Senate passes $2.1 billion Capitol security funding bill
29 July 2021
The Senate passed a $2.1 billion Capitol security funding bill Thursday by a 98-0 vote.
Why it matters: The legislation provides funding for the Capitol Police, the National Guard and other agencies to cover the costs incurred during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The big picture: Senate Appropriations Committee chair Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the committee's ranking member, announced an agreement on the $2 billion package Tuesday, the same day four police officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 testified about their personal experiences from that day.
- The House passed a $1.9 security spending bill in May in response to the Jan. 6 attack, but was stalled by a funding impasse in the Senate.
Between the lines: The package includes $70.7 million in salaries and general expenses for the Capitol Police response to the riot, per a fact sheet released by Leahy's office.
- $300 million will go to infrastructure upgrades to the Capitol, including installing new cameras around the building and House offices.
- The National Guard will be reimbursed $521 million for deploying guards to help with security efforts on Jan. 6 and after.
- The package also includes about $500 million for the Department of Defense to assist Afghan nationals who facilitated U.S. war efforts. The State Department will also receive about $600 million to process special immigrant visas for Afghans who are relocating to the U.S., per the fact sheet.
Go deeper: National Guard cutting costs due to funding impasse in Congress
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.