Sasse: Ambitious Republicans objecting to Electoral College are playing with fire
Photo: Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said he will not be participating in an effort in Congress to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory on Jan. 6, writing on Facebook that he has been urging colleagues also to reject this dangerous ploy.
Driving the news: Sasse s post comes a day after Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) became the first senator to say he will object to the Electoral College certification, joining a group of House Republicans.
Sasse appeared to take a veiled jab at Hawley, who is widely considered a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate, writing: Let’s be clear what is happening here: We have a bunch of ambitious politicians who think there’s a quick way to tap into the president’s populist base without doing any real, long-term damage.
Martin Crutsinger
A Now Hiring sign hangs on the front wall of a Harbor Freight Tools store, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Manchester, N.H. The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 19,000 to a still-high 787,000, evidence that the job market remains under stress as a resurgent coronavirus continues to batter the economy. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) December 31, 2020 - 9:30 AM
WASHINGTON - The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits last week fell by 19,000 to 787,000, still a historically high level as a resurgent coronavirus maintains its grip on the U.S. economy.
While at the lowest level in four weeks, the figures released Thursday by the Labor Department are nearly four times higher than last year at this time before the coronavirus struck. Employers continue to cut jobs as rising infections keep many people at home and state and local governments re-impose tighter restrictions on businesses and public activities.
Our economy is really hurting here, he said. There s no way to get a vote by Jan. 3. The new Congress begins noon Jan. 3. So the new Congress, you could get a vote.
As Congress meets for a rare New Year s Eve session, the standoff over the COVID checks and the defense bill punctuates the president s final days. The one-two rebuke of his demands deepens the divide between the Republican Party s new wing of Trump-styled populists and what had been mainstay conservative views.
The stalemate is expected to drag into the weekend.
An exasperated Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said this week, After all the insanity that Senate Republicans have tolerated from President Trump his attacks on the rule of law, an independent judiciary, the conduct that led to his impeachment is this where Senate Republicans are going to draw the line $2,000 checks to the American people?
COVID, distance learning and the election: The Top 10 local stories of the year dailyunion.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailyunion.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Trump, the first president to lose a reelection bid in almost 30 years, has attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite nonpartisan election officials saying there wasn t any. He has pushed Republican senators to pursue his unfounded charges even though the Electoral College this month cemented Biden’s 306-232 victory and multiple legal efforts to challenge the results have failed. Sen. Josh Hawley s announcement that he would object to the certification of some states Electoral College results on Jan. 6 sets up the day as a test of Republican loyalty to President Trump. NBCLX s political reporter Noah Pransky explains why a last-minute protest by some House Republicans will make good TV drama, but won t overturn the presidential results.