Jason Smith assails Jan. 6 Committee's 'distraction'

Southeast Missouri congressman Jason Smith has little good to say about the Jan. 6 Committee, the bipartisan House panel that may be holding the last of its hearings tonight in Washington.

The committee was created by Congress on a near party-line vote in June 2021 to investigate circumstances around the attack on the U.S. Capitol and to recommend "changes in law, policy, procedures, rules or regulations to prevent future acts of violence.

One panel member, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, said the hearing, the eighth by the panel thus far, will "be a profound momemt of reckoning for America."

The committee has centered its focus on the involvement of former President Donald Trump in an action many of the panelists have termed an insurrection attempt.

Asked to comment on the apparent culmination of the committee's hearings, Smith's office released the following statement Wednesday to the Southeast Missourian:

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi broke 200 years of U.S. House decorum and precedent when she rejected House Republican appointees to the January 6 Committee. It's unfortunate that the committee — which includes Democrats and two Pelosi Republicans — is using made-for-TV hearings to score political points and distract Americans from the many crises facing our nation right now — like 40-year-high inflation, sky-high gas prices, and an out-of-control border. The country would be better served if the committee was focused on investigating why the Capitol was left so unprepared that day and what can be done to better protect it going forward."

Smith, 41, has represented 30 southeastern and southern counties in Missouri's 8th District since 2013.

He is currently the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee.