January 6, 2023
U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat, NY-13
Two years ago today, we witnessed a deadly atrocity waged on the U.S. Capitol, the Congress, and the Constitution. The insurrection was a blatant disregard for human life, Democracy, and the peaceful transfer of power that was initiated by zealots and whose extremist ideology festered into violent actions. Duly elected members of Congress and their staff were in grave danger and working class Americans who dedicated their lives to protecting our nations Capitol were killed,” said Rep. Espaillat. “As we remember January 6th, I am forever grateful for the heroic officers who protected the Capitol and join my congressional colleagues to remember the five police officers who lost their lives as well as honor the more than 140 among their ranks who were injured while defending our democracy.
January 6th will be long remembered in American history as a day of infamy, and House Democrats are focused more than ever on our work to strengthen the democracy that those officers defended with their lives and to prevent another attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. My Democratic colleagues and I have delivered the bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act to stop a similar attempt to overturn a presidential election, in addition to providing additional funding for local election security. Yet, while this significant piece of legislation has been enacted, more must be done to strengthen our elections. The American people overwhelmingly support our Democratic legislation to clean up elections and protect the right to vote, including the For The People Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
In a democracy, nobody is above the law, including the President of the United States, and I support and commend the bipartisan work of the January 6th Select Committee for their efforts to put people over politics and consistently follow the facts, finding that President Trump and his closest associates engaged in insurrection against the United States and our Constitution. The final report issued by the Committee contains several legislative recommendations to prevent another deadly attack that I urge my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, to pursue on a bipartisan basis. The attacks of January 6th serve as a reminder than we can never take for granted our work to promote American democracy and uphold the values and freedoms that we hold dear as a nation.