Sen. Amy Klobuchar says Washington is prepared for the certification of the 2024 election results on Jan. 6, after “major shifts” were made to avoid a rerun of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I will make clear that, in any of these events, as you saw in New Orleans, horrible things can happen. And we know that. But how prepared are we?” The Minnesota Democrat said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“What we found out last Jan. 6 – and this could have been any event, but this one is etched in our minds forever,” she said.
Changes have been made since the last certification procedure four years ago.
There’s a new Capitol Police chief who now has the ability to directly ask the National Guard help during an emergency and new leadership for House and Senate sergeant at arms. There are increased numbers of Capitol Police officers, with all being provided with riot gear instead of only a small percentage.
“These were dramatic changes. We made 103 recommendations. And my job as chair of the Rules Committee was to make sure they got done,” she said. “We have, as you know, a new police chief, increased morale, many hundreds of more officers, and we have a plan and a strategy in place.”
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Ms. Klobuchar said she feels “very strongly that we have made major shifts” and have “clear leadership.”
When asked whether any Democrats were going to object to the certification of the election, as they did to Donald Trump’s 2016 victory, she said “not that I know of.”
“But, of course, the process allows for these objections,” she said. “If it happens, they’re heard out. The vice president rules on them.”
Vice President Kamala Harris is set to certify the results Monday of the election she lost to Mr. Trump.
Nearly 150 Republican lawmakers voted not to certify President Biden’s 2020 win over Mr. Trump, which was certified by the incumbent Vice President Mike Pence and led to Mr. Trump’s break with him.
Ms. Klobuchar pointed to the Electoral Count Act reform, which raised the threshold for an objection of the state’s electors to 20% of each chamber’s members. Before the reform, just one member of each chamber could trigger a challenge to the state’s electors.
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“Under our new law that we passed, you have to have 20% of the bodies of Congress to support those objections before you can have an extended debate, because that’s what was used as a trigger, as you know, last Jan. 6 to slow down the process, and then, of course, ultimately seen by the insurrectionists as a way they could derail the will of the American people,” she said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said that hopes to see “full attendance” in Congress for the certification of the election results, despite the major snowstorm expected to hit Washington.
“We encourage all of our colleagues, do not leave town, stay here, because, as you know, the Electoral Count Act requires this on Jan. 6 at 1 p.m., so whether we’re in a blizzard or not, we’re going to be in that chamber making sure this is done,” the Louisiana Republican said on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“President Trump had a mandate, a landslide,” he said. “So many electoral votes and we get to count them all, and we cannot delay that certification.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.