Congress has just affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory over President Trump.
The counting of Vermont’s three electoral votes put Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris over the 270-threshold needed to win the presidency.
The Senate and House rejected objections to throwing out Georgia and Pennsylvania’s electoral votes for Biden. Republicans also objected to Arizona, Nevada and Michigan’s electoral votes, but the motions failed before they reached debate.
“The announcement of the state of the vote by the President of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States, each for the term beginning on the 20th day of January 2021 and shall be entered together with the list of the votes on the journals of the Senate and the House of Representatives,” Pence said following the count of all of the state’s Electoral College votes.
The certification comes after pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol earlier Wednesday.
The joint session of Congress, which is normally a ceremonial step, was halted for several hours when rioters breached the Capitol.
Proceedings resumed at about 8 p.m. ET with Vice President Mike Pence, bringing the Senate session back into order.
“Let’s get back to work,” Pence said.
