Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Chairman, the primary opposition to this legislation comes from people who have favored a constitutional amendment…”

“Mr. Chairman, the primary opposition to this legislation comes from people who have favored a constitutional amendment to provide for the appointment of substitute Representatives should there be a catastrophe that wipes out a significant part or all of the House of Representatives. I believe last year, the House of Representatives laid that proposition to rest. We did have a full debate on the floor of the constitutional amendment that both the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Baird) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) supported. It only got 63 votes. Twenty votes are necessary for the two-thirds majority necessary to propose amendments to the Constitution on any subject, and I believe that the House of Representatives at that time clearly and emphatically spoke in favor of maintaining elections as the only way one could enter the House of Representatives, the people's House. So now we hear that the 49 days that are proposed in this bill are too short to be able to organize a proper election in a time of crisis. I do not think that is correct. During the Second World War, Great Britain was under attack constantly by the German Air Force, and even during the war they were able to hold special elections to fill vacancies in the House of Commons within 42 days.”