Republicans are attempting to pass a new House rule to block materials compiled by the panel that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection from immediately going to the National Archives.
Although the House committee investigating the insurrection has released a trove of transcripts and underlying information backing up its report, the vast majority of raw information the panel collected is slated to be sent to the National Archives, where it could be locked away for up to 50 years.
But the proposed rules package the new Congress will vote on Tuesday orders that any record created by the panel must instead be sent to the House Committee on House Administration by Jan. 17 and orders the National Archives to return any material it has already received…
Each Congress sets its own rules, but targeting a single committee’s records for retention rather than submitting them to the National Archives is unusual. The House retains ownership of committee records even when they’ve been transmitted to the National Archives, and can temporarily recall them at any time for official committee use.
A summary released by Republicans on the Rules Committee says the proposed change requires “the quick transfer of records from the January 6th Select Committee to the House Administration Committee.” It is not clear if the records will be transmitted to the National Archives before the new Congress ends in 2024.