Prior to the Electoral College certification process and President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, some of the Republican lawmakers plan to oppose the certification in their latest attempt to overturn the results. United States President Donald Trump and his allies have been trying to overturn the election results on the basis of unproven claims of large-scale voter fraud.
According to a CNN report, at least 140 Republicans in the House of Representatives plan to vote against the electoral vote count on January 6. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley also announced that he will object to the Electoral College vote, which allegedly prompted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to ask him about the rationale for the decision.
Republican leader explains why
However, several Republican leaders, including McConnell, have been warning their Republican colleagues not to disrupt the certification process. Republican Senate Ben Sasse wrote in a Facebook post that he has been urging his colleagues to reject the “dangerous ploy” to reverse the election. Sasse said he has not heard a single Congressional Republican privately claim that the election results were fraudulent.
“Instead, I hear you speak about your concerns about how you will ‘view’ the most ardent supporters of President Trump,” he wrote.
Sasse explained that there is a group of ambitious politicians who think there is a quick way to “tap into the president’s populist base without causing any real long-term damage.” He warned that Trump and his allies are “playing with fire,” adding that the president and his “incendiary members of Congress” have no evidence to prove voter fraud.
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Delay in transition
While these attempts have virtually no chance of success, they could further delay certification by a few hours, affecting an already delayed transition. Biden had previously singled out the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), accusing the office of obstructing the incoming administration’s efforts to prepare for the presidency.
Trump’s budget chief Russ Vought said that Biden’s transition team has been making “false accusations” about the Office of Management and Budget. In a letter to Biden’s head of transition, Ted Kaufman, Vought said that OMB has been fully involved in the transition efforts, including more than 45 meetings. He further added that redirecting staff and resources to write “his team’s budget proposals is not a transitional responsibility of OMB.”
“The OMB will not participate in the development of policies that weaken border security, dismantle the president’s deregulatory successes and draft budgets that will bankrupt the United States,” the letter said.
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