Pelosi says she’s giving Senate more time on Jan. 6 commission

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that she’s still holding out hope that Congress can create an independent commission to examine the Capitol attack of Jan. 6 — and she’ll give Senate Democrats a bit more time to try to rally the votes to pass it.

Pelosi had huddled Tuesday with several House committee heads who have jurisdiction over various components of the Capitol attack. The group agreed to ramp up the Jan. 6 investigations being conducted by those sitting panels but left undecided the question of whether they’ll pursue separate probes, either with the creation of a select committee or otherwise.

Pelosi said Wednesday that, among the various options, her preference remains the external panel, styled on the 9/11 commission, which “we would hope the Senate would take up.”

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has left open the prospect of revisiting the legislation after Senate Republicans blocked it last month. Senate supporters fell just three votes short of defeating a GOP filibuster, and two proponents of the bill — Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — are busy searching for three Republicans who might flip their votes a second time around.

Pelosi suggested on Wednesday that her hopes for a second Senate vote had dimmed early this week, as the House was returning from a long three-week recess, leading to Tuesday’s meeting with her committee chairs.

“By Monday I had the impression that we should probably be thinking of doing something else in case it didn’t happen,” she said. “Up until then it was: ‘Give us more time, give us more time, give us more time.’

“But I’m still giving more time,” she added.

Pelosi has said she’ll make her decision on an investigative strategy “soon.”

On Wednesday, she was a bit more specific, saying the announcement will come “before we leave” for the next recess, which is scheduled to begin July 2.