A bipartisan group of senators unveiled an agreement on Wednesday for a pair of bills that would ease contested transitions of power and make it more difficult to overturn the results of an election.
According to CNN, "one bill is focused on modernizing and overhauling" the Electoral Count Act of 1887, while the other stipulates that if "neither candidate concedes within five days of Election Day, both candidates would be able to receive access to federal transition resources" until the dispute is resolved.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Emily Murphy — who headed the General Services Administration under Trump — spent the weeks after the election refusing to give then-President-elect Joe Biden and his team access to the funds and resources they needed to ensure an orderly transfer of power.
The negotiations that led to the two proposed bills were led by Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who hammered out the deal along with 14 other senators — six Democrats and eight Republicans. The measure needs 60 votes to overcome the filibuster, meaning at least 10 Republicans will have to vote for it. Assuming all the GOP senators who worked on the agreement vote for it, they'll just need to convince one more.
-
Grove of Narberth: comfort and style in the Welsh countrysideThe Week Recommends This boutique Georgian manor in Pembrokeshire is the perfect rural retreat
-
Sudoku medium: November 13, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Train Dreams pulses with ‘awards season gravitas’The Week Recommends Felicity Jones and Joel Edgerton star in this meditative period piece about a working man in a vanished America
-
Newsom slams Trump’s climate denial at COP30speed read Trump, who has called climate change a ‘hoax,’ declined to send any officials to this week’s summit
-
UK, Colombia halt intel to US over boat attacksSpeed Read Both countries have suspended intelligence sharing with the US over the bombing of civilian boats suspected of drug smuggling
-
Trump pardons 2020 fake electors, other GOP alliesSpeed Read The president pardoned Rudy Giuliani and more who tried to overturn his 2020 election loss
-
Supreme Court to decide on mail-in ballot limitsSpeed Read The court will determine whether states can count mail-in ballots received after Election Day
-
Democrats split as Senate votes to end shutdownSpeed Read The proposed deal does not extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, the Democrats’ main demand
-
USDA orders states to ‘undo’ full SNAP paymentsSpeed Read The Trump administration is telling states not to pay full November food stamp benefits
-
Senate takes first step to end record shutdownSpeed Read Eight senators in the Democratic caucus voted with Republicans to advance legislation to reopen the government
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
