Fort Worth area Republicans vote no on House Jan. 6 Committee

Fort Worth area members of Congress stuck to party lines Wednesday as the House voted to create a special, Democratic-run committee to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Republican Reps. Kay Granger, Beth Van Duyne, and Michael Burgess voted no. Republican Rep. Roger Williams did not vote. Rep. Marc Veasey, the Fort Worth area’s only Democrat, voted yes.

Democrats see the committee as necessary to uncovering the causes of the riot, while Republicans see the committee as partisan and redundant.

“The only priority here is a self-serving agenda to put D.C. politicians first and give them their cable news talking points,” Van Duyne said in a House speech before the vote. “If we’re going to spend time and resources on investigations, we should be doing many things in this House that have been ignored by the Democrats, like investigating the origins of COVID.”

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., House Rules Committee chairman, reacted.

“I’m sorry that the previous speaker doesn’t see the importance of trying to get to the bottom of an attack on our democracy. By the way, for the record, the gentlelady voted against the bipartisan commission,” McGovern told House colleagues.

The House passed a bill in May that would have created a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate the insurrection. Thirty-five House Republicans—none from the Fort Worth area— joined Democrats in supporting that commission. The bill fell six votes short of the 60 it needed in the Senate to limit debate.

As a result, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced a select committee that would investigate January 6.

Pelosi will appoint all 13 members to the committee including five in consultation with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.