# John Katko Republican U.S. Representative for New York's 24th district, around Syracuse (2015–2023). Born November 9, 1962, in Syracuse, he spent about two decades as a federal prosecutor, much of it on organized-crime cases, before entering Congress. From 2021 to 2023 he was the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee. ## The first to break On **January 12, 2021**, Katko became the first House Republican to announce he would vote to impeach Trump. He voted yes the next day, one of ten (see [[Trump Second Impeachment]]). ## The commission that wasn't Katko is the Republican author of the January 6 commission that never existed. He negotiated a bipartisan, 9/11-style independent commission with Homeland Security Chair [[Bennie Thompson]]. Their deal, announced May 14, 2021, split the commissioners evenly between the parties and required bipartisan agreement for subpoenas. [[Kevin McCarthy]], who had asked Katko to negotiate, came out against the result. - **2021-05-19** — The House passed it **252–175**, with 35 Republicans voting yes. - **2021-05-28** — Senate Republicans filibustered it, **54–35**, six votes short of the 60 needed. [[Mitch McConnell]] led the opposition. The failure led directly to the Democratic-run House Select Committee, created June 30, 2021, which Republicans then attacked as partisan. ## Exit On **January 14, 2022**, Katko announced he would not seek re-election, citing family. He did not face a primary. ## KB significance The commission vote is a hinge on [[Trump Impeachments Timeline]]. The party refused an investigation on equal terms and then condemned the one-sided investigation that replaced it. Katko built the even-handed version and watched his own leadership vote it down. ## Related - [[Trump Second Impeachment]] - [[Trump Impeachments Timeline]] - [[January 6 Capitol Attack]] - [[Anthony Gonzalez]]