House to vote on replacing itself

More than two years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the House is set this week to vote on a plan to replace itself through expedited special elections if another such attack were to kill many members.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican, wrote a bill — expected to come to a House vote tomorrow — that would give states 45 days to choose candidates and elect new House members in the event a catastrophic attack kills 100 or more representatives.

Critics, however, say the plan is inadequate, and House Republican leaders are preventing debate on other proposals that address the complex issue of how to keep Congress functioning after an attack — including a constitutional amendment allowing members to designate in advance their temporary replacements.

“This Congress has now been idle for 2 years, denying full and fair debate on the issue of its continuity,” said Rep. Brian Baird, Washington Democrat, who yesterday began collecting signatures for a motion that would force the House to debate alternative proposals.

Mr. Baird has proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow each House member to designate a replacement to serve temporarily in case the member dies or is incapacitated in a mass catastrophic event. Service would continue until a special election.

A similar proposal would allow states to appoint replacements.

Mr. Baird and other critics say the Sensenbrenner bill doesn’t give states nearly enough time to conduct fair elections, and leaves the House with crippling vacancies for more than a month.

Lawmakers are aware that the Capitol was a target on September 11, Mr. Baird said, and had the terrorists succeeded, Congress could have been paralyzed by mass casualties.

While vacancies in the Senate can be filled with appointments made by governors, only elected representatives can fill unexpected vacancies in the House. Elections can take months, however, and that would leave the House unable to function.

Stuart Roy, spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Texas Republican, said a bipartisan majority feel House members should never be appointed, but always elected. Mr. Roy said he expects the Sensenbrenner bill to pass this week with bipartisan support.

The Continuity of Government Commission, run by the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution, examined many issues surrounding a catastrophic attack on Congress, and recommended a constitutional amendment as one solution.

Thomas Mann, senior fellow in governance studies at Brookings, yesterday said Mr. Sensenbrenner decided early on that a constitutional amendment was a “bad idea” and began “putting the heat on Republican leadership” against it.

Still, Burson Taylor, the spokeswoman for House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, said her boss does feel the issue “merits broad debate” and he has been talking to members about their ideas.