Today, Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan proposal to create an independent commission to investigate the deadly attack on the Capitol on January 6th. The bill brokered by Republican Congressman John Katko and Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson passed with bipartisan support in the House with 35 Republicans joining Democrats in passing the legislation.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell actively pushed Republicans to oppose the bipartisan commission proposal, warning that the investigation could hurt the Republican Party’s midterm election message.
“What this shows is that Republican Senators are willing to put their political self-interest and partisanship ahead of protecting our democracy and doing what’s right for the country. The attack on our Capitol on January 6th by violent insurrectionists should never happen again and Americans deserve to know the truth and have a transparent account as to what happened that day,” said ECU/LAV President Tiffany Muller. “This is another example of Republican abuse of the filibuster for political self-gain and goes against the fundamental and principal tenets of upholding our American democracy.”
A majority of Americans, including Republicans, support an independent bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol attack. Several Capitol Police officers and the mother of fallen Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, have also come out in support of the independent January 6 commission. Mitch McConnell’s use of the filibuster rule to block bipartisan legislation for political self-interest has sparked calls by American leaders for filibuster reforms.
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