House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced on Tuesday that he will not support the bipartisan legislation to create a commission to investigate the January 6 riot at the Capitol. Republican Rep. John Katko (R-NY) negotiated a deal with Democrat leadership, but McCarthy said that the legislation was formed through a “shortsighted scope.”
"For months, the Speaker of the House refused to negotiate in good faith on basic parameters that would govern a commission to examine the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol...Republican requests for fair representation and an unbiased premise from which to begin such an investigation were always understood to be the starting point for bipartisan negotiations, not the end result. Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the Speaker's shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation," he said.
>@RepJohnKatko said in the closed meeting that the bill he negotiated isn’t for everyone. But there was a bill that Rs supported that created a similar commission.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) May 18, 2021
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The Republican lawmaker argued that probes into “political violence that has struck American cities, a Republican Congressional baseball practice, and, most recently, the deadly attack on Capitol Police on April 2, 2021” were not included in the legislation.
The deal is still likely to pass the House on Wednesday, but also faces pushback in the Senate.
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