On January 6, 2021, a mob stormed the United States Capitol, injuring more than 150 police officers. Some were beaten with baseball bats, flagpoles, and pipes. Others were crushed, tased, and left with lasting physical and psychological trauma. Officers Harry Dunn and Daniel Hodges were among those who stood their ground that day — and then testified before Congress about what they witnessed.

Now the Trump administration wants to pay the people who attacked them.

Without authorization from Congress, the Trump administration has created a nearly $1.8 billion fund that critics from both parties have called a slush fund for insurrectionists and the right-wing militia groups that carried out the January 6 attack. After already issuing nearly 1,600 pardons to those convicted for their roles in the assault, the administration is now moving to compensate them with taxpayer dollars.

Officers Dunn and Hodges have filed suit to stop it. They deserve our support.

We are calling on Congress to exercise its authority and shut this fund down. It was created without Congressional approval. It can be blocked with Congressional action. Taxpayer money must not flow to those who beat police officers, ransacked the Capitol, and attempted to overturn a democratic election.

The $1.8 billion fund is not justice. It is a reward. Congress must block it now.

Photo: Stephanie Keith/Reuters