WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans were poised early today to block creation of a special commission to study the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, dashing hopes for a bipartisan panel during a GOP push to put the violent insurrection behind them.
The vote was expected in the wee hours, after delays on an unrelated bill to boost scientific research and development pushed back the Senate's schedule. The investigatory commission bill was still waiting action at midnight.
Broad Republican opposition was expected in what was shaping up to be the first successful Senate filibuster of Joe Biden's presidency, even as the family of a Capitol Police officer who died a day after the attack and other officers who battled rioters went office to office asking GOP senators to support the commission. The siege was the worst attack on the Capitol in 200 years and interrupted the certification of Biden's win over then-President Donald Trump.
Though the bill passed in the House earlier this month with support of almost three dozen Republicans, GOP senators said they believe the commission would eventually be used against them politically. And Trump, who still has strong support in the Republican Party, has called it a "Democrat trap."
The expected vote is emblematic of the mistrust between the two parties since the siege, which has sowed deeper divisions on Capitol Hill even though lawmakers in the two parties fled together from the rioters that day.
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The events of Jan. 6 have become an increasingly fraught topic among Republicans as some in the party have downplayed the violence and defended the rioters who supported Trump and his insistence that the election was stolen from him.
While initially saying he was open to the idea of the commission, which would be modeled after an investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell turned firmly against it in recent days. He says he believes the panel's investigation would be partisan despite the even split among party members who would serve on it.
McConnell of Kentucky, who once said Trump was responsible for "provoking" the mob attack on the Capitol, said of Democrats: "They'd like to continue to litigate the former president, into the future."
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., lashed out at McConnell and any other Republican who opposes the independent commission, accusing them of taking a "political position" and fearing the truth.
"There is no excuse for any Republican to vote against this commission since Democrats have agreed to everything they asked for," Manchin said.
"Mitch McConnell has made this his political position, thinking it will help his 2022 election," Manchin said. "They do not believe the truth will set you free, so they continue to live in fear."
Biden said Thursday: "I can't imagine anyone voting against" it.
Republican opposition to the bipartisan panel has revived Democratic pressure to do away with the filibuster, a Senate tradition that requires a vote by 60 of the 100 senators to cut off debate and advance a bill.
With the Senate evenly split 50-50, Democrats need support of 10 Republicans to move the commission bill, sparking fresh debate over whether the time has come to change the rules and lower the threshold to 51 votes to take up legislation.
The Republicans' political arguments over the violent siege -- which is still raw for many in the Capitol, almost five months later -- have frustrated not only Democrats but also those who fought off the rioters.
Michael Fanone, a Metropolitan Police Department officer who responded to the attack, said between meetings with Republican senators that a commission is "necessary for us to heal as a nation from the trauma that we all experienced that day." He has described being dragged down the Capitol steps by rioters who shocked him with a stun gun and beat him.
Sandra Garza, the girlfriend of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who collapsed and died after battling the rioters, said of the Republican senators: "You know they are here today and with their families and comfortable because of the actions of law enforcement that day."
"So I don't understand why they would resist getting to the bottom of what happened that day and fully understanding how to prevent it. Just boggles my mind," she said.
Video of the rioting shows two men spraying Sicknick and another officer with a chemical, but the Washington medical examiner said he suffered two strokes and died a day later from natural causes.
Garza attended the meetings with Sicknick's mother, Gladys Sicknick. In a statement Wednesday, Gladys Sicknick suggested that the opponents of the commission "visit my son's grave in Arlington National Cemetery and, while there, think about what their hurtful decisions will do to those officers who will be there for them going forward."
Dozens of other police officers were injured as the rioters pushed past them, breaking through windows and doors, and hunting for lawmakers. The protesters constructed a mock gallows in front of the Capitol and called for the hanging of Vice President Mike Pence, who was overseeing the certification of the presidential election that day. Four protesters died, including a woman who was shot and killed by police as she tried to break into the House chamber with lawmakers still inside.
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More than 400 people among the protesters have been arrested.
"We have a mob overtake the Capitol, and we can't get the Republicans to join us in making a historic record of that event? That is sad," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat. "That tells you what's wrong with the Senate and what's wrong with the filibuster."
Many Democrats are warning that if Republicans are willing to use the filibuster to stop an arguably popular measure, it shows the limits of trying to broker compromises, particularly on bills related to election measures or other aspects of the Democrats' agenda.
For now, though, Democrats don't have the votes to change the rule. Manchin and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, both moderate Democrats, have said they want to preserve the filibuster.
