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U.S. NEWS Saturday 24 december 2022
Congress approves new election rules in Jan. 6 response

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI The new legislation also rais-
Associated Press es the threshold required
Congress on Friday gave for members of Congress
final passage to legislation to object to certifying the
changing the arcane law electors.
that governs the certifica- Before, only one member
tion of a presidential con- of the House and Senate
test, the strongest effort respectively had to object
yet to avoid a repeat of to force a roll call vote on
Donald Trump’s violence- a state’s electors. That
inflaming push to reverse helped make objections to
his loss in the 2020 election. new presidents something
The House passed an over- of a routine partisan tac-
haul of the Electoral Count tic Democrats objected to
Act as part of its massive, certifying both of George
end-of-the-year spending W. Bush’s elections and
bill, after the Senate ap- Trump’s in 2016.
proved identical wording Those objections, however,
Thursday. The legislation were mainly symbolic and
now goes to President Joe came after Democrats
Biden for his signature. had conceded that the
Biden hailed the provisions’ In this image released in the final report by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Republican candidates
inclusion in the spending attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, President Donald Trump talks on the phone won the presidency. On
bill in a statement Friday, to Vice President Mike Pence from the Oval Office of the White House on the morning of Jan. 6, Jan. 6, 2021, Republicans
calling it “critical bipartisan 2021. forced a vote on certifying
action that will help ensure Associated Press Biden’s wins in Arizona and
that the will of the people is the 1887 law which has our democracy,” said Rick the vice president’s role Pennsylvania even after
preserved.” long been criticized as Hasen, a law professor at in reading out the states’ the violent attack on the
It’s the most significant leg- poorly and confusingly writ- the University of California electors to get Mike Pence Capitol, as Trump contin-
islative response Congress ten won bipartisan support Los Angeles. “This law goes to block Biden from be- ued to insist falsely that he
has made yet to Trump’s and would make it harder a long way toward shutting coming the next president won the election.
aggressive efforts to up- for future presidential losers down the avenues Trump by omitting some states That led some members of
end the popular vote, and to prevent the ascension of and his allies tried to use Biden won from the roll. The Congress to worry the pro-
a step that been urged by their foes, as Trump tried to in 2020, and could have new provisions make clear cess could be too easily
the House select commit- do on Jan. 6, 2021. been exploited in future that the vice president’s re- manipulated.
tee that conducted the “It’s a monumental ac- elections.” sponsibilities in the process Under the new rules, one-
most thorough investiga- complishment, particularly On Jan. 6, Trump target- are merely ceremonial and fifth of each chamber
tion into the violent siege of in this partisan atmosphere, ed Congress’ ratification that the vice president has would be required to force
the Capitol. for such a major rewrite of of the Electoral College’s no say in determining who a vote on states’ slates of
The provisions amending a law that’s so crucial to vote. He tried to exploit actually won the election. electors. q

Military bases had $260M in damages from Afghan evacuation

By TARA COPP the United Arab Emirates, housed for months as they Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehu- For example, of the $260
Associated Press Spain, Italy, Bahrain and awaited visa processing rst, New Jersey; Fort Mc- million in approved resto-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mili- Germany. and resettlement; the last Coy, Wisconsin.; Camp ration costs, the Defense
tary bases that housed After processing, many of Afghan refugee left military Atterbury, Indiana; Fort Department approved
tens of thousands of Af- the refugees were flown housing in February. Pickett, Fort Lee, and Ma- about $16 million for Camp
ghan refugees in the U.S. to eight military bases in The refugees were housed rine Corps Base Quantico, Atterbury “to replace mat-
incurred almost $260 million the U.S., where many were at Fort Bliss, Texas; Joint Virginia; and Holloman Air tresses and furniture and
in damages that in some Force Base, New Mexico. repair floors, doors, win-
cases rendered buildings The sheer volume of peo- dows, plumbing, fire alarm
unusable for troops until sig- ple in the temporary hous- systems, and landscaping.”
nificant repairs to walls and ing left those barracks and But the inspector general
plumbing are made, the buildings with significant questioned whether all the
Pentagon’s inspector gen- wear and tear, the inspec- repair work requested by
eral found. tor general found. the eight bases was con-
Over the last two weeks In one case, training for the nected to the refugees’
of August 2021, the U.S. Air Indiana National Guard stay.
Force managed the largest was relocated from Camp For example, Fort Mc-
humanitarian evacuation Atterbury to Fort Campbell, Coy, which housed 12,706
in its history, airlifting 120,000 Kentucky, due to damages refugees, was approved
people from Afghanistan in caused during “Operation for $145.6 million to repair
just 17 days. Allies Welcome.” The facili- buildings and plumbing,
The bulk of those passen- ties need to be restored “to an amount that was more
gers were Afghans flee- a condition that enables than three times the com-
ing Taliban rule, and U.S. U.S. Military Police walk past Afghan refugees at the Village at them to conduct trainings, bined restoration needs of
aircraft delivered tens of the Ft. McCoy U.S. Army base on Sept. 30, 2021 in Ft. McCoy, prepare for future events, Fort Bliss and Fort Pickett,
thousands of those Afghans Wis. and return to normal base which had housed similar
initially to bases in Qatar, Associated Press operations,” the IG found. numbers of refugees.q