The Capitol fence returns for the State of the Union address
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US Capitol Police and the Secret Service reinstalled the security fence around the Capitol building ahead of Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, upsetting the D.C. Democratic representative but delighting some conservatives .
“The fence not only threatens DC residents, but also presents major inconveniences,” DC Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton told DailyMail.com on Monday, explaining that even the fire department and ambulances are affected. by more restrictive traffic patterns.
He added that he agreed with those who saw the fence as a sad reminder of the events of January 6, since the same fence was installed outside the Capitol building after the MAGA attack and remained in place for six months.
“It certainly does,” Norton said. “And we want to get as far away from January 6 as possible.”
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene applauded the move, using it as a political attack on President Joe Biden.
On Sunday, workers were seen installing the fence around the US Capitol complex ahead of Tuesday’s State of the Union address.
The fence was erected around the US Capitol building after the three-member Capitol Police Board voted to approve it in a 2-1 vote.
Non-voting DC Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton told DailyMail.com that she thought the fence was a “threat” to DC residents and was a sad reminder of January 6, 2021.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene applauded the move, using it as a political attack on President Joe Biden.
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert made a joke about Biden when she saw the fence go up again
“The fence is back around the Capitol for SOTU because Biden knows walls work on the ground,” Greene tweeted Monday, again showing his support for former President Donald Trump’s southern border wall.
“Joe Biden is more afraid of Americans visiting his Capitol than he is of a Chinese spy balloon invading our airspace that he could have carried only God knows what,” added the Georgia Republican.
Biden has come under fire from Republicans in recent days for waiting to shoot down a Chinese spy balloon as it flew over land. The balloon was popped by an F-22 fighter jet armed with an AIM-9X Sidewinder missile on Saturday as it flew over the South Carolina coast.
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert made a joke about Biden when she saw the fence go up again.
They have reinstalled the fence around the Capitol. With no reports of further threats, I can only assume it’s to ensure Biden doesn’t go after SOTU,” the Colorado Republican tweeted Monday.
The fence was reinstalled around the Capitol building for the State of the Union to address due to increased threats against public officials in recent years.
A statement from the US Capitol Police said the fence was re-erected “out of an abundance of caution” and would only “temporarily” surround the Capitol.
The US Capitol building is seen with fences erected around it for this year’s State of the Union address, which takes place on Tuesday night.
Workers install a fence panel Sunday, ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address
Workers reinstall the fence that surrounded the Capitol building for six months after the MAGA attack on January 6
Norton said he received assurances that he would step down on Wednesday, immediately after Biden’s speech.
“They indicate that it will go down the next day,” he told DailyMail.com.
She said she did not speak with the Secret Service and Capitol Police before the State of the Union address because there are “very rare occasions,” she noted, “fencing may be necessary.”
“And I would be the first to admit that the State of the Union address is one of them,” he said.
Still, he planned to send out a press release on Monday to address the fence.
Bill Press, the liberal political commentator who now hosts the Bill Press Pod podcast, is a longtime Capitol Hill resident who told DailyMail.com he was “outraged” to see the fence go up again.
“As long as Donald Trump is at Mar-a-Lago, the Capitol is safe,” he said. The Capitol Police get it backwards. They failed to protect the Capitol on January 6 when they should have. Now they are putting up a fence when there is no need to.
Norton, Press and Capitol Hill residents offended by the fencing had an ally in Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s acting Sergeant-at-Arms William McFarland. with reports from Politico on Monday that he had voted against reinstating the fence.
In a Capitol Police Board vote last week, McFarland was the only non-vote on the three-member panel, which consists of the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms and the Architect of the Capitol.
TO family source told Politico that McFarland voted no because “there was no actionable intelligence that necessitated the installation of a fence.”
Prior to January 6, 2021, a security barricade was not erected around the Capitol building for State of the Union addresses.