McConnell also said he doubted that such a commission could promote healing in the country, which is the same argument some Republicans used to vote against impeaching and convicting Trump earlier this year for his role in whipping up the mob. Healing is not the express purpose of an independent commission. It could be argued that the responsibility for healing the country lies more with elected officials and others in positions of power than with a commission tasked with finding out as much as possible about the Jan. 6 attacks. This much is clear: Blocking the commission will not lead to healing... Hamilton, in a telephone interview, said he was “extremely disappointed” by what happened on Friday. All such commissions carry risks, he said, but with strong and fair-minded leadership, such bodies can do something that he said Congress is not equipped to do. He added that he hoped there would be new efforts to work around the vote to block the commission. “You can’t sweep these things under the rug,” he said. Stepping back, he said that what happened in the Senate on Friday “says that democracy is under stress, not functioning as well as it should. It’s being tested, and this is a very good test of whether it can function.” He recalled Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg, asking whether the nation “so conceived and so dedicated” to the principles of liberty and equality “can long endure.”