Dems deciding next move for Jan. 6 probe in 'next few days,' Rep. Hakeem Jeffries says

Press bummed over Jan. 6 commission

Criticizes GOP for blocking riot probe

House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., indicated Sunday his party intends to move forward with efforts to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot after Senate Republicans blocked consideration of a bill that would have established a bipartisan commission to examine the incident.

“We clearly have to get to the bottom of what happened, why it happened and how we prevent something like that from ever happening again,” Jeffries said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We’re going to re-evaluate what the way forward is in the next few days.”

The Senate voted 54-35 on whether to open debate on the legislation, falling six votes short of the required threshold to bypass a Republican filibuster. The legislation would have established a commission like the one that was formed to investigate the Sept. 11 terror attacks, comprised of five members from each party. 

The House previously voted 252-175 to approve the bill, with 35 Republicans voting in favor of a commission. GOP lawmakers opposed to the commission argue the push for further investigation is politically motivated.

“The heart of this recommendation by the Democrats is that they would like to continue to debate things that occurred in the past,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said last week. “They’d like to continue to litigate the former president into the future.”

Democratic leaders have yet to say how they will proceed with efforts to investigate the riot. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., could appoint a select committee to investigate without Republican support.

Jeffries said the Democratic caucus has a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation.

 “I look forward to hearing from the speaker as well as the members as to what comes next,” he added.

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