| An expected vote in the Senate on whether to create a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol was pushed back by hours Thursday. Instead, a vote on another bill, intended to put economic pressure on China by boosting U.S. science and technology grant funding, as well as tech manufacturing, stayed open for more than three hours on the Senate floor as Democrats hurried to make deals on Republican amendments. The bill that would create a commission to investigate the insurrection on Jan. 6 seems unlikely to pass, as only a few Republican senators have committed to voting for it. A key procedural vote that would move the bill forward is likely to be held sometime tonight — but is expected to be filibustered by Republicans, who are confident there aren't 10 GOP senators who will cross the aisle to vote with Democrats to end debate on the bill.  Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) at the Capitol on Thursday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) | But the United States Innovation and Competition Act does seem likely to move forward after becoming the subject of intense negotiations, as Republicans complained they didn't have the chance to offer enough amendments. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) had opened the bill to amendments from both sides of the aisle in an attempt to build bipartisan support for the measure, holding more than a dozen votes on various amendments in recent days, the majority of which were proposed by GOP senators. Even so, as the vote on the bill sat open for hour upon hour Thursday, it looked like it might not pass — and Schumer went into dealmaking mode. He struck a deal with Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) that essentially said, if Republicans voted to move forward, Schumer would later hold a vote on Crapo's amendment that would happen after the cloture vote, a procedural vote that usually comes after the amendment process is over. Schumer was eager to get the bill passed — partly because the big components of the bill have broad support, but partly because it could be one of the last bipartisan bills passed for a while. Other Democratic priorities — including infrastructure, voting rights bills and President Biden's sprawling budget proposal — are being derailed by the 60-vote threshold required to move forward on most bills. That seems likely to ratchet up pressure on Democrats to do something about the filibuster rules. But for now, Schumer gets a win, and a rare bill that's on its way to passing in the Senate. Parsing the coronavirus 'lab leak' theory The possibility that the coronavirus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, rather than occurring naturally, has become the subject of increased scrutiny as scientists now regard it as plausible. And the Biden administration has asked the U.S. intelligence community to "redouble their efforts" to determine the virus's origin. That's a big shift in thinking, after a long period in which the "lab leak" theory was regarded as implausible, bordering on a conspiracy theory (Washington Post Fact Checker Glenn Kessler has a great rundown of the key events and reporting that has led to scientists reassessing whether the lab leak theory could be credible). The Chinese government has been notably opaque in its response, in a way that cost the world valuable time to prepare and combat the virus's spread. And, The Fix's Aaron Blake writes, that has real implications in terms of China's culpability on the world stage. Blake writes: Some have wagered that if such a theory proves true, it might turn China into something of a pariah state, given how angry other countries would be. There would be calls for extensive sanctions, particularly from the United States. But much of the world, including this country, relies upon trade with China, making such efforts fraught. Part of the reason there was so much initial skepticism about the "lab leak" theory is that it seemed like a convenient political argument for President Trump and his party to use to shift blame away from their own response. But there's never actually been all that much evidence to support the idea that the virus leaked from a lab. The Biden administration's efforts to find out the truth could lead to some real accountability — or it could fuel unproven theories that might be totally false. | 
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