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The General Services Administration of the U.S. government determined on Monday that Joe Biden is the apparent winner of the 2020 presidential election, allowing the presidential transition to officially begin.
Donald Trump tweeted on Monday that he had directed his team to cooperate in the transition, but vowed to continue fighting the election results.
What does the GSA decision mean? And why is the step crucial in the transfer of power?
What is the GSA?
The GSA is a huge agency that keeps the federal government going from day to day. For a presidential transition to officially begin, the GSA had to recognize a presidential winner, or rather, determine the “seemingly successful candidate” in the general election. The Presidential Transition Act and other federal policies do not specify how that process should work, but the process is intended to be apolitical.
In typical election years, it happens without fanfare or discussion shortly after the mainstream media calls the race. In 2016, the agency began making office space available to the winning candidate’s team as early as August, and the transition could begin after Hillary Clinton relented to Trump the day after the election.
Why was the move delayed this year?
The agency and its director, Emily Murphy, Trump’s appointee, said it was important to wait to see how Donald Trump’s campaign litigation and narratives in the days after the election could affect election results.
In a letter informing Biden of the agency’s decision on Monday, Murphy said he “looked at a precedent from previous elections involving legal challenges and undercount” by imposing a delay.
Republicans defending Murphy have pointed out that the transition was delayed in 2000 as the court battle between Al Gore and George W Bush unfolded over the results in Florida. But Biden’s team has pointed out that in that case, only 500 votes separated the two candidates in that state. Even in states where Trump is contesting the result, Biden leads Trump with thousands of votes.
Before Murphy determined that Biden was the winner, House Democrats had sent him a letter asking him to clearly explain the reasons for his delay on Monday.
What does the news mean?
The GSA move allows Biden and his team to access classified reports and meet with government officials. It also gives Biden officials access to office space and funds to pay for the transition team. Before the GSA move on Monday, the Biden-Harris team had been raising money to fund the transition process, without access to government-allocated funds.
With GSA approval, Biden’s team can also go to government email and get help from the Department of Homeland Security to protect the privacy of incoming officials as they plan, for example, national security strategies. Until now, the team had also lacked cybersecurity support to protect email and other communications amid concerns that Russia, China or other foreign adversaries could intercept classified information.
¿Why is it so important?
The Biden administration will face an urgent and unprecedented series of challenges when it takes office on January 20, as coronavirus cases rise in the US and Congress has not agreed to an aid package to mitigate the economic impact. of the pandemic.
Biden had warned last week that “due to the lack of verification by the GSA, my transition team has not been able to access the information we need to be able to deal with everything from testing and orientation to the most important issue. of vaccine distribution and vaccination plan ”.
Last week, as the Biden-Harris team was attempting to begin the transition process despite the GSA heist, they approached Trump administration officials who had recently left their posts, in an attempt to obtain key information while they were there. excluded from official briefings.
