After spending days in the cold trying to secure the United States Capitol after the deadly siege two weeks agocivilians of the National Guard were asked to leave the Capitol and move to a nearby parking garage to rest during their shifts. The decision was quickly condemned by lawmakers, including Senate Leader Chuck Schumer, who called the move “outrageous.”
Several pressures to roll it back. And it was late Thursday night.
The Guard issued a statement saying, “Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead, Commander of the Inauguration Task Force, confirms troops are out of the garage and back into the Capitol as authorized by the USCP (US Capitol Police) Watch Commander and the troops will their breaks near Emancipation Hall are moving forward. ”
One of the lawmakers who had expressed outrage, Senator Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, tweeted, “Update: Troops are all out of the garage now. Now I can go to bed.”
At around 3 p.m. Thursday, Capitol Police asked the National Guard to relocate the soldiers who used Capitol corridors and open space to rest during their shifts, National Guard Bureau spokesman Major Matt Murphy told CBS News.
“As Congress is in session and as more pedestrians come and business is being done, the Capitol Police has asked troops to relocate their resting place,” Murphy said. “They were temporarily moved to the Thurgood Marshall Judicial Center garage with heating and toilets.”
About 3,500 members of the National Guard were moved from the Capitol, but not all were in the parking garage at the same time. During their on-call duty, members are cycled into the garage to warm up and take a break, and have hotel rooms to sleep in when their shifts are over.
Some guards expressed dissatisfaction with the relocation of their rest area to a parking garage. Although the garage has heating and lighting, there are few toilets and a limited number of cell phones and Internet services and electrical outlets.
The US Capitol Police confirmed on Friday that it would be investigating the matter.
Politico reported the move first, and lawmakers lashed out.
“This is outrageous, embarrassing and incredibly disrespectful to the men and women who keep the US Capitol safe,” said Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona. “We need to fix it and we need answers about how it happened.”
Republican Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina also took to Twitter:
Duckworth called it “ unreal, ” adding that she couldn’t “ believe ” that the same brave service workers we’ve been asking to protect our Capitol and our Constitution for the past two weeks would be unceremoniously ordered to leave the building. I demand answers as soon as possible. They can use my office. ‘
Murphy told CBS News, “They had to go somewhere, I understand. There will always be some ruffled feathers, some people are not going to like it. The troops are going through. They are still performing their mission duties and that’s what they are. On doing it.”
Capitol Police said in a statement earlier Thursday night that the department “greatly appreciates the United States National Guard’s integral support in helping to secure the Capitol complex prior to and including the inaugural ceremony.”
The department said it recently called for security members’ shifts to be shortened to allow for more rest time off campus.