While constitutional scholars and others say the vice president cannot currently ignore a certified election result, Trump has repeatedly criticized Pence on the issue and told him to just send the issue back to the states. Pence resisted the effort — despite being targeted by Trump and his mob of supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That larger deal is close to being finalized, with senators meeting Wednesday night saying they are still ironing out some of the language. “We’re optimistic,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, said Wednesday about the timeline for announcing a deal. “We’re very close. We have some technical issues to work out. And hopefully we’ll have a bill early next week,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Wednesday, who added that because of jurisdictional issues, the group may propose a series of bills to address the necessary reforms, but has yet to make a decision on this. “The Rules Committee clearly has jurisdiction over the election count law, national security clearly has jurisdiction over the Postal Service and presidential transitions, which we’re also trying to smooth out when there’s a case where it’s not clear who won,” he said. he said, explaining why the bill might need to be split. Senators said they expect their proposal to be referred to jurisdictional committees for further evaluation before floor votes. “The team did a good job,” said Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia.
