10 things you need to know today: July 21, 2022

Senators reach a bipartisan deal aiming to protect future election counts, Russia expands its war aims in Ukraine, and more

Joe Manchin and Susan Collins
(Image credit: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

1. Senators reach bipartisan deal aimed at preventing another Jan. 6

A bipartisan group of senators on Wednesday released a proposal to update the Electoral Count Act to prevent a repeat of the Jan. 6, 2021, attempt by former President Donald Trump and his supporters to overturn President Biden's election. Trump and his allies used the 1887 law to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to block certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Bipartisan negotiators, led by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), propose explicitly stating that the vice president's role in tallying Electoral College votes is strictly symbolic. The changes would also raise the bar for lawmakers wishing to challenge an election result. The senators urged members of "both parties to support these simple, common-sense reforms."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.