Ahead of Jan. 6 anniversary, Sen. Amy Klobuchar helps push through electoral count changes

WASHINGTON - Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar helped steer into law the bipartisan counter to Donald Trump's last-gasp attempt at overturning the 2020 presidential election that took place two years ago Friday.

A revision of the law outlining how Congress counts the presidential vote was part of a massive government spending package signed just days before the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

"We can't have people messing around with the will of the people," Klobuchar, a Democrat, said in an interview this week.

The attack and its aftermath, when dozens of GOP members of Congress voted against certifying Democrat Joe Biden's win in two swing states, have been polarizing for a Republican Party still dominated by the former president.

Yet, there was clear bipartisan support in the Senate from Democrats and some Republicans, including GOP leader Mitch McConnell, for changes to the 1887 law Trump tried to take advantage of during his last days in power.

Pushing the falsehood that the election was rigged and stolen from him, Trump unsuccessfully tried to persuade Vice President Mike Pence to intervene in the counting of the 2020 electoral votes when Congress met on Jan. 6, 2021.

A mob of Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol that day while Congress met to certify Biden's win, causing lawmakers to leave the floor for their safety. After legislators returned to work in the ravaged Capitol, GOP objections to Biden's wins in Arizona and Pennsylvania failed. The late Rep. Jim Hagedorn and fellow Republican Michelle Fischbach were the only Minnesota members to vote against certification of Biden's win in the hours following the attack.

The changes embraced by Klobuchar and others make it clear that the vice president's role in the counting of electoral votes is ceremonial and detail a quick legal route for certain certification objections coming from candidates for president or vice president.

The bill got a significant boost last year when it cleared the Klobuchar-led Senate Rules Committee in a strong bipartisan vote.

"I figured my job was to shepherd it through, to make sure that it didn't have anything that ruined it, to make sure that we made it as strong as possible," Klobuchar said. "And I think it was very strong in the end."

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz cast the only no vote on the rules panel in September. Cruz, who helped lead an objection on Jan. 6, 2021, and voted against certifying Biden's win, called the bill "bad policy."

Both parties have used the objection process. Some Democrats took issue with the 2004 results in Ohio after Republican George W. Bush won re-election. The updates in the new law mean that any congressional objections will now need the support of at least one-fifth of each chamber, rather than the previous standard of needing only one senator and one House member.

"We're trying to fix a problem that should have never have occurred," said David Schultz, an election-law expert at the University of Minnesota. "Having said that, the fixes are in many ways mostly clarification. Basically saying, no, we really mean it, the vice president can't do certain things. No, we really mean it, Congress has a limited role. So in some sense, it's almost like writing an act with an exclamation point."

Klobuchar, who played a central role in the Electoral College certification of Biden's win, has helped pass other bills responding to Jan. 6 over the last two years that became law. One honored law enforcement with Congressional Gold Medals for protecting the U.S. Capitol, while another allows the Capitol Police chief to seek emergency help from federal law enforcement or the D.C. National Guard without needing Capitol Police Board approval.

But the overhaul of the old Electoral Count Act may prove to be one of the most substantial changes Congress has made in response to Jan. 6.

"I hope it sends a message to Minnesota and to the country that Congress has taken action to protect our democracy from the kind of authoritarian actions that the former president took nearly two years ago," Democratic Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota said earlier this week.

All four Minnesota Republicans in Congress voted against the wide-ranging spending bill that included the electoral count revisions, while every Minnesota Democrat in the House and Senate supported the package. Spokespeople for Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad and Fischbach did not comment on the revisions or the second anniversary of Jan. 6 this week.

Asked about the electoral count changes, fellow GOP Rep. Pete Stauber responded, "As I understand it, there's been rejections from both parties ... I don't think it's going to be much of a change at all."

When asked about the Jan. 6 anniversary, Stauber said that he "was at the ceremony where we gave the Congressional Gold Medal to the Capitol Police. As you know, I spent 23 years as a cop. I appreciate that profession."

Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips said he's helping organize a thank-you lunch for Capitol Police and Capitol staff on Friday.

"Congress in this respect has done what it can to shore up, if you will, this gap in the system," Phillips said about the electoral count changes. "But what's most important, and what Congress can't address, is the dynamic of misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, that result in days like January 6."

The electoral count revisions became law after Democrats in the Senate failed to pass a broad elections and voting bill fiercely opposed by the GOP.

"It would be nice to have some minimum standards for voting — you can always go beyond them," Klobuchar said. "But given that we can't beat the filibuster on that right now, I thought it was really important to practically do something about this."

Although lawmakers have now rewritten the old law, Trump still looms over Republican politics. The former president has announced another run for the White House and so far has no significant competitors within his party.

"Clearly, he has created this questioning of our democracy at every turn," Klobuchar said.