Lawmakers want to appoint successors in case of attack

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — If most members of Congress were wiped out in a catastrophic attack, who would replace them?

Reps. Brian Baird, D-Wash., and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., have a solution: Make members of Congress choose a successor in case they are killed or incapacitated.

“Any enemy who wants to vastly change the nature of our government, or paralyze it entirely, can do so by killing or disabling a large- enough group of us,” Rohrabacher said Thursday at a hearing of the House of Representatives’ Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties subcommittee.

Their proposed constitutional amendment, however, is likely to hit significant resistance. And the subcommittee’s top Republican was less than impressed with the idea of an “alternate” member of Congress.

“Would it be kind of like Prince Charles, who waits around for his mother to die?” Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., asked Rohrabacher and Baird.

They assured Sensenbrenner that the alternate member could have a real job but wouldn’t be able to serve in another elected office, such as a state senate.

Under the proposals from Baird and Rohrabacher, each member of Congress would designate three people who could replace them if they were killed or incapacitated.

If a “significant” number of lawmakers, which wasn’t specified, was wiped out, the speaker of the House, the president pro tem of the Senate or the vice president would fill vacant seats with one of the designees. The designees would serve only until the member regained capacity or if another member was elected.

In 2005, Congress directed states to have special elections within 49 days of a House seat’s becoming vacant. The measure didn’t say, however, what would happen during the 49-day gap. Many states have since had special elections after periods much longer than 49 days.

Proponents of the measure said the country is poorly prepared for the aftermath of a major attack that kills many members of Congress.

“The real important decisions are made in the two to three months after an attack,” said John Fortier, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research group. “At the end of the day, we’re not much more prepared than we were on 9/11.”

The governor can appoint someone to fill a vacant Senate seat, but the Constitution says that members of the House must be directly elected. So the issue concerns the House more, but Baird and Rohrabacher would take that power away from the governors.

They noted problems can arise from gubernatorial appointments, such as with the scandal around former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, was concerned with the potential consequences of a Congress made up mostly of unelected members.

“They might vote me off the island,” he said.