Should the House Form a Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol? (H. Res. 503)

What is H. Res. 503?

(Updated January 30, 2022)

This resolution would establish the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, which would investigate and report on the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack on the Capitol by domestic terrorists. The select committee would have 13 members appointed by the speaker of the House, including five members appointed after consultation with the minority leader. The speaker would select the chair and fill any vacancy through the same process.

Specifically, the committee would:

• Investigate facts and circumstances of the January 6th Capitol attack related to intelligence agencies, law enforcement, and the armed forces in terms of their intelligence collection and information sharing.

• Influencing factors that contributed to the attack, including how online platforms, financing, and malign foreign influence may have factored into the attack.

• Identify, review, and evaluate the causes of and lessons learned from the attack regarding command, control and communications of the Capitol Police, National Guard, local police, and other law enforcement agencies; governments’ procedures for detecting, preventing, preparing for, and responding to targeted violence and domestic terrorism; Capitol Police’s use of force policies; and policies and processes for interoperability between law enforcement agencies and the National Guard.

• Issue a final report to the House on its findings, conclusions, and recommendations for corrective measures as it may deem necessary.

The select committee would be permitted to provide interim reports periodically regarding the results of its investigations and any recommendations as it deems advisable. Any report issued by the select committee would be published in an unclassified form but may include a classified or law enforcement-sensitive annex if necessary.

As a simple resolution that modifies the rules of the House to establish a select committee, this legislation wouldn’t advance beyond the House if adopted.

Argument in favor

The House of Representatives needs to establish a select committee to investigate the facts related to the January 6th terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol and make recommendations regarding intelligence gathering and security preparations to ensure it doesn’t ever happen again.

Argument opposed

A select committee composed of lawmakers handpicked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is likely to produce a hyper-partisan review of the January 6th attack that produces no meaningful new insights into the events of the day. It’s also redundant given the bipartisan report Senate committees already produced.

Impact

House members picked for the select committee; and the House of Representatives.

Cost of H. Res. 503

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) offered the following statement on the introduction of this legislation to form a select committee to investigate the January 6th Capitol attack:

“January 6th was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history. It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure such an attack cannot again happen. The Select Committee will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of the attack and report recommendations for preventing any future assault. Senate Republicans did Mitch McConnell a ‘personal favor’ rather than their patriotic duty and voted against the bipartisan commission negotiated by Democrats and Republicans. But Democrats are determined to find the truth.”

Rep. John Katko (R-NY), who led House Republicans in attempting to negotiate a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol attack, offered the following statement opposing Pelosi’s effort to establish a select committee:

“I led the charge to create a January 6th commission that would be external, independent, bipartisan, and equitable in membership and subpoena power. The select committee proposed by Speaker Pelosi is literally the exact opposite of that. The select committee would have a skewed, 8 Democrat and 5 Republican panel of members, all 13 of whom would ultimately be picked by the Speaker herself. It would be a turbo-charged partisan exercise, not an honest fact-finding body that the American people and Capitol Police deserve. For those reasons, I will not support its creation when voted upon. Recognizing the deeply disappointing departure this represents from a truly bipartisan solution, I have a hard time envisioning a scenario where I would participate, if asked.”

The bill negotiated by Katko and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) passed the House on a 252-175 vote, with 34 Republicans in favor and the rest of GOP lawmakers opposed. It later failed to clear the 60 vote threshold in the Senate amid Republican opposition.

Of Note: The House voted along mostly party-lines to impeach former President Donald Trump for the “incitement of an insurrection” on January 6th after he “repeatedly issued false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud” which riled up the crowd that went on to breach the Capitol complex and interrupt the certification of the Electoral College results. Trump was later acquitted following a trial by the Senate.