Congress releases $1.7 trillion spending bill with election reforms to prevent another Jan. 6

Congressional leaders released a bipartisan government funding bill early Tuesday that includes a rewrite of federal election laws aimed at preventing another Jan. 6-style attack and choking off avenues for future candidates to steal elections.

They expect to pass the bill, which is a product of lengthy negotiations between the two parties, in the coming days to avoid a government shutdown slated to begin this weekend.

The legislation comes just a day after the House’s Jan. 6 committee held its final public meeting, issuing criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump and alleging he waged “a multi-part scheme to overturn the results and block the transfer of power” after losing the 2020 election. But unlike the panel’s recommendations, the bill’s provisions would have the force of law.

The massive $1.7 trillion spending package funds federal agencies through next fall. It includes additional U.S. aid to Ukraine as the country fights to hold off Russia in the ongoing war.

The Senate is expected to vote first and send the legislation to the House. It could be the last major bill that passes this year before Republicans seize control of the House on Jan. 3.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who is courting the votes of anti-spending conservatives to become speaker next year, has sought to torpedo the package and punt the issue until Republicans take control. He has pressured GOP lawmakers to vote against it, forcing Democrats to supply most of the votes to pass it in the House. The bill has more bipartisan support in the Senate, where it is expected to get the 60 votes it needs to break a filibuster.

Capitol Hill leaders decided to attach the election bill and Ukraine aid to ease the process of passage, on the belief that the combined package has the votes to pass.

“I’m confident both sides can find things in it that they can enthusiastically support,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday, calling the spending bill “the last major item on our to-do list” this year before leaving for the holidays. “It’s not going to be everything anybody wanted,” he said.

But Schumer said that another stopgap bill would “leave the country high and dry,” and that a government shutdown would be worse.

The release of the bill was delayed by hours over a snag involving language about the location of the FBI’s future headquarters, a matter of contention between Maryland and Virginia. Other items that Democrats were pushing for — such as immigration provisions, cannabis banking measures and a child tax credit expansion — were excluded from the deal.

Preventing future coup attempts

The election legislation attached to the funding bill would close loopholes in federal law that Trump and his allies sought to exploit on Jan. 6, 2021, to stay in power despite his election loss to President Joe Biden.

It would revise the 1887 Electoral Count Act to clarify that the vice president’s role is simply to count votes, and it would raise the threshold to force a vote to object to a state’s electoral votes from one member of the House and Senate to one-fifth of each chamber. It would also beef up laws involving state certification of elections, in an attempt to avoid future competing slates of electors, and smooth the presidential transition process.