House passes bill to create Jan. 6 Capitol riot commission

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told CNN “of course” when asked if he would pursue a select committee to investigate what happened on Jan. 6 if the bill to create an independent commission fails in the Senate.

The House is slated to vote on the bill today, but it could face an uphill battle in the Senate as it needs at least 10 Republicans in the chamber to join all 50 Democrats to overcome a 60-vote filibuster and pass the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, like House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, said he is opposed to the commission.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn was less forceful in what the path forward would look like if the commission bill fails telling CNN, “I don’t like to go too far. I don’t want to anticipate failure.”

Clyburn did not rule out the prospect however telling CNN, “well, we are prepared to sit down and consider what we ought to do because something has to be done.”

If Senate Republicans ultimately block a bipartisan bill to create an independent commission to probe the Jan. 6 attack, Democrats in the House could establish a select committee to investigate the insurrection.

A select committee of this nature only requires a majority vote of the House to create. 

Select committees typically are made up of members of Congress and the majority party would drive the investigation. It would almost certainly have subpoena power as well.

The outside commission is different because it would be comprised of people outside of Congress, with both parties making joint decisions on subpoenas. And there would be 10 commissioners equally divided between the two parties.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has signaled an openness to a select committee in the past if the commission bill were to stall.

“It’s always an option," she told USA Today in April of a possible select committee. "It’s not my preference in any way. My preference would be to have a commission.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said Wednesday changes would have to be made to the House Jan. 6 Commission bill before she could support it. She also would want the commission's work completed this year and not drag into an election year.

Collins blamed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for creating this impasse because she did not consult in advance with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

"If I had been the Speaker, I would have reached out to him and talked to him about how it should have been drafted. I would have reached out to Kevin McCarthy . She did neither. So I think the fact that we're in this situation now is do to the lack of outreach. Nevertheless, I still think properly drafted commission is a good idea," Collins said. 

The top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee struck a deal last week to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan, 6 attack on the Capitol, breaking a months-long logjam between House leaders about how to structure the independent panel.

House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson of Mississippi and the panel's ranking Republican, Rep. John Katko of New York, announced on Friday they had reached an agreement for the panel that would be modeled after the 9/11 Commission.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to lawmakers on Friday that the House would vote on the legislation creating the commission this week, as well as a $2 billion supplemental funding bill to bolster security at the Capitol. The House vote is expected to happen today.

Here's what we know about the commission:

The deal represented a significant bipartisan breakthrough on a proposal that had been stalled for months since Pelosi first proposed a commission to investigate the insurrection at the Capitol in the days after the deadly attack.

The legislation to create the commission is expected to pass through the Democratically controlled House today, but the margins are an important indicator because just how many House Republicans are willing to buck their party leadership may offer an early signal for how many GOP senators could back the bill.

Supporters of the plan will need at least 10 Republicans in the Senate to join all 50 Democrats in the chamber in order to overcome a 60-vote filibuster and pass the bill. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, like House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, said he is opposed to the commission.

The Justice Department has charged more than 400 people in the Capitol riot so far.

Read more about the commission here.

Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican who signaled he was open to the commission yesterday, is now saying he doesn’t think it is actually bipartisan enough and it would take too long to hire staff.

Rounds said he was briefed with about a dozen other members by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy during a coffee meeting this morning. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was also there. 

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin gave an emotional speech on the Senate floor describing how critical it is that Congress create a bipartisan independent commission to study the Capitol attack so it never happens again, saying if not, many will continue to set out to “rewrite history” and “blame other forces for being at work that day.”

The House is set to vote today on a bill to create the commission, and the commission would need 60 votes in the Senate to pass. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s opposition could kill the bill in the higher chamber.

Durbin explained on Wednesday how at first, he questioned whether a Jan. 6 commission was necessary as lawmakers and the entire country witnessed the attack on the Capitol and there is “ample historic evidence of what happened,” including tons of video footage.

Durbin aggressively pushed back on the lawmakers' comments and added that “more than 440 of Congressman Clyde’s orderly tourists” have been charged by the government with participating in this violent attack on the US Capitol.

The Illinois Democrat said that Trump “loyalists are turning on the facts and the videotapes and the reality of Jan. 6. This has to come to an end. The truth has to prevail. And this commission, which I understand Sen. McConnell has now said he opposes is absolutely necessary. A bipartisan commission to establish once and for all what did occur as if we have to. But we do. Otherwise, Congressman Clyde, Congressman Gosar and others will set out to rewrite history and blame other forces for being at work that day.”

Senior Republicans are making clear they have little interest in moving forward with a sweeping Jan. 6 investigation in part because a detailed probe could become politically damaging and amount to a distraction for their party just as control of Congress is at stake in next year's midterm elections.

Publicly and privately, Republicans are making that case, with Senate GOP Whip John Thune noting that there's concern among some Republicans that the findings of the probe "could be weaponized politically and drug into next year."

Thune's comments came moments after Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell announced his opposition on the floor, contending it would duplicate ongoing probes and contending the deal — which was reached between a House Republican and House Democrat — is designed to find a conclusion that would be in "Democrats' hands."

Some context: The commission would be structured so 10 members chosen equally between the leaders on both sides. It could report by year's end on what happened on Jan. 6, as well as the "influencing factors" behind it. 

Though it's clear that such an investigation would also look at then-President Donald Trump's role in promoting the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally, his lies that the election was stolen and his efforts to subvert the will of voters.

Moreover, it could put an uncomfortable focus on some conservative GOP senators and House members who sought to overturn the election results in Congress, while keeping the issue front-and-center as the investigation plays out over the next year.

After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he will not support the Jan. 6 Capitol riot commission in its current form, Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee called the decisions by GOP leadership "sick" and "bizarre."

"It was developed in a bipartisan fashion with a bipartisan structure with no political figures allowed to serve on it to do one thing: find the truth and report it to the Congress and the American people. Why that would be offensive to Mitch McConnell or to Kevin McCarthy is not explainable in real terms and real logic, except that they see a political downside to the truth. If the truth becomes your enemy, you may be in the wrong line of work," Kildee said to CNN's Kate Bolduan. 

The Democrat from Michigan called the commission "the definition of balanced." 

Kildee went on to say that McConnell and House Minority Leader McCarthy are "afraid of the truth."

"This is a dangerous moment in the sort of arc of American political thinking, the fact that they can invent new facts to serve their own needs when our own eyes witnessed this thing. It's bizarre, and it's sick. It's sick," Kildee said.

Watch:

In a webinar hosted by Issue One and promoted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, a group of former lawmakers advocated for the 9/11 style commission to investigate the Capitol attack on January 6.

The most notable comments came from former Rep. Zach Wamp, a Republican from Tennessee, who argued for the commission despite resistance from members of his own party to support it.

He said he thinks the reason House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is against the 9/11 style commission to investigate the events of the insurrection is because "it's a defense mechanism."

Wamp added: "If you're going to serve your country, put the country first. The country really needs the January 6 commission."

Meanwhile, former 9/11 commission vice-chair Rep. Tim Roemer, a Democrat from Indiana, noted the January 6 Capitol attack was a "highly unique event." in American history.

"And this all took place during a constitutional process where we count the votes cast by the people in a fair and free election to transfer power from one president to the next, one government to the next. That is an extraordinarily different situation than what some people are talking about in terms of protests in cities," he said, referencing how Republicans want a broader scope for the commission.

Wamp criticized Republicans who are not supporting the commission because they support former President Trump.

"You don't have to be anti-Trump to support a January 6th commission," Wamp said later in the news conference.