Writing for The Dispatch this Monday, Chris Stirewalt contends that when Senate Republicans voted to block the establishment of a bipartisan commission to investigate the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, they were handing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a "powerful midterms weapon."
In doing so, Stirewalt writes, Republicans will have to deal with a committee of politicians selected entirely by Pelosi.
"Even better for Democrats, the committee itself is a powerful tool to divide and distract Republicans. Rather than outsourcing a difficult task to experts, Republicans have hired on loads of new problems for themselves," writes Stirewalt.
"It is certainly true that it is a point of pride for senators in both parties to look upon all actions of the House with disdain, when they look at them at all. But the select committee's work, which will begin on Tuesday, will have significant consequences for Senate Republicans' hopes of regaining the majority next year," he adds.
The effort to establish an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack died in the Senate after just six GOP senators joined with the Democrats, while 35 Republicans voted against it.
According to Stirewalt, Republicans who voted against the bipartisan committee "either genuinely oppose additional inquest into the attack or are too scared of a primary challenge to say otherwise."
"This is not surprising. Once they talked themselves into voting against convicting then-President Donald Trump for urging an angry mob to go disrupt the business of the legislative branch, a commission to investigate the attack was sort of beside the point. They ate frog first; they're not going to quibble about the garnish."
Read the full piece over at The Dispatch.