From: John Grace
Columbus
I have been following efforts in the U.S. Congress to establish a 9/11-type commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection/riot in the U.S. Capitol.
I have been greatly disappointed in Indiana’s Senators Young and Braun, participation in the filibuster to prevent discussion and approval of the commission. I find the rationale behind their position and that of the Senate’s GOP minority leader disingenuous and misleading to say the least.
The idea that there are already ongoing investigations that cover the issue is not correct. There is not the capability to investigate the political roots, motive of individuals involved in the riot and the totality of events that surrounded and led to the riot. The focus of the ongoing investigations in Congress relates to security and policing issues surrounding the riot. Efforts of the Justice Department are focused on criminal activities and are bounded by federal law and limited in scope.
The efforts of the proposed commission, like the 9/11 commission, are to uncover the truth about the events surrounding and involved in the riots. The commission proposal was balanced with five Democratic and five Republican participants and it has the critical feature of subpoena powers.
The only reason that I can see for not voting for this commission is that cited from Senate Minority Leader McConnell who observed it wouldn’t be good politics heading into the midterms to vote for the commission. He urged his members to consider the impact of such a commission on GOP election results.
It seems the truth could hurt the GOP’s election chances in the near future. Concern for the party’s election prospects has “trumped” any worry about the attack on democracy by the Jan. 6 events.
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) criticized McConnell’s rationale.“To be making a decision for the short-term political gain at the expense of understanding and acknowledging what was in front of us on January 6th, I think we need to look at that critically,” Murkowski said when asked about McConnell’s opposition to the measure. She added, “Is that really what this is about, is everything just one election cycle after another?”
I certainly agree with Senator Murkowski on the criticality of looking at Jan. 6 in detail as would be done by a congressionally chartered commission. Speak up if you agree.
