I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 540 

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

succession. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 17, 2007 

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 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION. 

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

8 States Code, as amended by section 503 of the USA Pa9 triot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Pub10 lic Law 109–177; 120 Stat. 247), is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, Ambas2 sador to the United Nations, Ambassador to Great 

3 Britain, Ambassador to Russia, Ambassador to 

4 China, Ambassador to France’’ after ‘‘Secretary of 

5 Homeland Security’’; 

6 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

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

8 ‘‘serving as acting’’; and 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘but not’’ and all that fol10 lows through the period and inserting ‘‘or until 

11 the disability of the President or Vice President 

12 is removed.’’; 

13 (3) in paragraph (3)— 

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

15 inserting ‘‘not require’’; 

16 (B) by striking ‘‘act as President’’ and in17 serting ‘‘serve as acting President’’; and 

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

19 ‘‘Such individual shall not receive compensation 

20 from holding that office during the period that 

21 the individual serves as acting President or Vice 

22 President under this section, and shall be com23 pensated for that period as provided under sub24 section (c).’’; and 

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


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

2 that are— 

3 ‘‘(A) eligible to the office of President under the 

4 Constitution; 

5 ‘‘(B) appointed to an office listed under para6 graph (1), by and with the advice and consent of the 

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

8 the President devolve to such officer under para9 graph (1); and 

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

11 Representatives at the time the powers and duties of 

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

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

14 title is amended as follows: 

15 (1) In subsection (a)— 

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

17 President’’ and inserting ‘‘serve as acting Presi18 dent’’; and 

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

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

21 President’’. 

22 (2) In subsection (b), by striking ‘‘act as Presi23 dent’’ and inserting ‘‘serve as acting President’’. 

24 (3) In subsection (c)— 


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1 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph 

2 (1)— 

3 (i) by striking ‘‘acting as President’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘serving as acting Presi5 dent’’, and 

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

7 inserting ‘‘continue to serve’’; and 

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

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

10 ‘‘shall serve’’. 

11 (4) In subsection (e)— 

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

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

14 (B) by striking the second sentence. 

15 (5) In subsection (f), by striking ‘‘acts as Presi16 dent’’ and inserting ‘‘serves as acting President’’. 

17 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING VOTES BY ELEC18 TORS AFTER DEATH OR INCAPACITY OF 

19 NOMINEES. 

20 It is the sense of Congress that— 

21 (1) during a Presidential election year, the 

22 nominees of each political party for the office of 

23 President and Vice President should jointly an24 nounce and designate on or before the final day of 

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


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1 nominated the individuals for whom the electors of 

2 President and Vice President who are pledged to 

3 vote for such nominees should give their votes for 

4 such offices in the event that such nominees are de5 ceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 

6 date of the meeting of the electors of each State 

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

8 (2) in the event a nominee for President is de9 ceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 

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

11 for Vice President of the same political party is not 

12 deceased or permanently incapacitated), the electors 

13 of President who are pledged to vote for the nominee 

14 should give their votes to the nominee of the same 

15 political party for the office of Vice President, and 

16 the electors of Vice President who are pledged to 

17 vote for the nominee for Vice President should give 

18 their votes to the individual designated for such of19 fice by the nominees under paragraph (1); 

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

21 is deceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 

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

23 for President of the same political party is not de24 ceased or permanently incapacitated), the electors of 

25 Vice President who are pledged to vote for such 


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1 nominee should give their votes to the individual des2 ignated for such office by the nominees under para3 graph (1); 

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

5 President and the nominee for Vice President of the 

6 same political party are deceased or permanently in7 capacitated prior to the date referred to in para8 graph (1), the electors of President and Vice Presi9 dent who are pledged to vote for such nominees 

10 should vote for the individuals designated for each 

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

12 and 

13 (5) political parties should establish rules and 

14 procedures consistent with the procedures described 

15 in the preceding paragraphs, including procedures to 

16 obtain written pledges from electors to vote in the 

17 manner described in such paragraphs. 

18 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE CONTINUITY OF GOV19 ERNMENT AND THE SMOOTH TRANSITION OF 

20 EXECUTIVE POWER. 

21 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

22 (1) members of the Senate, regardless of polit23 ical party affiliation, agree that the American people 

24 deserve a Government that is failsafe and foolproof, 


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1 and that terrorists should never have the ability to 

2 disrupt the operations of the Government; 

3 (2) continuity of governmental operations in the 

4 wake of a catastrophic terrorist attack remains a 

5 pressing issue of national importance before the 

6 United States Congress; 

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

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

9 the political party that is in control of the Govern10 ment, regardless of which party is in power; 

11 (4) whenever control of the White House shall 

12 change from one political party to another, the out13 going President and the incoming President should 

