WASHINGTON (thehill): House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday said he will not support bipartisan legislation for the 9/11-style commission to probe the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
“Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the Speaker’s shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation,” McCarthy said in a statement released Tuesday morning.
This statement comes after the top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee reached an agreement last week on legislation to create the commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack that resulted in the deaths of several people, including a Capitol police officer.
McCarthy said he could not support the legislation because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “refused to negotiate in good faith” on the parameters of the commission, and because Democrats’ “renewed focus” does not include the “political violence” in American cities, a Republican Congressional baseball practice or the fatal attack on Capitol Police on April 2.
“The presence of this political violence in American society cannot be tolerated and it cannot be overlooked,” McCarthy wrote.
“I have communicated this to our Democrat colleagues for months and its omission is deeply concerning,” he added.
