House Democrats plan to vote on a bill to create an independent commission to investigate the Capitol riot, but whether Republican leaders would support it was unclear.
House Democrats pressed ahead on Friday with a bipartisan proposal to create an independent commission to investigate the Jan.6 Capitol attack, after reaching agreement with a key Republican to drop his party’s demand that it look at left-wing violence unrelated to the assault. But it was not clear whether G.O.P. leaders, who have insisted any such inquiry study Black Lives Matter and antifa, a loose collective of antifascist activists, would go along with the deal. The uncertainty raised the prospect of a showdown in the House next week over the investigation and the Republican Party’s reluctance to reckon with the deadly attack on Congress by a pro-Trump mob. The proposal agreed to by the top Democrat and Republican on the Homeland Security Committee would provide Congress with a nonpartisan, government-wide accounting of what led to the riot and hampered the response by law enforcement, as well as recommendations to prevent a repeat. Modeled on the commission that studied the Sept.11,2001 terrorist attacks, the body would deliver its findings by Dec.31. “Inaction — or just moving on — is simply not an option,” said Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, who reached the agreement with Representative John Katko, Republican of New York. “The creation of this commission is our way of taking responsibility for protecting the U.S. Capitol.” The proposal could break a partisan logjam that has persisted for months over the composition and mandate of such a commission. But Republican leaders in the House and Senate did not immediately say whether they would support it. Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California and the minority leader, said shortly after the announcement that he had not signed off on Mr. Katko’s plan and still needed to review its details. A spokesman for Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate Republican leader, declined to comment. Still, the announcement of a compromise suggested that Democrats were prepared to simply go around most Republicans in the House if need be. That would force G.O.P. lawmakers to choose between embracing an investigation of a riot inspired by Donald J. Trump, which is likely to anger the former president and alienate their constituents who revere him, and opposing an accounting for the deadliest attack on the Capitol in more than 200 years. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House would vote next week on the legislation creating the proposed panel. At the same time, she plans to move ahead with a vote on a long-awaited bill that would provide $1.9 billion to bolster the Capitol’s defenses, reimburse the National Guard and other law enforcement for protecting the complex in the attack’s aftermath and cover costs related to the coronavirus pandemic.
