Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday offered her services and that of the House of Representatives to play a “prominent role” in deciding the outcome of the presidential election if disputes mar the final count.
In the event of a tie in the Electoral College the “newly seated House of Representatives” would be called upon to hold a decisive, complicated vote, the New York Times reported, which is where Pelosi sees a role for her possible intervention.
In a rarely seen scenario, the House decides with one vote for each state.
“But let’s not worry about that right now,” Pelosi told NPR. “What we want to be ready for is a big vote tomorrow to dispel any thought other than that, on January 20, Joe Biden will be inaugurated president of the United States, that we will have a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate.”
“We understand what the law is and the preeminence of the role of Congress and specifically the House of Representatives when it comes to counting the votes,” Pelosi continued in her exchange with the public radio station.
Should the presidential election not present a clear winner by electoral vote, then it is up to the House to choose the next president.
“We’re ready. We’re prepared. We’ve been ready for a while because we see this irresponsibility of the president, his disrespect for the Constitution, for our democracy and for the integrity of our elections. So we’re ready for him,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi has previously predicted only Democrats would respect the process while stating U.S. President Donald Trump would not be so accommodating of the will of the people.
Asked if Democrats take the presidency and the Senate and maintain the House, Pelosi says top of their agenda in the new year will involve health care.
“We will lower the cost of health care by lowering the cost of prescription drugs, saving the preexisting condition benefit, et cetera,” Pelosi said. “We will increase paychecks by building infrastructure of America in a green way, and we will have cleaner government by passing HR 1 legislation to reduce the role of big, dark special interest money.”