Senate Republicans have blocked a bill that aimed to create a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The bill, which needed 60 votes to pass, failed with a 54 to 35 tally, CBS News reported.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned Republicans for their decision. He asked if they had forgotten how the insurrectionists had threatened the lives of former Vice President Mike Pence and other lawmakers, as well as police officers defending the building.
"Shame on the Republican Party for trying to sweep the horrors of that day under the rug because they're afraid of Donald Trump," Schumer said, specifically addressing those who continue to support the former President's allegations about a rigged election. "Senate Republicans chose to defend the 'big lie' because they believe anything that might upset Donald Trump could hurt them politically."
Lisa Murkowski, who is among the Republicans who supports the bill, criticized Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for prioritizing electoral politics.
"To be making a decision for the short-term political gain at the expense of understanding and acknowledging what was in front of us on January 6, I think we need to look at that critically. Is that really what this is about, one election cycle after another?" Murkowski said. "I'm disappointed that we just haven't been able to acknowledge that an independent commission would be an opportunity for us to have an independent review of this while we do our work."
Schumer suggested that he might force another vote on the bill, which would create a 10-member commission evenly divided between members selected by Democratic and Republican leaders.
As Blavity previously reported, supporters of Trump raided the Capitol on Jan. 6 while the House was in the process of certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. The attack resulted in six deaths.
Many Republican lawmakers who now stand in the way of the investigation into the attack on the Capitol, proved to have a very different approach to the Black Lives Matter protests of last year. According to PEW, Republican legislators in at least 22 states responded vehemently to the largely peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstrations, going so far as to pass bills that would penalize protesters.
“For me, it’s like they’re silencing protesters, specifically Black and brown people,” said Genee Tinsley, who helped organize rallies and marches in Palm Beach County, Florida, last summer.
