By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – The last-minute deal to reimburse police and the National Guard for their help after Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., is just the latest example of threats of cutting pay and / or services in federal government, only to see an eleventh-hour solution.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told reporters on a Zoom call Friday some of these histrionics are for publicity, but it mostly reflects the kind of procrastination that, Durbin noted, keeps the post office open until midnight every April 15.
The Illinois National Guard commander had said without the reimbursement, he would have to cancel two monthly drills and the accompanying paychecks.
Durbin is unhappy about the lack of bipartisanship toward an investigation of the January 6 insurrection.
“It was a national disgrace” “and it wasn’t a matter — some Republicans want to blame the Capitol Hill policemen — ‘Nancy Pelosi should have hired more policemen.’ What an argument. The President gets a mob fired up, they march on the Capitol, and it’s the policemen’s fault that they marched and broke down the windows and doors?”
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].
