Five month after the Capitol was stormed by a mob of domestic terrorists intent on overturning the presidential election, the Capitol Police face a budget shortfall that would leave them penniless by mid-August, a situation which has been met with an underwhelming “meh” by Congressional Republicans.
August happens to be the newest date election conspiracy theorists like mattress huckster Mike Lindell and disgraced general Michael Flynn have been pushing for Donald Trump to return to the White House as president.
According to AL.com, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has been trying to work with Senate Republicans on legislation that would fund the Capitol Police after it’s set to run out of money in early August, but the GOP members of the committee are uninterested in advancing any proposal.
“For 32 days, Senate Republicans have refused to join bipartisan negotiations to address these urgent security needs, and now the Capitol Police risks running out of funding this summer,” Leahy said in a statement.
The GOP apparently doesn’t think the security of the Capitol is a pressing issue, however. Republicans have voiced opposition to funding a “quick reaction force” that could be assembled from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies as well as the National Guard to respond to crises at the Capitol.
“We shouldn’t rush to judgment. I’ve said all along that this is serious stuff, but I don’t believe the Capitol is in danger right now,” Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby, the minority leader on the Appropriations Committee, said.