For weeks, Joe Biden’s transition team has worked informally to establish a new administration.
The General Services Administration recognized Joe Biden as the apparent winner of Monday’s presidential election, after weeks of inaction, and President Donald Trump called on his agencies to cooperate.
“I recommend that Emily and her team do whatever it takes with regard to initial protocols and I have told my team to do the same,” Trump said of Emily Murphy, head of the General Services Administration. Still, he said he would continue to challenge the election result.
The designation triggers a formal transition process, which gives Biden and his team access to current agency officials, informational books and other government resources, including some $ 6 million in funding.
The letter was sent after nine Republican senators called for the transition process to begin, and hours after the Michigan State Board of Canvass voted to certify the election results, practically ensuring Biden’s victory in the state. key to the battlefield.
“Due to recent developments involving legal challenges and certification of election results, I have determined that you can access the post-election resources and services described in Section 3 of the Act upon request,” Murphy said in a letter to Biden, citing the Transitional Act of 1963.
The announcement is a “necessary step” to “get the pandemic under control and our economy back on track,” Yohannes Abraham, executive director of the Biden-Harris transition, said in an emailed statement. “In the coming days, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the response to the pandemic, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain a full understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to empty agencies. governmental “.
For weeks, Biden’s transition team has worked informally to establish a new administration, including creating a coronavirus task force and consulting with public health officials outside of the federal government, mimicking the approach that the Former Vice President Dick Cheney during the disputed 2000 election.
Unable to interact with federal agencies, Biden’s staff turned to other experts from academia, state governments, and the Capitol.
The biggest change now is that the transition team will be able to flood federal agencies with officials focused on preparing the way for his administration. They will have access to agency staff and informational books gathered earlier this year, as well as details on administrative issues that need to be addressed immediately.
Transition assistants will also get details on which positions are most critical, as the incoming administration seeks to fill more than 7,000 jobs across the federal government.
“Fortunately, career federal officials have done an outstanding job preparing for this year’s transition by producing fact-based information on critical agency matters and appointing acting officers who will direct the agency’s operations until confirmed. new political appointments, “said David Marchick, director of the Presidential Transition Center. “Now they need space to do their work.”
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris can also quickly begin receiving classified intelligence reports. Lawmakers and national security experts had warned that without the information, the incoming administration would remain in the dark about threats to the United States, a lapse that could make the country more vulnerable.
Biden’s team can now delve into the work essential to running the federal government and strengthening the economy, from developing a budget plan to coordinating guidance on unemployment benefits with the Department of Labor.
Departments of the executive branch working on the pandemic response can also brief Biden’s team on systems for distributing protective equipment and coronavirus vaccines.
Trump praised the GSA administrator on Twitter. “I want to thank Emily Murphy of GSA for her steadfast dedication and loyalty to our country. She has been harassed, threatened, and abused, and I do not want this to happen to her, her family, or the GSA employees. Our case is STRONGLY continuing “, wrote.
Murphy, in the letter, which was previously reported by CNN, told Biden that he had received “threats online, by phone, and in the mail directed at my safety, my family, my staff, and even my pets in an effort to coerce me.” . in making this determination prematurely. “
She added that she was not “directly or indirectly pressured by any executive branch official” regarding the making or timing of a decision on the presidential transition.
Murphy’s decision came after a series of defeats for the Trump campaign, including certification of results in Michigan. There was also mounting bipartisan pressure to launch a transition process, with Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, saying Monday it’s time to “move on” and Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito calling for Biden’s team Get “all appropriate” briefings related to national security and the pandemic.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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