Jan. 2 (UPI) — President Joe Biden honored former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairs of the January 6 Special Committee, with Presidential Citizens Medals along with 18 others.
Established in 1969 and recognized as the second-highest civilian award from the U.S. government, the Presidential Citizens Medal recognizes individuals who perform exemplary deeds of service for their country or fellow citizens.
Cheney, from Wyoming, and Thompson, from Mississippi, co-chaired the House committee that examined the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building while a joint session of Congress attempted to certify the 2020 presidential election.
Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, lost her seat in the House and was roundly criticized by President-elect Donald Trump and other conservative Republicans for taking part in the special committee with Democrats.
“The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice,” the White House said of the honorees.
Cheney, who became one of Trump’s leading Republican critics, campaigned with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris during last year’s presidential election season.
Biden also bestowed medals on former Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.; former Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del.; former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan.; former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., who starred in the NBA in addition to having a political career; and former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y.
Other recipients include Mary Bonauto, who argued for same-sex marriage in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Obergefell case and former Army nurse Diane Carlson Evans.
Others include medical war innovator Frank Butler, Jr.; war photographer Bobb Sager, woman’s rights advocate Eleanor Smeal, Vietnam veteran Thomas Vallely, National Breast Cancer Coalition President Frances Visco, educator Paula Wallace, and marriage equality advocate Evan Wolfson.
Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, who was an internment camp detainee during World War II, was recognized posthumously. Reporter Joseph Galloway, civil rights advocate Louis Lorenzo Redding, Delaware Judge Collins J. Seitz were also recognized posthumously.