DIRECTING 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...

On 2026-01-08, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) delivered a floor speech titled "DIRECTING THE ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL TO PROMINENTLY DISPLAY, IN A PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE LOCATION IN THE SENATE WING OF T" in the Senate. The speech addressed healthcare and also covered the environment, foreign policy. It referenced legislation including S111, S112, SRES580.

DIRECTING 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...

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 5 (Thursday, January 8, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S111-S112] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] DIRECTING 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 Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, 5 years and 2 days ago, the Capitol Police protected us as a team stormed the Capitol. Many other forces came and defended the Capitol as well. It was more than just stopping folks headed toward the Capitol to try to interrupt the counting of votes; it was protecting the peaceful transfer of power, which goes to the heart of the Republic. In 2022, we passed a law saying we would put up this plaque to recognize the valiant efforts of the police officers, but the plaque has not gone up yet; so I am here to team up with my colleague from North Carolina in order to have a strategy to make sure that we do get this plaque up until the House and Senate can reach an agreement. Therefore, Mr. President, as if in legislative session, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 580. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title. The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows: A resolution (S. Res. 580) directing 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. There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the resolution. Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to; that the preamble be agreed to; and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The resolution (S. Res. 580) was agreed to. The preamble was agreed to. (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record under ``Submitted Resolutions.'') Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I yield to my colleague from North Carolina. I will have some comments following his comments. We also have the Democratic lead on the Rules Committee here who would like to weigh in on the importance of this action. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina. Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I came to the floor on January 6 to make sure that we conveyed our undying gratitude to everybody who played a role. Senator Merkley and I were here in the Chamber, and what we saw there was a parliamentary staff being focused on the job, not worried about themselves but worried about getting the ballots that we were certifying into safekeeping. We saw the Sergeant at Arms' staff do an extraordinary job of marshaling people around and getting them out of the building. We saw the Capitol Police spirit us away from this Chamber, over to the Hart Building, and secure us--literally--without any risk of any of us being harmed. Having said that, we walked by several Capitol Police officers who were injured. They had been hit. They had been crushed in doors. You know all of the reports. Yet they did their jobs that day. So, when I heard that, apparently, the law that we passed to recognize them and to place this plaque had a technical implementation problem, I went about seeing how we could clarify things, and I found out that my colleague from Oregon Senator Merkley had a similar concern. So we are two folks who came together to say: Let's provide some clarity here. The one thing I will tell you is that this is the plaque, but according to the Capitol Architect, the technical problem that, apparently, the House identified, which I think they can cure fairly quickly if they think it is a concern, is that the plaque was to include a list of all of the individual law enforcement officers who came to the Capitol on that day. This plaque actually has the names of the various law enforcement agencies, but the reality is, there is a digital component to this, which I understand, once it is implemented, will have a list of each and every person who answered the call. I think it is good that we actually have all of the agencies here because you will see how many people came here--again, I will close on this--to be a part of withstanding what I would consider to be one of the most significant stress tests for this institution since it was founded. Just keep in mind that we came here. We heard thousands of people storm this Capitol. People died. Police officers were injured, hospitalized. One died shortly after January 6. A lot of people said that was a dark day for democracy. I would leave with you this: It was a great day for democracy because of the law enforcement officers--the people who kept us safe--because do you know what we did when we were confronted with thousands of thugs storming this building? We took a brief recess. We got ourselves together. The Capitol was secured. Then, before we left this compound, we came back and completed our constitutional duty to certify the election. If that is not a good example of parliamentary staff, cloakroom staff, the Sergeant at Arms, and Capitol Police being a part of helping us withstand the greatest threat to this great institution--we owe them our eternal gratitude, and this Nation is stronger because of it. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon. Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, it was an extraordinary moment to be sitting here in this Chamber and seeing a member of the staff's team run down the aisle to the podium, speak quietly to the Vice President, have the Vice President immediately gavel down the session and depart through the side door; then to see police officers from the Capitol Police immediately engaged, working to lock the doors, protect this Chamber; and whole teams set up to ensure the safety of the Members of the Senate, with the same thing happening over on the House side. Then, within a few hours, as my colleague from North Carolina has pointed out, the Capitol was secured, but in the process, 170 police officers in defending the Capitol were injured, and as a consequence of the attack on that day, 5 died. So it was no small movement. It was not a peaceful protest outside but a storming of the Capitol, with some brutal assaults on folks within, on the police officers within. It is so important that we fulfill the vision of the 2022 law and get this plaque up to honor those police officers. What this resolution is saying is that we in the Senate will put it up here, in a publicly available space, until a deal can be reached with the House of Representatives to display it. Both Chambers have to agree on that, but this is to put it up here in the Senate in a place where the public can see it. That we can do here on our own, and we intend to do it. That is the right thing to do. It was a shocking thing to me this week because, simultaneous with discovering that this plaque had been stashed away in a room--out of sight somewhere--and that there wasn't an agreement to display it, I also saw the White House's posting, saying that it was a fiction that the Capitol was assaulted and that it was just a peaceful protest outside. It is so important we be honest with the American people about what happened. It is so important that we recognize those who defended our democratic Republic on that day. It is so important that people know that we came back as Senators and House Members and finished our work that day for the peaceful transfer of power, which is essential to the future of our democratic Republic, and that we succeed in that every 4 years. We have all taken an oath to the Constitution, and that is one of the most important functions to preserve in the Constitution--the integrity of the ballot box, which is the beating heart of a democratic republic--and the subsequent peaceful transfer of power. Mr. TILLIS. Will the Senator yield? Mr. MERKLEY. I will yield, yes. Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, the one thing I would like to say to Senator Merkley--and that is why I should bring notes when I come down to the [[Page S112]] floor--is that I also want to thank the Republican leader Senator Thune because he has agreed that we will be able to display this until the final location is in place, and I appreciate his help in doing that. Mr. MERKLEY. I am so glad my colleague mentioned that because, for us to take action here, we have to have bipartisan work, including the leadership on both sides of the aisle. So while neither my colleague from North Carolina nor I are in the leadership of our--at least I am not, but we worked with our leadership to make this happen. So this is an example of bipartisan cooperation on a very important point. So with that, unless my colleague from North Carolina has more to share, I am going to yield to my colleague from California and thank him and his leadership on the Rules Committee as we worked to get to this point, with a bipartisan partnership, to get this plaque honoring the police officers from many groups--most, of course, the Capitol Police, but several other groups--that came to defend the Capitol and make sure they know how much we appreciate what their sacrifice was to defend democracy on that day 5 years and 2 days ago. I yield to my colleague from California. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Budd). The Senator from California. Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I want to thank Senators Merkley and Tillis for their bipartisan cooperation in honoring the law enforcement officers who responded on January 6, 5 years ago. I also want to thank them both for their comments on Tuesday, 2 days ago, recognizing the fifth annivers

Referenced legislation: SRES580, SRES580