Filibuster of January 6th Commission
Senate Republicans filibustered a bill that would create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol disturbance, the chamber's first filibuster of the year. After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell campaigned hard against the House-passed commission legislation, the vote was 54-35, with six Republicans breaking ranks to join every Democrat in support. A few Senate Republicans held up the vote all night, obstructing China competitiveness legislation, but Democrats opted to postpone the issue until after the Memorial Day break week so they could go forward on the commission measure.
Despite efforts by Sen. Susan Collins of Maine to broker a solution and last-minute lobbying by the family of dead Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, some wavering Republicans came out against establishing the commission before Friday’s important procedural vote. On Thursday, McConnell slammed the idea of forming a new committee to investigate the pro-insurgent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 in public and private, calling it "extraneous."
Prior to Friday, Senate Republicans had not blocked any Democratic measures on the floor. With the memories of the deadly insurgency still vivid in the minds of many parliamentarians, Democrats bemoaned the legislation's obstruction. Senator Klobuchar spoke before the bill failed, “On Jan. 6, we all walked over that broken glass. We all saw the spray paint on the walls. We all stood huddled together in shelter.”
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Rob Portman of Ohio were among the six Republican senators who voted to approve the commission plan. They all voted to convict former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial earlier this year, with the exception of one. Rep. Liz Cheney, who was ejected from her party's House leadership days ago following vociferous criticism of Trump and his participation in the disturbance, expressed her gratitude to all six.
A spokeswoman for a seventh Republican senator who voted to convict Trump this year, retiring Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, said he would have backed moving through with the House-passed commission bill if he hadn't been pulled away from Washington for a family obligation.
Democrats lost little time attributing the Friday filibuster to Trump, given his involvement in urging his followers to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, as well as his outspoken hostility to the House-passed commission plan.
Top Democrats are debating whether to launch a bipartisan investigation into the events of January 6. A select committee method, which does not require Republican backing, might be regarded as political. Speaker Nancy Pelosi made no mention of it in an otherwise blistering speech following the GOP filibuster.
Sources:
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-05-28/senate-gop-filibusters-jan-6-commission-bill
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/19/politics/house-vote-january-6-commission/index.html