WASHINGTON: With a showdown vote looming, Senate Republicans are misrepresenting the timeline of a proposed independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
The House easily approved the bill last week with 35 Republicans signing on. But the measure faces an uncertain fate in the evenly divided Senate. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is opposed and former President Donald Trump is demanding the effort be quashed.
On Sunday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, suggested that a roadblock to gaining GOP support is the commissions timing, echoing concerns from Republican leaders last week that the panels final report could extend into the 2022 midterm election year.
Thats not the case.
COLLINS, citing issues that could lead her to oppose the panel: I see no reason why the report cannot be completed by the end of this year. The commissioners have to be appointed within 10 days. Theres plenty of time to complete the work. And Im optimistic that we can get past these issues based on recent conversations Ive had with Democrats. interview Sunday on ABCs This Week.
SEN. JOHN CORNYN, R-Texas, suggesting that Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will drag the commissions work well into the middle of 2022: Well, part of the concern is thats the plan. Thats Pelosis plan … That would be the Democrats dream. interview with CNN on May 19.
THE FACTS: Those claims on 2022 timing are untrue. The bill has consistently called for the report to be complete by the end of this year.
According to the legislation, the final report from the bipartisan commission, whose members would be evenly divided among Democrats and Republicans, must submitted to the president and Congress not later than December 31, 2021.
There is a subsequent 60-day period for the commission to finish administrative tasks, such as to distribute the report and provide testimony to congressional committees. But its investigation, including all findings, conclusions and recommendations, would need to be fully complete this year.
So there has not been a roadblock to Senate Republican support for the panel based on the reports timing as Collins and others describe it.
If approved, the bipartisan commission is expected to look at Trumps role in stoking the Jan. 6 riot, including his persistent false claims in the months beforehand that the November election was stolen.
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EDITOR’S NOTE A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.
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