Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he will not support a Jan. 6 riot commission, joining top House Republican leaders in opposing a panel some in the party fear will be used as a political weapon.
McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said existing investigations in the Senate and at the Justice Department are more than sufficient to examine the events leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by throngs of protesters supporting President Donald Trump, as well as the response by Capitol law enforcement that failed to keep the rioters out of the building.
The Democratic-led House is slated to pass the commission bill Wednesday.
McConnell criticized Democrats for proposing a panel slanted in favor of Democrats, although the composition of appointees and subpoena power would be evenly divided between the parties.
“I’ve made the decision to oppose the House Democrats’ slanted and unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of January 6,” McConnell announced on the Senate floor.
“There has been and will continue to be no shortage of robust investigations by two separate branches of the federal government. It’s not at all clear what new facts an additional investigation, yet another commission, could lay on top of existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress.”
Top Republican leaders have spoken against forming the commission for months, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi made changes to the proposal to try to accommodate the GOP, including making the panel evenly bipartisan and granting joint subpoena power.
But the California Democrat has refused the GOP’s request to broaden the scope of the investigation to include other incidents of violence and civil unrest, such as the deadly and destructive social justice protests last summer.
Republicans say the panel could be steered toward politically damaging the GOP while ignoring other dangerous civil unrest. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced that he opposes the panel and said it should be broadened to include other incidents such as the Good Friday death of Capitol Police Officer Billy Evans, who was purposely struck by a car at the Senate entrance gate.
McConnell said Democrats, who control both chambers, “are continuing to insist on various other features … that are designed to centralize control over the commission’s process and its conclusions in Democratic hands.”
McConnell’s announcement comes a day after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pledged a Senate floor vote on the commission, daring the GOP to vote against it.
Later in the day, House GOP leaders said they are encouraging fellow Republican lawmakers to vote against the bill.
But it is likely to get GOP support in both chambers.
Ten House Republicans voted to impeach President Donald Trump on the charge of inciting the riot, and seven Senate Republicans joined in the unsuccessful vote to convict Trump.
Senate Democrats need 10 GOP lawmakers to pass the commission bill.
