WASHINGTON — Georgia U.S. Reps. Jody Hice, Andrew Clyde and Marjorie Taylor Greene told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that they voted against a bill awarding gold medals to police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 because they disagree with the language in the measure.
The three Georgia lawmakers, who were among 21 conservative lawmakers who voted against the gold medal legislation, said other bills that avoid mentioning the insurrection or that focus attention on other acts of violence are preferable.
Despite opposition from the 21 representatives, H.R. 3325, passed overwhelmingly with 406 “yes” vote and now goes to the Senate for approval. It authorizes the creation of four gold medals: one to be given to the U.S. Capitol Police, one to Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, one to be displayed by the Smithsonian Institution and another to be housed at the Capitol.
The text of the bill mentions the violence and destruction of Jan. 6 and praises all the law enforcement agencies who responded to the security threat. It lists the names of three officers who died by natural causes or suicide immediately after the riot after engaging with insurrectionists, plus a fourth Capitol Police officer who was killed in April after a man drove a car into him and another officer patrolling a security barricade.
Hice, who is running for Georgia secretary of state, believes the legislation is insufficient because the portion referring to Officer William “Billy” Evans provides “no meaningful explanation of his death as if he was an afterthought,” his office said in a statement.
Hice prefers a bill filed Tuesday as a counteroffer that identifies the person who rammed the vehicle into Evans in April as a supporter of Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. That proposal, sponsored by Texas Republican U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, lists Clyde, Greene and Hice as co-sponsors.
The driver in the April incident suffered from depression and had experienced recent hardships, his family told The Washington Post, although a motive for the attack was unclear. The Nation of Islam expressed sympathy after the assault and noted that the group does not have a history of violence against government entities.
Greene and Clyde mentioned another rival proposal in outlining their opposition to H.R. 3325: a second Gohmert-sponsored bill that awards the gold medals by recognizing officers who died in the line of duty over many years and not just after the Capitol riot. This measure also avoids any mention of the riot itself, going so far as to recognize officers who “passed in January 2021″ without a specific date.
Greene, Clyde and Hice are all co-sponsors of that legislation, too.
Greene also plugged a separate bill she sponsored that would award Congressional Gold Medals to the police departments in Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon, cities that saw protests focused on systemic racism turn violent at times in 2020. She blamed vandalism, injuries and deaths during those protests on Black Lives Matter activists and antifa groups.
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Lithonia Democrat, said he wasn’t surprised that three of the “no” votes on the measure that passed Tuesday were from Georgia Republicans. He noted that all three had voted to reject Electoral College votes confirming Joe Biden’s victory in November’s presidential election and that Clyde and Hice had made comments that appeared to downplay the insurrection.
“We’ve got folks who say that Jan. 6 was like a tourist visit,” Johnson said. “And we got folks who are running against the secretary of state in Georgia who deny what happened on Jan. 6 and what happened on Nov. 3. It’s a symptom of the same illness.”
Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who has decided not to run for reelection after clashing with fellow Republicans who claimed Trump was a victim of election fraud, was among the public officials criticizing those who voted against honoring the officers.
“It’s unreal that 3 of our GA congressional members voted no on the Medal of Honor vote — the Jan 6th rioters were NOT tourists,” he posted on Twitter. “We are better than this people!”
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