Report: House Democrats Plan to Relocate January 6 Plaque

House Democrats plan to relocate a memorial plaque honoring law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, when they assume control of the chamber in January following last week’s midterm elections.

Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, confirmed to Politico that he plans to facilitate the relocation when Democrats assume the House majority in January.

The plaque, which honors U.S. Capitol Police officers, D.C. Metropolitan Police officers, and others who responded to the Capitol riot, is currently displayed in a basement hallway on the Senate side of the building.

Morelle is still determining the logistics of moving the plaque, according to Politico. Democrats have sought a more visible location for the memorial following a dispute with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over its installation.

In 2022, the Democrat-controlled Congress passed legislation authorizing the plaque to recognize law enforcement officers and others who “bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy.”

An estimated 250 law enforcement officers were injured during the January 6 riot, and five officers who were present died in the following days, according to the House select committee that investigated the incident.

However, the plaque was not installed by the March 15, 2023, deadline established by Congress, prompting criticism from Democrats.

Johnson told the Associated Press in January 2026 the legislation authorizing the plaque was “not implementable.”

Days later, the Senate unanimously approved a measure requiring the plaque to be displayed on its side of the Capitol.

The memorial was subsequently installed in March 2026 in a basement hallway overlooking the Capitol’s West Front, where some of the most intense confrontations between rioters and law enforcement officers occurred.

The dispute over the plaque’s installation prompted House Democrats to display replicas outside their congressional offices in June 2025 in response to Johnson’s refusal to install the original.

As Breitbart News reported in June 2025, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) joined other House Democrats in encouraging lawmakers to display reproductions of the memorial until the official plaque was installed.

“Speaker Johnson refuses to put it up. He’s consistently refused to put it up,” Raskin said at the time.

“With Joe Morelle, who’s the ranking member of the House Administration Committee, Jim McGovern, who’s the ranking member of the House Rules Committee,” Raskin continued, “we’ve sent a letter to all of our colleagues saying, put this up until Speaker Johnson complies with the law.”

Raskin argued that the plaque recognized officers who protected lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence during the riot.

“And there should be nothing controversial about this, and people should stop trying to rewrite the history of what happened on January 6,” Raskin said.

He also cited statements made by prominent Republicans following the riot, including then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), and then-Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

“There’s no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said at the time, according to the remarks Raskin cited.

The renewed effort to relocate the plaque comes after Democrats regained control of the House in the November 3 midterm elections. House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) emphasized affordability as his party’s governing priority during a November 4 CNN interview, declaring, “We ran on affordability. We won decisively on affordability,” while also asserting a constitutional responsibility to “serve as a check and balance” on the Trump administration. Meanwhile, former Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin warned during a November 6 CNBC interview that Democrats should not interpret their victories as a mandate for a “far left agenda,” arguing that voters were primarily expressing frustration over living expenses. “Americans are worried about their own finances,” Youngkin said, citing gasoline, electricity, and grocery costs.