Floor fights, outraged outbursts and shouting matches on the steps of the U.S. Capitol have become a new normal in Congress.
As lawmakers face an increase in violent threats from voters, they’re also turning the vitriol on one another.
“Congress is a very toxic place to work,” Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger told CBS News.
Kinzinger was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach then-President Trump and is one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol. He’s leaving Congress at the end of his term in part out of frustration with his own party.
“January 6 brought out into the light, the division, the lies,” he said.
Kinzinger’s Illinois district neighbors that of Democrat Cheri Bustos, who is also stepping down as she finds it harder to work across the aisle.
“We don’t necessarily face an angry mob every day we go into work, but the atmosphere in Washington has not gotten a whole lot better,” she said.
Bustos was on the House floor when it was barricaded as a mob stormed the Capitol last year. She was only feet away from the shooting in the Speaker’s Lobby.
“It played into my decision not to run for reelection, when you have your family who fears for your safety,” she said.
Capitol Police fielded roughly 9,600 threats against lawmakers last year. Some members have been censured or stripped from committees after targeting their own colleagues.
“We can’t continue to go in this direction,” Bustos said.
Though Kinzinger and Bustos are leaving Congress, they’re not giving up on the institution.
“The American people have got to stop hoping that Congress and leaders make the difference, and they’ve got to demand the difference,” Kinzinger said.
