Q&A: what does the General Services
Administration's decision mean?
The GSA has recognized Joe Biden as the apparent
election winner, a key step in the transfer of power
Maanvi
Singh
@maanvissingh
Tue 24 Nov
2020 03.08 GMTLast modified on Tue 24 Nov 2020 03.10 GMT
The US
government’s General Services Administration on Monday ascertained Joe Biden is
the apparent winner of the 2020 presidential election, allowing for the
presidential transition to officially begin.
Donald
Trump on Monday tweeted he had directed his team to cooperate on the
transition, but he vowed to continue fighting the election results.
What does
the GSA’s decision mean? And why is the step a crucial one in the transfer of
power?
What is the
GSA?
The GSA is
a huge agency that keeps the federal government functioning day to day. In
order for a presidential transition to officially begin, the GSA had to
recognize a presidential winner – or rather, ascertain the “apparent successful
candidate” in the general election. The Presidential Transition Act and other
federal policies do not specify how that process should work, but the process
is meant to be apolitical.
In typical
election years, it occurs without fanfare or discussion shortly after the race
is called by major news outlets. In 2016, the agency began making office space
available for the winning candidate’s team as early as August, and the
transition was able to begin after Hillary Clinton conceded to Trump the day
after the election.
Why was the
move delayed this year?
The agency
and its director, Emily Murphy, a Trump appointee, said it was important to
wait to see how litigation by Donald Trump’s campaign and recounts in the days
following the election could affect the election results.
In a letter
informing Biden of the agency’s move on Monday, Murphy said she “looked to
precedent from prior elections involving legal challenges and incomplete
counts” in imposing a delay.
Republicans
defending Murphy have pointed out that transition was delayed in 2000 as the
court battle between Al Gore and George W Bush over the results in Florida
played out. But Biden’s team has pointed out that in that case, only 500 votes
separated the two candidates in that state. Even in states where Trump is
contesting the result, Biden is leading Trump with thousands of votes.
Before
Murphy ascertained Biden the winner, House Democrats had sent her a letter
asking her to clearly explain the reasons for her delay by Monday.
What does
the news mean?
The GSA
move allows Biden and his team to access classified briefings and meet with
government officials. It also gives Biden officials access to office space and
funds to pay the transition team. Prior to the GSA’s move on Monday, the
Biden-Harris team had been raising money to fund the transition process, absent
access to government-allocated funds.
With the
GSA’s approval, Biden’s team can also move over to government email and receive
help from the Department of Homeland Security to protect the privacy of
incoming officials as they plan out, for example, national security strategies.
Until now, the team had also lacked cybersecurity support to shield email and
other communication amid concerns that Russia, China, or other foreign
adversaries could intercept classified information.
Why is it
so crucial?
The Biden
administration will face a host of urgent and unprecedented challenges when
taking office on 20 January, as coronavirus cases across the US rise and
Congress has not agreed on a relief package to mitigate the economic impact of
the pandemic.
Biden had
warned last week that “because of the lack of ascertainment by the GSA, my
transition team hasn’t been able to get access to the information we need to be
able to deal with everything from testing and guidance to the all-important
issue of vaccine distribution and vaccination plan”.
Last week,
as the Biden-Harris team attempted to begin the transition process despite the
GSA holdup, they reached out to Trump administration officials who had recently
left their posts, in an attempt to glean key information while being locked out
of official briefings.
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