Congressional Republicans refuse to call Biden's inauguration preparations a 'transition of power'

• A basic resolution informing the American people about Congress' preparations for President-elect Joe Biden's upcoming inauguration failed to pass on Wednesday.
• In a 3-3 vote of the Inaugural Committee, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Roy Blunt voted against using terms acknowledging Biden's victory.
• Those terms included preparations for the inauguration "in coordination with health experts" as "we observe this transition of power."
• The failed vote over marks another instance of President Donald Trump keeping much of the GOP in line with his efforts to overturn the results of the election despite no evidence of widespread fraud.

In another example of top Republicans refusing to break from President Donald Trump's refusal to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, a Congressional committee failed to pass a resolution simply informing the American people of preparations for the upcoming inauguration on Jan. 20.

The Congressional Inaugural Committee got stuck in a 3-3 vote on language acknowledging Biden's victory in the resolution, which is not a law.

According to Politico's Heather Caygle, the language described how Congress was getting ready for the inauguration "in coordination with health experts" as "we observe this transition of power."

—Heather Caygle (@heatherscope) December 8, 2020

The Republicans who voted against it were Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, and Senate Rules Committee Chairman Roy Blunt of Missouri.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland proposed the resolution, and was joined in the affirmative by fellow Democrats House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

"The extent to which Republicans are refusing to accept the outcome of the election and recognize Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next President and Vice President is astounding," Hoyer said in a statement following the vote.

Republicans reportedly felt that Democrats "were just trying to put them on the spot" with the resolution, according to Melanie Zanona, another congressional reporter for Politico.

—Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) December 8, 2020

Blunt also issued a statement following the vote, saying it's "not the job" of the committee "to get ahead of the electoral process and decide who we are inaugurating."

—Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) December 8, 2020

Congressional Republicans have been largely hesitant to go on the record acknowledging Biden as the legitimate victor of the election. The Washington Post recently tallied only 27 of all 249 GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill as willing to publicly agree that Biden won the election.

When asked by the Post if they would finally accept Biden as the winner once the Electoral College formalizes the results, only 32 Congressional Republicans were willing to say yes.

Two said no, and the other 215 would not answer.