Despite compromises by the Democratic Party, Senate Republicans have blocked an effort lead by the Democrats to establish a bipartisan commission investigating the riots and insurrection at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6. With a bipartisan commission now officially off the books, the only other solution left for the Democrats may be to establish a congressional select committee into investigating the attack, which is sure to be more partisan.
For weeks, the Democratic Party had tried to compromise with the Republican Party into establishing an independent, nonpartisan investigation into the Jan. 6 riots. When the bill was being discussed in the House, the highest-ranking members from both parties of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., agreed to a compromise. This essentially resulted in the Democrats agreeing to all the Republicans’ demands.
The final bill would be similar to the 9/11 Commission established shortly after 9/11 and would consist of 10 members: five chosen by each party. Subpoena power was to be granted to the committee if it had the consent of both the chair (appointed by Democrats) and vice-chair (appointed by Republicans). The commission was to produce a final report by the end of the year.
Previously, many Republicans supported the bill, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. This was likely in part due to a belief that a compromise would never be reached between the two parties, but when the Democrats unexpectedly agreed to all of the Republicans’ demands, McCarthy suddenly changed his mind about two weeks ago and declared that he opposed such a commission, claiming “political misdirections,” the effort being “counterproductive,” and would “not examine interrelated forms of political violence” as reasons why he opposed it.
Obviously, former President Donald Trump opposed the commission, since it is exceedingly likely, if not certain, that the commission would find a link between Trump and the riots.
Despite Trump and McCarthy’s opposition, the bill ultimately cleared the House on May 19, with 35 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting for the bill, for a final vote tally of 252-175. Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, and John Katko of New York were among the most prominent representatives who voted for the bill. All had voted to impeach Trump.
On Friday, just six Republicans joined the Democrats to support advancing the measure to creating the commission, for a final vote of 54-35. It was short of the 60 senators needed to invoke cloture and stop a Republican filibuster. (Two Democrats were absent for the vote. Had they voted, the bill would still be four members short of clearing the filibuster.)
The six Republicans were Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, and Ben Sasse of Nebraska. Aside from Portman, all of them had voted to convict Trump previously, while Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina was the lone Republican senator who voted to impeach Trump but refused to back this bill. (Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania was absent. Even if he joined the six, the bill would still fall short of the 60 votes needed.)
The vote indicated stark and unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump from the Republican Party and was a blatant display of political self-interest to stop an inquiry that could potentially have damaging effects on the party. They feared that the commission would remind everyone of the damaging consequences of the GOP’s election lies and how it ultimately lead to violence on the day of the electoral vote certification on Jan. 6. In addition, many feared political repercussions during the 2022 midterm elections should the commission go ahead.
Any hope for a nonpartisan, independent commission into the riots is now practically gone. Murkowski said of the vote failing: “To be making a decision for short-term political gain at the expense of understanding and acknowledging what was in front of us on Jan. 6 — I think we need to look at that critically.”
Despite the fact that the Department of Justice will still be prosecuting hundreds of rioters, and Democrat-led congressional committees are still going to open inquiries into the events that transpired on that fateful January afternoon, such inquiries are almost certainly to be far more partisan, and as a result, have less credibility among Republicans, and is sure to face challenges that a commission would not — namely, the lack of the ability to look at the full picture.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who had previously promised ensuring that the commission bill would get a vote in the Senate regardless of Republican support, denounced the Republican Party for trying to “sweep the horrors of that day under the rug because they are afraid of Donald Trump,” calling it shameful and asking if “my Republican colleagues remember the savage mob calling for the execution of Mike Pence, the makeshift gallows outside the Capitol?”
Bringing a vote on the commission onto the Senate floor was a winning strategy for the Democrats. Considering the fact that the majority of Americans were in favor of such a commission with just 29 percent opposing it, based on a poll conducted by YouGov and The Economist between May 22 and 25, the fact that Republicans blocked such a commission is sure to resonate well with many voters.
In addition, it would keep the news cycle constantly flowing with news about the insurrection, continually reminding voters of the Jan. 6 riots.
The Democratic Party is now likely to set up congressional committees to examine the attack. For instance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., could set up a House select committee with the sole purpose of investigating the insurrection, which would give Democrats unilateral subpoena power, unlike in the commission which would require bipartisan agreement. They could also drag on the commission and give it much more time to investigate whatever they want, potentially allowing them to release damaging information about Republicans just prior to the 2022 midterms.
Cassidy, a Republican senator who comes from a very red state — Louisiana — and who also voted to convict Trump earlier this year, argued that by blocking the bipartisan commission, his party was giving Democrats reason to pursue partisan investigations of Jan. 6 without the input of Republicans.
In spite of the fact that a major piece of legislation was being blocked by the filibuster, Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, continued to remain a holdout of abolishing the filibuster, saying that he was not “willing to destroy our government.” Without Manchin’s support, the filibuster cannot be abolished. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, the only other Democrat who previously opposed the filibuster, did not comment on the issue as she was one of two Democrats who were not present for the vote on the commission.
The filibuster remains a procedural roadblock stopping much of the Democrats’ agenda from advancing, including bills on voting-rights reforms, abortion, gun control, and more.
With the defeat of this bill in the Senate, we are likely to see Democrats pursue more partisan and one-sided investigations into the insurrection, which could potentially be even more damaging to the Republicans than if a report had been released from an independent commission.