A spokesperson for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) said that she would have voted in favor of creating a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection if she was present during the vote last week.
Sinema has not given an explanation for her absence but her spokesperson, Hannah Hurley told Arizona Republic that she has publicly voiced her support for the legislation “and she will be entering into the Congressional record that she would’ve voted yes.”
She also declined to give a reason why Sen. Sinema missed Friday’s vote.
Sinema wasn’t the only senator who missed vote. Ten other senators did not vote on the bill, including one other Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington. Republicans Sen. Pat Toomey (Penn.), Sen. Richard Burr (N.C.), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Sen. Jim Inhofe (Okla.) Sen. Mike Rounds (SD), Sen. Roy Blunt (MO), Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.), Sen. Jim Risch (ID), and Sen. Mike Braun of (Ind.), skipped the vote as well.
Though more senators supported the bill than oppose it, the 54 –35 vote fell short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the filibuster.
Six Republican senators –Romney, Collins, Murkowski, Sasse, Cassidy, and Portman– voted in favor of the bill.
