Evening star., 1927-11-20
PLAN TO CHANGE CONGRESS
MEETING TIME is REVIVED
Proposal for Convening of Both Houses
Soon After November Election Will
Be Urged by Norris.

! presidential terms. The House COM
mittee in charge of the measure
argued that it's plan would allow Con-
| gress 90 days in which to count the
| electoral votes as against only two
| weeks under the Senate provision.
In the report made to the last Con-
! gress the Senate committee laid stress
upon the legislative jams that develop
at the short sessions under the exist
ing procedure as an argument in favor
of the constitutional amendment. The
committee pointed out that nearly all
of the time of the short session from
December to March is required for
the passage of annual appropriation
bills. leaving little time for general
legislation. The result, the committee
said. is a congested calendar in both
House and Senate as March ap.
proaches.
Advocates of the change also have
contended that the long lapse of time
between the ele tion in November
and the convening of the new Con-
greSS under. present law is a disad.
vantage to members of the House be-
cause they do not get started on legis-
lative work until the time has virtual
ly arrived for them to stand for re.
nomination.
Presidential Vote i'm House.
There is another very important
reason why this change should be
made" the Senate judiciary commit.
tee continued. in reporting to the last
Congress. "Under the Constitution
as it now stands, If 1t should happen
that in the general election in No.
vember in presidential years no can.
didate for President had received
inY of oil eli
election Of q President would then
be thrown into the House of Repre-
sentatives and the membership Of that
House Of Representatives called upon
to elect a President would be the old
Congress and not the new one Just
elected by the people,"
The proposed constitutional amend
ment also would empower Congress
to provide by law who should act
temporarily as President in a case
in which the election Of President
was thrown into Congress, but in
which the House and Senate might
fail within the specified time to Sc.
lect a President and Vice President
The committee considering the mat.
ter admitted that such a situation
has never developed in the history
of the country, and may never occur
The committee concluded, however,
that some constitutional provision
should be made to cover such a pos
Sibility. Congress has power under
the Constitution as it stands today
to provide who shall act as President
when there is a vacancy in the office
of both President and Vice President
caused by death, resignation or re.
moval.
When the House committee was
the Senate resolution in
the last Congress it went a step fur
ther and added a section giving Con.
gress authority to provide by law for
another remote emergency. namely.
if the President-elect and Vice Pres
ident-elect both should die before the
Of their terms.
These provisions relating to the
selection of President i'm unusual cir
cumstances are secondary to the main
purpose of the proposed amendment,
which is to do away with the short
session Of Congress and bring newly
elected members into office sooner
after election than is the case at
present.
Committee Explains Law.
Answering the question as to why
an amendment to the Constitution IS
necessary to bring about the change
in the beginning of the terms. the
Senate committee in its last report
pointed out that while the Constitu.
ton does not fix the date when the
terms of Senators and Representa-
tives shall begin, it does fix the length
Of the terms, and the putting into
operation of the proposed change
would necessitate shortening by two
months the terms of those in office at
the time. The commencement of the
term Of the first President and Vice
President and Of Senators and Rep
resentatives composing the first Con-
gress was fixed by a law which pro-
vided that "the first Wednesday in
March next be the time for COM
mencing proceedings under the Con.
stitution," and that happened to be