Tillis votes to block commission to investigate Jan. 6 Capitol riot; Burr doesn’t vote
Senate Republicans blocked the creation of a commission Friday that would investigate the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, using the filibuster to prevent a vote on the legislation.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis voted not to end debate, a procedural vote that ends consideration of the underlying bill. Fellow Republican Sen. Richard Burr was not present to vote, one of 11 senators who did not vote.
Burr was in North Carolina due to an unavoidable conflict, according to a spokesperson Friday.
Supporters needed 60 votes to move to the legislation in the Senate. Six Republicans voted in support of the commission, but the 54-35 tally did not reach the needed threshold.
It was the first GOP filibuster since Democrats gained control of the Senate in January.
Burr and Tillis announced last week that they did not plan to back the 10-member commission, which would have been evenly divided between Democratic appointees and Republican appointees and required to produce a report by the end of the year.
The commission is modeled after the one that was formed to investigate the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
All of North Carolina’s Republican members in the U.S. House previously voted against the legislation, where 35 Republicans voted with Democrats to pass the bill.
Burr voted to convict President Donald Trump at his impeachment trail for incitement of insurrection, which came as members were to certify the 2020 presidential election results.
He was one of seven Republicans to vote to convict Trump. Five of those GOP members voted in favor of the commission.
Trump and other Republicans, including Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, spoke to supporters in Washington, D.C., before the Capitol riot, urging Republican lawmakers to not certify the results.
The certification was halted after pro-Trump protesters breached the Capitol and overran law enforcement officers. Some of the rioters reached the Senate chambers; others tried to get into the House chambers.
Congress returned late in the evening and certified President Joe Biden’s victory.
Several protesters also died that day, including a woman who was shot just outside the House chambers. At least three law enforcement officers who were there on Jan. 6 have died, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick who suffered two strokes the next day. Two officers died by suicide shortly after.
Sicknick’s mother visited several Republican senators Thursday, urging them to pass the legislation.
Burr called the Capitol assault “a grim day for our nation.” But he said ongoing investigations by the Justice Department and Congress are sufficient.
“These investigations are being led by the committees with jurisdiction, and I believe, as I always have, this is the appropriate course. I don’t believe establishing a new commission is necessary or wise,” Burr said in a statement on May 20.
Tillis, who voted to acquit Trump in his second impeachment trial, called Jan. 6 “a dark day in American history” and said that “every single person who broke the law should be held responsible.”
But Tillis called the commission a partisan endeavor — despite its even makeup and rules requiring bipartisan buy-in for subpoenas.
“The current commission proposed by Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi and House Democrats appears to be a platform to score partisan political points instead of facilitating a good faith, bipartisan review of the facts,” Tillis said in a May 20 statement.
“While I have full confidence in the current DOJ investigation and Senate efforts that appear to be on a bipartisan track, I have no confidence in Speaker Pelosi’s proposal, which is why I will vote against it.”
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This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 12:28 PM.
