By Zeke Miller
The course of President-elect Joe Biden’s transition to power is dependent in part on an obscure declaration called “ascertainment.”
Here are some details on that process:
WHAT IS ASCERTAINMENT?
The formal presidential transition doesn’t begin until the administrator of the federal General Services Administration ascertains the “apparent successful candidate” in the general election. Neither the Presidential Transition Act nor federal regulations specify how that determination should be made. That decision green lights the entire federal government’s moves toward preparing for a handover of power.
WHY HASN'T IT HAPPENED YET?
Spokesperson Pamela Pennington said in a statement that “GSA and its Administrator will continue to abide by, and fulfill, all requirements under the law,” but the agency has not said why the decision to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect has not been made. GSA is an executive branch agency. Its administrator, Emily Murphy, is a Trump appointee, but the ascertainment decision is supposed to be apolitical. The White House did not say whether there have been conversations on the matter between officials there and at GSA.
WHAT'S AT STAKE?
The determination clears the way for millions of federal dollars to flow to Biden’s transition team and opens the doors of the federal government to hundreds of Biden staffers, so they can begin assessing agency operations ahead of Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. A delay in recognizing Biden as the next president could slow federal resources to assist the Biden-Harris team in filling about 4,000 political appointments across the government — including critical national security and health postings.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Slowing the pace of the transition could hamstring a new administration right out of the gate. The Trump administration, experts say, never fully recovered from the slow pace of hiring from its mismanaged 2016 transition after Trump tossed aside carefully prepared plans the day after his victory.
HAS THIS DELAY EVER HAPPENED BEFORE?
In 2000, the GSA determination was delayed until after the Florida recount fight was settled. The abbreviated transition process was identified by the 9/11 Commission Report as contributing to the nation’s unpreparedness for the crisis.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
The explosive device sent to CNN in New York was an "effort to terrorize," said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Investigators described the device as an apparent "live" pipe bomb at a press conference outside the Time Warner Center, which houses CNN's New York studios and was partially evacuated Wednesday morning when the mailroom discovered the suspicious package.
Markets may have closed off their lows of the day, but Jack Kramer, co-founder and co-CEO of MarketSnacks, said there's still plenty that could weigh on investors over the next year.
The midterm "wave" may be neither blue nor red ー but green. In two weeks, North Dakota and Michigan ー which both already allow cannabis for medicinal use ー will vote for legalized recreational marijuana. On the non-recreational side of the issue, Missouri and Utah will potentially make a push toward medicinal cannabis. Depending on the outcome, these states may send a message to the nation ーwhich is slowly getting greener.
When the anti-substance abuse platform "Truth Initiative" began in 2000, the smoking rate for teens was 23 percent ー almost two decades later, it stands at 5 percent. And now, after major inroads with young smokers, the organization is shifting its efforts to another pressing danger facing teens, according to its managing director Mary Dominguez.
The Trump administration has declared it may change the legal definition of gender, but GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis thinks that whatever the White House decides, the damage has already been done.
Women on both sides of the aisle may be enraged, but that anger is still sharply divided. Women are running for office in record numbers this year ー yet the outcome hasn't been the same for Republicans and Democrats, said author and political columnist Rebecca Traister.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
President Erdogan of Turkey demanded action from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the "premeditated" and "savage" murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as SoftBank's CEO became the latest top executive to pull back from Saudi Arabia's investor summit.
Billionaire activist Tom Steyer is not apologizing for his campaign to impeach Donald Trump. In an interview with Cheddar Monday, he dismissed criticism from certain Democrats that focusing on impeachment will energize the Republican base. "Standing up for the Constitution and the American people" should be more important than campaign tactics, he said.
