Constitutional Amendment on Congressional Succession

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT ON CONGRESSIONAL SUCCESSION-HON. DANA ROHRABACHER (Extensions of Remarks - April 02, 2004)

HON. DANA ROHRABACHER
OF CALIFORNIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Friday, April 2, 2004

Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I have just introduced a constitutional amendment on congressional succession. Much has been said over the last couple years about the need to make sure we have a functioning Congress that is perceived as legitimate in the case of a national disaster that kills or incapacitates a large proportion of Members of Congress. So far, none of the proposals that have been introduced have been able to appeal to a broad, bipartisan cross-section of Congress. I believe the constitutional amendment I have introduced today addresses the major criticisms that have been leveled against the "continuity of Congress" constitutional amendments that have been introduced so far.

Under my proposal, each general election candidate for the House or Senate would be authorized to publicly appoint, in ranked order, 3 to 5 potential temporary successors. The legitimacy of a successor designated in this way temporarily succeeding a deceased or incapacitated Representative or Senator is similar to that of a Vice President succeeding a deceased or incapacitated President-not separately elected, but chosen by the principal and known well in advance of the election.

The problem faced by other proposals of how to determine when sufficient members have died or been incapacitated to trigger emergency procedures is avoided in my proposal because no such determination is necessary. If a congressional continuity solution is good enough to use when 110 Representatives are killed or disabled, it should be good enough to use when 50 or 20 or even one Representative dies or becomes unable to discharge his or her duties. Continuity of Congress is certainly important, but so is continuity of representation. Death or incapacity of Representatives and Senators (as in the case of the late Senator Paul Wellstone) should not change the control of either House of Congress or the outcome of votes. Also, the legitimacy of a congressional succession plan is more likely to be accepted in a national emergency if it has previously worked in smaller tragedies.

To further legitimize temporary successors, my proposal would repeal the current power state governors have to appointment temporary Senators. Since the adoption of the 17th Amendment, the American people have expected that the members of both Houses of Congress should be democratically elected. When a more democratic solution is available, we don't need to perpetuate the practice of a governor of another party being able to change the composition and control of the Senate just because a Senator tragically dies or is incapacitated.

My proposal would allow governors to appoint temporary Senators and Representatives only if the elected Senator or Representative has not submitted a list of successors or if none of the listed successors is able to serve. This backup appointment authority provides an incentive for Senators and Representatives (and potential Senators and Representatives) to make sure their "political will" is in order, since otherwise their governor could appoint someone they may not like. The backup authority of course also provides a further assurance of congressional continuity.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that my congressional succession constitutional amendment would solve the continuity of Congress problem in a way that would appeal to both sides of the aisle. I ask my colleagues for their support.

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