Pelosi offers concessions on bipartisan Jan. 6 Capitol attack commission

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday that she has offered concessions to try to reach agreement with Republicans to create a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Pelosi said at her weekly press conference that she has agreed to make the panel evenly split between Democrats and Republicans and to change the way subpoenas would be issued, requiring a joint decision by the chair and the vice chair or after a majority vote.

The original proposal for the commission would have given Democrats seven appointments while Republicans would have had four. Democrats would have also had the power to issue subpoenas unilaterally.

The concessions were first reported by Punchbowl News.

The final outstanding issue is the scope of the commission, a source familiar with the matter said. Pelosi wants it to focus only on Jan. 6 and the extremist groups that participated in the riot, while Republicans want to expand the scope to include political violence by the far-left. The people who attacked the Capitol were supporters of former President Donald Trump and many were members of far-right groups and militias.

"If we can come to agreement the first two, well, why would they object to the scope, which is to find the truth of what happened on January 6 when an insurrection descended upon the Capitol," Pelosi said at her press conference.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have not received a proposal from Pelosi with these changes, spokesmen for the two Republican leaders said.

Pelosi said, however, that she has shared the proposal with some GOP lawmakers, although she didn't specify who received it.

McCarthy said at his separate press conference Thursday that he didn't know which Republican members Pelosi has spoken to, adding the creation of a commission is "still a long way away."

McCarthy previously said that the original proposal for the commission was “politically driven,” and McConnell said it was “partisan by design.”

In a letter to House Democrats last week marking 100 days since the attack, Pelosi reiterated her call for a 9/11-style commission to investigate what unfolded.

“Compromise has been necessary; now, we must agree on the scope, composition and resources necessary to seek and find the truth,” she said. “It is my hope that we can reach agreement very soon.”

House and Senate committees have held hearings to investigate the riot and have heard from witnesses, such as current and former leaders of the Capitol Police, as well as national security and defense officials. Pelosi said that the information collected during those hearings will serve as a key resource for the commission.