US House committee to strengthen 134-year-old law to avert another Capitol-like riot

After ex-US President Donald Trump scrambled to block trove of documents including drafts of remarks, call logs, recorded speeches and handwritten notes from the chief of staff of the Jan 6 Capitol insurrection committee, the latter on Saturday resort to draft a ‘potential legislation’ to deter such hindrances in certification of the presidential election. A source familiar with the development told CNN that the new legislation will enable the House committee the power to draft separate laws to accelerate the probe and block arguments that the former President Donald Trump has presented. 

The efforts, however, are in their early stages, the source told the network, adding that the bill is slated to instruct Congress more precisely on when it can overturn a state's slate of electors as well seeks to hand more power to the vice president in counting the votes. The move comes, as during the Jan 6 riots, Trump had pressurized ex-US Vice President Mike Pence to block the Congressional certification of the then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. US House Committee plans to alter the 19th Century law, known as the Electoral Count Act that will introduce a separate process for the Electoral College votes and Presidential certification that Donald Trump and his allies exploited. 

Strengthening 134-year-old law to avoid hindrance to presidential certification 

According to the House committee, the new draft bill will strengthen the 134-year-old law that led to the US resurrection. "The bigger fruit of the 2020 experience is that every phase of the presidential election process has been thrown into doubt and is now littered with boobytraps," Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, who is one of the select committee members involved in the discussion, told CNN. Executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, David Becker, told the network that the changes in the electoral law are needed to "limit objections to a few valid issues, such as if a state fails to certify electors by the deadline, and make clear the purely ceremonial nature of the joint session," adding that such clarification would, "prevent a future VP from being pressured to subvert the states' electoral choices,” according to CNN.