After spending days in the cold taking the American Capitol to the deadly siege two weeks ago, National Guard citizens were asked to leave the Capitol building and move to a nearby parking garage to rest during their shifts. The decision quickly condemned lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who called the move “outrageous.”
Several pressed to reverse it.
And it was, late Thursday night, according to one of the lawmakers, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D – Illinois), who tweeted: “Update: troops are all out of the garage now. Now I can go to sleep.”
The guard issued a statement saying, ‘Brig. Genl. Janeen Birckhead, commander of the inauguration task force, confirmed that the troops were out of the garage and back in the Capitol building, as approved by the USCP (US Capitol Police) Watch Commander and the troops would take it. their breaks forward near Emancipation Hall. ‘
On Thursday around 3 p.m., police in the Capitol asked the National Guard to resettle the soldiers who used Capitol corridors and open spaces during their shifts, Maj. Matt Murphy, spokesman for the National Guard Bureau, told CBS News.
“As Congress is in session and there is more foot traffic and business being done, Capitol police have asked the troops to relocate,” Murphy said. “They have been temporarily relocated to the Thurgood Marshall Judicial Center garage with heat and toilet facilities.”
About 3,500 national guards were moved out of the Capitol, but not all were in the parking garage at the same time. During their guard duty, members are driven by motorcycle into the garage to warm up and take a breather, and the guards return to a hotel when their shifts are over.
Some guards expressed their displeasure that they had been moved to a parking garage. While the garage has heat and lights, there are limited toilets, cell phone and internet service and power points.
Politico first reported the move, and lawmakers called for the fight. “This is outrageous, shameful and incredibly disrespectful to the men and women who keep the American Capitol safe,” said Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D – Arizona). “We need to fix it and we need answers on how it happened.”
“Unreal. I can not believe that the same brave service members who have been asking us for the past two weeks to protect our Capitol and our Constitution would evacuate the ceremony from the building,” he said. Senator Tammy Duckworth. “I demand answers as soon as possible. They can use my office.”
Murphy told CBS News that “they have to go somewhere, is my understanding. There’s always going to be a disturbed feather, some people are not going to like it. The troops are going on. They are still doing their mission duties and that’s what they are doing. ‘
Both Duckworth and Cinema later tweeted that they had been informed that the guards would be moved from the parking lot, but the decision was not officially announced.
Police in the Capitol said in a statement Thursday night that the department “appreciates the integral support of the U.S. National Guard in securing the Capitol complex in the run-up to the inauguration ceremony.” The department said it had recently requested that the shifts of guard members be shortened to allow for more rest time off-campus.