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The House could consider bills by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) as early as next week to reform how electoral votes are counted in presidential elections. . President Donald Trump’s challenge to his 2020 election that led to violent protests at the Capitol.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) told the House on Thursday that the bill could be voted on as early as next week. The two lawmakers had not introduced the bill as of Friday afternoon, but it had been clear for some time that the bill was on the way.
Cheney and Lofgren, who lost the primary in August and won’t return to Congress next year, are sitting on a House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In July, two members of Congress indicated that a bill to amend the Electoral College Act of 1887 was underway.
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“The task force is considering legislative recommendations based on its findings on the Jan. 6 attacks and will share them soon,” the two lawmakers said. , including a bipartisan approach to electoral college law.”
Lofgren also chairs the House Trustees Committee, which in January issued a report that made a series of recommendations that could be included in legislation.
One of these recommendations was to make it difficult for members of Congress to challenge a particular state’s electoral vote when they meet in a joint session to tally the votes. Under current law, only one Congressman and one Senator are required to challenge, but Lofgren’s report requires one-third of all members of both the House and Senate to challenge. and recommended.
Mark Meadows has filed documents previously shared with the House of Representatives in January pursuant to a DOJ subpoena. 6 Committee
Lofgren’s report also called for language that narrowed the role of the vice president when electoral votes were tallied. The vice president should not preside over a joint session of Congress and should not have a procedural say in the process, he said. The wording reflects complaints from Democrats and some Republicans that former President Trump urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to challenge the electoral vote.
The report added that Congress’ role is generally to accept the results of each state’s elections, and that any substantive issues that arise should be raised and resolved by a supermajority vote.
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Some of these reforms were included in legislation introduced in July by Senators Susan Collins (Republican of Maine) and Joe Manchin (Rep. of Virginia). The bill sought to clarify the vice president’s role as “predominantly ministerial” and to raise the bar for dissent during a joint session of Congress.
This week, the House version of the bill was introduced by Michigan Republicans Fred Upton and Josh Gottheimer (DN.J.). But Hoyer’s comments on the floor this week show House leaders are waiting for bills from Cheney and Lofgren.