Lawmakers are weighing legislative fixes to the Electoral Count Act

Lawmakers are weighing legislative¹ fixes to the Electoral Count Act

Transcript²

The argument over the vice³ president's role in counting electoral votes fueled the Jan. 6 protests, thanks to ambiguity⁴ in the Electoral Count Act. A push to clarify the law is gaining traction⁵.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Former Vice President Mike Pence pushed back on Friday against a false claim that his old boss is still making about 2020.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIKE PENCE: President Trump⁶ is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.

FADEL: The argument over the vice president's role in counting electoral votes fueled the January 6 insurrection, in part because of ambiguity in an old law, the Electoral Count Act. Now a push to clarify that law is gaining traction. Here's NPR's Claudia Grisales.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAIN AMBIENCE)

CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE⁷: A train ride away from the U.S. Senate chamber⁸, a bipartisan group of senators recently met for the first time with key committee leaders on a new mission.

SUSAN COLLINS: We had a fruitful discussion.

JOE MANCHIN: You see everybody really working together, and it's very encouraging.

ROY BLUNT: If it can't be largely bipartisan, probably not going to meet the standard to get it done this year.

GRISALES: That's Republican Susan Collins of Maine, Democrat⁹ Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Roy Blunt of Missouri. They just broke up from a meeting on the third floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. Collins is leading the bipartisan effort to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and ramp¹⁰ up protections for U.S. elections.

COLLINS: Every single person in our group is committed to trying to get to a bipartisan solution.

GRISALES: The group is now up to 16 senators - that's nine Republicans and seven Democrats¹¹. They met with Blunt - the ranking Republican on the Senate Rules Committee - and its chair, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Election reform falls under their committee's jurisdiction¹². Here's Klobuchar.

AMY KLOBUCHAR: There's many other things they could do here, and I hope the bill is as strong as possible.

GRISALES: Days earlier, Klobuchar joined forces with Angus King - Maine's independent senator - and Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin to roll out their own draft proposal, including ensuring that a vice president cannot overturn presidential election results. They hope their plan could influence the bipartisan talks.

KLOBUCHAR: We hope it's helpful to them.

GRISALES: Beyond the Electoral Count Act, bipartisan members are also weighing new protections for election workers and safeguarding voting rights and practices. For now, Senate leadership is giving the group room to work on the Electoral Count Act reforms and more.

MITCH MCCONNELL: That particular law is clearly flawed and needs to be updated.

CHUCK SCHUMER: We'll have to see what they come out with.

GRISALES: That's Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. It's an about-face for Schumer, who once blasted the plan, saying it was a distraction¹³ to a much larger Democratic voting rights package they hoped to pass. But after that effort failed, he signaled newfound openness.

SCHUMER: I have encouraged our Democratic side to discuss and set up these bipartisan meetings with the Republican side.

GRISALES: In recent weeks, the group has added new members and a flurry of meetings to develop legislative priorities where they can agree. But they'll need to grow significant support in the evenly divided Senate, and Collins cautions it will take time to reach consensus¹⁴. Still, the work so far has members of the bipartisan group, such as Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, upbeat.

CHRIS MURPHY: This group is full of members of the Senate that have experience in getting bipartisan bills to the floor of the Senate, so maybe this group will be more successful.

GRISALES: Many of these members have negotiated deals on infrastructure¹⁵ in a pandemic relief bill. Now they hope to add U.S. election security reform to their roster¹⁶ of wins.

Claudia Grisales, NPR News, the Capitol.

(SOUNDBITE OF JAY VANILLA'S "ACTUALLY URGENT")

1 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

5 traction   

n.牵引；附着摩擦力

参考例句：

• I'll show you how the traction is applied.我会让你看如何做这种牵引。
• She's injured her back and is in traction for a month.她背部受伤，正在作一个月的牵引治疗。

6 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

9 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

10 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

11 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 jurisdiction   

n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权

参考例句：

• It doesn't lie within my jurisdiction to set you free.我无权将你释放。
• Changzhou is under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu Province.常州隶属江苏省。

13 distraction   

n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐

参考例句：

• Total concentration is required with no distractions.要全神贯注，不能有丝毫分神。
• Their national distraction is going to the disco.他们的全民消遣就是去蹦迪。

14 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

15 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

16 roster   

n.值勤表，花名册

参考例句：

• The teacher checked the roster to see whom he would teach this year.老师查看花名册，想了解今年要教的学生。
• The next day he put himself first on the new roster for domestic chores.第二天，他把自己排在了新的家务值日表的第一位。