I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1943 

To amend chapter 1 of title 3, United States Code, relating to Presidential 

succession. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 27, 2005 

Mr. SHERMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend chapter 1 of title 3, United States Code, relating 

to Presidential succession. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Succession 

5 Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 19(d) of title 3, United 

8 States Code, is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, Secretary 

10 of Homeland Security, Ambassador to the United 
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1 Nations, Ambassador to Great Britain, Ambassador 

2 to Russia, Ambassador to China, Ambassador to 

3 France’’ after ‘‘Secretary of Veterans Affairs’’; 

4 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘acting as’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘serving as acting’’; and 

7 (B) by striking ‘‘but not’’ and all that fol8 lows through the period and inserting ‘‘or until 

9 the disability of the President or Vice President 

10 is removed.’’; 

11 (3) in paragraph (3)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘be held to constitute’’ and 

13 inserting ‘‘not require’’; 

14 (B) by striking ‘‘act as President’’ and in15 serting ‘‘serve as acting President’’; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

17 ‘‘Such individual shall not receive compensation 

18 from holding that office during the period that 

19 the individual serves as acting President or Vice 

20 President under this section, and shall be com21 pensated for that period as provided under sub22 section (c).’’; and 

23 (4) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(4) This subsection shall apply only to such officers 

25 that are— 
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1 ‘‘(A) eligible to the office of President under the 

2 Constitution; 

3 ‘‘(B) appointed to an office listed under para4 graph (1), by and with the advice and consent of the 

5 Senate, prior to the time the powers and duties of 

6 the President devolve to such officer under para7 graph (1); and 

8 ‘‘(C) not under impeachment by the House of 

9 Representatives at the time the powers and duties of 

10 the office of President devolve upon them.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 19 of such 

12 title is amended as follows: 

13 (1) In subsection (a)— 

14 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘act as 

15 President’’ and inserting ‘‘serve as acting Presi16 dent’’; and 

17 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘acting 

18 as President’’ and inserting ‘‘serving as acting 

19 President’’. 

20 (2) In subsection (b), by striking ‘‘act as Presi21 dent’’ and inserting ‘‘serve as acting President’’. 

22 (3) In subsection (c)— 

23 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph 

24 (1)— 
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1 (i) by striking ‘‘acting as President’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘serving as acting Presi3 dent’’, and 

4 (ii) by striking ‘‘continue to act’’ and 

5 inserting ‘‘continue to serve’’; and 

6 (B) in paragraphs (1) and (2), by striking 

7 ‘‘shall act’’ each place it appears and inserting 

8 ‘‘shall serve’’. 

9 (4) In subsection (e)— 

10 (A) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘(a), 

11 (b), and (d)’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) and (b)’’; and 

12 (B) by striking the second sentence. 

13 (5) In subsection (f), by striking ‘‘acts as Presi14 dent’’ and inserting ‘‘serves as acting President’’. 

15 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING VOTES BY ELEC16 TORS AFTER DEATH OR INCAPACITY OF 

17 NOMINEES. 

18 It is the sense of Congress that— 

19 (1) during a Presidential election year, the 

20 nominees of each political party for the office of 

21 President and Vice President should jointly an22 nounce and designate on or before the final day of 

23 the convention (or related event) at which they are 

24 nominated the individuals for whom the electors of 

25 President and Vice President who are pledged to 
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1 vote for such nominees should give their votes for 

2 such offices in the event that such nominees are de3 ceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 

4 date of the meeting of the electors of each State 

5 under section 7 of title 3, United States Code; 

6 (2) in the event a nominee for President is de7 ceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 

8 date referred to in paragraph (1) (but the nominee 

9 for Vice President of the same political party is not 

10 deceased or permanently incapacitated), the electors 

11 of President who are pledged to vote for the nominee 

12 should give their votes to the nominee of the same 

13 political party for the office of Vice President, and 

14 the electors of Vice President who are pledged to 

15 vote for the nominee for Vice President should give 

16 their votes to the individual designated for such of17 fice by the nominees under paragraph (1); 

18 (3) in the event a nominee for Vice President 

19 is deceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 

20 date referred to in paragraph (1) (but the nominee 

21 for President of the same political party is not de22 ceased or permanently incapacitated), the electors of 

23 Vice President who are pledged to vote for such 

24 nominee should give their votes to the individual des-
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1 ignated for such office by the nominees under para2 graph (1); 

3 (4) in the event that both the nominee for 

4 President and the nominee for Vice President of the 

5 same political party are deceased or permanently in6 capacitated prior to the date referred to in para7 graph (1), the electors of President and Vice Presi8 dent who are pledged to vote for such nominees 

9 should vote for the individuals designated for each 

10 such office by the nominees under paragraph (1); 

11 and 

12 (5) political parties should establish rules and 

13 procedures consistent with the procedures described 

14 in the preceding paragraphs, including procedures to 

15 obtain written pledges from electors to vote in the 

16 manner described in such paragraphs. 

