WASHINGTON — Days after Senate Republicans voted to block the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, supporters of the effort argued that there's still an urgent need for more investigation.
Speaking Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., recounted being at the Capitol on the "brutal and violent day" when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the building during the counting of the 2020 Electoral College votes.
Crow, a former Army captain, said that if the Senate doesn't have a change of heart, congressional Democrats should still move forward with creating a bipartisan committee to investigate the attack and "re-inspire trust and confidence of the American people in our institutions."
"This has to get done. I am sick of playing the game of whack-a-mole with GOP members in the Congress — every time we address one of their concerns, another one pops up," Crow said.
"We have a growing violent extremism movement in the United States. We have the spreading of the 'Big Lie' that's being used for further voter suppression laws around the country, and a growing number of Republicans are starting to believe more and more the 'Big Lie' and undermine the legitimacy of the Biden presidency," he said. "So this is a problem that is present, that is growing, and we've got to address it with some timeliness."
Lawmakers have been discussing an independent commission to investigate the attack for months, with the top members of the House Homeland Security Committee — Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and John Katko, R-N.Y. — negotiating the bill that ultimately passed the House last week.
But while 35 Republicans joined the effort in the House, only six Republicans backed the commission in the Senate, leaving supporters without enough votes to overcome a filibuster (54 votes in favor, instead of the 60 needed for the bill to move forward).
Democrats hold the majority in the House and the Senate, and they can authorize their own investigations without a bipartisan commission. Former Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., said on "Meet the Press" that while she would have preferred an independent investigation that would "remove it from the political sphere," she believes the truth will come out eventually.
"This will still be investigated, because subpoenas will get the facts. We'll find out who organized that mob, how it was orchestrated, who directed them down to the Capitol," said Comstock, who has been meeting with Republicans in hope of winning their support for the commission.
"When people try to hold these things back, it always comes out in the end," she said. "That's why I think, both for the country as well as for Republicans, it would be better to do it sooner rather than later."
