House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that members of the House can pay for additional security measures with their congressional fees, saying the House should likely spend additional money on members’ security because “the enemy is in the House of Representatives.”
“It should not be that the President of the United States is not only provoking an insurrection, but is continuing to fuel the flame that is endangering the safety of members of Congress to the point that they are even concerned about the fact that members in the House of Representatives pose a danger to them, ”she said.
When asked what she meant by “the enemy is inside,” the California Democrat said, “It means we have members of Congress who want to put guns on the ground and have threatened violence against other members of Congress.”
Some Republican representatives, including Andy Harris of Maryland and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have reportedly expressed a desire or attempted to bring guns to the floor of the House room, where they are banned. Pelosi ordered the installation of magnetometers outside the House room in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack and pledged to set thousands of dollars in fines for members who refused to comply with the screening.
Another Republican member, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia, posted a speech on Facebook in February 2019 saying that Pelosi is “guilty of treason … a crime punishable by death.”
Earlier at her press conference, the speaker questioned the Republican leaders’ decision to give Greene a seat on the House Education and Labor Committee in light of Greene’s earlier allegation that school shootings were “false-flag” operations.
What could they think – or is thinking too generous a word about what they could do? It’s absolutely horrible, ”Pelosi said.
The speaker’s comments came in response to a request from more than 30 members of the House of Representatives to use their congressional fees to increase their personal safety in their home districts, including hiring local law enforcement or other security personnel. The letter was first obtained by CBS News.
The members asked for more leeway in the use of their members’ representation allowance, an annual allocation set by the house administration committee that provides members with the operational budget for staff, mail and other office expenses to carry out their official duties .
“I think, however, that while it is appropriate for them to use their MRA for their security, they shouldn’t have to because there is money to meet the needs of the voters,” Pelosi said.
The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol added to many lawmakers’ uneasiness about their personal safety in Washington, but even more so at home, where they lack the protections afforded by the Capitol Police – and where most spend most of their time .
Pelosi said she will meet with retired Lieutenant General Russel Honoré later Thursday, who is conducting a security investigation of the Capitol and studying the safety of its members both in Washington, DC and their districts, as well as transportation in between.
Zak Hudak contributed to this story.