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Law: Dueling Presidential Transitions  10/31 06:17

   This year, a new law is meant to start the transition sooner, no matter who 
wins. But, if neither major party candidate concedes after Election Day, the 
updated rules allow both sides to get additional government funding and 
logistical support to begin working toward transitioning to power. That could 
lead to both Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump potentially assembling 
dueling, governments-in-waiting for weeks.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- There will be 77 days between Election Day and 
inauguration, a period in which the president-elect may ready his or her 
administration to take over power from President Joe Biden.

   Long built on tradition and bipartisanship, the presidential transition 
exploded into a point of political contention four years ago, after 
then-President Donald Trump made baseless claims to dispute his loss and his 
administration delayed kicking off the transition process for weeks.

   This year, a new law is meant to start the transition sooner, no matter who 
wins. But, if neither major party candidate concedes after Election Day, the 
updated rules allow both sides to get additional government funding and 
logistical support to begin working toward transitioning to power. That could 
lead to both Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump potentially assembling 
dueling, governments-in-waiting for weeks.

   "Rules can only take you so far, and ultimately you need to have the players 
in the system working to shared objective," said Max Stier, president and CEO 
of the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, which has worked with 
candidates and incumbents on transitions. "Everyone should have the shared 
objective of making sure that the handoff of power is smooth and effective. And 
that requires a cooperation that law can't alone enforce."

   Here's a look at how changes meant to fix the problems of four years ago may 
not solve coming issues this time, and where the coming transition stands in 
the meantime:

   What happened in 2020?

   Trump lied about widespread voter fraud that didn't occur, delaying the 
start of the 2020 transition from one administration to the next from Election 
Day on Nov. 3 to Nov. 23.

   The Trump-appointed head of the General Services Administration, Emily 
Murphy, consulted the transition law dating to 1963 and determined that she had 
no legal standing to determine a winner -- and start funding and cooperating 
with a transition to a Biden administration -- because Trump was still 
challenging the results in court.

   GSA essentially acts as the federal government's landlord, and it wasn't 
until Trump's efforts to subvert free and fair election results had collapsed 
across key states that Murphy agreed to formally " ascertain a president-elect 
" and begin the transition process. Trump also eventually posted on social 
media that his administration would cooperate.

   What's different this time?

   Enacted in December 2022, the Presidential Transition Improvement Act now 
mandates that the transition process begin five days after the election, even 
if more than one candidate hasn't conceded.

   That avoids long delays and means "an 'affirmative ascertainment' by the GSA 
is no longer a prerequisite for gaining transition support services," according 
to agency guidelines on the new rules.

   But the new law also effectively mandates federal support and cooperation 
for both candidates to begin a transition. It states that such support should 
continue until "significant legal challenges" that could alter electoral 
outcomes have been "substantially resolved," or when electors from each state 
meet in December to formally choose an Electoral College winner.

   That means the government potentially bestowing enough backing that both 
sides can prepare an administration until mid-December -- only about a month 
before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

   Derek Muller, a University of Notre Dame law professor and presidential 
transition expert who testified in favor of the legislation, said it ensures 
that potentially two candidates get backing for transitions, with one 
eventually falling away. He said that's preferable to having a situation where 
no transition support is released to either side -- which can spark delays 
leading to national security lapses.

   "In the past, it was neither candidate gets the funding. Now it's both," 
Muller said.

   He pointed to the contested 2000 election, when GSA didn't determine the 
winner until the Florida recount fight was settled on Dec. 13 -- raising 
questions about national security gaps that may have contributed to the U.S. 
being underprepared for the Sept. 11 attacks the following year.

   "It can last into mid-December. There's no question that's a risk," Muller 
said of potential dueling transition efforts after this year's election. "But I 
think it's a risk that they want to take. And even mid-December is still a 
month away from inauguration, so at least you have some certainty."

   Even today, though, Trump continues to falsely claim he won in 2020 and only 
says he'll accept this November's results if they are fair, making it easy to 
imagine him doing so only if he wins -- and potentially putting the new law to 
the test.

   How are both sides preparing?

   The sprawling transition process starts around 4,000 government positions 
being filled with political appointees -- people who are specifically tapped 
for their jobs by the president-elect's team. That often begins with key 
Cabinet departments.

   Harris' team already has reached an agreement with the Biden administration 
to use government office space in Washington and other resources, and to begin 
vetting potential key national security hires.

   Trump's team has signed no transition agreements, missing deadlines to agree 
with GSA on logistical matters like office space and tech support and with the 
White House on access to agencies, including documents, employees and 
facilities.

   Stier, of the Partnership for Public Service, said the Trump 
administration's disregard for the transition process dates to 2016, when the 
then-president-elect fired his transition coordinator, former New Jersey Gov. 
Chris Christie, and then spent months of his early administration trying to 
catch up on basic staffing issues.

   Stier said the agreements to prepare transition are merely "the starter's 
pistol -- it isn't actually the race." The full process, he said, "requires a 
deep understanding of our government and a willingness to appreciate the 
importance of process."

   What will transition look like?

   Neither side will be starting totally from scratch. While Harris will build 
her own government, she might tap some holdovers from the Biden administration, 
where she was vice president. Trump will bring in a new team, but he built an 
entirely new administration in 2017 and can do it again.

   Harris could also opt to keep Senate-confirmed Biden appointees as acting 
Cabinet secretaries, just in case it is hard to get her nominations through a 
post-election, GOP-controlled Congress. She's promised to appoint a Republican 
to her Cabinet, with an early favorite being former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney -- 
once the third-ranking member of the House GOP and the daughter of a Republican 
vice president -- who has campaigned with Harris.

   Trump said he may tap former independent presidential hopeful and 
anti-vaccination activist Robert Kennedy Jr. on health issues and make South 
African-born Elon Musk a secretary of federal "cost-cutting."

   Either way, John Kirby, Biden's national security spokesman, said the 
current administration is set for a proper transition, "no matter how things 
play out in the election."

 
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