17 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE CONTINUITY OF GOV18 ERNMENT AND THE SMOOTH TRANSITION OF 

19 EXECUTIVE POWER. 

20 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

21 (1) members of the Senate, regardless of polit22 ical party affiliation, agree that the American people 

23 deserve a Government that is failsafe and foolproof, 

24 and that terrorists should never have the ability to 

25 disrupt the operations of the Government; 
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1 (2) continuity of governmental operations in the 

2 wake of a catastrophic terrorist attack remains a 

3 pressing issue of national importance before the 

4 United States Congress; 

5 (3) at a minimum, terrorists should never have 

6 the ability, by launching a terrorist attack, to change 

7 the political party that is in control of the Govern8 ment, regardless of which party is in power; 

9 (4) whenever control of the White House shall 

10 change from one political party to another, the out11 going President and the incoming President should 

12 work together, and with the Senate to the extent de13 termined appropriate by the Senate, to ensure a 

14 smooth transition of executive power, in the interest 

15 of the American people; 

16 (5) under the current presidential succession 

17 statute in section 19 of title 3, United States Code, 

18 the members of the cabinet, defined as the heads of 

19 the statutory executive departments under section 

20 101 of title 5, United States Code, fall within the 

21 line of succession to the presidency; 

22 (6) during previous presidential transition peri23 ods, the incoming President has had to serve with 

24 cabinet members from the prior administration, in25 cluding subcabinet officials from the prior adminis-
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1 tration acting as cabinet members, for at least some 

2 period of time; 

3 (7) the Constitution vests the appointment 

4 power of executive branch officials in the President, 

5 by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 

6 and nothing in this resolution is intended to alter ei7 ther the constitutional power of the President or the 

8 constitutional function of the Senate with regard to 

9 the confirmation of presidential nominees; 

10 (8) an incoming President cannot exercise the 

11 constitutional powers of the President, in order to 

12 ensure a smooth transition of Government, until 

13 noon on the 20th day of January, pursuant to the 

14 terms of the twentieth amendment to the Constitu15 tion; 

16 (9) cooperation between the incoming and the 

17 outgoing President is therefore the only way to en18 sure a smooth transition of Government; 

19 (10) Congress throughout history has acted 

20 consistently and in a bipartisan fashion to encourage 

21 measures to ensure the smooth transition of execu22 tive power from one President to another, such as 

23 through the enactment of the Presidential Transi24 tion Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note; Public Law 

25 88–277) and subsequent amendments; 
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1 (11) Congress has previously concluded that 

2 ‘‘[t]he national interest requires’’ that ‘‘the orderly 

3 transfer of the executive power in connection with 

4 the expiration of the term of office of a President 

5 and the inauguration of a new President . . . be ac6 complished so as to assure continuity in the faithful 

7 execution of the laws and in the conduct of the af8 fairs of the Federal Government, both domestic and 

9 foreign’’ under the Presidential Transition Act of 

10 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note; Public Law 88–277); 

11 (12) Congress has further concluded that 

12 ‘‘[a]ny disruption occasioned by the transfer of the 

13 executive power could produce results detrimental to 

14 the safety and well-being of the United States and 

15 its people’’ under the Presidential Transition Act of 

16 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note; Public Law 88–277); 

17 (13) Congress has previously expressed its in18 tent ‘‘that appropriate actions be authorized and 

19 taken to avoid or minimize any disruption’’ and 

20 ‘‘that all officers of the Government so conduct the 

21 affairs of the Government for which they exercise re22 sponsibility and authority as (1) to be mindful of 

23 problems occasioned by transitions in the office of 

24 the President, (2) to take appropriate lawful steps to 

25 avoid or minimize disruptions that might be occa-
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1 sioned by the transfer of the executive power, and 

2 (3) otherwise to promote orderly transitions in the 

3 office of President’’ under the Presidential Transi4 tion Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note; Public Law 

5 88–277); 

6 (14) the National Commission on Terrorist At7 tacks Upon the United States established under title 

8 VI of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal 

9 Year 2003 (6 U.S.C. 101 note; Public Law 107– 

10 306) expressly recognized the need to ‘‘Improve the 

11 Transitions between Administrations’’ in its final re12 port; 

13 (15) the Commission specifically recommended 

14 that, ‘‘[s]ince a catastrophic attack could occur with 

15 little or no notice, we should minimize as much as 

16 possible the disruption of national security policy17 making during the change of administrations by ac18 celerating the process for national security appoint19 ments’’ and that ‘‘the process could be improved sig20 nificantly so transitions can work more effectively 

21 and allow new officials to assume their new respon22 sibilities as quickly as possible’’; 

23 (16) the Commission suggested that ‘‘[a] presi24 dent-elect should submit lists of possible candidates 

25 for national security positions to begin obtaining se-
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1 curity clearances immediately after the election, so 

2 that their background investigations can be complete 

3 before January 20’’, that ‘‘[a] president-elect should 

4 submit the nominations of the entire new national 

5 security team, through the level of under secretary 

6 of cabinet departments, not later than January 20’’, 

7 that ‘‘[t]he Senate, in return, should adopt special 

8 rules requiring hearings and votes to confirm or re9 ject national security nominees within 30 days of 

10 their submission’’, and that an outgoing Administra11 tion should work cooperatively with an incoming 

12 President to ensure a smooth transition, in the in13 terest of national security; and 

14 (17) there is no more important national secu15 rity position than the office of President, and thus 

16 it is essential to national security that any new ad17 ministration establish its own clear and stable line of 

18 succession to the presidency as quickly as possible. 

19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Sen20 ate that during the period preceding the end of a term 

21 of office in which a President will not be serving a suc22 ceeding term— 

23 (1) that President should consider submitting 

24 the nominations of individuals to the Senate who are 
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1 selected by the President-elect for offices that fall 

2 within the line of succession; 

3 (2) the Senate should consider conducting con4 firmation proceedings and votes on the nominations 

5 described under paragraph (1), to the extent deter6 mined appropriate by the Senate, between January 

7 3 and January 20 before the Inauguration; and 

8 (3) that President should consider agreeing to 

9 sign and deliver commissions for all approved nomi10 nations on January 20 before the Inauguration to 

11 ensure continuity of Government. 

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