Thread by @BBuchman_CNS

Today: @RulesDemocrats & @RulesReps meet to work on legislation for U.S. Capitol security plus a bill standing up a commission to investigate the insurrection on Jan. 6.
@CourthouseNews

https://twitter.com/RulesDemocrats/status/1394631353245724676?s=19

H. R. 3233, to establish the National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex:
govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BI…

Another bill on the docket today is the $1.9B proposed to toughen up Capitol security following the attack
That legislation, H.R. 3237, available here:
govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BI…

Rep Tom Cole, ranking Republican of House Rules, says the fact that there are more investigations elsewhere in Congress and by law enforcement underway on 1/6, he isn't fully supportive of forming a unique commission. His reasons for opposition are nearly identical to McCarthy's.

Cole however, was more supportive of HR 3237, Rep. DeLauro's bill that proposes $1.9B to beef up security on the Capitol complex. The trouble this bill faces will be in the Senate if it manages to pass the House.

Though ranking member Cole was more supportive in his opening remarks for emergency funding than he was for a commission, he raised concerns about a provision in the bill that establishes a "quick reaction force" inside DC Nat'l Guard. It would not be under congressional control.

McGovern says what he keeps hearing from people is "why the hell is it taking so long?" to get a commission together, to get funding for better security.
"For the life of me, I don't know why this is at all controversial," he says, exasperated.

House Rules Cmte chair: "This is not a game. I was here on Jan. 6. We saw what happened on Jan. 6.... I'm still angry at the trauma that was inflicted on our staff, on the people who work here in the Capitol... clearly, we weren't prepared."

McG: "This can't be politics as usual, business as usual, or delay, delay, delay or 'Donald Trump is having a temper tantrum & doesn't want us to talk about these issues.' That's unacceptable. That's an abdication of our responsibility as members of Congress."

McGovern: "This will go to the Senate and there will be changes there... but if this isn't an urgent matter, I don't know what the hell is. We all want this place to be open for constituents, tourists, and visitors, but we want this Capitol complex to be secure."
@CourthouseNews

Much tension around the formation of 1/6 commission. Complicating things politically is the fact that GOP Leader McCarthy opposes its creation even though fellow R John Katko took pains to negotiate bipartisan representation on the cmte plus compromises on subpoena power.

Rep. Raskin on the emergency funding bill: How much $ is going towards paying for expenses of the attack of 1/6 itself and how much is going to protect the Capitol from future insurrections or attacks against the Union?

It's going for the reimbursement of funds, DeLauro says.
There's $ for the national guard, capitol police, prosecution support, the library of congress etc. A lot of that looks like it's backward-looking to deal with the cost of 1/6. Roughly $740M of the $1.9B, Raskin notes.

Raskin on cost to taxpayers because of insurrection: "That's an extraordinary sum of money that that violent insurrection is costing the US. They unleashed mob violence against the Capitol, beat up police officers with flag poles... sprayed people with bear mace in their face..."

Raskin on 1/6: "It was a scene of absolute chaos and wreckage and it's costing us hundreds of millions of dollars. Does the US have an action in restitution against the organizers and incitors of this attack? Can we sue?"
@CourthouseNews

.@RepRaskin on holding insurrectionists responsible for damage: "Yeah, it's remarkable to me, we're talking about taking money from the taxpayers to pay for the cost of this mayhem, this havoc visited upon the Capitol and we're not talking about suing the people who caused it."

"Taxpayers are going to be shaken down to pay for a rampage" Trump created, Raskin says. It would never have happened had Trump not contested results of the election. And all of this questioning over the commission + funding occurs as white supremacist domestic terrorism on rise

Now: The Office of Management and Budget throws its full support behind the creation of a national 1/6 commission.
@CourthouseNews

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon at today's hearing says the "illusion of security was shattered at the Capitol" after the attack. The emergency funding bill will beef up staffing, beef up intel, improve security response, reinforce the National Guard.

Scanlon: The investigation has already netted 500 arrests of people who broke into this building, damaged the building itself, attacked officers at USCP and Metro - people who are still suffering traumatic injuries if not physical injuries from that day.
"This is long overdue."

Scanlon: Part of preventing something like this from happening again is understanding what occurred.
The commission will do that. Unless we have a shared understanding & a shared truth of what happened that day...

