In the aftermath of the January 6th ‘Stop the Steal’ rally, House Democrats under Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) largely closed off the House to the public.

For months after the rally, the Capitol was surrounded by militarized police and members of the National Guard and surrounded by barbed wire fences.

Metal detectors were also placed outside the House chamber doors, and members were fined if they refused to go through them.

Republican Representatives, such as Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tx.) and Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) sued the House after being fined for refusing to walk through the metal detectors.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) has said that he will make the House more accessible to the public and remove the tight security measures if he is elected Speaker of the House.

McCarthy is expected to be the Speaker, but he may face stiff opposition from more conservative members of the House.

The Daily Caller Reports

The U.S. Capitol is set to become more accessible to the public in January after Republicans take control of the House of Representatives, said House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Over the 117th Congress, much of the Capitol, particularly the House of Representatives, remained inaccessible to members of the public. The galleries of both chambers, as well as access to offices and public tour spots like the rotunda, were closed due to COVID-19, while security measures, such as non-scalable fencing, which was later removed, were put in place after Jan. 6, 2021 to further limited access, according to Politico.

Opening the Capitol to the public would be “one of the first orders of business,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter. Members of the public may gain access to the galleries through normal procedures as well as obtain tickets from members, a measure that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suspended following the storming of the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.

 

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