Democrats demand to know why Biden-Harris transition has not started

• Democratic leaders of the Parliamentary Committee on Oversight and Reform are asking why President-elect Joe Biden has not been recognized as the next US head of state.
• In a letter sent Thursday, Democrats ask Emily Murphy, chief of general service administration, to personally explain why she did not join all the major news networks to call the election.
• “We have been extremely patient, but we cannot wait any longer,” the lawmakers wrote.
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Democratic leaders are demanding to know why President-elect Joe Biden has not been recognized as the next US head of state by the Trump administration, despite the race having already been called by all the major news networks.

Under the Presidential Transition Act, the General Service Administration is supposed to provide premises and equipment to assist “apparently successful candidates for the posts of president and vice-president.”

But GSA administrator Emily Murphy, appointed by outgoing President Donald Trump, failed to call the race itself, delaying the formal transition to the next president – and, Democrats say, compromising ability of the next administration to immediately tackle the many crises it will inherit. , from pandemic to recession.

In a November 19 letter to Murphy, leaders of the House Oversight and Reform Committee wrote that “there is no conceivable argument” that the winner of the 2020 election is not still apparent.

“President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Harris have clearly satisfied any good faith reading of this standard,” Democratic lawmakers wrote. “We have been extremely patient, but we cannot wait any longer.”

-Representative. Gerry Connolly (@GerryConnolly) November 20, 2020

Earlier Thursday, CNN reported that Murphy was struggling with the decision, citing people who had spoken to him recently.

“She really feels like she’s in a tough spot,” a friend told CNN. “She’s scared on many levels. It’s a terrible situation.”

In their letter, House Democrats ask Murphy to personally explain to them why she hasn’t made a decision yet and to clarify if she has been pressured by the Trump administration.

It has been 20 years since the last presidential transition was delayed. At the time, former Vice President Al Gore and former President George W. Bush were locked in an intense legal battle in Florida, with the winner expected to move into the White House.

“In this unprecedented, incredibly close and intensely contested election, with lawsuits brought by both sides, I don’t know who the winner is,” David J. Barram, then GSA administrator, told Congress. , December 7, 2000. The transition did not begin until days later, after the United States Supreme Court stepped in and ordered a recount, handing over the presidency to the Republican candidate.

AP Photo / Susan Walsh

According to CNN, Murphy sees 2000 as a precedent. But there are major differences, note the Democrats. On the one hand, the victory of Biden and Harris does not depend on the results of a state. The Democratic ticket has a 306-232 lead in the Electoral College, a margin that the Trump campaign itself called a “landslide” in 2016; they also benefit from an advance in the popular vote of nearly 6 million.

“Unlike the post-2000 election dispute in Bush versus Gore, there is no legitimate path for President Trump – no matter how many baseless lawsuits he has brought or his irrelevant refusal to concede “, wrote the lawmakers.

The GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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