WASHINGTON (TIP): Senate Republicans blocked legislation Friday, May 28, that would have launched a 9/11-style commission on the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, affirming they want to turn the page on the dark chapter in American history despite pleas for action from family members of a police officer killed in the riot, a Daily News report, May 28 said.

The bill, which passed the House earlier this month with unusually broad bipartisan support, was derailed in a 54-35 procedural vote that would have cleared the way for the Senate to begin debate on the measure.

Even though a majority of senators voted for the bill — including six Republicans — the chamber’s filibuster rule requires that most legislation receive the support of at least 60 members to succeed. The failed Jan. 6 commission vote marks the first GOP filibuster of Joe Biden’s presidency and is certain to ignite a debate over the need to abolish or reform the arcane rule.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s Democratic majority leader, charged that the commission quashing makes the Republicans complicit in former President Donald Trump’s false insistence that Biden’s election was illegitimate — the same lie that spurred a far-right mob to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“What are you afraid of? The truth? Are you afraid Donald Trump’s big lie will be dispelled? Are you afraid that all of the misinformation that has poured out will be rebutted by a bipartisan, down-the-middle commission?” Schumer said on Senate floor before the vote. “This is about a democracy. This is about the future of our democracy. The big lie has eroded that democracy, and we must do everything we can to rebut it.”

 Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, Schumer’s Republican counterpart, pushed his members to block the bill because he claimed Democrats would use the commission to trash talk his party ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

Despite McConnell’s criticism, the commission would have consisted of 10 members, evenly appointed by both parties, with the stated goal of making sure a tragedy like Jan. 6 could never happen again.

The now-blocked bill was the product of bipartisan negotiations in the House between New York Rep. John Katko and Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, respectively the top Republican and Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.

To ensure its bipartisan nature, Thompson agreed to let the commission’s subpoena power be shared between the parties, which is unusual.

Family members of Brian Sicknick, the U.S. Capitol Police officer who died after being attacked by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, pleaded with McConnell and his caucus this week to reconsider, even meeting with several Republican senators on Thursday, May 27.

“It’s very disturbing that anyone would not want to support this. Why would they not want to get to the bottom of such horrific violence?” Sandra Garza, Sicknick’s partner, told reporters in between meetings Thursday. “Just boggles my mind.”

(Source: Daily News)