14 work together, and with the Senate to the extent de15 termined appropriate by the Senate, to ensure a 

16 smooth transition of executive power, in the interest 

17 of the American people; 

18 (5) under the current presidential succession 

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

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

21 the statutory executive departments under section 

22 101 of title 5, United States Code, fall within the 

23 line of succession to the presidency; 

24 (6) during previous presidential transition peri25 ods, the incoming President has had to serve with 


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1 cabinet members from the prior administration, in2 cluding subcabinet officials from the prior adminis3 tration acting as cabinet members, for at least some 

4 period of time; 

5 (7) the Constitution vests the appointment 

6 power of executive branch officials in the President, 

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

8 and nothing in this resolution is intended to alter ei9 ther the constitutional power of the President or the 

10 constitutional function of the Senate with regard to 

11 the confirmation of presidential nominees; 

12 (8) an incoming President cannot exercise the 

13 constitutional powers of the President, in order to 

14 ensure a smooth transition of Government, until 

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

16 terms of the twentieth amendment to the Constitu17 tion; 

18 (9) cooperation between the incoming and the 

19 outgoing President is therefore the only way to en20 sure a smooth transition of Government; 

21 (10) Congress throughout history has acted 

22 consistently and in a bipartisan fashion to encourage 

23 measures to ensure the smooth transition of execu24 tive power from one President to another, such as 

25 through the enactment of the Presidential TransiVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:53 Jan 18, 2007 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H540.IH H540

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1 tion Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note; Public Law 

2 88–277) and subsequent amendments; 

3 (11) Congress has previously concluded that 

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

5 transfer of the executive power in connection with 

6 the expiration of the term of office of a President 

7 and the inauguration of a new President . . . be ac8 complished so as to assure continuity in the faithful 

9 execution of the laws and in the conduct of the af10 fairs of the Federal Government, both domestic and 

11 foreign’’ under the Presidential Transition Act of 

12 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note; Public Law 88–277); 

13 (12) Congress has further concluded that 

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

15 executive power could produce results detrimental to 

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

17 its people’’ under the Presidential Transition Act of 

18 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note; Public Law 88–277); 

19 (13) Congress has previously expressed its in20 tent ‘‘that appropriate actions be authorized and 

21 taken to avoid or minimize any disruption’’ and 

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

23 affairs of the Government for which they exercise re24 sponsibility and authority as (1) to be mindful of 

25 problems occasioned by transitions in the office of 


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

2 avoid or minimize disruptions that might be occa3 sioned by the transfer of the executive power, and 

4 (3) otherwise to promote orderly transitions in the 

5 office of President’’ under the Presidential Transi6 tion Act of 1963 (3 U.S.C. 102 note; Public Law 

7 88–277); 

8 (14) the National Commission on Terrorist At9 tacks Upon the United States established under title 

10 VI of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal 

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

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

13 Transitions between Administrations’’ in its final re14 port; 

15 (15) the Commission specifically recommended 

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

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

18 possible the disruption of national security policy19 making during the change of administrations by ac20 celerating the process for national security appoint21 ments’’ and that ‘‘the process could be improved sig22 nificantly so transitions can work more effectively 

23 and allow new officials to assume their new respon24 sibilities as quickly as possible’’; 


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1 (16) the Commission suggested that ‘‘[a] presi2 dent-elect should submit lists of possible candidates 

3 for national security positions to begin obtaining se4 curity clearances immediately after the election, so 

5 that their background investigations can be complete 

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

7 submit the nominations of the entire new national 

8 security team, through the level of under secretary 

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

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

11 rules requiring hearings and votes to confirm or re12 ject national security nominees within 30 days of 

13 their submission’’, and that an outgoing Administra14 tion should work cooperatively with an incoming 

15 President to ensure a smooth transition, in the in16 terest of national security; and 

17 (17) there is no more important national secu18 rity position than the office of President, and thus 

19 it is essential to national security that any new ad20 ministration establish its own clear and stable line of 

21 succession to the presidency as quickly as possible. 

22 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con23 gress that during the period preceding the end of a term 

24 of office in which a President will not be serving a suc25 ceeding term— 


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1 (1) that President should consider submitting 

2 the nominations of individuals to the Senate who are 

3 selected by the President-elect for offices that fall 

4 within the line of succession; 

5 (2) the Senate should consider conducting con6 firmation proceedings and votes on the nominations 

7 described under paragraph (1), to the extent deter8 mined appropriate by the Senate, between January 

9 3 and January 20 before the Inauguration; and 

10 (3) that President should consider agreeing to 

11 sign and deliver commissions for all approved nomi12 nations on January 20 before the Inauguration to 

13 ensure continuity of Government. 

Æ 


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