed to be installed honoring law enforcement on the west steps of the Capitol

01:41 specifically and Speaker Johnson hasn't acted on it.

01:45 Do you know about response to that?

01:47 I'm not aware of any response.

01:48 I didn't check with Representative Lofgren on her letter but I haven't heard of a response.

01:53 But it's disappointing.

01:55 That doesn't stop the work that we're going to do.

01:57 That doesn't stop us as Andrea Salinas mentioned from every day trying to work with our colleagues

02:02 in order to get things done.

02:04 But I've talked to you about this in the past, other members of the January 6th Committee

02:07 have.

02:08 You know, it does shape our perspective here clearly.

02:12 I agree with what Chairman Aguiar said.

02:14 I also want to note that what we're seeing from the Republican conference are a series

02:19 of messaging bills on a variety of topics, none of which are going to pass the U.S. Senate.

02:25 In contrast, when Democrats were in control, we took actions such as passing the American

02:30 Rescue Plan that provided funding to local cities and states.

02:35 That's where most of the funding goes for law enforcement and we're able to save a lot

02:40 of positions at cities and states, including those in law enforcement, from being laid

02:44 off because of what Democrats did to actually fund these agencies.

02:49 And if you look at this term, in terms of community funded projects, Democrats secured

02:54 more funding for law enforcement than our Republican counterparts.

02:58 And so Democrats believe in actions and our actions send a strong signal that we honor

03:03 those who protect and who serve.

Pete Aguilar Calls Out Speaker Mike Johnson For Failing To Honor Capitol Police With Jan. 6 Plaque

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