As President Joe Biden gives his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, for the third year in a row it will be with the Capitol surrounded by that eyesore that is the fencing we came to know and hate. Such a move reportedly comes at the request of the Secret Service, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) told Fox News' Chad Pergram.
2) McCarthy: The Secret Service requested it. The Sergeant at Arms on the Senate side, agreed and so did the Architect of the Capitol. The Sergeant at Arms on the House side didn't see the need for it..I just don't think it's the right look. There's not a need.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) February 7, 2023
While the Secret Service may have requested it, and the Sergeant at Arms of the Senate and the Architect of the Capitol agreed, the Sergeant at Arms of the House side did not. Given which parties control which chamber, this might be something of a partisan divide.
Perhaps most important of all is that McCarthy also pointed out that there has been no intelligence reports that there's been a problem. If there had been, one would hope that the lessons would be learned from January 6 to actually properly prepare members of Congress.
They’re building the wall around the Capitol for the SOTU of the guy who got the “most votes in American history”
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) February 6, 2023
The same fence that Nancy Pelosi’s staff secretly stopped from being erected on J6 pic.twitter.com/xb89cf4L4E
McCarthy is not the only one who doesn't see a need for fencing, far from it. It's also not something past presidential administrations have felt the need to employ for their addresses, as Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) pointed out in a statement for Townhall.
"For 97 past addresses, the Capitol security apparatus was able to secure the campus without turning the People’s House into a fortress. I have serious concerns with the Capitol Police Board and Biden Administration using nearly $1 million in taxpayer dollars on a fence when there are no credible threats ahead of tonight’s State of the Union address. I agree with the House Sergeant at Arms’ vote against installing the fence," the congressman shared.
While the House was under Democratic control up until just last month, following the 2022 elections which brought about a Republican majority, the Capitol had been closed for 1,026 days, something Rep. Steil often spoke out against, including in previous conversations with Townhall.
As our friends at Twitchy highlighted when the reports of the Capitol fencing came out earlier in the week, users had some fun pointing out the irony of an administration that refuses to believe in the use of walls at, say the southern border, but is fine keeping the People's House walled up.
I have a novel idea. Let’s move the Capitol to the southern border. The wall would be finished in a week.
— edgiesversion 24ElectionMatters (@edgiesversion) February 6, 2023
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who notably reacted to many parts of Biden's address last year, also had something to say about the fencing, raising further issues with the administration.
The fence is back up around the Capitol for SOTU because Biden knows walls work on the ground.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) February 6, 2023
Joe Biden is more afraid of Americans visiting their Capitol than a Chinese Spy Balloon invading our air space that could have carried God only knows what. pic.twitter.com/PPFiADWP4W
They’ve reinstalled the fence around the Capitol.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) February 6, 2023
With no reports of increased threats, I can only assume it’s to ensure Biden doesn’t wander off after the SOTU.
"Secret Service" is currently trending on Twitter, in part due to McCarthy's remarks that they were the ones who requested the fencing.