The top GOP leaders in the House and Senate aren’t ready to recognize Joe Biden as president-elect just yet. Senior Republicans refused to acknowledge the transition of power to Joe Biden, despite meeting to plan his inauguration, which takes place a little over a month from now.
The meeting of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies ended with GOP officials rejecting the symbolic resolution that would have essentially affirmed Biden as president-elect.
The Democrat-led measure sought to notify the American people that Congress is preparing for the inauguration of Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris but failed to pass in a 3-3 vote with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Sen. Roy Blount all opposing the measure.
Republicans felt the move was purely a political opportunity to put them at odds with President Trump and unnecessary to proceed with inaugural planning.
“It is not the job of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to get ahead of the electoral process and decide who we are inaugurating,” Sen. Roy Blunt said in a statement. “I would hope that going forward, the members of the JCCIC would adhere to the committee’s long-standing tradition of bipartisan cooperation and focus on the task at hand.”
For the most part, Republicans on Capitol Hill have been content with letting the president’s legal challenges play out before acknowledging a winner.
Inauguration day is set for Jan. 20, and one way or another someone will be sworn in as president. The way 2020 has gone, it almost feels like we should expect the unexpected.
Add comment