More House GOP Voted Against Giving Capitol Police Congressional Medal Than to Impeach Trump

More House Republicans voted against honoring police officers' actions on January 6 than the number members who voted for impeaching former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection.

The House of Representatives voted 412-12 on Wednesday to award the Congressional Gold Medal to U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers who protected lawmakers when a mob breached the U.S. Capitol Building more than two months ago.

A dozen Republicans voted not to award the medal to law enforcement officers who protected the Capitol from the rioters. That's two more votes than the 10 GOP members who voted to impeach Trump for urging supporters to "stop the steal" of the 2020 president election and disrupt a joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Biden's victory.

The 12 votes against the resolution were Louie Gohmert, Michael Cloud and Lance Gooden of Texas; Marjorie Taylor Greene and Andrew Clyde of Georgia; Matt Gaetz and Greg Steube of Florida; Andy Biggs of Arizona; Thomas Massie of Kentucky; Andy Harris of Maryland; Bob Good of Virginia; and John Rose of Tennessee.

The vote demonstrates how the framing of the attack on the Capitol is still a political flashpoint for lawmakers, despite the risks law enforcement took that day to protect Congress. Three police officers died following the attack.

Officer Brian Sicknick died a day after the attack and the cause of death remains under investigation. Two men have been charged with pepper-spraying Sicknick and two other Capitol police officers. Officers Howard Liebengood and Jeffrey Smith took their own lives in the days after the riot.

To vote for the medal would mean an endorsement of partisan views surrounding the attack, Gohmert said, according to The Texas Tribune.

"HR 1085 does not honor anyone, but rather seeks to drive a narrative that isn't substantiated by known facts," Gohmert said. "We absolutely do want to show our gratitude and respect for the U.S. Capitol Police, so I removed the Speaker's false and politicized narrative in order to arrive at legislation that truly honors those who selflessly serve us in Congress."

Gohmert referred to the three dead officers as those who "passed in January 2021" and did not refer to January 6 as the Capitol riot in an alternative resolution to honor officers that he introduced Wednesday.

Massie said he had an issue with the word "insurrection" to describe the January 6 events. Gaetz said he did not agree with the "dignity" of officers who responded to the attack being aligned with "editorial comments" about January 6, saying, "it's just offensive that we literally log-rolled recognition of the Capitol Police."

The medal will be given to the Smithsonian for research and archival purposes.