Travel security boosted for lawmakers
WASHINGTON – Capitol Police are increasing security at Washington-area transportation hubs and taking other steps to safeguard traveling lawmakers as Congress continues to react to this month’s deadly assault on the Capitol.
Capitol Police will be stationed at area airports and Washington’s Union Station railway hub on busy travel days, the House’s chief law enforcement officer wrote in an email obtained Friday by the Associated Press. Timothy P. Blodgett, the acting sergeant at arms, wrote that officials are setting up an online portal so lawmakers can notify them of travel plans and urged legislators to report threats and suspicious activity.
“Members and staff should remain vigilant of their surroundings and immediately report anything unusual or suspicious,” the email said.
Blodgett said lawmakers were previously advised that they can use office expense accounts to pay for security to protect their offices and events in their districts and for self-protection while performing official duties. It also cited a 2017 Federal Elections Commission opinion that they can use campaign contributions to install security systems at their homes.
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Pelosi, D-Calif., about congressional security, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Pelosi said lawmakers face threats of violence from an “enemy” within Congress and said money is needed to improve security. Pelosi’s comments were a startling acknowledgment of escalating internal tensions between the two parties over safety since the Jan. 6 Capitol attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Also Thursday, the acting chief of the Capitol Police said “vast improvements” are needed to protect the Capitol and adjacent office buildings, including permanent fencing.
Such barricades have ringed the complex since the Capitol riot, but many lawmakers have resisted giving the nation’s symbol of democracy the look of a besieged compound, and leaders were noncommittal about the idea.
Pelosi focused her comments on the anxiety and partisan frictions that have persisted in Congress since the riot, which led to five deaths. She said she thinks Congress will need to provide money “for more security for members, when the enemy is within the House of Representatives, a threat that members are concerned about.”
Asked to clarify, Pelosi said, “It means that we have members of Congress who want to bring guns on the floor and have threatened violence on other members of Congress.”
Some lawmakers who voted for this month’s House impeachment of Trump have reported receiving threats, and initial moves to enhance safety procedures have taken on partisan undertones. Some Republicans object to having to pass through newly installed metal detectors before entering the House chamber, and Pelosi has proposed fining lawmakers who bypass the devices.
Pelosi did not say whom she meant by her reference to an “enemy” within the House, and a spokesperson provided no examples.