Legislation to change how electoral votes are counted is one step closer to becoming law, as the House is taking steps to counteract former President Trump.
Less than a day after the House issued four criminal referrals for the former president, the Senate unveiled a $1.7 trillion omnibus government funding package.
The threshold for objections to Electoral College votes is raised by the Electoral Count Reform Act. The Senate-negotiated bill marks concrete action against Trump that is set to be signed into law by the end of the week.
The proposal will save our democracy according to Sen. Chris Murphy. We wrote something that isn't perfect. Malevolent actors are still capable of stealing an election.
Two years ago, Trump and his allies tried to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
The bill increases the threshold as well as clarifying that the role of the vice president in certifying the Electoral College votes is ceremonial and that only a state's governor or another designated official can submit election results.
If neither candidate issues a concession within five days of the election, the General Services Administration will release transition funds to them. The losing candidate's funds would be nixed once the election results were known.
The measure was negotiated by Sen. Susan Collins and Sen. Joe Manchin. It was included in the year-end package after winning support from Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
The Electoral Count Reform Act was passed at the same time as the conclusions of the select committee. Due to the House GOP majority, both had deadlines of the end of the year.
It turned into a one- two punch. The reform of the electoral count act was considered a priority by top lawmakers.
It needs to be changed before it becomes a presidential year issue. The top Republican on the Senate Rules Committee said they have broad agreement on changes. It will be beneficial.
It wasn't a problem until 2001 It has become a problem at least three or four times. It is an important time to make sure it is straightened out. Clarifying the law is a good thing because people want to read it in different ways.
The Republicans got a boost when Sen. Paul threw his support behind the proposal. Paul wrote that the electoral system needs to be fixed so that the Electoral College isn't abolished.
The laws and election results of several states were intended to be respected by the founding fathers. The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act will help demonstrate to the world that our republican form of government, which respects the laws of the states, will last.
The most important item in the bill is a provision that strikes a nearly 200 year old law that states could use to declare a failed election.
It might be the provision that most needed clarifying.
Since the beginning of the week, Trump has not mentioned the ECRA effort on his social page. He dedicated a number of posts to the criminal referral.
The full report from the 18-month investigation will be released on Wednesday after the panel voted on the four criminal referrals.
The House bill would have required one-third of lawmakers to sign it.
Funding for Ukraine, a ban on TikTok from being used on government phones, and money for disaster relief were included in the omnibus spending bill.
The bill allowing banks to become involved with legal cannabis businesses and the expansion of the child tax credit were not included.
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