The House of Representatives on Wednesday is set to consider legislation introduced by GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California to make it harder to overturn a certified presidential election in the future by proposing changes to the Electoral Count Act. Cheney and Lofgren, who both serve on the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, say the recommendations could help prevent a future attack on the US Capitol and argue this legislation is critical, pointing to candidates currently running for offices at the state and federal level who could impact future elections and who believe former President Donald Trump's election lies. In an op-ed introducing the legislation, they wrote about concerns of "another effort to steal a presidential election, perhaps with another attempt to corrupt Congress's proceeding to tally electoral votes." The bill Cheney and Lofgren have put forward introduces new laws and strengthens existing ones to prevent individual state officials or members of Congress from subverting election results. "The Electoral Count Act of 1887 should be amended to prevent other future unlawful efforts to overturn Presidential elections and to ensure future peaceful transfers of Presidential power," the bill reads. In their op-ed published Sunday in the Wall Street Journal, the pair wrote, "Our proposal is intended to preserve the rule of law for all future presidential elections by ensuring that self-interested politicians cannot steal from the people the guarantee that our government derives its power from the consent of the governed." It's unclear how many House Republicans will back the plan. House GOP Whip Steve Scalise sent a message to members of the Republican conference Tuesday whipping against the bill. Once this bill passes the House, lawmakers must decide how to reconcile the differences that exist with the Senate's proposed changes to the Electoral Count Act put forward by a bipartisan group of senators in July. Cheney said on a Tuesday call that there are "a lot of similarities" with the Senate's version of the bill and she will continue to work "expeditiously" to reconcile the legislation. "I think, you know, we are going to end up in a situation where we have legislation that has a lot of similarities and that we can work with to make sure that we get a good bill to the President's desk," Cheney said. "We're not disrupting the compromise," a House aide told CNN. "We think we are raising the floor for what this bill should look like." Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican and one of the lead negotiators of the Senate legislation focused on reforming the Electoral Count Act, told CNN she hopes the Senate bill -- not the bill introduced by Cheney and Lofgren -- will be the one that ultimately passes through Congress. "I much prefer our bill, which is the product of months of study, input from constitutional and election experts and is a bill that has garnered widespread bipartisan support," Collins said. Still, Collins said the differences between the two bills are not insurmountable. "I believe we can work this out and hope that we will do so. I would say that our bill has broader support from constitutional scholars, election experts and members of the Senate," Collins said, adding the legislation is already filibuster-proof since it has the support of 10 Republican senators. Collins said the Senate Rules Committee will mark up the Senate bill next week. It remains to be seen whether the Senate will get to a vote on the bill before the midterms or if it will be an issue for the lame duck session. Cheney said Tuesday that she is looking forward to see what amendments get added to the Senate's version of the bill next week because she believes some of the differences could be resolved then. The Wyoming Republican said this bill will ultimately become part of the House January 6 committee's recommendations, but others will be added when the panel puts out its final report by the end of the year. "This is clearly one piece of our legislative recommendations," Cheney said. "There will be others." — CNN
