Metal detectors removed from outside the House chamber

Metal detectors were removed from outside the House chamber with the start of the new Republican-controlled House on Tuesday.

The extra layer of security was ordered put in place by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The addition of the metal detectors drew the ire of House Republicans, several of whom initially refused to comply with the new security screenings and pushed passed Capitol Police into the chamber without passing through the magnetometers.

In response, Pelosi announced that the House would institute fines for lawmakers who bypassed security, with a $5,000 fine for the first offense and $10,000 for the second.

“It is tragic that this step is necessary, but the chamber of the People’s House must and will be safe,” she said at the time.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) — who was seen having a dispute with police over the metal detectors in the days after their placement — celebrated their removal in a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday.

“When I arrived in Congress two years, Nancy Pelosi put this hunk of garbage outside of the House chambers for members of Congress to go through,” Boebert said, as the metal detectors were removed behind her. “Today, they are being removed and we are turning Pelosi’s House back into the people’s House.”