In a 252-175 vote on Wednesday, the House passed the bill to create a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 Capitol Building Riot. 35 Republicans broke away from party lines.
One Republican, in particular, fought for the bill, Congressman John Katko. He assured his colleagues the commission would be divided evenly by those who are on both sides of the aisle and would have veto power over any subpoenas.
Katko said it was time “to set aside politics just this once” as a part of his speech for the 9/11 styled commission.
“This is about facts. It’s not partisan politics. We would have never gotten to this point if it was about partisan politics,” he said.
The Republicans who voted yes:
- (WY) Liz Cheney
- (SC) Tom Rice
- (WA) Dan Newhouse
- (OH) Anthony Gonzalez
- (IL) Adam Kinzinger
- (MI) Fred Upton
- (WA) Jaime Herrera Beutler
- (MI) Peter Meijer
- (NY) John Katko
- (CA) David Valadao
- (NY) Tom Reed
- (NE) Don Bacon
- (UT) John Curtis
- (PA) Brian Fitzpatrick
- (NY) Andrew Garbarino
- (TX) Tony Gonzales
- (SD) Dusty Johnson
- (OH) David Joyce
- (NJ) Chris Smith
- (TX) Van Taylor
- (NY) Chris Jacobs
- (WV) David McKinley
- (NE) Jeff Fortenberry
- (FL) Maria Elvira Salaza
- (IA) Mariannette Miller-Meeks
- (AR)Steve Womack
- (OK) Stephanie Bice
- (AR) French Hill
- (ID) Mike Simpson
- (IL) Rodney Davis
- (UT)Blake Moore
- (MS) Michael Guest
- (IN) Trey Hollingsworth
- (FL) Carlos Gimenez
- (OR) Cliff Bentz
House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said her the Democrats would take a more partisan approach to the commission if the Republicans didn’t cooperate.
She said, “I certainly could call for hearings in the House with a majority of the members being Democrats with full subpoena power with the agenda being determined by the Democrats, but that’s not the path we have chosen to go.”
Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, confirmed ahead of Wednesday’s vote he would not vote in support of this legislation.
“After careful consideration, I’ve made the decision to oppose the House Democrats’ slanted and unbalanced proposal for another commission to study the events of January the 6th,” he said.
