Bloomberg
Senator Joe Manchin predicted passage for a bill to address US election procedures including Congress’s role in certifying an election.
“I think absolutely it’ll pass,†Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said during a joint appearance with Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, on CNN’s “State of the Union.â€
“Will it be a step ahead? Will it be important for the country? Yeah,†said Murkowski. Both senators described a bipartisan group working on reforms.
Mike Pence last week rejected Donald Trump’s claims that as vice president he had the power on Jan. 6, 2021 to void the 2020 election result and refuse to certify President Joe Biden’s victory. Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol and sparked a deadly riot.
Manchin tied the riot to flaws in the 1887 Electoral Count Act that senators are considering changing.
“They thought there was a kind of an ambiguity if you will and there was an avenue they could go through and maybe overturn the election. Because there was. It was not clear,†Manchin said. “This is what we’re going to fix.â€