House to vote on $5,000 fine for lawmakers who refuse to go through security screening
Lawmakers who refuse to go through new security screenings at the U.S. House of Representatives chamber could soon face $5,000 fines.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday that when the House comes back in session Jan. 21, it will vote on a rule change that mandates fines for lawmakers who refuse to follow new security protocols established following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob in support of President Donald Trump.
Normally, members of Congress can bypass security in the Capitol complex by showing their lawmaker pins, The Hill reports. But in an effort to boost security, metal detectors were installed Tuesday to screen everyone entering the House chamber.
“To ensure compliance with Capitol Police Board regulations concerning firearms and incendiary devices, as well as to provide a safe and secure environment in which to conduct legislative business, effective immediately, all persons, including Members, are required (to) undergo security screening when entering the House chamber,” a notice from acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett read, according to The Hill.
Lawmakers would be fined $5,000 for the first offense and $10,000 for the second, Pelosi said in her statement. The fines would be taken directly from their paychecks.
“It is tragic that this step is necessary, but the Chamber of the People’s House must and will be safe,” Pelosi wrote in a statement about the proposed rule.
The potential fines come as some lawmakers on Tuesday complained about or refused to go through the metal detectors as they entered the chamber and berated Capitol Police over the new protocols.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a newly-elected Republican from Colorado, got into an altercation with police when she refused to allow them to inspect her bag after setting off the metal detector she walked through, CNN reports.
“Metal detectors outside of the House would not have stopped the violence we saw last week — it’s just another political stunt by Speaker Pelosi,” she later tweeted.
Boebert has touted her plan to carry a Glock on Capitol Hill. But Washington, D.C., police have said they plan to reach out to the congresswoman as the district has strict limits on carrying concealed firearms, Politico reports.
Other members pushed past police after setting off the machines or refused to go through them altogether, according to The Washington Post.
Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican from Arizona and head of the House Freedom Caucus, called the detectors “crap” and said they were the “stupidest thing ever” as he walked through security, The Hill reports.
Rep. Debbie Lesko, an Arizona Republican, tweeted that lawmakers were being treated ”like criminals.”
Some Democratic lawmakers were also unhappy about the new metal detectors, with Rep. Filemon Vela of Texas telling CNN “I’m more likely to die of COVID because I got it from a colleague than I am to die because a colleague shoots me.”
But some House Democrats told CNN they were concerned about their colleagues ignoring House rules regarding firearms and that there have been conversations about requiring every member to go through metal detectors.
“Do these people not understand that literally everyone else has to go through metal detectors to get in here? Average people do not get to bring guns into the United States Capitol in normal times,” Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat from Virginia, tweeted. “Get over yourselves.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2021 at 9:58 AM with the headline "House to vote on $5,000 fine for lawmakers who refuse to go through security screening."
