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Washington, DC -- Today, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) voted to pass the Emergency Security Supplemental to Respond to January 6th Appropriations Act, which would enhance security measures on Capitol Hill and provide additional resources for the United States Capitol Police (USCP).

As a member of the Appropriations Committee Legislative Branch subcommittee, Wexton worked to secure new funding and staff for mental health services at USCP and to include an increase in funding to provide benefits to help retain current officers while the department works to hire, train, and deploy new officers. Wexton also worked closely with the family of fallen USCP officer and Virginia-10 constituent Howie Liebengood to establish the Howard C. ‘Howie’ Liebengood Center for Wellness.

“To this day, our Capitol Police officers remain understaffed and working around the clock. Four months after the events of January 6th, our officers are still suffering as they continue to carry lingering physical and emotional trauma,” said Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton. “Those who put their lives on the line to save ours deserve our gratitude, not just in words but through action. I’m proud to have successfully secured millions of dollars in funding through this security supplemental for enhanced mental health services to support the Capitol Police during this time of crisis and into the future. I’m especially grateful to the family of fallen officer Howie Liebengood for all they’ve done to turn their grief over Howie’s loss into advocacy. It has been a privilege to work alongside them to honor Howie’s incredible life and legacy through this legislation.”

“We especially want to thank Congresswoman Wexton for championing this issue of trauma facing the Capitol Police,” said Capitol Police Union Chairman Gus Papathanasiou. “We have lost two officers this year in the line of duty. Officer Liebengood has tragically taken his own life and we have 80 officers who were seriously injured during the insurrection. I don’t think there is an officer in this department that has not experienced some level of trauma as a result of the insurrection. Congresswoman Wexton’s initiative is going to go a long way toward addressing this issue and make sure we don’t lose other good officers like Howie Liebengood.”

The Security Supplemental includes $43.9 million for the Capitol Police response to the January 6 insurrection, including:

• $4.411 million for Wellness and Trauma Support, including 6 new mental health counselors and wellness resilience specialists and 2.5 million to reimburse for U.S. Marshals Service for trauma support
• $31.1 million for Salaries to backfill overtime expected until the Capitol Police can hire, train, and deploy more officers and benefits to retain current officers, including $6.9 million for hazard pay; $3.6 million for retention bonuses; and $2.5 million for tuition credits to help with retention 
• $3.32 million for the Intelligence Division for human and technical resources 
• $5.048 million for Equipment and Services, including $2.716 million for reimbursement for equipment since the January 6 insurrection; $1.332 million for gas masks, tactical vests, body armor, and other equipment; $900,000 for cellular phone capability; and $100,000 for legal services

Wexton has also worked closely with the family of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Howie Liebengood, who died by suicide on January 9th after serving long hours on duty on the day of the riots and in the following days. Yesterday, Wexton’s office released a statement from the Liebengood family expressing their support for the mental health funding in the security supplemental, saying, “We are honored a wellness program bearing Howie's name has been proposed in the security supplemental along with more resources for the program. We welcome and support the new funding and staffing initiatives that will help prevent future tragedies among the USCP.” Their full statement can be found here.

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