WASHINGTON
Since the moment he entered the Senate, everything in front of Sen. Alex Padilla has appeared to be a crisis.
First it was getting President Biden’s COVID-19 bill approved. Now it’s the Democrats’ infrastructure plan, reforming immigration policy and addressing climate change.
“We have to act with urgency,” Padilla said, repeating that word frequently during a 30-minute interview. Because of “the magnitude of a lot of issues before us, but also the urgency of a lot of issues before us, I can’t help but try to work as hard as I can and as fast as I can.”
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The letter, released on Monday, added that the board s structure is flawed, leading to slow reactions to crises and politically driven decision-making.
Ex-Capitol Police chief Steven Sund has said that he asked the now-former House and Senate sergeants-at-arms ahead of Jan. 6 for permission to request placing the D.C. National Guard on standby in case police needed reinforcements to help control the expected pro-Trump crowd. Sund has said both sergeants-at-arms turned down his request, with Paul Irving, the House sergeant-at-arms at the time, saying he wasn t comfortable with the optics of formally making an emergency declaration ahead of the Electoral College proceedings.