GOP’s McCarthy opposes panel; McConnell hits ‘pause’

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday that he won’t support the proposal to form an independent, bipartisan commission to study the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, almost certainly eroding GOP support ahead of a vote and positioning his party as opposed to investigations of the attack.

McCarthy said he wanted the new panel to look beyond the violent uprising by supporters loyal to Donald Trump, who were trying to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s election. McCarthy and other Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have pushed to have the new commission also investigate other violent acts, including protests last summer in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.

Calling the commission “duplicative and potentially counterproductive,” McCarthy said that given the “shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation.”

McCarthy’s opposition all but ensures this week’s vote on the bipartisan bill to form the panel will have less Republican support in the House, and dims its chances in the evenly divided Senate, threatening the commission’s chances as Democrats say it is essential to reckoning with the violent attack that interrupted electoral count.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called McCarthy’s opposition “cowardice” and said he doesn’t want to find the truth. She released a February letter from the GOP leader in which he asked for an even split of Democrats and Republican commissioners, equal subpoena power and no predetermined findings or conclusions listed in the legislation. The bipartisan legislation accommodates all three of those requests, she said.

“Leader McCarthy won’t take yes for an answer,” she said. “The American people expect and deserve the truth about what happened on January 6th in a manner that strengthens our democracy and ensures that January 6th never happens again.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to bring the House measure for a vote, forcing Republicans to choose. “Republicans can let their constituents know: Are they on the side for truth or are they going to cover up?” Schumer said.

But the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said he’s “pushing the pause button,” taking a look at the proposal and a related bill to beef up Capitol security.