Gillibrand: ‘Only six strong souls’ voted with Senate Democrats on Jan. 6 commission

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said it was a “problem” that “only six strong souls” voted with Senate Democrats for legislation to establish a commission to probe the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, referring to the six Republican senators who supported the commission.

“We’ve seen this time and time again. [Senate] Minority Leader Mitch McConnell [R-Ky.] has already said his goal is to defeat the agenda of this administration. We just had a vote on the Jan. 6 riots and only had six strong souls to vote with us. That’s a problem,” Gillibrand said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“I don’t think there’s necessarily goodwill behind all negotiations, and I think the American people elected us to solve the problem of COVID, to rebuild the economy, rebuild the infrastructure, and I think it’s our moment to act,” she added.

Senate Republicans on Friday blocked legislation that aimed to establish a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in a 54 to 35 vote.

The vote was the caucus’s first successful filibuster of the 117th Congress.

GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah), Susan Collins (Maine), Bill Cassidy (La.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) crossed the aisle and joined Democrats in voting for the legislation. Ten Republican senators, however, were needed to advance the bill.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) missed the vote because of a family commitment, but a spokesperson said he would have supported advancing it “with the expectation that the Senate would consider and Sen. Toomey would have supported” GOP amendments.

The House approved the bill earlier this month in a 252 to 175 vote, with 35 Republicans supporting the legislation.