McConnell urges Republican senators not to oppose Electoral College vote

Leader of the Senate majority Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnell GOP Senate Warns Biden Not to Choose Sally Yates as Attorney General Top GOP Senators Recognize Biden as Elected President After Voting Electoral College GOP Senate Leaders Try to End electoral disputes MORE (R-Ky.) He urges Republicans not to oppose during the congressional count and certification of the Electoral College vote next month.

McConnell’s comments were made during a call Tuesday, according to two sources familiar with the call, and come as House Republicans study a challenge to the results Jan. 6 during a joint session of Congress.

A Republican senator who participated in the call said McConnell, Republican Whip of the Senate John ThuneGOP Senators John Randolph ThuneTop Recognizes Biden as Elected President After Electoral College Voting Senate GOP leaders try to end Hillicon Valley election disputes: lawmakers call for action after cyberattack ” devastating “against the federal government US cyber agency issues emergency directives after hackers | FTC opens privacy study on major Internet MORE platforms (RS.D.) and chairman of the Senate Rules Committee Roy BluntRoy Dean BluntTop GOP Senators Recognize Biden as Elected President After Electoral College Voting The window closes quickly for a big deal on coronavirus The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – COVID-19 vaccine moves forward. Congress? Not so much MORE (R-Mo.) They all urged colleagues not to oppose state election votes when they are received in the chamber next month.

McConnell warned that any Republican Party senator who endorsed a Republican House objection to a state’s election votes would force the Senate to debate and vote on the objection, placing the other Republican Party senators in a bad position.

The Republican Party leader said an objection “does not interest everyone.”

No Republican in the Senate indicated during the call that he currently plans to oppose.

“It’s not that I heard it,” the senator said. Mike RoundsMike Rounds: Big Banks Get Big Break in Bill Pending Hillicon Valley Law: Government Used Patriot Act to Gather Website Visitor Records in 2019 The defense bill leaves out the repeal of Article 230 and includes the position of cyber tsar in the White House | Officials warn hackers targeting vaccine supply chain Defense policy bill would create new cyber tsar position MORE (RS.D.), asked if anyone indicated they would object during the call.

Sen. John BarrassoJohn Anthony Barrasso: Leading Republican Senators Recognize Biden as President-Elect After Voting Electoral College, Government Expenditure Act to Include Bipartisan Energy Provisions The Wyoming Mask Mandate, Supported by Party Lawmakers Republican (Wyo.), The No. 3 Republican Senator, added that he has not “heard of any” Republican Senator willing to oppose next month.

“I think there was encouragement over the phone to accept the result, no matter how much we, you know, would have imagined over the next four years and trying to do what’s best for Americans, which is to look ahead. said the senator. Shelley Moore UnderstoodShelley Wellons Moore CapitoTop Republican Party senators recognize Biden as president-elect after voting for the Electoral College. The Republican Party hopes to escape the fight against Trump Biden says Republican senators have called to congratulate him MORE (RW.Va.) said about the call.

Rep. Mo BrooksMorris (Mo) Jackson Brooks The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Mastercard – U.S. inoculations begin; state voters certify Biden; Barr is out of Republican Party leaders hit by pro-Trump candidacy to reverse election results Senate Republican Party leaders try to end election disputes MORE (R-Wing.) He has said he will oppose next month’s Electoral School count and is likely to gain the support of other Trump allies in the House.

But to successfully force a debate and vote his objection, he will need the support of at least one Republican Party senator. This has only happened twice since 1887, according to the Congressional Research Service.

No Republican senator has joined Brooks, although some conservatives, including Sens. Josh HawleyJoshua (Josh) David HawleySenate GOP warns Biden of not choosing Sally Yates as Attorney General GOP Senate leaders try to end election disputes On The Money: Bipartisan group presents 8-part, two-part COVID package | The push for stimulus controls | Progressives frustrated with representation in Biden MORE cabinet (Mo), Ron JohnsonRonald (Ron), Harold Johnson, Republican senatorial leaders try to end election disputes This week: Congress prepares to chaotically end Trump’s allies in Congress to challenge election results: report MORE (Wis.) I Rand PaulRandal (Rand) Howard PaulSenate Republican Party leaders try to end election disputes This week: Congress prepares to chaotically end Trump’s allies in Congress to challenge election results: report MORE (Ky.), You have not ruled it out.

A growing number of Republicans in the Senate recognize the president-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenHogan on Republicans Who Won’t Accept Election Result: “They’re Out of Track” Biden Exhausts Trump’s Refusal to Grant After Voting College Voting Senate GOP Warns Biden Not to Choose Sally Yates as Attorney General MONTH as the winner of the November election, including McConnell, who congratulated him on Tuesday from the Senate floor, a day after Electoral College voters gathered to vote. Biden and McConnell held their first known conversation since Tuesday’s election.

Major Senate Republicans have also publicly rejected the discussion of trying to oppose the election results next month. McConnell did not address the issue during a press conference on Tuesday.

Blunt, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, said Thune had explained to GOP senators “the futility” of objecting to any state’s election votes next month.

Thune said Monday that the effort “would go nowhere.”

If both a member of the House and a senator oppose it, the two chambers should meet separately, discuss the issue, and then vote a majority in both houses to defend the objection to a state’s list. A legislator has never been able to successfully launch the results of a state.

Upward efforts, members of the Republican Party leadership warn, will only result in delaying the inevitable result.

“It creates a debate that has a certain outcome and will certainly fail,” Blunt said. “I certainly don’t see any merit in it.”

Blunt, who also addressed GOP colleagues during the call, said counting election votes during a joint session “should not be very controversial.”

He noted that Biden rejected the objections to the election votes when the joint session counted the results of the 2016 elections and that no senator signed any objections four years ago.

“If you see that the vote of the Electoral College is decisive, the reception of those votes in the joint session should not be very controversial,” he said. “I think objecting is useless.”