House Democrats Announce Vote Next Week to Form Capitol Riot Commission

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Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:59 pm

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) announced that Democrats will vote as early as next week on legislation to create an independent commission that will investigate the Capitol riot of January 6, the day a mob of former President Donald Trump‘s supporters stormed the United States Capitol in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 general election. Concurrently, Democrats will consider a measure that would beef up security at the Capitol complex.

“That assumes both are them are ready, and I hope they will be,” Hoyer said on a press call.

“In both instances, we are now four months from the Jan. 6 date. Frankly, I would have hoped both of these bills would have passed a month, two months ago,” Hoyer added. “That hasn’t been the case, so there’s some, from my perspective, a need to accelerate the consideration of these bills.”

Discussions have been “productive,” Hoyer noted.

“Do all the Republicans want to do it? I can’t say that,” he said. “But in any event, I’m hopeful that we will get an agreement that will enjoy bipartisan support.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been calling for the commission to be created and sparred with Republicans who wanted to narrow its scope (their efforts were unsuccessful.) She did cede ground to Republicans who wanted equal membership of both Democrats and Republicans on the panel as well as a bipartisan sign-off on the issuance of subpoenas.

“Compromise has been necessary; now, we must agree on the scope, composition and resources necessary to seek and find the truth,” Pelosi said in a letter to lawmakers last month. “It is my hope that we can reach agreement very soon. At the same time, Committees in the House and Senate have been holding and planning hearings, which will be a resource to the Commission.”