JUST IN: Senate Republicans Block Jan. 6 Commission In Procedural Vote
Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images.
On Friday, the Senate failed to muster the 60 votes necessary on a cloture motion to begin debate on a bill that if passed, would have authorized the formation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The vote was 54 to 35 in favor of creating a commission, falling six votes short.
Democrats were joined by six Republicans voting in favor of the motion: Bill Cassidy (LA) Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Rob Portman (OH), Mitt Romney (UT), and Ben Sasse (NE). Cassidy, Collins, Murkowski, Romney and Sasse all voted to convict former President Donald Trump on a charge of incitement to insurrection in February.
Explaining why he voted yes, Cassidy said, “The investigations will happen with or without Republicans. To ensure the investigations are fair, impartial, and focused on facts, Republicans need to be involved.”
The House already approved the measure earlier this month, with 35 Republicans joining Democrats to green-light a commission by a vote of 252 to 175. But from the beginning, the measure faced an uncertain future in the Senate, which requires a quorum of three-fifths of the senators to vote to begin and end debate on legislation.
Before the Senate vote, CNN reported that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had been feverishly whipping members of his conference against a commission, asking them to vote no as “a personal favor” to him. The report said McConnell had taken “arm-twisting to a whole new level” in an effort to derail the commission.
McConnell has called the proposal of a commission “a purely political exercise.”
In the run-up to the House vote, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) charged Rep. John Katko (R-NY) with hammering out a deal with Democrats on the formation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol riot, in manner similar to the way the 9/11 Commission investigated the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Even after Katko managed to extract significant concessions from Democrats, McCarthy voted against the commission, along with most Republicans.
As it became clear on Thursday that the bill would be unable to collect the 10 Republican votes needed in the 50-50 Senate, a number of Democrats expressed frustration.
“We’ve got to get to the bottom of this shit,” Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) told Politico. “Jesus. It’s a nonpartisan investigation of what happened. And if it’s because they’re afraid of Trump then they need to get out of office. It’s bullshit. You make tough decisions in this office or you shouldn’t be here.”
With a bipartisan commission off the table, it’s possible Democrats will use their majorities to wield their committee gavels and use their subpoena powers to conduct a congressional investigation into the riot.
