WASHINGTON — Republicans are poised to block legislation that would create a commission on the Jan. 6 insurrection, despite both a bipartisan effort to salvage the bill and a last-minute push by the mother of a Capitol Police officer who collapsed and died after the siege.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has set up a procedural vote on the bill today, challenging Republicans to support it after 35 of their GOP colleagues voted for it in the House. But it was unlikely that Democrats would be able to win the 10 Republican votes necessary to authorize the independent investigation, a remarkable turn of events just months after the worst attack on the Capitol in more than 200 years.
The bill as passed by the House would set up a bipartisan panel to investigate what happened when hundreds of former President Donald Trump’s supporters violently broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s win.
On Wednesday, the mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick said she would meet with lawmakers ahead of the vote to try to convince them to act. Sicknick collapsed immediately after engaging with the rioters and died the next day.
