Capitol attack inquiry needed

Too many Americans do not agree on a common set of facts anymore. That's why we need a national commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The toll of that day is clear — the dozens of police officers injured, sometimes gruesomely, as supporters of President Donald Trump besieged the Capitol and disrupted the certification of 2020 Electoral College votes. The rioters were driven by the lie that Trump’s reelection was stolen.

But we still do not have full answers to key questions about the incident itself: What intelligence did law enforcement have about the risks beforehand? Did some rioters want to harm Vice President Mike Pence and other top leaders? Why were Capitol police officers so unprepared? Why did reinforcements take so long to arrive? Under what circumstances did an Air Force veteran protesting in the Capitol die? And how can we be sure such an internal attack on the functions of democracy does not occur again?

For this, the nation needs the kind of bipartisan, independent commission installed after the 9/11 terror attacks. That is just the kind of commission the House greenlit on Wednesday, sending its fate — unfortunately uncertain — to the Senate where the Republicans are stonewalling.

The commission would include a 10-member panel with five commissioners appointed by each party, with subpoena authority divided equally. The commission’s work would not drag on: Its report would be due by the end of the year. It would be charged with investigating the facts and causes of the Jan. 6 domestic terror attack on the Capitol and making recommendations to prevent future such acts against American democratic institutions. The bipartisan setup is crucial, so that Americans on both sides of the aisle can accept its findings.

Yet only 35 Republicans joined with Democrats to advance this commission. It is to freshman Rep. Andrew Garbarino’s credit that he was one of them. The Bayport Republican says he wants to get to the facts about this violent, disturbing event at which police officers were overwhelmed and attacked. "Anybody that says they support police and they're against this commission should come down here and speak to the Capitol Police officers," he said.

Rep. Lee Zeldin did not vote yes. The Shirley Republican, who seeks to lead largely-blue New York as governor, failed to take this most basic step toward bipartisanship and safeguarding American democracy. Yet it follows a pattern for Zeldin, who also objected to the certification of Electoral College votes in January. He now argues the commission is not necessary because Republicans have condemned violence and there are other investigations having to do with Jan. 6.

There are more than 400 federal criminal cases filed against participants in the attack, but those serve to hold individuals accountable for their actions. This patchwork of cases and other reviews cannot provide an unshakable bedrock of facts that all Americans can agree on. And that’s the real core of what was missing, so ominously, on Jan. 6.

— The editorial board