Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Wednesday accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of proposing a partisan riot commission that rejects the bipartisan model put in place nearly two decades following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“The 50-50 bipartisan split of the commissioners was a key feature, “ McConnell said Wednesday. “It both helped the effectiveness of the investigation itself and helped give the whole country confidence in its work and recommendations. This time, Speaker Pelosi started by proposing a commission that would be partisan by design.”
House Democrats have pitched draft legislation that would create a temporary commission to examine the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and produce a report by the end of the year. Both parties have called for a commission to investigate the attack. House Republicans have introduced legislation to form a bipartisan panel, equally divided between the two parties.
Pelosi’s proposal, however, would give Democrats overwhelming control of the commission. It would allow Democrats and President Biden to pick a total of seven of the panel members, while the GOP would be authorized to choose only four of those members. The plan would grant subpoena authority to a sole Democratic commission member and not to any Republicans.
McConnell on Tuesday warned the panel could become a partisan tool if the purpose strays beyond the Jan. 6 attack and security failures by law enforcement to keep the rioters out of the building.
“If Congress is going to attempt some broader analysis of toxic political violence across this country,” McConnell said. “Then, in that case, we cannot have artificial cherry-picking of which terrible behavior does and does not deserve scrutiny.”
A senior House Democratic aide said the proposal is not final.
On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, called for an evenly split commission that allows both parties subpoena power.
“Speaker Pelosi is doing it all wrong,” McCarthy said.
Democrats Wednesday held a hearing on “the rise of white supremacy and right-wing extremism.”
Republicans argue left-wing violence also deserves attention after months of social justice rioting and protests caused billions of dollars in damages and more than two dozen deaths around the country last year.
