The Senate will resume work today by taking up a number of nominations for judges as well as ambassadors. The Senate is expected to vote on the nominations of Bridget Meehan Brennan to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, Charles Esque Fleming to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio and David Augustin Ruiz to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio.
The House will reconvene for votes at 6:30 P.M. and will consider 11 bills under suspension of the Rules including PRICE Act of 2021.
A group of Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would reform an 1887 election law that has been in the spotlight in the wake of the 2020 election. The proposal from Senators Angus King (I-Maine), Rules Committee Chairwoman Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) would clarify that the vice president’s role overseeing the formal counting of the Electoral College vote is ceremonial. The proposal comes after then-President Trump tried to get his vice president, Mike Pence, to throw out results from battleground states that he lost in the 2020 election. It also increases the number of lawmakers in the House and Senate that need to support an objection before both chambers must vote on it. Currently, it just takes one member from the House and Senate; the legislation would increase it to one-third of both chambers. It also increases the threshold for upholding the objection from a simple majority in both chambers to three-fifths in both chambers. The bill from King, Klobuchar and Durbin comes as a separate, bipartisan group led by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) are working on their own proposal to reform the Electoral Count Act. That group, which includes 16 senators, met on Monday night with the goal of reconvening as soon as Friday to determine how much progress they’ve made.
