US Senate Republicans block bill to create Jan 6 Capitol riot commission

US Senate Republicans, on Friday, blocked the bill to create a commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol riot, AFP reports. The vote was 54 to 35 as six GOP senators voted in favour of the bill.

A pro-Trump riot at the US Capitol in January led to the deaths of five people and injured approximately 140 police officers. The former US president was impeached by the House of Representatives to incite the mob. 

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Republican Senators Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins were among those who bucked their leadership to vote in favor of moving to a final vote on the commission, which had the support of President Joe Biden and several former Republican lawmakers.

At least ten Republicans would have needed to join all 48 Democrats and two independent senators to advance the measure, which had already cleared the US House of Representatives with modest bipartisan support.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that the panel would have been a purely partisan exercise that would add nothing to the Department of Justice and congressional investigations already underway.

Republicans argue that more than 400 people have been arrested for their part in the unrest, and that those court cases will help shed sufficient light on what happened.

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In the House of Representatives, 35 of the chamber’s 211 Republicans joined Democrats in support of the commission that was to be modeled after the panel convened in the wake of the 9/11 attacks of 2001 and which had strong bipartisan support.

Defenders argued the latest commission would have included five members chosen by the Democrats and five by the Republicans, with subpoena power resting with both sides.