Please take a minute to read my earlier note (copied below in case you missed it) and add your name to our petition urging Trump functionary Emily Murphy to stop stonewalling the orderly transition of power.

- Robert

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Her name is Emily Murphy.

And her allegiance to Donald Trump may well result in thousands of Americans getting the coronavirus and even put our national security at risk.

I’ve broken this down as simply as I can, but it’s still a lot. It’s really important, though, so please stick with me:

• Murphy is a Trump adherent who runs the General Services Administration, or GSA.

• The GSA, in case you don’t know, was established after World War II to help facilitate the basic operations of the federal government.

• According to its own website, the GSA’s mission is to “deliver value and savings in real estate, acquisition, technology, and other mission-support services across government.”

• It is supposed to be — and, until now, always has been — an independent agency.

• By law (the Presidential Transition Act of 1963), Murphy’s sign-off — in the form of what’s called an “ascertainment” determination — is required to start the formal transition process and allow the incoming Biden administration to access federal agencies and transition funds.

• But Murphy — disregarding established precedent and norms — has refused to recognize President-Elect Biden’s victory in the election.

• Which means Biden’s transition team can’t obtain office space, gain access to funds and equipment, vet potential Cabinet nominees, access intelligence that might be crucial to national security on Day One, and meet with key officials in the outgoing Trump administration.

• People on Biden’s transition team can’t even set up their official government email addresses yet.

• Because of Murphy’s stonewalling, Biden’s team can’t speak with current government officials and employees to start formulating a plan to get serious about the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic crisis — even as the case count is exploding all across the country.

This is supposed to be a straightforward process designed to provide continuity through the transition from one president to the next.

But Emily Murphy has gone out of her way to make it baldly, egregiously partisan.

And with every day she delays, the incoming Biden administration is kept in the dark about potentially serious national security matters and thousands more Americans get infected with the coronavirus.

Tell GSA Administrator Emily Murphy:

Do your job. Issue the “ascertainment” determination so that the incoming Biden administration can formally begin work and so that the American people can count on an orderly transition of power.

Thanks for taking action.

For democracy,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it.

Of course, we’re also busy undoing damage the Trump administration has already done and watching out for whatever shenanigans a lame-duck Donald Trump tries to get away with. And — like so many nonprofits and small businesses — we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic.

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