Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., introduced legislation Monday clarifying that the vice president does not have the authority to interfere with the counting of electoral votes in presidential elections. The Presidential Election Reform Act is the culmination of the two lawmakers’ work on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol. Cheney is one of two Republicans on the committee, which has spent the last year investigating what they describe as a coup attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., supported Democrats’ conclusions that the protesters who appeared on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 were directed by former President Donald Trump and that Trump pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, to refuse to count. the electoral votes from certain states in his role as presiding officer during the joint session of Congress where the votes are counted. (LR) U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, Vice Chair of the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) talk during a hearing on the Jan. 6 investigation at office of the Cannon House Building on June 13, 2022 in Washington, DC (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
TRUMP IMPOSES ‘ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY’ ON CIVIL FIGHTS AROUND JAN. 6 ACTIONS Over the weekend, Cheney and Lofgren wrote an op-ed that said Trump continues to make “deliberately false allegations of election fraud,” raising the prospect of “yet another attempt to steal a presidential election.” Their bill, which is likely to be passed in the House this week, is an attempt to close the opportunity for any party or presidential candidate to create uncertainty about the results of the election. One way to do this is by specifying that the vice president is only there to preside over the counting of votes. “The role of the chairman is ministerial,” the bill states. It adds that the vice president “shall have no power to determine or otherwise settle disputes concerning the proper list of electors for a state, the validity of electors for a state, or the votes of the electors of a state.” “[T]the presiding officer shall not order any delay in the counting or the president for any period of delay in the counting of the electoral votes,” the bill adds. MARK MEADOWS COMPLYING WITH DOJ SUBPOENA, PRINTING DOCUMENTS PREVIOUSLY CONFORMED WITH HOUSE JAN. 6 COMMISSION Vice President Mike Pence asks a question during the fifth meeting of the National Space Council held at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, in Huntsville, Ala. Pence calls for landing astronauts on the moon within five years. (AP Photo/Eric Schultz)
The proposal makes it much more difficult for members of Congress to oppose the counting of any state’s electoral votes. Today, only one member of the House and Senate is needed to object, which can cause lengthy debates and votes on this objection. But the Cheney-Lofgren bill would require one-third of all members of both the House and Senate to object, creating a very high bar for interrupting the count. The bill also creates new requirements for each state’s governors to transmit their presidential election results to Washington. It will require governors to certify results no later than Dec. 14, and those results must be sent to the United States archivist. TRUMP RECOGNIZES LIZ CHENEY AFTER HARRIET HAGEMAN’S FIRST SAY: ‘SHE COULD FINALLY DISAPPEAR’ Governors who fail to do so could face lawsuits from presidential candidates. But as Cheney and Lofgren noted in their article, those challenges would take place before Congress meets on January 6 to count the votes. They said this should help ensure that “the process of Congress on January 6 is purely ministerial.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 28, 2021, the day after her select committee’s first hearing on the Jan. 6 attack. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The bill also writes into federal law that states can delay their presidential elections for up to five days if a catastrophic event occurs that dramatically complicates the voting process. Along these lines, it gives presidential candidates the ability to petition the court for a delay in these cases. CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP The bill is likely to pass the House this week thanks to support from Democrats who continue to warn about Trump’s influence on the GOP. Many Republicans, meanwhile, are likely to oppose it as the product of a committee they weren’t allowed to sit with members of their choice. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two GOP picks to serve on the Jan. 6 Committee, and in response, GOP leadership boycotted her. Evidence of GOP anger at the committee could also be seen in Cheney’s Wyoming primary loss in August. Pete Kasperowicz is a political editor at Fox News Digital. He can be reached at [email protected] and his Twitter handle is @PeteKDCNews.