Manchin said Thursday that there is "no excuse" for Republicans to vote against the commission, but he is "not ready to destroy our government" by doing away with the procedural tactic.
SUPPORT FOR PANEL
The commission has received support from government officials outside of Congress, as well. On Thursday, four former secretaries of Homeland Security who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- Tom Ridge, Michael Chertoff, Janet Napolitano and Jeh Johnson -- issued a statement saying a commission is necessary to "ensure the peaceful transfer of power in our country is never so threatened again."
In a last-ditch effort to persuade some of her Republican colleagues to save the bill, Maine Sen. Susan Collins drafted an amendment this week that would ensure that commission staffers were hired on a bipartisan basis and that the panel was disbanded at the beginning of 2022, before the election cycle is fully underway. However, her effort failed to win over many colleagues.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who once supported the idea of the commission, said he now believes Democrats are trying to use it as a political tool.
"I don't think this is the only way to get to the bottom of what happened," Cornyn said, noting that Senate committees are also looking at the siege.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he believes there should be a commission, but he supports forming it after the Justice Department finishes its investigations and the 2022 election is over. He said politics has indeed factored into his party's position.
Anyone who thinks there isn't a concern about politics "isn't sharing the whole story," Rounds said.
DAY OF MEETINGS
Within four months, the mother and partner of Brian Sicknick made two visits to the Capitol -- for a February memorial service to honor the deceased officer and Thursday to plead with Republican senators to support the independent investigation into the failed insurrection.
But the day of meetings and calls by Gladys Sicknick and Garza, the late officer's companion of 11 years, with 16 senators and their staffs appeared unlikely to change hearts and minds.
Gladys Sicknick said Thursday that it has angered her to see Republican senators oppose the commission.
"That's why I'm here today," she told reporters. "You know, usually I stay in the background, and I just couldn't -- I couldn't stay quiet anymore."
Garza said it was "very disturbing" that some members of Congress seem uninterested in finding answers to the lingering questions around the attack.
"I mean, why would they not want to get to the bottom of such horrific violence?" Garza said. "They are here today -- and with their families and comfortable -- because of the actions of law enforcement that day."
Two officers -- Fanone and the U.S. Capitol Police's Harry Dunn -- who responded that day and protected members of Congress, joined Sicknick and Garza in trying to persuade Republicans.
The face-to-face meetings involving Brian Sicknick's family, the officers and Republican senators highlighted a stark choice for GOP lawmakers: Stand with their party or support members of law enforcement.
In early February, Brian Sicknick, who grew up in New Jersey, was honored at the U.S. Capitol, with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and congressional leaders paying their respects. His remains were interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
Nearly 140 officers were assaulted during the Jan. 6 attack, facing rioters armed with ax handles, bats, metal batons, wooden poles, hockey sticks and other weapons, authorities said.
Gladys Sicknick, Garza, Dunn and Fanone started their Thursday early on Capitol Hill, beginning with a meeting with Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, who supports the commission.
By day's end, they had met with more than a dozen Republican senators. They also lobbied some by phone and met with staffers for others, including a session with aides to McConnell.
Former U.S. Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., accompanied the group.
"If January 6th didn't happen, Brian would still be here. Plain and simple," Dunn told reporters Thursday ahead of the long day of meetings.
"I do not believe the additional, extraneous commission that Democratic leaders want would uncover crucial new facts or promote healing," McConnell said in floor remarks. "Frankly, I do not believe it is even designed to."
McConnell praised Brian Sicknick in a Senate floor speech in February.
"The Senate and the entire country send our deepest condolences to officer Sicknick's family and all who loved him," he said on the day that Brian Sicknick was lying in honor at the Capitol. "His name will never be forgotten."
Several Republican lawmakers have sought in recent days to play down the seriousness of the Jan. 6 attack, comparing the violent mob to "tourists," railing against law enforcement for seeking to arrest them and questioning how anyone could be sure the rioters were Trump supporters.
Garza pushed back against those efforts, telling reporters that the message for Republican senators who are on the fence is, "Facts are facts."
Information for this article was contributed by Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Mascaro, Alan Fram, Colleen Long and Padmananda Rama of The Associated Press; and by Felicia Sonmez, Karoun Demirjian and Peter Hermann of The Washington Post.
CORRECTIONS: U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick suffered two strokes and died of natural causes a day after he and other officers confronted rioters during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to the District of Columbia’s chief medical examiner. An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the date on which Sicknick died. In addition, U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota is a Republican. An earlier version of this story incorrectly listed his party affiliation.
