Riot commission legislation nears

Bipartisan support is vital, Democrats say

WASHINGTON — Legislation to set up a commission to study what went wrong in the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol could be introduced as soon as this week, according to a person familiar with the planning and granted anonymity to discuss it.

While Democrats could easily pass the legislation through Congress on their own, and President Joe Biden has said he will support it, they say Republican backing is necessary for the commission to be effective.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she is working on legislation to form a commission, with the details closely mirroring the bipartisan 9/11 panel that made sweeping recommendations in 2004 to prevent another terrorist attack like the ones in New York and Washington.

The two chairmen of that panel, former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean and former Indiana Rep. Lee Hamilton, wrote a letter to congressional leaders and Biden last week recommending they set up a commission to investigate and “establish a single narrative and set of facts to identify how the Capitol was left vulnerable, as well as corrective actions to make the institution safe again.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he will support the commission. But to ensure Republican support, Pelosi said Democrats sent the proposal to GOP leaders “to see what suggestions they may have because, for this to work, it really has to be strongly bipartisan.”

Neither House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy nor Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell have said if they would support forming a commission on the Capitol riot.

Still, some Republicans have said they think such a commission is necessary alongside other congressional efforts to investigate the attack.

“There should be a complete investigation about what happened,” said Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his impeachment trial. “What was known, who knew it and when they knew, all that, because that builds the basis so this never happens again.”

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham also said that he supports a commission “to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again.”

Manuel Balce Ceneta The Associated Press House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., with Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, left, speaks to members of the media during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington.