House Republicans are demanding equal representation on the commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol riot placing them at odds with California Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to Politico.
Pelosi has already vowed to quickly pass legislation creating a commission similar to the one formed after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, with her party receiving seven seats and Republicans receiving four. The GOP has countered with a suggestion that each party selects five members of the commission. They are also pushing their counterparts not to suggest avenues of inquiry to the commission.
“There is really strong support in the country for us to seek the truth, find the truth, but also understand how we have to protect the American people from what might be out there in terms of domestic terrorism and the rest,” Pelosi said last week in remarks to reporters, according to the New York Post.
House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rodney Davis, R-Ill., told CNN last week that he had yet to hear from Pelosi or anyone else in the Democratic Party leadership.
“If Speaker Pelosi’s vision of a 9/11 Commission is to only stay focused on Republicans, then she is really not interested in a truly 9/11-type commission,” he said.
A spokesperson for Pelosi denied that the Speaker is looking to create a “partisan” commission.
“Nobody wants this to be partisan. that’s why the effort here is to follow what was done with the 9/11 commission,” said spokesman Drew Hammill. “And that means that the commission leaders are appointed by the four top Congressional leaders and the president.”