House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a vote will occur this week in the House on a 9/11-style bipartisan Jan. 6 commission after an agreement was reached in the Homeland Security Committee, but Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy hasn’t said whether he supports the deal.
“We are all grateful to Bennie Thompson, Chair of the Homeland Security Committee, for the agreement that he and Ranking Member John Katko achieved to establish a 9/11-type commission,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to her Democratic colleagues. “The purpose of the commission is to review and report on the facts, causes and security relating to the January 6th terrorist mob attack. The bipartisan agreement on the commission is already receiving strong outside validation. Legislation to create this commission will also come to the floor next week.”
On Friday, McCarthy said he hadn’t signed off on the agreement yet and that Pelosi has “played politics with this for a number of months.”
Just the News reached out to McCarthy’s office on Monday to see if he supports the deal but didn’t receive a response before publication.
House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson said the 10-member commission will study “the facts and circumstances of the January 6th attack on the Capitol as well as the influencing factors that may have provoked the attack on our democracy.”
Under the agreement, the commission would include five members and a chair appointed by Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would appoint the vice chair and other five members.
The bill that formally establishes the commission provides the bipartisan panel with the power to issue subpoenas with agreement between the chair and the vice chair or with the approval of a majority of commission members.
The panel would have to issue a final report and make recommendations after its investigation before the end of the year.
Pelosi said that the Democratic-led House will also vote on a $1.9 billion supplemental security bill in response to the Jan. 6 riot in conjunction with the 9/11-style commission bill. According to the House Appropriations Committee majority, the supplemental bill includes new security measures such as “creating a dedicated Quick Reaction Force to augment the Capitol Police in cases of emergency” and the installation of a retractable fence at the Capitol complex.
