Associated Press: Senate Republicans on Friday blocked creation of a bipartisan panel to study the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, turning aside the independent investigation in a show of party loyalty to former President Donald Trump and an effort to shift the political focus away from the violent insurrection by his GOP supporters.
The Senate vote was 54-35 — short of the 60 votes needed to take up a House-passed bill that would have formed a 10-member commission evenly split between the two parties. It came a day after emotional appeals from police who fought with the rioters and lawmakers who fled Capitol chambers that day.
Six Republicans voted with Democrats to move forward. Eleven senators missed the rare Friday vote.
Though the Jan. 6 commission bill passed the House earlier this month with the support of almost three dozen Republicans, GOP senators said they believe the commission would eventually be used against them politically. And Trump has called it a “Democrat trap.”
Nine GOP Senators were absent from today’s vote:
- Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee)
- Roy Blunt (Missouri)
- Mike Braun (Indiana)
- Richard Burr (North Carolina)
- Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma)
- Mike Rounds (South Dakota)
- Jim Risch (Idaho)
- Richard Shelby (Alabama)
- Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania)
Two Senate Democrats were absent from today’s vote:
- Patty Murray (Washington)
- Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona)
Six GOP Senators voted with Democrats to move forward with the independent investigation:
- Bill Cassidy (Louisiana)
- Susan Collins (Maine)
- Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
- Rob Portman (Ohio)
- Mitt Romney (Utah)
- Ben Sasse (Nebraska)
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