capitol shavings

A Contingency Plan for Congress

by Edith Carper

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed legislation that will allow states to speed up the process of replacing Representatives in the event of attacks by terrorists aimed at disabling representative government in the United States. On 3 March, the House approved the Continuity in Representation Act of 2005 (H.R. 841), which sets rules for the states to hold special elections within 45 days. The vacancy must be officially announced by the Speaker of the House.

The House voted down a proposal to schedule the election within 60 days.

One impetus for passage was a report after the terrorist attacks of 11 September that the group planning the attacks hoped to fly a plan into the U.S. Capitol.

In the event of the “unthinkable,” said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, “this bill will strike a blow to the heart of the terrorists and allow this body to reconstitute itself as quickly as possible…” The bill’s sponsor, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., said it is essential to American democracy for the replacements to be directly elected — not appointed. “The House, uniquely among all branches of the entire federal government, is rooted in the principle of direct elections and that principle must be preserved.” He went on to say that without an elected House, “the entire federal government could be run, and laws would be written, without a single branch directly representing the popular will.”

Progress is being made in the states as they act on their own initiatives. In 2002, the House adopted legislation (the Help America Vote Act) that helps election officials conduct special elections. It grants the states Federal dollars to to eliminate “antiquated election equipment,” and the states are already in the process of constructing statewide, computerized voter registration files. States are also moving toward a uniform system of voting machines.

House members went back and forth over the question of whether the special election for replacements should take place within 60 or 45 days. Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif) argued for the 60-day provision, saying that it “at least provides some additional flexibility in the hands of the decision-makers who must grapple with the jig-saw puzzle of demands the bill places upon them. Sixty days is not a magic bullet any more than 45 days is, but experience… teaches us to err on the side of flexibility, especially at a time of potential national crises."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has introduced a bill that calls for a constitutional amendment to give Congress authority to make provisions to replace members who die or become incapacitated; he argues that the Constitution and applicable rules do not cover all contingencies. His proposal would allow for either emergency appointments or provisional elections if a quarter of the members were killed. “Nobody relishes the idea of planning for their own demise,” he said, “but it will be far too late to establish a protocol for continuity after a catastrophe strikes the Capitol building. The time to correct these potential devastating flaws is now — not the day after an attack.”

Edith T. Carper is a special correspondent for IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer. She can be reached at todaysengineer@ieee.org. Views expressed in this article are the author's.