US House passes legislation creating independent commission to probe Jan 6 Capitol riot

WASHINGTON - The US House on Wednesday voted to pass a bill to create an independent commission to probe the Jan 6 Capitol riot.

The bill passed mostly along party lines, with 35 defected Republicans joining 217 Democrats in supporting the creation of the investigative panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission.

The legislation now goes to the Senate, where the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said he opposed the measure, casting further doubt on it becoming a law, which will require approval of at least 10 GOP senators to overcome the filibuster. McConnell did not say he will whip fellow Republican senators against the bill.

Under the bill, which was negotiated by House Homeland Security Committee's Chairman Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, and its Republican Ranking Member John Katko of New York, the commission will comprise 10 members who are not sitting members of Congress.

Half of the commissioners, including the chair, will be appointed by congressional Democratic leaders, and the other half, including the vice chair, will be selected by GOP leaders.

The panel will have co-equal subpoena power, meaning subpoenas can be issued once they are signed off by both the chair and vice chair or by a majority vote of the members.

The commission is tasked with delivering a final report by the end of the year on its findings about the Jan 6 Capitol riot as well as recommendations for preventing similar ones from happening again.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi strongly signaled at a news conference earlier in the day that she would approve a select committee if the proposed bipartisan commission failed to materialize.

She later said before the floor vote that she still prefers the commission over the committee, since Democrats "want this to be as it is shaped, bipartisan, with shared responsibility, shared staff, in a way the public will have respect to the outcome".

A select committee of this nature only needs a majority vote in the now Democratic-controlled House, and will almost certainly have subpoena power.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, affirmed Wednesday that he will bring up the legislation for a vote.

"It will be on the Senate floor, and we'll see where our Republican friends stand -- if they stand for truth or if they stand with the Big Lie?" Schumer said.

On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose phone call with former US President Donald Trump on Jan. 6 made Democrats believe he should testify in any congressional investigation into the riot, came out in opposition of the legislation, arguing for a broader negotiation that examines additional instances of political violence, instead of one that narrowly focuses on the attack for which Trump was impeached.

The current legislation, McCarthy claimed, "ignores the political violence that has struck American cities, a Republican congressional baseball practice, and, most recently, the deadly attack on Capitol Police on April 2, 2021."