House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a bipartisan deal to form a bipartisan commission to examine the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, but the bill divides the GOP, and the top House Republican hasn’t read the agreement or signed off on it.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, said Friday the House would vote as early as next week on a bill to appoint a 10-member, bipartisan commission to examine the events of Jan. 6, when throngs of protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol in support of then-President Donald Trump, who has argued the 2020 election was stolen from him.
PARTISAN BATTLE OVER JAN. 6 COMPLICATES VOTE TO CREATE RIOT COMMISSION
“It is imperative that we seek the truth of what happened on January 6 with an independent, bipartisan 9/11-type Commission to examine and report upon the facts, causes and security relating to the terrorist mob attack,” Pelosi said in a statement Friday.
The top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee signed off on the agreement, but the scope of the investigation divides Republicans.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, announced the deal Friday after days of negotiating with Republican Rep. John Katko of New York, who is the ranking member.
Katko was among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on the charge of inciting the Jan. 6 riot and said Friday, “An independent, bipartisan commission will remove politicization of the conversation and focus solely on the facts and circumstances surrounding the security breach at the Capitol as well as other instances of violence relevant to such a review.”
Thompson said he would introduce the measure with Katko on Friday.
McCarthy and other top Republicans say Democrats are playing politics by ignoring other violent events, such as the civil unrest and riots in cities last summer and a car attack at the U.S. Capitol on Good Friday that killed Capitol Police Officer Billy Evans.
It’s not clear whether Katko’s pledge that the commission would include “other instances of violence” is enough to satisfy McCarthy, who said he has not read the legislation yet.
Pelosi has insisted on limiting the scope to Jan. 6, while McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell say the panel should broaden the investigation to include other civil unrest.
McCarthy told reporters Friday the commission cannot be limited to examining Jan. 6.
“If this commission is going to come forward to tell us how to protect this facility in the future, you want to make sure that the scope, that you can look at all that came up before and what came up after. So that’s very concerning to me,” the California Republican said.
The Jan. 6 commission was among the key issues that split the Republican leadership.
Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and vocal opponent of Trump, said the commission should be limited to Jan. 6. The position put her at odds with McCarthy and put additional strain on their relationship.
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McCarthy dropped his support of Cheney earlier this month, which paved the way for Cheney’s ouster as Republican Conference chairwoman in a House vote on Wednesday.
The House also plans to vote on a bill to provide roughly $2 billion in federal funding to shore up security at the Capitol in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot.
