More than four months after hundreds of protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, House Democrats plan to bring up legislation to create a commission to investigate the incident.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is “optimistic” the two parties can agree on legislation that would create a 10-member bipartisan panel evenly appointed by each party and equipped with subpoena power to take a closer look at what provoked the attack and how Capitol security failed to prevent hundreds of protesters from gaining entry into the building while lawmakers in the House and Senate met to certify the 2020 election.
“We have come closer in terms of negotiations about a commission,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday.
Lawmakers are also developing a supplemental spending measure worth up to $2 billion to pay for augmented security for the Capitol to prevent a future breach.
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters a vote on the commission and the spending bill could come as early as next week.
However, top Republicans are not entirely on board and say they fear the commission will be used as a political weapon ahead of the midterm elections.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have both called for the commission to investigate not only the Jan. 6 attack but the civil unrest last summer that caused billions of dollars in damage and dozens of deaths in cities across the nation.
In a recent Fox News interview, McCarthy pointed to the death last month of Capitol Police officer Billy Evans, who was killed after Noah Green, a Nation of Islam follower, purposely struck him with his car. McCarthy said the riots that occurred in multiple cities last summer also deserve investigation.
“For the last year, we’ve had political violence across this country and in this city, and I think we should look at all of that,” McCarthy said.
But Democrats say they aren’t budging on the scope of the commission.
Pelosi recently backed down on a plan to stack the commission with Democratic appointees, changing the makeup to a 5-5 split. Pelosi also agreed the two parties would share the authority to issue subpoenas.
Pelosi said the panel must remain solely focused on the Jan. 6 attack, which resulted in several deaths, dozens of injuries, and damage to the Capitol. “We cannot concede on the scope,” Pelosi said Thursday.
Pelosi brushed off GOP attempts to broaden the investigation to include antifa and Black Lives Matter groups, the protests of which resulted in destruction and deaths in several cities.
Pelosi defended the two groups, who she said were protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer and “had nothing to do with any of that.”
The scope of the commission divides the GOP.
While McCarthy and McConnell want a broader look at civil unrest, some Republicans agree it should follow the bipartisan Sept. 11 Commission model, which focused solely on the events of that day’s terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, is among those in the GOP who dismissed McCarthy and McConnell’s call to include Black Lives Matter and antifa protests.
Cheney was ousted from her position as House GOP Conference chairwoman after frequently criticizing former President Donald Trump and opposing views held by fellow GOP leaders, including the commission’s scope.
This week, Cheney told NBC News that McCarthy and other Republicans want to dilute the commission to prevent it from examining their own actions that day. “I think that that kind of intense, narrow focus threatens people in my party who may have been playing a role they should not have been playing,” Cheney said.
McCarthy won’t comment on a report that he engaged in a tense discussion with Trump on the afternoon of the riot.
According to Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington state Republican, McCarthy phoned Trump to ask him to call off the rioters.
Trump, Herrera Beutler recalled in a statement, told McCarthy the rioters “are more upset about the election” than he was. McCarthy won’t confirm the call but could be forced to testify about it before the commission if the panel issues a subpoena.
The two parties engaged in a bitter fight this week at a hearing examining the events of Jan. 6, underscoring the difficulties that may lie ahead for a bipartisan commission.
Democrats accused former Trump administration officials of inadequately responding to the riots that day. At the same time, Republicans defended the mass gathering as primarily peaceful and played scenes of riots in Portland, Oregon, from last summer.
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona provoked outrage among Democrats after equating those who entered the Capitol to “a normal tourist visit” and denounced Democrats calling the event “an insurrection.” Pelosi said the GOP is in denial about the events of Jan. 6. “And that is what we have to deal with,” Pelosi said. “We will find the truth, and we are hoping we can do so in the most bipartisan way possible.”
