Members of Congress look forward to working with Biden

Mr. President-Elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. 

Biden-Harris Transition 

1401 Constitution Avenue, NW, Ste. 38038 

Washington, DC 20230 

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

Congratulations on your upcoming inauguration as the 46th President of the United States of America. As you well understand, America is intensely divided at this moment, and people across the nation are frustrated and angered. We appreciate the occasions when you have called for healing our divisions. We write to suggest an important step you could take now to hasten this process.

The undersigned members of Congress issued a joint statement on Jan. 4 opposing the objection, made by many of our Republican colleagues, to certifying the Electoral College vote. We did so because we believe the Constitution is clear that the role of Congress is simply to count the electoral votes. The 12th Amendment does not give Congress the authority or discretion to disqualify electors based on its own findings or beliefs that fraud took place.

Nor does the Constitution envision impeaching a President without an adequate investigation and congressional hearings. A presidential impeachment should not occur in the heat of the moment, but rather after great deliberation.

In the spirit of healing and fidelity to our Constitution, we ask that you formally request that Speaker Nancy Pelosi discontinue her efforts to impeach President Donald J. Trump a second time. A second impeachnent, only days before President Trump will leave office, is as unnecessary as it is inflammatory. This impeachment would undermine your priority of unifying Americans, and would be a further distraction to our nation at a tune when millions of our fellow citizens are hurting because of the pandemic and the economic fallout. We respectfully urge you to encourage Speaker Pelosi to set aside this partisan effort immediately.

As members of Congress, we are committed to working with you as we tackle the related health and economic crises confronting our nation. As your fellow Americans, we will be in attendance at your inauguration on Jan. 20, as we celebrate the peaceful transfer of power, a bedrock of our system of self-government.

We look forward to working with you and your administration.