House passes $2.1 billion spending on Capitol security after unanimous Senate vote

The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a $2.1 billion spending bill to boost the security of the US Capitol in response to the January 6 Capitol riots. The bill will now be sent to the desk of President Joe Biden for signature before it can come into effect.

The final vote tally in the House was a landslide with 416 lawmakers in the lower chamber of the US Congress voting in favour of the bill. A total of 11 lawmakers voted against the proposal.

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Six House Democrats- Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Jamaal Bowman of New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Cori Bush of Missouri– and five Republicans– Representatives Chip Roy of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Bob Good of Virginia, Tom McClintock of California and Ralph Norman of South Carolina–voted no on the bill on Thursday.

The vote came shortly after the Senate cleared the bill with a unanimous 98-0 vote.

“We just got the bill text like a half an hour ago. Absolutely no time to read it, no time to understand it, no time to digest it, so that’s reason number one,” Representative Bowman was quoted as saying by CNN on why he and others voted against the bill.

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The security supplemental funding bill will provide funding for the Capitol Police, the National Guard, and other law enforcement partners to cover costs that the agencies incurred due to the storming of the Capitol building by the supporters of Donald Trump. The legislation would also help to ensure that the Capitol is protected in the future by paying for security upgrades at the Capitol complex. The bill has also set aside funding for expenses related to COVID-19 response at the Capitol and several other priorities, CNN reported.

The House had in May passed a spending bill of around $1.9 billion in response to the riots but had to take up this bill instead as it is a new legislation.