Wisconsin’s House delegation voted along party lines on a bill that would create a national commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The bill, now in the Senate, would create a special commission to investigate what happened the day of the attack and what led up to it. The commission would then submit recommendations to improve security. Republicans opposed the bill. They say the investigation would be redundant because it overlaps with investigations from the FBI, Department of Justice and others.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, says details on the attack are still unclear, but the bill would create a biased commission from the start that would never get to the bottom of things.
“While many questions remain surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, Speaker Pelosi’s proposal for a Commission was partisan right out of the gate and ultimately falls short of a comprehensive study,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, in a tweet said the potential future attacks warrants the need for the commission.
“Unfortunately for America, the GOP made their choice: sweep the attempted insurrection under the rug,” Moore said. “We need a January 6th commission to prevent another attack on our country again.”
But before the bill becomes law to create the Jan. 6 investigation commission, it must gain votes from at least 10 GOP senators.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Oshkosh said he hopes no senators vote for the bill because Pelosi would have too much say in who would be on the commission. That 10-vote margin means the bill must get a slightly higher margin of support from Republicans than the 35 GOP House votes it received to get to the Senate.
He added Pelosi won’t be held accountable for security lapses because she will get to pick commissioners.
“Well of course that’s one of the biggest problems with this commission, is commissioners are going to be named by congressional leaders including Speaker Pelosi who is, let’s face it, ultimately responsible for securing the Capitol,” Johnson said.
His Dem colleague, Tammy Baldwin, of Madison, supports the commission because she says it would investigate former President Trump’s role.
“Trump incited a violent insurrection against our Democracy in an attempt to steal the election, based on the big lie it was stolen from him,” Baldwin tweeted. “I support a Jan 6 Congressional commission to make this truth clear to those who spread the big lie.”
See the roll call.
