Democrats Voice Concerns On Safety At SOTU Address

February 2, 2023 Democrats, Politics

House Democrats are raising the alarm over the security of President Biden and State of the Union guests ahead of the address next week in the House chamber after Republicans stripped down security infrastructure shortly after taking control in their new majority.

Metal detectors were installed outside the House chamber in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and were met with pushback by many GOP lawmakers. One of the first Republican moves in their new majority at the start of the year was to scrap the metal detectors.

Citing the decision to remove the metal detectors, the House Democrats also nodded to attempts by Republican lawmakers to bring a concealed weapon into the House chamber in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack and the distribution of fake grenades by another GOP member in recent weeks.

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Yesterday House Republicans blocked an attempt to ban firearms from committee rooms. Watch the clip.

Making sure our staff & colleagues are safe isn’t a waste of time. I wish it wasn’t the case, but my amendment to prohibit guns is necessary. We have members of this committee that fetishize guns, have incited violence, & bolstered insurrectionists. Sadly, the GOP struck it down. pic.twitter.com/X7uWiRj2QI

— Rep. Jared Huffman (@RepHuffman) February 1, 2023