U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer says he’s losing confidence in Congress’s ability to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Meijer (R-Grand Rapids) is one of only 35 Republicans who broke with party leadership to vote for an independent bipartisan commission. Congressman Fred Upton (R-Saint Joseph) was the only other Michigan Republican who voted for the commission.
But it appears unlikely that will be adopted by the Senate, where Republicans are threatening at filibuster.
Republicans have said, if a commission is empowered to conduct an inquiry, the scope should include Black Lives Matter protests and claims of election tampering. That’s despite the fact that there’s no evidence of any widespread fraud in the November election.
Meijer told CNN on Sunday that the impending impasse over the inquiry is unfortunate.
“A lot of folks might dismiss [the inuiry] as a product of the swamp, as tainted in one way, shape or form, but it would be the closest we could get to something that may be factual, that may clear away some of the fantasies, some of the fictions surrounding January 6 and the events preceding it,” he said.
Meijer said the alternative is separate House and the Senate inquiries that could not be divorced from partisan interests. “By shooting this down,” he said, “we’re playing into Speaker Pelosi’s hands.”
