September 24, 2020

Senate Passes Manchin's Resolution To Reaffirm Senate's Commitment To Peaceful Transition Of Power

Washington, DC – Today the U.S. Senate unanimously passed U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) resolution to reaffirm the commitment of the U.S. Senate to a peaceful transition of power as called for in the Constitution of the United States. This comes after President Donald Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the November 3rd Presidential election.

“It’s a shame that we have to come and reaffirm our commitment to our country, to our constitution, and who we are as a people and how we became a great country, the greatest country on Earth, with the freedoms we all take for granted…What we are doing with this resolution is saying that basically the bedrock of democracy is the orderly and peaceful transfer of power when the President transitions out. It should not be a question…We're in the most difficult times right now, and for the President to even address the subject of maybe not knowing if he would accept [the election results] or not is beyond all of our comprehension that this could ever happen in America.

“We have come through a lot in our country, and we continue to be challenged, but I believe to have the leader of the free world talk as if we are an autocracy, authoritarian versus a democracy, is something that alarmed me and alarmed a lot of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, even those quiet as some may be, I know they're alarmed…This is not who we are, and we must speak loudly. This is not politics. This is not Republican or Democrat. Make no mistake. This is basically if you believe, for the sake of the good Lord and all we believe in and our country, this is about maintaining this democracy. That's all it's about. Maintaining. And we will defend that, and we have today just reaffirmed our commitment to the orderly transition of power by the President of the United States, whoever that should be, whenever that might happen, that they must have an orderly transfer that we all will defend and uphold.”

To read the resolution in full, click here.