[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 93 (Thursday, May 27, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S3548]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          JANUARY 6 COMMISSION

  Mr. SCHUMER. Now, Madam President, on another matter that should also 
be just as bipartisan in the Senate: the Commission to investigate the 
January 6 attack on the Capitol.
  We all know that January 6 was one of the lowest moments in our 
democracy and one of the lowest moments in the grand, grand history of 
our 200-and-some-odd-year experiment--noble experiment--in democracy. 
An outgoing President of the United States, fresh off an electoral 
defeat--a significant electoral defeat--did something that no other 
President in recent history has done. Rather than accept the results of 
the election and support the peaceful transfer of power--a hallmark of 
our democracy that has inspired democracies all over the world--former 
President Trump unabashedly lied, repeatedly, about the results of the 
election and fomented an armed rebellion at the U.S. Capitol.
  We are all witnesses to those events. We all heard the lies. We lived 
through their terrible consequences. Lest we forget, 140 police 
officers were injured in the attack, and 5 Americans would eventually 
lose their lives.
  In the weeks since, faith in our elections has plummeted. More than 
half of the Republican Party now believes that the 2020 elections were 
rigged and that Joe Biden isn't the actual President of the United 
States. Republican State legislatures across the country, captured by 
Donald Trump's Big Lie, are tripping over themselves to restrict access 
to the ballot box. Arizona Republicans, in an ``election audit,'' have 
been searching for traces of bamboo fibers in the 2020 ballots--chasing 
a bananas-crazy, rightwing internet conspiracy that China had ballots 
imported to tip the scales for Biden. That is how insane this has 
become--hunting for bamboo in ballots.
  We need to put a stop to this cancer in the Republican Party. We need 
to stand up to the Big Lie. We must get at the truth and do everything 
in our power to restore Americans' faith in our elections and this 
grand, ongoing, noble experiment of democracy.
  In that light, a national, bipartisan, independent Commission to 
report on the events of January 6 is exactly what the doctor ordered. 
We have to investigate, expose, and report on the truth. We need to 
establish a trusted record of what really transpired on January 6 and 
the events that preceded it. That is what this Commission is designed 
to do in a bipartisan, straight-down-the-middle manner.
  Now, I have gone through all the silly excuses that we have heard 
from our Republican colleagues about why the Commission isn't needed or 
is too early or will go on for too long or needs to be modeled after 
the 9/11 Commission, even though it already is. The truth of the matter 
seems to be that Senate Republicans oppose the Commission because they 
fear that it might upset Donald Trump and their party's midterm 
messaging.
  I am not speculating. It was reported in POLITICO yesterday that the 
Senate Republican leader warned his Conference that a January 6 
Commission could hurt the Republicans politically.
  Well, too bad. This is too important.
  For the sake of Americans' faith in our democracy, there must be a 
full, thorough, and trusted account of what happened on January 6. 
Senate Republicans must decide if they are on the side of truth or on 
the side of Donald Trump's Big Lie.
  I yield the floor.

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