What if Dems went their own way to create a commission or something, and included respected Republicans who don’t currently hold political office? I’m thinking Powell, W, Hagel, that sort of person. They could create a group with party affiliations split right down the middle, out of people who demonstrate they tend to put the country first.
I’m not sure how subpoena power or other investigative power originates, so I don’t know what ways there would be to assemble a group with what kinds of powers. Perhaps that might be the reason this would be a non-starter?
The Democrats should try to include Republicans like Liz Cheney in this investigation, assuming they can do so without giving them the power to derail it.
Pelosi can appoint a House Select Committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection. Membership on the committee would be limited to current members of Congress. Republicans would almost certainly be offered seats on the committee, which they could take or refuse. The committee would have subpoena power. This is the tactic that Republicans took on the Benghazi investigation.
Pelosi and/or Schumer could instruct one or more standing committees in their chambers to investigate the insurrection. These committees already have the memberships set and have authority to issue subpoenas, although different committees have different rules about how and when they can do so. And the investigation would have to compete for time and resources with the other work under the committees’ jurisdiction.
President Biden could appoint a Presidential Commission to investigate the insurrection. Under his executive authority, he could appoint whomever he pleased to serve on the commission with the charge to investigate the circumstances of the insurrection. The president cannot give the commission subpoena power himself, although Congress could pass legislation to provide the commission with that power. The Warren Commission investigating the JFK assassination is an example of such a commission.
I’m so sick and tired of Democrats trying to placate Republicans. Republicans voted as a collective to not even have a bipartisan commission. You know that shit eating grin McConnel has? It’s because he knows that US Congressional Democrats have no spine. The Democrats in Texas collectively just -for now- stopped a racist voter supression measure. Let’s see the same spine from the national party.
Otherwise, let me know how that works out. Even though I already know how it works out. (Imagine McConnel’s insane grin.)
I’d like to see them extend an invitation to Marjorie Greene. If she accepts it, then the televised hearings will show a contrast between Democrats respectfully asking relevant questions and getting informative answers while Greene uses her time to rotate her head 360 degrees and projectile vomit pea soup. Giving her a chance to demonstrate some intelligence and restraint may be a great way to show she has neither.
Biden could form a commission, but the chances of Congress giving it subpoena power are nil.
It’s very likely that Pelosi will move forward with a House Select Committee to investigate the insurrection. Typically, the Democrats would not offer seats on the committee to specific Republicans – rather they would reserve a certain number of seats for Republicans and McCarthy would decide who gets them. But the House already broke precedent by voting to remove MTG from her committee assignments, so maybe it’s not out of the question. I agree it would be must-see TV.
It’s not about placating Republicans - it’s about getting to the bottom of what happened as effectively as possible. And if a few Republicans want to help in that effort, they should be welcome.
Well, we won’t agree on this, then. Republicans voted to not have a bipartisan commission, it’s time, past time, for Democrats to tell them to go fuck themselves.
But Liz Cheney won’t be on the committee, because Kevin McCarthy will decide which Republicans will get to participate on the committee. And IF he allows any Republicans to serve on a select committee to investigate the insurrection, he’ll ensure that it’s his members most willing and able to discredit the committee’s work.
She’s the Speaker - she can make any committee she wants as long as a bare majority votes for it. She could put the Republicans who want to be on it on it and there’s nothing Mccarthy could do about it.
True. It would be unprecedented and a pretty radical break with how committee assignments are determined. And it would set a precedent in two years when Republicans take back the House that they could decide which Democrats serve on which committees (maybe relegate that pesky Katie Porter to the Joint Committee on Printing). But in the House if you have the votes you can do pretty much anything, so if Pelosi could get her entire caucus to go along, she could do it.
Of course, any Republicans who went along with serving on the committee over their party leadership’s orders would be subject to sanctions – stripped of their committee assignments (unless Pelosi further dictates Republican committee assignments), denied campaign support, undoubtedly primaried. Maybe Cheney would figure she has nothing left to lose, but I don’t think you’d find many other Republicans willing to take the assignment.
The Democrat’s options are a Congressional committee, or a Presidentially-appointed commission. I went into the differences in a post above, but essentially it comes down to membership and subpoena power.