The rejection came at a private meeting on Tuesday after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer presented a resolution calling for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Missouri Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt voted in favor of House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy in blocking the resolution, effectively preventing the opening committee from publicly acknowledging Biden’s presence. Rule Committee Rankings Sen. of Minnesota. Amy Globuchar voted in favor of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Hoyer.
“It’s amazing the extent to which Republicans are rejecting the election results and recognizing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president,” Hoare said in a statement. “Their continued assessment of President Trump’s post – election resentment threatens our democracy and undermines confidence in our electoral system … Republican President – elect Biden and Vice President – Elect Harris will be inaugurated on January 20, despite intense controversy over the matter.”
The vote comes as Capitol Hill Republicans have repeatedly refused to recognize Biden as the next president of the United States. However, Hoyer told reporters that he could not guess why the Republicans voted against the move.
“You have to ask them, you have to ask them,” Hoyer said, adding that if Republicans had voted against the motion, they would have recognized Pita as president-elect.
Blunt responded to criticism that Republicans would not accept Hoyer’s decision to recognize Pita as president-elect.
“It is not the task of the Joint Congress Committee for Opening Ceremonies to advance the electoral process and determine who we will be in. The JCCIC faces the challenge of planning safe opening ceremonies during global epidemics. Forward, JCCIC members Blunt said in a statement that the two sides’ commitment to long-term cooperation will continue and will continue to focus on the task at hand.
Democrats surprised Republicans because such a resolution was not generally accepted by the committee, but a Democratic aide proposed to CNN that Biden be elected president.
Blunt CNN, “No,” it’s not uncommon to have such a resolution. Blunt said he was aware of the Democratic resolution “about eight minutes” before the meeting began.
He will not say if he believes Biden was elected president on Monday when the Electoral College votes to make the results official. He added that the next inauguration appears to be much smaller than usual and that there will be “testing and concealment and other requirements”.
“It seems to me that we are heading towards a much lower number than we had at the opening ceremonies in the past,” Blunt said. “I think it’s less than 10% of the 220,000 traditional meetings that go through the security gate.”
It marks the Democratic leadership’s recent attempt to turn Pita into the White House, and Hill Republicans threw obstacles in the process.
For weeks, Hill Republicans have denied Biden the chance to win the presidency, with many lawmakers telling reporters that they will wait until the Electoral College formally votes on Dec. 14.
In fact, many Conservative House Republicans argued that it would not mark the end of Trump’s serious efforts to overturn next week’s election results. Some, like Rep. Jim Jordan, are encouraged not to agree next Monday.
When asked if Trump should agree, Jordan bluntly said: “No way, no way, no way.”
It is unclear whether any Senate Republican will join their House of Representatives in provoking a formal debate to raise an objection, although many were pleased with Trump’s misrepresentation of widespread voter fraud.
And the Senate Republicans have repeatedly pointed to the outcome of the December 14 election because they sought to allow Trump to escalate his legal battles and refuse to recognize Biden as president-elect.
The story was updated on Tuesday with additional improvements.
