Fact Check

Did 12 GOP House Members Vote Against Medals for Capitol Police?

The votes of 12 Republican House members in March 2021 caused widespread outrage, but there was more to the story.

Published March 19, 2021

 (Facebook, screen capture)
Image Via Facebook, screen capture
Claim:
12 Republican House members voted against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the U.S. Capitol Police for their actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
What's True

On March 17, 12 Republican House members voted against H.R. 1085, a bill that arranged for Congressional Gold Medals to be awarded to the U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police in recognition of their efforts to protect the Capitol from the attack on Jan. 6, 2021. However...

What's False

All but two of those 12 House members did sponsor, co-sponsor, or support differently worded, alternative proposals that would either award Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol and D.C. Metro Police or express gratitude to those officers for their actions in protecting the Capitol on Jan. 6.

What's Undetermined

Snopes asked all 12 of the House members in question whether they support awarding Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police and D.C. Metro Police specifically and explicitly for their roles in protecting the Capitol from the Jan. 6 attack, but we received no response.

In March 2021, the popular left-leaning Facebook page Occupy Democrats posted a meme condemning 12 Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives for, according to the meme, voting against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to U.S. Capitol Police officers who protected the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.

The meme, posted on March 17, was prefaced by the caption "Don't you EVER forget their names," and contained the following text:

These are the names of the Republicans who just voted against honoring the Capitol Police officers who protected the Capitol against Trump's insurrectionists:

  • Louie Gohmert
  • Marjorie T. Greene
  • Andy Biggs
  • Thomas Massie
  • Andy Harris
  • Lance Gooden
  • Matt Gaetz
  • Michael Cloud
  • Andrew Clyde
  • Bob Good
  • Greg Steube
  • John Rose

Spread their shame!

Those 12 Republican House members did vote against a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the U.S. Capitol Police in recognition of their role in protecting the Capitol from an attack by a "mob of insurrectionists" on Jan. 6.

However, what the Occupy Democrats meme failed to mention was that all but two of those 12 House members sponsored, co-sponsored, or supported one of two differently worded, alternative proposals that would either award the Congressional Gold Medal to the U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police in recognition of their "services and sacrifices," or express the House's gratitude to those officers for protecting the Capitol from the Jan. 6 attack.

As a result of those significant omissions, we are issuing a rating of "Mixture."

What the 12 Republicans Voted Against

H.R. 1085  was introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi back in February 2021. In brief, it arranges for the Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded to the U.S. Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police and explicitly recognizes their role in the events of Jan. 6, as follows:

Dan Mac Guill is a former writer for Snopes.