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The Republican Party Just Showed Everyone How OK They Are With Insurrections

By May 28th, 2021, 3:13 pm

Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest outside the US Capitol

Senate Republicans have blocked the bill that would have formed an independent commission into the January 6 Capitol riot because that’s how little they apparently care about seeing their workplace swarmed by violent insurrectionists.

The bill passed the House with bipartisan support but failed Friday in the Senate after Republicans staged their first filibuster of Biden’s presidency. Democrats had given in to nearly all of the GOP’s demands in drafting the bill, and in recent days, the family of Brian D. Sicknick, the Capitol police officer who died following the riot, traveled to DC to plead with Republican senators, asking them to vote in favor of the commission.

Still, only six Republican senators voted in favor of the bill. It needed 60 votes to pass but failed 54-35, with 11 senators (including Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, to the surprise of no one) choosing to just not show up at all.

After Brian Sicknick’s family met with lawmakers, Mitch McConnell (who reportedly would not see them, scheduling the meeting for his aides instead) seemed to be worried his colleagues might actually do the right thing and asked Republicans to vote against the commission as a “personal favor” to him.

I don’t know, if even one of my closest friends asked me to ignore the fact that a bunch of people tried to murder me at work, I don’t think I would, even as a favor. But I guess that’s why I’m not a Republican senator!

If Republicans are trying to prove that they didn’t encourage the insurrection in any way, they’ve sure chosen a funny way to go about it.

(via NPR, image: ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane - Senior News Editor

Vivian Kane (she/her) has a lot of opinions about a lot of things. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri with her husband Brock Wilbur and too many cats.