More than 170 business execs urge lawmakers to accept election results
'Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy,' the execs wrote in a letter
More than 170 business executives are urging lawmakers to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election and stop any further delays "in the orderly transfer of power," they wrote in a letter Monday.
"Congress should certify the electoral vote on Wednesday, January 6. Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy," said the letter, which included signatures from CEOs and business leaders from dozens of industries including tech, education, medicine, and financial institutions.
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Congressional lawmakers are scheduled to meet in a joint session on Wednesday to vote on the Electoral College results to name President-elect Joe Biden the next occupant of the White House, despite ongoing, unsuccessful legal challenges by President Trump to negate the election outcome.
Business leaders worry that continued battles among lawmakers and sparring with Trump and state officials -- in Georgia, for example -- would further devastate Americans already suffering from the economic and health ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic.
“America’s major corporations and financial institutions have kept the economy running through the ten months of Covid, but a Constitutional crisis over the peaceful transfer of presidential power is not something that American business can just power through," Kathryn Wylde, the CEO and president for Partnership for New York City, a business advocacy group, told FOX Business in a statement. "It will create legal and regulatory chaos that threatens the entire economy, already so fragile as a result of the pandemic.”
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Nearly a dozen Republican senators, led by Sen. Ted Cruz, have said they would vote against certifying the results of the election in some states.
Despite this, challenges to any states' slates of electoral votes are almost certain to fail. Democrats, who hold a majority in the House, are expected to vote against rejecting electors, and the overwhelming majority of Republicans in both the House and the Senate oppose the effort spearheaded by Cruz, setting it up for failure.
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Business leaders urged lawmakers to shy away from any actions that could work to delegitimize confidence in the election system.
“Job growth and earning power depends on business investment. Business counts on political stability and the rule of law as key factors underlying their investment decisions," Alan Schwartz, the executive chairman of investment firm Guggenheim Partners, told Fox Business.
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"The COVID crisis has already created huge uncertainties for business and the economy, costing millions of Americans lost jobs and earnings," Schwartz said. "Any challenge to the decision of the Electoral College will further undermine confidence in our political system and the pace of recovery from the current economic downturn.”