I have made this suggestion before but here I went to the trouble to provide the actual amendments needed to accomplish this goal and save the Republic. This week the need has been strikingly clear. The US Senate is broken and cannot be fixed. Below the fold is my first draft of a resolution and the amendments necessary to amend the Constitution so that the US Senate is permanently dissolved. This will necessarily rise from the states since the Senate will never empower a Constitutional Convention to dissolve itself. As drafts of legal documents go, there are not that many changes that will need to be made to the Constitution. I believe support for this amendment will be found across the political spectrum.
I welcome your comments.
RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
IN ORDER TO
DISSOLVE THE UNITED STATES SENATE
IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION:
WHEREAS:
The establishment of a bicameral legislature by the founding fathers of the United States was modeled on archaic assumptions of elite rule; and
WHEREAS:
Other national legislative bodies based on this archaic bicameral system have long since disenfranchised or dissolved "upper houses" of said legislatures in favor of empowering single legislative bodies more directly answerable to the citizens they represent; and
WHEREAS:
The United States Senate has over and over again adopted rules and customary practices empowering individual senators over and above the will of the entire body and over and above the public good through the use of secretive legislative holds, of the inordinate power of committee chairmanships and of filibusters; and
WHEREAS:
The standing system of funding elections has disabled effective government by raising extravagant amounts of money from individuals and groups who donate to senators for the express purpose of exerting pressure on senators to create or resist policy solely for the purpose of favoring the donors and with no regard for the public good; and
WHEREAS:
The United States Senate has resisted efforts to create term limits for senators and individual senators have not kept promises to impose term limits on themselves; and
WHEREAS:
The process confirming judicial and other executive appointments has devolved into uncivil ad hominem attacks on the nominees based on political infighting rather than the individual’s qualifications and discourages qualified individuals from agreeing to serve, depriving the nation of their service;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
The United States Senate shall be dissolved and the Constitution of the United States be amended as follows:
• Article I, Section 1 shall be amended to read:
"All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a House of Representatives."
• Article I, Section 2 shall add the following:
"The Vice President of the United States shall be ceremonial President of the House of Representatives, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The House of Representatives shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law."
• Article I, Section 3 shall be deleted.
• Article I, Section 4 shall delete the following words from the first sentence:
"Senators and" and ", except as to the Place of Chusing Senators" to read:
"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations."
• Article I, Section 5, in paragraphs one, two and three shall substitute the word "Congress" in each occurrence of the words, "Each House," delete the words "of each, "and the last sentence of Section 5 shall be deleted to read as follows:
"Congress shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.
Congress may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.
Congress shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal."
• Article I, Section 6, shall be amended as follows:
".... They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of the House, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in the House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
No Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of the House during his Continuance in Office."
• Article I, Section 7 shall be amended as follows:
"All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to the House, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of the House shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of the House. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law."
(final paragraph deleted)
• Article II, Section 1, the second paragraph shall be amended as follows:
"Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector."
• Article II, Section 2, the second and third paragraphs shall be amended as follows:
"He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the House of Representatives, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Representatives present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the House of Representatives, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Congress, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session."
• Article II, Section 3 shall be amended as follows:
"He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene Congress or he may adjourn Congress to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States."
• Article V shall be amended as follows:
"The Congress, whenever two thirds of the Representatives shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress."
• Article VI shall be amended as follows in the final paragraph:
"The Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."
• Amendment 12 shall be amended as follows:
"The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the ceremonial President of the House of Representatives;
The ceremonial President of the House of Representatives shall, in the presence of the Congress, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;
The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.
The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Congress shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Representatives, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."
• Amendment 14 shall be amended as follows in the third paragraph:
"3. No person shall be a Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of the House, remove such disability."
• Amendment 17 shall be repealed as moot.
• Amendment 20 shall be amended in the fourth paragraph as follows:
"4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them."
• Amendment 23 shall be amended in the first paragraph as follows:
"1. The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment."
Amendment 25 shall be amended as follows:
- In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
- Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of Congress.
- Whenever the President transmits to the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
- Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two thirds vote of the Representatives that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office."
• Amendment 27 shall be amended as follows:
"No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."