Republicans Kelly, Palazzo vote against the measure.
Mississippi’s Third District Congressman Michael Guest was one of only 35 Republicans who voted in support of Congress forming a 9/11-style Commission to investigate and report on the January 6th Capitol riot.
Another Mississippi Congressman, Bennie Thompson (D) from the Second District, was the lead negotiator for the Democrats in the U.S. House to have this new Commission formed under H.R. 3233. Both Thompson and Guest serve on the House Homeland Security Committee, which Thompson chairs.
“We need answers to questions surrounding the events of January 6th,” Congressman Guest (R) said in a statement to Y’all Politics given Wednesday night following the vote. “I believe the long conversations that have happened over the last few months have produced a commission that is fair and is structured to find actions that Congress can take to prevent another such attack.”
Mississippi’s other two Republican Congressmen – Trent Kelly (MS-1) and Steven Palazzo (MS-4) – did not vote to form the Commission.
Congressman Thompson appeared on CNN following the vote. He said the 35 Republicans who voted to form the January 6th Commission “took a principled vote.”
“The people who voted on the Republican side, they were there. They saw what went on and you can’t, in reality, whitewash the events,” Thompson said. “It was an insurrection. It was a riot, or whatever you want to call it. But it was not orderly operation of the United States Capitol.”
Thompson said Democrats met Republicans on every point to make the Commission bipartisan.
“[Republican] Leader McCarthy. We, word for word, accepted what he wanted because we just want to get to the facts,” the Democrat Congressman told CNN.
#ICYMI: Chairman @BennieGThompson was on @OutFrontCNN to discuss House passage of his bill – with 35 Republican votes – to create a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and where the bill goes from here.
Watch ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/05qNKWJALq
— House Homeland Security Committee Democrats (@HomelandDems) May 20, 2021
Those 35 Republicans who voted for the January 6th Commission are listed below:
- Liz Cheney of Wyoming
- Tom Rice of South Carolina
- Dan Newhouse of Washington
- Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio
- Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
- Fred Upton of Michigan
- Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington
- Peter Meijer of Michigan
- John Katko of New York
- David Valadao of California
- Tom Reed of New York
- Don Bacon of Nebraska
- John Curtis of Utah
- Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania
- Andrew Garbarino of New York
- Tony Gonzales of Texas
- Dusty Johnson of South Dakota
- David Joyce of Ohio
- Chris Smith of New Jersey
- Van Taylor of Texas
- Chris Jacobs of New York
- David McKinley of West Virginia
- Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska
- Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida
- Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa
- Steve Womack of Arkansas
- Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma
- French Hill of Arkansas
- Mike Simpson of Idaho
- Rodney Davis of Illinois
- Blake Moore of Utah
- Michael Guest of Mississippi
- Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana
- Carlos Gimenez of Florida
- Cliff Bentz of Oregon
The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate where it is unlikely to be met with overwhelming approval by Senate Republican. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated that he will not support this legislation and will urge his GOP colleagues not to support the bill as well.
