As the Capitol Police force is strained to its limits, lawmakers are looking to a key group of officers — those who are nearing retirement.

The House passed a bill Monday evening that could potentially allow Capitol Police officers to work until the age of 65.

“No officer should be forced to retire when they can still do the job,” the bill’s sponsor, House Administration Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., said in a statement.

Under current law, officers are forced to retire at 57, but the Capitol Police Board can exempt them until they turn 60. The bill would give the board the power to set a new waiver age “not less than 57 years of age and not more than 65 years of age.” 

Capitol Police have faced significant staffing challenges in recent years as threats to lawmakers and the greater congressional community have grown. While upping the retirement age wouldn’t instantly fix the problem, it could help, according to supporters of the proposal. 

The union representing Capitol Police officers called it a “pragmatic” piece of legislation, saying the force has been “working huge amounts of overtime and pulling double shifts as we face officer shortages and an increasing threat environment.” 

“We must end the practice of seeing experienced, capable officers walk out the door due to an unnecessary and early retirement age,” Capitol Police union chairman Gus Papathanasiou said in a statement. 

Around 60 sworn officers are currently working on a retirement waiver, according to the House Administration Committee, more than double the size of a typical class of recruits.

The bill was approved by the House Administration Committee at an April 22 markup with the bipartisan support of ranking member Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., and on Monday it passed on the floor with a voice vote.

Morelle said on the floor that Capitol Police officers “have one of the most critical, demanding jobs in the legislative branch,” pointing to some who helped evacuate members of Congress from the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday night after a gunman charged past a Secret Service checkpoint.  

“Keeping seasoned professionals with years of valuable experience protecting the Congress is an exciting conversation” that police leaders are “very much looking forward to continuing,” a Capitol Police spokesperson said in a statement.  

Retention is a problem for many law enforcement agencies across the country. But for the force protecting Congress, it became a particularly sore subject after Jan. 6, 2021, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, injuring officers and tanking morale. 

Those concerns still linger, and Capitol Police Chief Michael Sullivan testified before the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee last month that the department needs to do more to entice officers to stay as it competes with agencies that may be able to offer better benefits, like Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Capitol Police are seeking more than $1 billion for fiscal 2027, their largest request to date. That includes $734 million for salaries and benefits and $273 million for general expenses, along with $15.7 million for multiyear security and cybersecurity upgrades. 

Around 500 additional officers would be needed to “complete the workload that is being asked of the Capitol Police,” in addition to the department’s current level of 2,300 sworn officers, Sullivan testified. And attrition can derail even the most aggressive recruitment strategies.

“Hiring is one thing. Being able to retain the men and women that do this work every single day is something we need to focus on,” Sullivan told House appropriators. 

If the retirement waiver bill is passed by the Senate and signed into law, the Capitol Police Board could then move to decide what new age to set. Charged with overseeing congressional law enforcement, that board consists of the architect of the Capitol and both the House and Senate sergeants at arms. The chief of Capitol Police also sits on the board but is a nonvoting member.

Speaking in support of the bill on the House floor Monday, Rep. Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., described a “welcome and much-needed increase in recruitment numbers” but stressed the urgency of solving “staffing challenges” for Capitol Police, especially in the face of political violence. 

“Threats against lawmakers are at all-time highs. This weekend’s events once again remind us of that reality,” she said.