“Congress has one job here: to count electoral votes that have in fact been cast by any state.”
Congress’s task is simply to count electoral votes Jan. 6 [...] "Congress has one job here: to count electoral votes that have in fact been cast by any state, as designated by those authorized to do so under state law," U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Green Bay, said in a Jan. 3, 2020, statement signed by several other members of the House. "To take action otherwise — that is, to unconstitutionally insert Congress into the center of the presidential election process — would amount to stealing power from the people and the states." [...] "There is no authority for Congress to make value judgments in the abstract regarding any state’s election laws or the manner in which they have been implemented," the statement from Gallagher and the others said. "The text of the Constitution is clear. States select electors. Congress does not. Accordingly, our path forward is also clear. We must respect the states’ authority here. Though doing so may frustrate our immediate political objectives, we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals. We must count the electoral votes submitted by the states."