After delays, the missing Jan. 6 plaque will be displayed at the Capitol : NPR

A replica plaque commemorating the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021 sits outside the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP

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Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP

WASHINGTON — The Senate has agreed to display a plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, pushing back against House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said the memorial did not comply with the law.

The action moved quickly, with a brief debate, during indoor action on Thursday. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced this week, on the fifth anniversary of the Capitol siege, that he would ensure the plaque was installed, in partnership with Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, who was also working on the situation, and Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California. No senator opposed it.

“A lot of people said it was a dark day for democracy,” Tillis said of Jan. 6, 2021, describing his memory of hearing thousands of people — “thugs,” he said — lay siege to the Capitol as Congress counted the results of the 2020 election.

He said that thanks to the work of law enforcement, it had become a great day for democracy. “We came back and fulfilled our constitutional duty to certify the election,” he said. “We owe them eternal gratitude and this nation is stronger because of them.”

This week, senators took action after learning that the plaque, approved by Congress more than three years ago, was nowhere to be found at the Capitol. Instead, many House lawmakers have hung replicas outside their office doors.

The Senate also appears motivated by President Donald Trump’s White House’s shifting narrative about what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the building after he urged them to go to the Capitol to confront Congress over Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Trump himself denied responsibility for the attack during a speech this week in which he said he only intended for his supporters to march peacefully to the Capitol. Additionally, the White House produced a new glossy report also laying blame for the deadly riot: on Democrats, for Biden’s victory over Trump, and on the police for their response to the mob.

“It’s so important that we be honest with the American people about what happened,” Merkley said in urging passage of the resolution.

“It is so important that we recognize those who defended our democratic republic that day,” he said, and that “people know that we came back, as senators and House members, and finished our work that day, for a peaceful transfer of power.”

Padilla said part of the context was the new White House website, which he said was an “attempt to rewrite history.” He said it “dishonors” the officers.

“The Senate’s bipartisan commitment to real history is strong,” he said.

The plaque, by law, was intended to be placed on the west side of the Capitol, where some of the fiercest fighting took place. It was to be installed in 2023, a year after the legislation was passed.

The new resolution directs the Architect of the Capitol to “prominently display” the plaque in a “publicly accessible” location in the Senate wing of the Capitol until it can be placed in its permanent location.

To display the plaque in the intended location, the approval of the Chamber would be required.

The office of Johnson, a Republican who before becoming House speaker led efforts to object to the 2020 election results, said this week that the plaque, as constructed, did not comply with the law.

Police sued to have the plaque displayed as required, but Trump’s Justice Department is trying to dismiss the suit.

Tillis said part of the “technical implementation issue” was because the law specified the plaque would honor all officers involved, but the plaque only lists the various law enforcement agencies that responded to assist the Capitol Police that day.

He said there would be a digital component, likely a website, that would list all the names. The number of officers is in the thousands.

“You’ll see how many people came here,” he said.