Mitt Romney Announces He Will Back Democrats on Jan. 6 Commission Bill
Romney is the first Republican to voice support for the bill
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Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said he would support the Democrat-led bill to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
When asked by supporters if he would vote if Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer starts a debate on the House bill, Romney said he “would support the bill."
Romney is the first Republican to voice support for the bill.
His remarks come as Schumer vowed to bring the bill for a vote on the Senate floor.
Schumer said in a statement on Twitter:
“I will bring to the Senate floor the legislation passed by the House to create an independent commission to investigate and report on the January 6th attack on the Capitol."
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Democrats are 60 votes out need to defeat a likely filibuster from Republicans.
Most Republicans are against the measure, with just 35 Republicans crossing the aisle to approve the bill.
The HR 3233 bill is modeled after the investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) first called for the investigation bill in February.
Her letter reads at the time:
To protect our security, our security, our security, our next step will be to establish an outside, independent 9/11-type Commission to “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex… and relating to the interference with the peaceful transfer of power, including facts and causes relating to the preparedness and response of the United States Capitol Police and other Federal, State, and local law enforcement in the National Capitol Region.”
The measure would create a 10-member commission to investigate “relevant facts and circumstances relating to the attack on the Capitol,” and “evaluate the causes of and the lessons learned from this attack.”
The commission would also report findings and recommendations to “improve the detection, prevention, preparedness for, and response to targeted violence and domestic terrorism and improve the security posture of the U.S. Capitol Complex.”
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Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) had reservations about the bill and suggesting amendments to the House’s proposal.
“I think that both sides should either jointly appoint the staff or there should be equal numbers of staff appointed by the chairman and the vice-chairman,” Collins said.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Republicans are likely to decide the establishing a commission is too early.
“I’ve actually opposed the idea of a commission from the very first because I think we’ll start waiting for a commission rather than moving forward with what we know we need to do now,” Blunt told Fox News.
“There’s a bipartisan effort in the Senate with two committees to produce not only a report but also a number of recommendations, and we should be able to do that in the first full week of June, and we haven’t even waited for that to decide what a commission should do,” he added.
Last week, House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) warned Republicans that if they block the house bill to establish an independent commission to investigate the Capitol riots that took place on January 6, Democrats “are going to insist on getting answers one way or the other.”
