Casten Statement Ahead of the 1-Year Anniversary of the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
Downers Grove, IL — Today, U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06) released the following statement ahead of the 1-year anniversary of the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol:
"When I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, I never thought I would live to see a president foment a deadly insurrection in an effort to prevent the peaceful transition of power–let alone 139 of my own colleagues — two-thirds of the House Republican Conference — vote to finish the job the mob attempted to do by force.
"There are 535 elected members of Congress. Others have held our jobs before, and if we do our jobs right, someone else will hold them when we go. At a fundamental level, all Members of Congress are simply custodians of our office. Our job is to preserve our democracy and pass this government onto the next generation in slightly better condition than we found it.
"The January 6th attack that left nearly 10 Americans dead and hundreds wounded was not the only assault on our democracy. It started with a viral disinformation campaign to denigrate American democracy and overturn the results of an election during and after the 2020 campaign and continued with 34 attacks on voting rights enacted in 19 states in 2021 alone.
"If we just move on and ignore what caused this attack in the name of unity, the violence will only get worse. We have an obligation to hold those who sought to overthrow our democracy on January 6th accountable, and we can't stop working to save our country until we've done so."
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