Nearly 200 executives urged a smooth transition for the incoming Biden administration, saying GOP efforts to block it contradict democratic principles.
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Nearly 200 top U.S. business leaders pressed Congress to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory in a letter Monday, the latest attempt by corporate executives to publicly urge a smooth transition of power as President Trump and many Republicans continue to dispute his election defeat.
The letter, sent by the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit that represents the city’s business leaders and largest employers, called on Congress to certify the electoral vote on Wednesday as the nation continues to reel from the coronavirus pandemic.
“Attempts to thwart or delay this process run counter to the essential tenets of our democracy,” the letter said. “Our duly elected leaders deserve the respect and bipartisan support of all Americans at a moment when we are dealing with the worst health and economic crises in modern history.”
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla was among the letter’s signers.
Photo: Natalie Keyssar for The Wall Street Journal
Among the nearly 200 business leaders who signed the letter are the heads of financial firm BlackRock Inc., consulting firm Deloitte, airline JetBlue Airways Corp. and pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., according to a release sent by the partnership. The group includes a number of Fortune 500 companies across industries, as well as New York-based financial-services firms and law firms.
Eleven current and incoming Republican senators said this past weekend that they would vote to reject the Electoral College votes of some states on Wednesday as not “lawfully certified” unless Congress appoints a commission to conduct an emergency, 10-day audit of the election results. Although none of the challenges are expected to succeed, they could slow the process and give Mr. Trump’s allies a high-profile opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to him.
By law, Congress must hold a joint session on Jan. 6 to ratify Mr. Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win. Objections from some Republican senators and House members are expected to force debate and votes in both chambers of Congress. Majorities in the House and Senate would have to agree for the challenge to succeed, an extremely unlikely prospect given that Democrats control the House.
In a Saturday telephone call, Mr. Trump urged Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to overturn the November election results that led Mr. Biden, a Democrat, to win the state.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than three million businesses of various industries, sizes and regions, also urged Congress on Monday to certify Mr. Biden’s victory and for the Trump administration to facilitate an orderly transition.
“Efforts by some members of Congress to disregard certified election results in an effort to change the election outcome or to try to make a long-term political point undermines our democracy and the rule of law and will only result in further division across our nation,” said Chamber CEO Thomas J. Donohue in a statement.
The Presidential Transition
The Business Roundtable, which counts the CEOs of dozens of the biggest U.S. companies as its members, also said it opposes efforts to delay or overturn the certification.
“With our country in the midst of a pandemic, business leaders recognize that ongoing division and distrust in our political system threatens the economic recovery and job creation our country desperately needs,” according to a statement Monday.
Members of the Partnership for New York City discussed putting out a letter after an additional group of Republicans, led by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, said they planned to reject electoral votes from some states unless Congress conducted an emergency audit, said Kathryn Wylde, the partnership’s president and chief executive.
Ninety-one business leaders signed on within four hours on Sunday, she said, and the letter was finalized in about 24 hours.
“It shows that it really struck a vein with our membership,” Ms. Wylde said. “Business depends on a stable political environment. And our country really hasn’t seen anything like this in our lifetime based on a challenge to our electoral system.”
Ms. Wylde said that both Democrats and Republicans signed the letter, and that other CEOs and groups representing business leaders have reached out to sign on since its release. She said she gave a member of the Biden team a heads-up on the letter’s contents so it wouldn’t be a surprise.
The Partnership for New York City also issued a letter on Nov. 23 as the Trump administration stalled transition activities for more than two weeks, preventing Mr. Biden from accessing federal resources, while alleging uncertainty in the results.
“Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” the partnership’s November letter said.
—Leslie Scism contributed to this article.
Write to Emily Glazer at [email protected]
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Appeared in the January 5, 2021, print edition as ‘Congress Should Certify Biden Win, CEO Group Says.’
