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After about 02:36 in the CNN video Retired generals warn an insurrection could succeed next time, Seung Min Kim, Washington Post White House reporter says (my transcription):

...and obviously this commission is working on a very limited timetable here I think we can all kind-of — if we were all betting men and women we would probably bet that Republicans would take back the house majority in 2022 and their first vote I would bet would be to shut down this commission.

Question: What is the first day that a Republican-led 2022 US congress could actually vote to shut down the January 6th commission. How quickly after that could the commission be effectively curtailed or shut down?

Since the function and day-to-day operations of the US House of representatives is heavily regulated and constrained by written parliamentarian and other procedures, it is conceivable that these will not happen on swearing-in day.


The National Commission to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol Complex, known colloquially as the January 6 commission, was a proposed commission that would have investigated the 2021 United States Capitol attack. It was proposed on February 15 by Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, who announced that she planned to create a "9/11-type commission".

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Firstly, the Jan 6th Commission was never created in the first place. It failed to pass the Senate due to a Republican filibuster, leading to the creation of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol in H. Res. 503.

Because this is a Select Committee of the House, it will terminate at the end of the 117th Congress if not renewed at the beginning of the 118th Congress. Take, for example, the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which was established in 2007, renewed at the beginning of the 111th Congress in Section 4 of H. Res. 5, but not at the beginning of the 112th Congress when the Republican party regained control of the House.

So to answer your question, the Select Committee will cease to function on January 3rd, 2023 unless it is explicitly renewed at the beginning of the 118th Congress - representatives do not have to vote in favour of disbanding it, but rather in favour of renewing it.

Of course, the Committee will know if the result of the November 2022 elections makes it likely that its time is limited, and may seek to publish its final report in advance of its termination - as the Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee did just before the 112th Congress began.

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    It looks like the WP reporter was just plain wrong and fact-deficient; am I seeing that right?
    – uhoh
    Dec 23, 2021 at 1:49
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    @uhoh I mean, she refers to it as a committee elsewhere in the interview, but yeah, that sentence in particular is misinformed.
    – CDJB
    Dec 23, 2021 at 9:40
  • also just (sort-of) asked and nicely answered by US Representative Zoe Lofgren here youtu.be/eVSnEZCF_X8?t=209
    – uhoh
    Apr 4, 2022 at 22:02
  • Jan 3, 2023 has passed. Was it renewed? Jan 12 at 20:23

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