Lawmakers Strike Deal on Bipartisan Jan. 6 Commission

Members of the House Homeland Security Committee reached a bipartisan agreement to form a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

“It is imperative that we seek the truth of what happened on January 6 with an independent, bipartisan 9/11-type Commission to examine and report upon the facts, causes and security relating to the terrorist mob attack,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

She added, “Thanks to Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and Ranking Member John Katko, today a bipartisan agreement to form such a commission has been reached, with legislation to create it set to reach the Floor as soon as next week.”

Pelosi also said the House will “soon move forward with an emergency security supplemental which will provide for the safety of Members and harden the Capitol against further attacks.”

The commission would include 10 members with half Republicans and half Democrats.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said following the announcement, “I’m going to look through it.”

He added, “We had an officer killed on Good Friday. If this commission is going to come forth to tell us how to protect this facility in the future you want to make sure that the scope that you can look at all that, what came up before and what came up after. So that’s very concerning to me.”

A committee summary said the commission “will be charged with investigating and reporting upon the facts and causes of the January 6th attack on the Capitol as well as the influencing factors that may have provoked the attack on our democracy.”

According to the committee, members of the commission are required to have expertise in the fields of law enforcement, civil liberties, privacy, intelligence and cybersecurity.

In March, Pelosi told MSNBC lawmakers were hung up on the scope of the commission, as IJR previously reported.