I'm going to be voting for a bill that will change a lot of things in the 1886 law... we're going to make clear that the Vice President's role is counting votes, nothing more. And then we're going to make sure that not just one person in the House or one person in the Senate can challenge these electoral votes. It's going to have to be at least 20% of each house to do that.
Support Electoral Count Act reforms clarifying that the vice president only counts electoral votes and requiring at least 20 percent of each chamber to challenge electoral votes.
Occurrences
Evidence
Congress.gov lists “Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA]” as a cosponsor of S.4573 on 08/06/2022.
Congress.gov summarizes S.4573 as specifying a ministerial Vice President role and raising objections to one-fifth of both chambers.
Congress.gov records H.R.2617 as Public Law 117-328 and identifies Division P as Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement.
3 U.S.C. §15 limits the Senate President to “solely ministerial duties” and requires one-fifth of both chambers for objections.
Senate Vote 421 on H.R.2617 was agreed to 68-29; the roll call lists Grassley (R-IA) as Nay.
Current 3 U.S.C. 15 says the President of the Senate’s role in the joint session is ministerial only, and an objection must be signed by at least one-fifth of the Senators and one-fifth of the House.
Congress.gov shows H.R.2617 became Public Law No. 117-328 on December 29, 2022, and Division P contains the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act of 2022.
The cosponsors page shows Sen. Chuck Grassley added his name to S.4573 on August 6, 2022.
On the December 22, 2022 vote on H.R.2617, Grassley voted Nay.
Assessments
The promised reforms were enacted during Grassley’s Senate term in the 117th Congress: current 3 U.S.C. 15 makes the vice president’s role in the joint session ministerial only and raises the objection threshold to one-fifth of each chamber. Grassley also materially supported that exact policy by cosponsoring S.4573, the standalone Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, whose core provisions matched the promise. Although he later voted against H.R.2617, the omnibus vehicle that carried the enacted reforms, his earlier cosponsorship shows meaningful candidate credit for advancing the policy, and the outcome itself was fully delivered in the same term.
The promised Electoral Count Act reforms were enacted in Public Law 117-328 in December 2022, during Grassley's same Senate term, and current 3 U.S.C. §15 reflects both core provisions: the vice president's role is ministerial and objections require one-fifth of each chamber. Grassley also cosponsored S.4573, the standalone Senate reform bill containing these provisions, which is concrete support for the promised policy. His nay vote on the final omnibus vehicle is countervailing, but it does not outweigh his formal support for the specific reform measure that matched the promise and became law.