Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan panel to investigate the January 6 US Capitol riot. The Senate voted 54-35 on Friday to discuss the bill, falling short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster, which prevents the bill from being debated. With the support of 35 Republicans, the House passed legislation to establish the panel.

The vote was called by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to put the attention on Republicans who were unwilling to investigate what prompted the attack that left five people dead and 140 police officers injured. 

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House's chief deputy press secretary, stated after the vote on Friday that "Senators aren't sent to Washington to rubber-stamp the positions of any political party. They take an oath to uphold and defend the United States Constitution. Unfortunately, they failed to do so today," USA Today reported.

To accelerate vote on the commission, the Senate also postponed votes on research-and-development measures to fight China until June, which

would strengthen the semiconductor industry and encourage attempts to compete better with China in science and technology, among other things. 

However, the measure, which has widespread bipartisan support, became heated after a handful of Republican senators requested revisions to address issues such as border security.

McConnell was among the Republicans who opposed the Capitol riot probe

The commission was opposed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. He stated that the Justice Department has already charged 445 people with the attack, with additional arrests imminent. To avoid such an attack, he said, legislative committees are already holding hearings and developing recommendations.

Democrats want to prosecute Trump, who was impeached in the House and charged with inciting the insurgency. The former President was found not guilty by the Senate. Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, and Ben Sasse of Nebraska were among the Republicans who favor the commission.

Despite opposition from former President Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the House enacted the legislation on May 19 to establish the independent commission with the support of 35 Republicans. However, the bill faced an uphill battle in the Senate, split 50-50, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also opposed to the commission. McConnell contended that the inquiry into the January 6 incident is already complete.

The GOP filibuster on the January 6 panel means the bill is likely dead for the time being. However, its defeat will undoubtedly increase pressure on Democrats to repeal the legislative filibuster and replace it with a simple majority vote to pass future legislation. They assaulted police officers, vandalized Capitol property, and demanded the assassination of then-Vice President Mike Pence, Fox News reported on the January 6 Capitol riot.

The election certification process in Congress was briefly halted when the mob forced lawmakers to flee the chambers and take refuge. After the attack, 140 police officers were hurt, and five individuals died, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who suffered a stroke resulting from the incident.

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Why do Republicans want a nonpartisan Capitol riot probe?

The measure proposed a committee made up equally of Democrats and Republicans, similar to the one that investigated the terrorist acts of September 11. Per Reason.com, the objective was that its results would be more widely accepted than the charges that led to Trump's second impeachment or the findings of ongoing Democratic congressional probes.

At the same time, the committee would have had greater scope than the Justice Department inquiry indicated by McConnell, taking into account security failures, presidential misconduct, and possible crimes. Both of those advantages, in McConnell's opinion, were reasons to oppose the commission. While McConnell appeared to be outraged by the riot and the presidential falsehoods that provoked it at first, he quickly abandoned any attempt to separate the Republican Party from Trump's personality cult.

McConnell soon realized that Trump's dominance of the Republican Party was unavoidable, so there was no electoral benefit in focusing on the former President's wild conspiracy theories or the violence his supporters sparked. Based on that assumption, any additional interest in those topics can be quickly rejected as overtly political, which is better for the party.

Related Article: Capitol Police Officers Express 'Disappointment' at GOP Opposition to January 6 Commission; Citing McConnell, Mccarthy's Lack of Leadership

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