Thread by @Brandi_Buchman

Today: The House will debate and vote on legislation to form the select committee investigating the insurrection at the US Capitol that happened almost six months ago.
Stay tuned for coverage from @CourthouseNews.

In a letter to colleagues today @Pelosi reflects on Lincoln's letter to Congress a year into the Civil War. (Here: millercenter.org/the-presidency…)
She implores the House: "We too cannot escape history," and says there is a duty to the nation and Constitution to form the 1/6 committee.

Remarks from @SpeakerPelosi's letter to colleagues on today's vote forming the 1/6 committee:

Be on the lookout for the report on today's vote forming the 1/6 committee from @KailaPhilo for @CourthouseNews.

Pardon the incorrectly tagged username in first tweet!

.@SpeakerPelosi in a statement ahead of today's vote on 1/6 cmte, slams @GOPLeader McCarthy for his campaign against the investigatory body and what she dubs are his broken promises to officers who protected him and others that day:

"Give me a break," @RepMcGovern says from the floor during debate ahead of the vote on 1/6 select committee. He contends: GOP had their chance to have the committee they wanted, and they voted it down and let's not forget, the @GOPLeader whipped members against it.

Majority Leader Hoyer says the logic in the House today over this 1/6 committee from R's is akin to Lewis Carroll logic - Carroll was the author of Alice in Wonderland for my non lit nerds. Up is down, down is up.

.@LeaderHoyer from the floor, chiding Republicans, says Pelosi brought to the floor what Rs wanted on a cmte, "except for scope" in earlier cmte proposals. "The fear that we would look at the very essence of what Jan. 6 was about," was what precluded their support.

.@LeaderHoyer on the need to pass today's bill forming the select committee probing the attack on US Capitol on Jan 6: "The bible says the truth shall set you free and the people need to know the truth because that is what will keep them free."
@CourthouseNews

Hoyer says of Republicans who have aligned against a probe into 1/6: They "had to choose between the former president and the truth. And sadly, they chose the former President Trump and not the truth."

Hoyer: Sadly, House and Senate Republicans have made it impossible to establish a commission on a bipartisan basis because 'you've reached your conclusion.' 'Let's move on, let bygones be bygones. Let the past be forgotten.

Hoyer: Notwithstanding that, the House is going to do its job and we're going to create this select committee to achieve the goal of truth.

.@RepBradWenstrup, R-OH, is vehemently against what happened in the Capitol on 1/6 but claims Democrats wrote a bill that refused to consider incidents before 1/6, like the shooting at the baseball field that injured Steve Scalise a few years back + other threats to congress.

So Wenstrup, therefore could not support it. Rep. McGovern, says, that's not correct. D's didn't write the bill alone. R's did too. Katko weighed in on the writing. They mutually agreed to scope at the first pass. And, McGovern says, D's weren't in control when Scalise was shot.

If the R's would have wanted to stand up a committee to investigate threats to congress when Scalise was shot in VA at the baseball field, they could have. They did not.

McGovern says @GOPLeader will not be on the floor today to defend his position against forming the committee.

Observation: I don't think anyone is surprised here today.

Pelosi says R's have normalized 1/6 as a normal day in Congress. "Well, we have video of those same people barricading the doors to keep those intruders out," she notes.

She's talking about Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-GA:
cnn.com/videos/politic…

Today we go on record, Pelosi says. There's a duty to the constitution, to the American people, to define the truths of Jan. 6 and ensure that such an assault on our democracy can never happen again.

.@SpeakerPelosi: "And rather than being privileged with the facts, we're going to be prayerful and patriotic and honor concerns of the American people, seeking and finding the truth to protect the country from future or similar assaults."

Pelosi: 140 officers hurt, five dead, staff and press still remain traumatized by the experience. The sheer scale of the violence of that day is shocking but what is just as shocking is remembering why this violence occurred: To block the certification of an election

Pelosi: "I'm heartbroken we don't have a bipartisan commission, we yielded on every point: the numbers, the process for subpoenas, the timing and further yielded on Senate side for timing again, plus clarification for staffing."

Pelosi: Repub. Senators thought they could win the day over there. They thought they could and they thought they had votes until @LeaderMcConnell asked them to do him a personal favor and vote against the commission.

Pelosi: Too many of them chose to do Mitch McConnell a personal favor rather than to perform their patriotic duty. And hence, despite that 7 Rs said they would vote for the commission, it was defeated.

Pelosi: They said give us another week, another week, another week, another week. Now its 4.5 weeks and we must go forward.

Pelosi: It does not appear at this time that we can have a bipartisan commission, an outside commission. Hopefully that could still happen. But in the meantime, we will have a select committee.

Pelosi, reflecting on who was attacking the Capitol, namely, the person wearing the anti-Semitic 'Camp Auschwitz' shirt or the "6 million were not enough" logos.
"You'd think they would reject that?! Pelosi says of Republicans, then she adds: "Not. A. Normal. Tourist. Day."

The House is now voting on HR 503, legislation to form the select committee investigating the insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol. @KailaPhilo will have the report today for @CourthouseNews.

https://twitter.com/CraigCaplan/status/1410317050262732805?s=20