Little else is getting done as Republicans hash out who's going to be the next speaker of the House, but one order of business important to the GOP did take place Tuesday: The metal detectors outside of the chamber, installed at the order of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, were yanked out, reports the Hill. The detectors had long irked House Republicans, several of whom received fines for circumventing them. Axios notes the detectors were removed just days before the second anniversary of the Capitol riot.
Democrats had argued that the detectors would help keep House members safe amid an increasingly hostile political climate. They also feared some GOPers would try to bring weapons into the House chamber. Republicans balked right from the start at both the magnetometers and the fines for refusing to go through them, which were $5,000 for a first offense and $10,000 for a second, per the Independent. At least a half-dozen GOP members—including Texas' Louie Gohmert, Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, and Georgia's Andrew Clyde—were hit last year with penalties from the House Ethics Committee regarding detector avoidance.
Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, who had her own standoff at a metal detector entry point a few days after they were put in place, celebrated their removal on Tuesday. "Nancy Pelosi put this hunk of garbage outside of the House chambers," Boebert said in a video she posted to Twitter as the units could be seen being taken out behind her. "Today, they are being removed and we are turning Pelosi's House back into the people's House." (More House Republicans stories.)
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