"Then this aim for unity & the trust necessary to participate in bipartisan legislation simply just isn't going to occur as long as we have a substantial portion of the electorate or even this body, denying the truth of what happened or would silence those who speak the truth."

Clarity for an earlier comment by Raskin who estimated the reimbursement to Capitol was over $700M; DeLauro's staff got the hard number and it's $664M in damages that the emergency security funding bill (a total of $1.9B) would apply

And now, OMB also throws its official support behind the emergency funding package to improve security at the US Capitol. OMB notes the bill's provision of $521M just to reimburse the Army and Air National Guard for the *5 mos* of support to US Capitol Police.

At the hearing, McGovern recalls how he was one of the last people to leave the floor during the siege where he saw people with "hate in their eyes," hoisting Confederate flags and wearing anti-Semitic t-shirts.

"Fast forward to today and we have members of congress saying what we saw really didn't happen. I mean, enough," McGovern says. "I assume what happened here is Trump called up McCarthy & said, 'I don't like it.'
@CourthouseNews

McGovern: "Anyone who is going to make-believe that what happened on 1/6 was a typical tourist day - they are not fit to serve in this chamber. I've had it."
@CourthouseNews

Rep Katko, the R lawmaker who signed on w/Rep Bennie Thompson, a D, to create the 1/6 commission says "We were able to rise above the politics and create a bipartisan bill" and that's what the bill does, he says.
McGovern: Katko did everything w/in reason to establish the truth.

Some people expected Katko to fail though, that he would not work in a bipartisan manner. Maybe some people were hoping you would not come up with a bill like the one you came up with," McGovern says, alluding to McCarthy

Katko: What we are looking at is, more important than anything, is how did this happen? How did we fail to act on the intel that was already there? How did we put these police officers in an unwinnable situation? That's the real nub of this, it's not a political consideration.

Katko: "We're not a criminal investigatory body, we're a body trying to make the Capitol safer and make the Capitol police department much, much safer and help them going forward."

One remarkable thing about McCarthy opposing the formation of a 1/6 commission - if the Capitol were attacked again - a legitimate concern - the fallout would go right back to McCarthy's desk and this time, with a vengeance that may actually have major political ramifications

Thompson raised this concern as well, about an attack happening again.
No matter how many independent congressional hearings there are on 1/6 - if there's an attack again, we'll be right back here with lawmakers calling for a cmte

Rep Cole notes that there was 14 months that passed before the 9/11 Commission was stood up; he asks if lawmakers are moving too soon, esp. in light of ongoing prosecutions that could provide useful info and that might otherwise be missed

Kato says, but this has nothing to do with criminal investigations. It's about what the failures were on 1/6. How the Capitol and everyone inside failed to be protected. The 1/6 Commission would be "far more refined" than the 9/11 Commission

On the allegations from some R's that the 1/6 commission would be for political points only, Rep Thompson reminds that the bill asks for a final report to be issued no later than Dec of this year, putting lots of time between its findings and the midterms.

.@RepRaskin really driving a critical point home about the idea of partisanship in Washington. "We shouldn’t play make-believe or pretend to be naïve. We know a lot of what goes on in politics deals with partisanship. That’s part of our system under the First Amendment...

"In that sense, it is a sign of health in the country. You get rid of partisanship, you move to a one-party state, one dictator who runs everything. But once we get into office, we do have to remember where the word party comes from, the French word partee, just a part...

Raskin cont.: "We're part of the whole & we have to look out for the whole and we have to do that. We do that when it comes to constituent work. If someone calls my office and needs help with veteran aid, we don’t ask if they are D or R, we ask if they are one of my constituents"

Rep. Katko and Rep. Thompson, a R and D respectively, say in the process of writing legislation for 1/6 Commission, they agreed to disagree but they didn't stop talking and were focused on "what was best for the country."

Rep. Katko, who is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Cmte, said he and chair Thompson have an "awesome responsibility to keep this great country safe."
"You cant do that when you're quibbling over things that are really trivial," Katko says.

Katko:"We both understand the greater good & dispense w/our politics to do what the greater good is. We're not the second coming of Christ here. We just believe working together you get a lot more done & we believe this cmte is 2 important to devolve into political calculations."

Pelosi's statement on McCarthy's opposition to 1/6 Commission - "McCarthy won't take yes for an answer."

The House will vote on the bill to stand up the commission on Wednesday.
I'll have more about what unfolded in today's House Rules hearing later - amendments, challenges, prospects and all.
@CourthouseNews