Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will not support the current legislation to form the January 6 commission, according to two sources who told Axios.
According to Axios, the two sources were a part of the Republicans’ closed-door caucus lunch Tuesday where the minority leader told his Senate colleagues.
McConnell, according to Axios’s sources, said something like: “There’s 41 of us who could change this, and I think we should.”
After McConnell finished speaking, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) reportedly also stood up and questioned parts of the deal, according to the report. Blunt is retiring after his current term and will not run for reelection. One source told Axios the deal is not dead on arrival but hinted Republicans would want to make some changes such as making a “truly bipartisan” panel.
The report showed Senate Republicans are expected to see the House vote on the bill Wednesday. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has vocally opposed the House bill to form a commission. Tuesday, the House Republican Leader issued a statement to oppose the legislation due to bad-faith negotiations. McCarthy said Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) “falsely” claimed she gave House Republicans a counterproposal.
Some senators are worried House Republicans will “buck leadership” and vote for the bill, which would ultimately make “it more difficult for Senate Republicans to dismiss it,” according to the report.
Axios reported, after the Republicans closed-door caucus lunch, McConnell said he is “pushing the pause button” on having the current legislation.
Reportedly, he added later, the Senate Republican conference is “undecided” and raised questions on if a new commission would be getting in the way of the Department of Justice and the other congressional oversight committees that already have investigations underway.