IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 79 
Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress and the States should con-
sider a constitutional amendment to reform the Electoral College and 
establish a process for electing the President and Vice President by 
a national popular vote and should encourage individual States to con-
tinue to reform the Electoral College process through such steps as 
the formation of an interstate compact to award the majority of Electoral 
College votes to the national popular vote winner. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 
Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. NADLER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. COHEN, Mr. 
RASKIN, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. JOHNSON of 
Georgia, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Mr. GUTIE´RREZ) sub-
mitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that Congress and the 
States should consider a constitutional amendment to 
reform the Electoral College and establish a process for 
electing the President and Vice President by a national 
popular vote and should encourage individual States to 
continue to reform the Electoral College process through 
such steps as the formation of an interstate compact 
to award the majority of Electoral College votes to the 
national popular vote winner. 
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•HCON 79 IH 
Whereas the Supreme Court has held that the ‘‘conception of 
political equality from the Declaration of Independence, 
to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, to the 15th, 17th, and 
19th Amendments can only mean one thing — one per-
son, one vote;’’; 
Whereas the Electoral College is an anti-democratic method 
of Presidential selection that has permitted the candidate 
without a majority of the popular vote to become Presi-
dent of the United States on five occasions, including the 
most recent election, in which Hillary Clinton garnered 
almost 3 million more votes than Electoral College winner 
Donald Trump; 
Whereas the Electoral College lessens the value of votes in 
the majority of States relative to the value of votes in so- 
called swing States because a small number of voters in 
these States can determine the outcome of an election; 
Whereas a person could be elected President with potentially 
less than 22 percent of the popular vote, calling into 
question his or her political legitimacy; 
Whereas the ‘‘winner take all’’ basis of the Electoral College 
discounts the votes of the millions of people who did not 
vote for the winning candidate in their States; 
Whereas the Electoral College does not act as a check on un-
qualified candidates as the Framers of the Constitution 
intended because it is populated by political party loyal-
ists who do not, and often under State law cannot, exer-
cise independent judgment or who do not even meet to 
deliberate about who should be President, which is why 
over time there have been very few ‘‘faithless’’ electors, 
and none that have decided an election’s outcome; 
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•HCON 79 IH 
Whereas the Electoral College does not protect small-popu-
lation States and rural areas from domination by large- 
population States and urban areas and instead encour-
ages candidates to bypass the majority of States, what-
ever their size, to focus their campaign efforts on a very 
small number of swing States; 
Whereas in the 2016 Presidential election both major party 
candidates largely bypassed 3 of the 4 largest States by 
population during the campaign and also skipped cam-
paigning in 12 of the 13 smallest States as well; 
Whereas statewide recounts under differing and confusing 
rules bring neither clarity nor finality to the electoral 
process, while a national popular vote is far more likely 
to establish a clear winner, avoiding the necessity of re-
counts altogether; 
Whereas according to Yale Law School Professor Akhil Reed 
Amar, the Electoral College is an anachronistic institu-
tion, its historical development rooted in preserving the 
political influence of slaveholding States whose enslaved 
populations were not allowed to vote but three-fifths of 
whom were counted when determining the number of 
Electoral College votes allotted to the State; 
Whereas proposed amendments to the Constitution reforming 
the Electoral College have been approved by a two-thirds 
majority twice in the Senate and once in the House, and 
more than 700 proposals to eliminate or reform the Elec-
toral College have been introduced; and 
Whereas 11 States representing 165 electoral votes have al-
ready entered into an interstate compact to cast their 
electoral votes for the national popular vote winner: Now, 
therefore, be it 
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•HCON 79 IH 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) Congress and the States should consider a 
constitutional amendment to reform the Electoral 
College and establish a process for electing the 
President and Vice President by a national popular 
vote; and 
(2) Congress should encourage the States to 
continue to reform the Electoral College process 
through such steps as the formation of an interstate 
compact to award the majority of Electoral College 
votes to the national popular vote winner. 
Æ 
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