Marc

@SenThomTillis, stop trying to scare everyone. There are enough real things to worry about with this administration. The outgoing Speaker of the House has no authority to decide whether the next Congress gets seated. Under the 20th Amendment, the terms of newly elected members begin at noon on January 3, regardless of what Mike Johnson wants. The Clerk presides over the opening proceedings, the newly elected House chooses its Speaker, and that Speaker administers the oath to members. Johnson cannot prevent a new Congress from taking office, cannot extend his own authority, and cannot simply refuse to recognize an election because his party lost. That’s not how our Constitution works. And stop comparing this to former Vice President Mike Pence and the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Pence had a constitutionally assigned role in the counting of electoral votes on January 6, 2021, although he had no authority to overturn the results. The outgoing Speaker has no comparable role in determining whether a newly elected Congress takes office. You’re comparing two entirely different constitutional processes.