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To: Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Congressional Dems: Support Staff and Employees After Attack
On January 6, 2021 during the certification of the electoral college results, the US Congress was attacked by domestic terrorists. The perpetrators were incited to action by the sitting president and several members of Congress who spread baseless lies about non-existent voter fraud in the 2020 election. During that time, offices were ransacked and all personnel in the building were terrorized and forced to take cover. Congress should immediately offer paid time off for all Congressional staff and other personnel who work in the Congressional complex, and provide grief and other counseling on an ongoing basis.
Why is this important?
During the attempted coup, several Congressional staffers took heroic actions (including protecting the states' electoral college records and remaining with their Members) and all employees and vendors in every part of the building faced unprecedented terror. Even worse, as the white-supremacist mob breached the complex, they paraded symbols of hate, including the Confederate battle flag, through the halls, chambers and offices of Congress.
All building personnel, particularly those who are the targets of this mob's ire (Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Jewish and LGBTQ) should be provided with immediate paid time off as well as 100% paid mental health and trauma support.
Regardless of whether someone works directly for a member of Congress, staffs a vendor location in the complex or provides cleaning services to the building, the trauma they have and will continue to endure after the events of January 6, 2021 can be traced back to government officials and members of Congress and to the abject failure to stop these events by Capitol Police. The least our country can do for these committed employees, staffers and vendors is provide time to recover, grieve and tend to their mental health needs.