The proposal still needs to be approved by both houses and would need 60 votes in the Senate to kill any attempted filibuster, meaning at least 10 Republicans would be needed to support any legislation. The announcement of the plan kicks off what is expected to be a challenging, months-long process to pass the deal into law before the end of the year.
The deal is the culmination of months of negotiations led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, along with six other Democrats and eight Republicans. The proposal presented on Wednesday is divided into two bills.
One of the bills focuses on modernizing and overhauling the Election Counting Act, an 1887 law that Trump has tried to use to create confusion about how Congress counts each state’s Electoral College votes. As part of that proposal, the senators sought to clarify that the vice president has only a ceremonial role in overseeing the certification of election results. The proposal also includes key provisions designed to promote an orderly transition of presidential power by outlining guidelines for when eligible candidates can receive federal transition resources. The bill is supported by the nine Republicans and seven Democrats who announced the deal.
According to a fact sheet on the legislation, the proposal dealing with the vice president’s role would clarify that the responsibility is “solely ministerial and that he or she does not have the sole power to designate, accept, reject or otherwise resolve disputes about electors.”
The bill’s orderly transition provisions would make it possible to limit transition resources only to the clear winner of the election if the outcome of the election is clear.
The second bill is aimed at improving election security and would increase federal penalties for anyone who threatens or intimidates election officials, as well as increase penalties for tampering with election records. The bill is supported by five Republicans and seven Democrats.
While constitutional experts argue that the vice president currently cannot override a state-certified election result, Trump forced then-Vice President Mike Pence to block congressional certification of the Electoral College as part of his pressure campaign. But Pence refused to do so, and as a result became the target of the former president and his mob of supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Sen. Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, said the bill would make it more difficult to override an election when a joint session of Congress convenes to confirm a presidential election.
“Anything we can do to show the American public that we realize how serious that day was and that we will do everything we can to prevent a repeat of Jan. 6 is a step in the right direction,” he said.
“Any future vice president cannot, must not, and will not be able to override the legitimate votes of Americans and their constituents who vote in states,” Warner said.
CNN’s Morgan Rimer and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
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