Congress passes bill to give Capitol Police chief authority to request National Guard help

By Ryan Nobles and Kristin Wilson, CNN

In a rare moment of bipartisanship, the House and Senate have passed by unanimous consent a bill that would give the chief of the US Capitol Police unilateral control to ask for support from the National Guard or federal law enforcement in the event of an emergency.

The bill will now go to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

As it stands now, the chief must get the consent of the Capitol Police Board to ask for this type of back up. Both Republicans and Democrats have felt that layer of bureaucracy was at least part of what led to a delayed response from federal forces supporting Capitol Police on January 6.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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