Senate Republicans Block January 6 Commission

The U.S. Senate failed to advance the bill to create a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The vote was 54 to 35, with just 6 Republicans — Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Rob Portman, Lisa Murkowski and Ben Sasse — voting in favor.

Another 11 senators were absent for the vote.

New York Times: “The debate played out in the same chamber where a throng of supporters of former President Donald J. Trump, egged on by his lies of a stolen election and efforts by Republican lawmakers to invalidate President Biden’s victory, sought to disrupt Congress’s counting of electoral votes about five months ago.”

Washington Post: “The GOP’s votes stood in sharp contrast to its prevailing rhetoric at the time, which was sharply critical of Trump.”

It takes just 51 senators to confirm a Supreme Court justice, but 54 senators cannot advance legislation.