An electoral reform bill sponsored by two members of the Jan. 6 committee passed the House on Wednesday along mostly party lines as Congress seeks to avoid a repeat of the events that led to the Capitol riot.
All but nine Republicans, none of whom are returning to Congress next year, voted against the bill, which would raise the bar for challenges to a presidential election outcome like those put forward in 2020. The Senate is considering similar but more narrow legislation that has garnered enough Republican votes to avoid a filibuster.
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The House bill would clean up vague language in the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which outlines how Congress is to go about certifying presidential elections, that former President Donald Trump sought to exploit in trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and co-sponsor Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) outlined the bill’s main provisions in a Sunday op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, arguing that the vice president’s role in certifying elections is ceremonial and that he or she does not have the authority to reject a state’s electoral slates as Trump pressured Mike Pence to do following the election. Both women serve on the Jan. 6 committee that has been investigating the lead-up to the Capitol riot.
The bill, which passed 229-203, would also make clear that “Congress doesn’t sit as a court of last resort, capable of overruling state and federal judges to alter the electoral outcome” and would empower presidential candidates to sue states if they refuse to submit their election results.
Cheney broke with most of her party following the 2020 election and its aftermath to join the Jan. 6 committee, which GOP leadership boycotted. A fierce critic of Trump, Cheney was ousted during her primary in August.
House GOP leadership whipped against the vote, with Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) citing concerns over states’ rights. Some Republicans said Cheney’s involvement makes it hard for them to take the bill seriously.
“It’s clear that anything Liz Cheney touches is all about whacking Donald Trump and not about making meaningful changes,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) told Axios.
“For me, it matters because you have two people who have been actively engaged in that committee dropping the [bill] like this … when there was the alternative to have the companion vote from the Senate,” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) told the outlet. “They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”
The Senate version of the bill, which has been under consideration for months, doesn’t go as far as the House legislation. Though both raise the number of objectors to the vote totals needed to open debate over certification (currently, only one lawmaker from each chamber is needed), the Senate bill requires a fifth from each chamber to sign on to the objections, while the House bill stipulates that one-third need to object. The House’s legislation also provides narrower grounds on which members of Congress can object to a state’s electoral votes.
The Senate Rules and Administration Committee will mark up the upper chamber’s bill next week.
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Lofgren said members “took advantage of ambiguous language as well as a low threshold to have Congress play a role that they really aren’t supposed to play.”
Trump’s campaign used these maneuvers to try to delay the certification of the election, which culminated in his “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, that devolved into the Capitol riot.
