House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday he will oppose legislation to create a Jan. 6 riot commission because it excludes other incidents of civil unrest, including the summer protests in 2020 and the deadly shooting of GOP lawmakers in 2017.
“The presence of this political violence in American society cannot be tolerated, and it cannot be overlooked,” the California Republican said in a statement. ”I have communicated this to our Democrat colleagues for months, and its omission is deeply concerning.”
Pelosi, a California Democrat, announced last week that the top Democrat and Republican on the Homeland Security Committee reached a deal on legislation to create a 10-member commission with appointees equally divided between the two parties.
But some top Republicans want the commission to examine the incidents of civil unrest and politically targeted violence more broadly. McCarthy pointed to the April 2 car attack at the Capitol that killed Officer Billy Evans, in addition to the baseball field shooting that targeted Republican lawmakers four years ago.
In addition to McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has called for the commission to examine civil unrest more broadly.
McCarthy called the commission scope “shortsighted” because it would exclude “interrelated forms of political violence in America.”
Pelosi has insisted the commission’s scope should include only the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which was carried out by protesters supporting then-President Donald Trump and his claim that the election was rigged in Joe Biden’s favor.
The top Republican on the panel who agreed to the deal is Rep. John Katko of New York, who is among the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in February on the charge that he incited the riot.
The commission has divided top Republicans.
In addition to Katko, other House Republicans side with Pelosi and say the commission should be limited to the Jan. 6 riot, so the measure is likely to garner Republican support.
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming strongly supports limiting the commission to the Jan. 6 riot, and her public views on the matter, as well as her opposition to Trump, raised tensions with McCarthy.
Cheney was ousted as the House Republican Conference’s chairwoman last week, in part because McCarthy no longer supported her.
The House is slated to vote on the commission this week. Lawmakers will also consider a $2 billion spending package to shore up Capitol security, which was incapable of stopping the throngs of protesters from entering the Capitol and posing a threat to lawmakers and staff as they tore through the building for hours.
McCarthy said the commission legislation was rushed without committee consideration and would duplicate the riot investigations conducted by Senate committees and congressional officials. It could also hamper the efforts of federal law enforcement, he said.
“The Federal Bureau of Investigation continues to investigate any and all crimes committed that day, and I fully support these individuals being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McCarthy said. “Unfortunately, the legislation being considered in the House this week is drafted in such a way that could interfere with and ultimately undermine these ongoing prosecutorial efforts.”
