Republicans’ refusal to accept a bill establishing an independent commission to investigate the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 demonstrates how difficult it is to deal in good faith with the GOP and further bolsters the case for filibuster reform, Democrats argued on Thursday.
The House on Wednesday passed bipartisan legislation forming a 9/11-style commission to probe the Jan. 6 riot, which resulted in more than 100 Capitol Police officers injured and five deaths. Thirty-five House Republicans voted in support of the bill. Democrats agreed to nearly all GOP demands for the panel, including equal party representation, shared subpoena power and mandating that a report be released by the end of the year.
But the bill’s prospect for passage looks extremely dim in the upper chamber thanks to opposition from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who called it “slanted.”
Even GOP senators like Richard Burr (N.C.) who voted to convict former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 attack during his impeachment trial earlier this year oppose establishing a commission, arguing that existing congressional investigations are sufficient to probe the attack.
For filibuster opponents, the GOP’s hardline stance to a panel modeled after the bipartisan 9/11 commission ― one that received healthy bipartisan support in the House ― perfectly exemplifies the need to eliminate the longstanding supermajority requirement for legislation in the Senate.
“It’s one more reminder that McConnell thinks he has a veto over anything that he wants to stop. That’s not what the founders thought when they wrote the constitution and it’s sure not what a Democratic majority should go along with now,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said.
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) called the prospect of a GOP filibuster on the Jan. 6 commission “a three-dimensional way to make the point that the filibuster is primarily a destructive force in American politics.”
If senators can’t agree on a path forward, it may be the first bill Republicans filibuster in this Congress, generating more embarrassing headlines for the party.
GOP opposition to the Jan. 6 commission, driven by their continued fear of Trump and his sway over voters ahead of the 2022 midterm elections may also reinforce the argument made by some progressive Democrats that President Joe Biden’s administration should give up on trying to reach an agreement with congressional Republicans on other matters.
Biden and a group of Senate Republicans are trading tentative proposals for a bill overhauling the nation’s infrastructure system this week. But there is wide disagreement among both sides about what even counts as infrastructure, as well as how to pay for new infrastructure projects. Some Democrats believe Republicans will never agree to a good-faith offer, urging Biden to move on to passing a larger bill that includes more progressive priorities like child care.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Senate Budget Committee chairman who has advocated moving on from bipartisan talks to pass infrastructure legislation with solely Democratic votes, told HuffPost that Republican opposition to the Jan. 6 commission doesn’t bode well for continued attempts at compromise.
“If we can’t have widespread support for that I think we’re in pretty bad shape,” Sanders said when asked about the January 6 commission. “It just tells me what I fear is that you have a Republican Party, through statewide actions across this country, is moving toward an anti-democratic party and is moving to an authoritarian party.”
“If Republicans can’t agree on a commission to investigate a violent insurrection at the Capitol, forget about their claim to want bipartisanship,” added Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
Even Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a vocal preacher of bipartisanship in the upper chamber, noted that Democrats made significant concessions to Republicans on the Jan. 6 commission.
“How much more can you do?” Manchin asked.
Still, the West Virginia Democrat told HuffPost he believed there is a “very, very good chance” of a bill establishing a Jan. 6 commission passing in the Senate. He didn’t explain how.
The issue will come to a head soon. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday placed the House-passed bill on the Senate calendar, meaning it could get a vote on the floor as early as next week. The New York senator expressed hope that enough Republicans would eventually come around.
“Maybe, despite the opposition of the Republican leader, the unfortunate and sad opposition of the Republican leader, enough of my Republican colleagues will step up and join with Democrats to establish the commission,” Schumer said Thursday. “They will get a chance to do so very soon.”