During a House Appropriations Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) spoke of his disapproval for the delay in installing a plaque to honor the officers who defended the Capitol on January 6.
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00:00I am deeply disappointed that the plaque honoring the men and women, the officers who responded to January 6th, has not been installed.
00:11The directive was passed into law in a bipartisan vote on 2022.
00:18It's been four years since that horrible day and two years since the plaque was completed, was done.
00:26This is particularly alarming because many in this campus feel they have ownership.
00:35They gloat about the concept that they are deeply more patriotic than anybody else in this universe.
00:42And that, in fact, they have also a monopoly on the concept that they support law and order.
00:50But they fail consistently to honor the men and women that stood up to protect all of us in this room.
00:59My question is, what or who is preventing your office from installing the plaque as directed by law, honoring the men and women that protected us from a violent, angry, racist mob?
01:20When making modifications on the House side of campus or on the House side of the Capitol building, past practices that for modifications are directed by the office of the speaker.
01:32Has anybody instructed you in writing to make these modifications or this is something that you took up on your own?
01:39We have not received final instructions to install the plaque.
01:45So you have not received instructions two years later to install the plaque.
01:51And who would instruct you to do that?
01:55Mr. Espey, again, the past practices that for any modifications would come from the office of the speaker.
02:00Thank you, Mr. Austin.
02:04Just for the record, Mr. Chairman, we want to note that Mr. Austin has stated that the speaker of the House of Representatives has not instructed him four years after this horrible attack and two years after we had the plaque to install a plaque to honor the men and women that put their life in danger.
02:25Remember, this is outrageous, and we will continue on this side of the aisle to call for that plaque to be installed.
02:34Mr. Austin, last month, Mr. Guijalba, Raul Guijalba, passed away, and he had a long fight with cancer.
02:46And as a ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, he was an effective leader.
02:50During his tenure as a public servant, he proudly served the constituents in Arizona.
02:56And to honor his life and legacy, I would like to work with you to plant a cactus tree that was very dear and near to him on the Capitol campus.
03:05I have your commitment to do that.
03:08Sir, we'd be honored to work with your office, to work on it just as we are with all members.
03:13We'd be honored to.
03:13Thank you, Mr. Austin, for your testimony.
03:15Dr. Hayden, there's been an effort to ban books in America.
03:23In fact, we're seeing how Defense Secretary Hesse ordered the removal of almost 400 books from the Naval Academy Nimitz Library
03:33because the subject matter was seen as being related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
03:39The books banned were the following, some of them.
03:42I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.
03:47Memoralizing the Holocaust by Janet Jacobs.
03:50Imagine that.
03:51We don't want our new generations to know about the death camps during the Holocaust.
03:58Treblinka, Auschwitz, Bukingot.
04:02And another book was Race, Ethnicity, and Disability, Veterans and Benefits in Post-Civil War America by Larry Long and Peter Blank.
04:12How would this type of policy impact the Library of Congress if you were directed to do the same there?
04:21How would it impair your mission to have information, to educate children and families across America?
04:31As I mentioned earlier, the Library of Congress is unique among libraries because it serves all of Congress and all of the constituents that Congress serves.
04:45And so the continued growth of the Library of Congress' collections have to reflect the breadth and the depth and the experiences of all of the American people.
04:55And so removing items from the Library of Congress' collection, as you described, would conflict with that mission and our mandate to provide a universal source of knowledge.
05:09Yes, for the record, Mr. Chairman, I would like to note that this effort to ban books is nothing more than a modern book-burning exercise.
05:18Thank you, and I yield back.