Republicans on committee block inaugural resolution

Republicans on the congressional panel planning inauguration ceremonies blocked a resolution stating that they were preparing for the swearing-in of President-elect Joe Biden, as President Donald Trump’s continues his bitter battle over the election result.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Roy Blunt and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy voted against the resolution in the six-member committee, which is evenly split between the two parties, infuriating the panel’s Democratic members.

“The extent to which Republicans are refusing to accept the outcome of the election and recognize Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president is astounding,” HouseMajority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and SenatorAmy Klobuchar of Minnesota are the committee’s other Democrats.

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inauguration Ceremonies plans the offifficial ceremonies for the swearing-in of the president every four years. This year, Trump is refusing to concede his loss in the November election, claimingwithout evidence that the vote was rigged.

Blunt, the committee’s chairman, dismissed Hoyer’s complaint, saying, “It is not the job of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to get ahead of the electoral process and decide who we are inaugurating.”

Almost all of the legal challenges brought by Trump’s campaign have been rejected by courts, and all of the battleground states where Trump tried to contest the results have certifified their presidential election tallies and appointed their electors for Biden, giving him more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim the presidency.