LEE HAMILTON

- VideograbLike many Americans, I watched with dismay this month as the House of Representatives struggled through 15 votes over four days to select a new speaker. For a week, there was no speaker to call the House to order. In fact, it had been 100 years since the House majority took more than one vote to select a speaker. It also makes it less likely the House will compromise with the Democratic-controlled Senate to pass legislation. It would be bad enough if the deadlock over House leadership were the only sign that our democracy is fragile, but it’s not.

American policymakers have a very full plate. They’ve got to grapple with health care, education, the environment, economic growth and more. The list goes

The Senate will break your heart and imperil your democracy. A 1/6 Commission is only the first failure-by-filibuster we're likely to see.

The horror of Jan. 6 has been reduced from a stunning assault on American democracy to another political fight.

Pressed to explain his decision, Rep. Greg Pence of Indiana praised his brother as a “hero" and turned his ire on Democrats, calling the commission a “coverup about the failed Biden administration.” Pence's swift pivot to attacking Democrats and defending the former president about a riot that threatened his brother's life is a stark measure of how the horror of Jan. 6 has been reduced from a violent assault on American democracy to a purely political fight. Rather than uniting behind a bipartisan investigation like the ones that followed the 9/11 terror attacks, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy or Pearl Harbor, Republicans are calculating they can regain at least partial control of Congress if they put the issue behind them as quickly as possible without antagonizing Trump or his supporters.

The reports of the Warren Commission (the assassination of President John F. Kennedy), the Kerner Commission (Black uprisings in Detroit, Newark, N.J., and other cities), the Rogers Commission (the Challenger failure), and the 9/11 Commission run by former New Jersey Gov. AdvertisementCongress authorized the 9/11 Commission just one month after the U.S. began its ill-fated war in Iraq. AdvertisementAs happened after 9/11, Congress should pass a law authorizing a presidential commission without reference to its membership. An adequate budget must be appropriated — the 9/11 Commission cost $15 million and had a staff of more than 75 — and the commission must be granted subpoena power. In the absence of a well-constituted Jan. 6 commission, questions vital to our democracy will remain unanswered and conspiracy theories will persist.

9/11 investigators weigh in on plans for Capitol riot commission An increasingly partisan dispute is taking shape in Congress over how to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean and former Congressman Lee Hamilton led the independent 9/11 commission, which lawmakers hope to use as a model, and they joined CBSN to discuss how lawmakers should structure the investigation into the events of January 6.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that a legitimate commission would be comprised of an equal number of Republicans and Democrats. Last week, she said the commission must be “strongly bipartisan” and have the power to subpoena witnesses. Republicans have suggested an evenly divided 10-member panel and have also objected to some of the rationale for forming the commission. But politics have changed in the intervening 17 years, and Democrats and Republicans rarely agree on anything — including, in some cases, basic facts. AdDemocrats now control both chambers, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has said he also supports a commission.

But to ensure Republican support, Pelosi said Democrats sent the proposal to GOP leaders “to see what suggestions they may have because, for this to work, it really has to be strongly bipartisan." It is an open question whether the commission will be authorized to investigate Trump's actions. Still, some Republicans have said they think such a commission is necessary alongside other congressional efforts to investigate the attack. “There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear and a 9/11 commission is a way to make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del. “Our country has been wounded,” the former 9/11 commission chairmen said.

A few months ago, the federal debt we have accumulated over the past decades crossed the $22 trillion mark. Overall, the debt held by the public amounts to about 78 percent of our gross domestic product. Interest on the debt is expected to hit $390 billion this year. Were paying more in interest on the debt than we spend on our children, and were headed toward doing the same with defense. Its hugely seductive to politicians to believe that tax cuts pay for themselves by boosting economic activity and hence tax revenues.