A proposed bill to modify the presidential succession list after the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The list would include the Secretary of Homeland Security and selected U.S. Ambassadors.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/twentyfifth_amendment_congressionalmaterials_ppsl/1005/thumbnail.jp

United States. House of Representatives

English

Fordham University School of Law

Fordham Law SchoolFLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and HistoryProposed Presidential Succession Legislation Congressional Materials11-18-2004Presidential Succession Act of 2004United States. House of RepresentativesFollow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/twentyfifth_amendment_congressionalmaterials_ppslPart of the Law CommonsThis Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Congressional Materials at FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History.It has been accepted for inclusion in Proposed Presidential Succession Legislation by an authorized administrator of FLASH: The Fordham LawArchive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact tmelnick@law.fordham.edu.Recommended CitationUnited States. House of Representatives, "Presidential Succession Act of 2004" (2004). Proposed Presidential Succession Legislation. 7.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/twentyfifth_amendment_congressionalmaterials_ppsl/7I 108TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 5390 To amend title 3, United States Code, to revise the procedures for Presidential succession in the case of the death, resignation, removal from office, inability, or failure to qualify of the President, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 18, 2004 Mr. SHERMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 3, United States Code, to revise the proce-dures for Presidential succession in the case of the death, resignation, removal from office, inability, or failure to qualify of the President, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Succession 4Act of 2004’’. 5SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION. 6Section 19 of title 3, United States Code, is amended 7to read as follows: 82 •HR 5390 IH ‘‘§ 19. Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice 1President; officers eligible to Act 2‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 3‘‘(1) USE OF SUCCESSION LIST.—Except as 4provided in paragraph (2), if, by reason of death, 5resignation, removal from office, inability, or failure 6to qualify, there is neither a President nor Vice 7President to discharge the powers and duties of the 8office of President, then the highest individual on 9the succession list who is eligible to the office of 10President under the Constitution, not under dis-11ability to discharge the powers and duties of the of-12fice of President, and not disqualified under sub-13section (e), shall act as President. 14‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE IF NO PRESIDENT OR VICE 15PRESIDENT IS ELECTED PRIOR TO BEGINNING OF 16TERM.— 17‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If, at the time fixed 18for the beginning of the term of the President, 19a President has not been chosen or the Presi-20dent elect has failed to qualify, and a Vice 21President has not been chosen or the Vice 22President elect has failed to qualify— 23‘‘(i) the Speaker of the House of Rep-24resentatives shall act as President; or 253 •HR 5390 IH ‘‘(ii) if the Speaker of the House of 1Representatives does not qualify, the ma-2jority leader of the Senate shall act as 3President. 4‘‘(B) NO NOMINATION OF VICE PRESI-5DENT.—An individual acting as President 6under this paragraph may not nominate any in-7dividual to serve as Vice President. 8‘‘(3) DETERMINATION OF INABILITY TO 9SERVE.—For purposes of this subsection, an indi-10vidual may not be considered to be unable to serve 11as President or Vice President unless— 12‘‘(A) the individual or an individual legally 13authorized to act on the individual’s behalf files 14a statement with the Supreme Court of the 15United States that the individual is unable to 16carry out the powers and duties of the office; 17and 18‘‘(B) the Supreme Court certifies that the 19statement is correct. 20‘‘(b) TERMINATION OF SERVICE.—An individual act-21ing as President under this section shall continue to so 22act until the expiration of the then current Presidential 23term except that— 244 •HR 5390 IH ‘‘(1) if the individual’s service as President 1under this section results in whole or in part from 2the failure of both the President-elect and the Vice- 3President-elect to qualify, the individual shall act 4only until a President or Vice President qualifies; 5‘‘(2) if the individual’s service as President 6under this section results in whole or in part from 7the inability of the President or Vice President, the 8individual shall act only until the removal of the dis-9ability of one of such individuals; and 10‘‘(3) if the individual’s service as President 11under this section results from the application of 12subsection (a)(2), the individual shall act only until 13a President or Vice President has been chosen or 14qualifies (as the case may be). 15‘‘(c) SUCCESSION LIST DESCRIBED.— 16‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 17for purposes of this section, the term ‘succession list’ 18means the following list: 19‘‘(A) The Secretary of State, the Secretary 20of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the 21Attorney General, the Secretary of the Interior, 22the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of 23Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the Sec-24retary of Health and Human Services, the Sec-255 •HR 5390 IH retary of Housing and Urban Development, the 1Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of 2Energy, the Secretary of Education, the Sec-3retary of Veterans Affairs, and the Secretary of 4Homeland Security. 5‘‘(B) The United States Ambassadors to 6the following (in the following order): 7‘‘(i) The United Nations. 8‘‘(ii) The United Kingdom of Great 9Britain and Northern Ireland. 10‘‘(iii) The French Republic. 11‘‘(iv) The Russian Federation. 12‘‘(v) The People’s Republic of China. 13‘‘(2) REQUIRING APPOINTMENT BY PRESI-14DENT.— 15‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para-16graph (1) and except as provided in subpara-17graphs (B) and (C), an individual shall not be 18considered to hold any office referred to in such 19paragraph unless the individual was appointed 20to the office by the President whom the indi-21vidual would succeed pursuant to this section. 22‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR INDIVIDUALS AP-23POINTED BY FORMER PRESIDENT SUCCEEDED 24BY VICE PRESIDENT.—For purposes of sub-256 •HR 5390 IH paragraph (A), if the President who appointed 1an individual to an office referred to in para-2graph (1) no longer serves as President by rea-3son of death, resignation, removal from office, 4inability, or failure to qualify, the individual 5shall be deemed to have been appointed to the 6office by the individual succeeding that Presi-7dent if the successor President served as the 8Vice President of that President. 9‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR INDIVIDUALS 10SUGGESTED OR APPROVED BY PRESIDENT- 11ELECT.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), if 12an individual who holds an office referred to in 13paragraph (1) was appointed by a sitting Presi-14dent, the individual shall be deemed to have 15been appointed by the President-elect if— 16‘‘(i) the individual was appointed pur-17suant to a suggestion by the President- 18elect so that the individual may begin serv-19ing in the office immediately upon the in-20auguration of the President-elect (as de-21scribed in paragraph (3)); or 22‘‘(ii) if the President-elect notifies the 23Clerk of the House of Representatives and 24the Secretary of the Senate that the Presi-257 •HR 5390 IH dent-elect approves the appointment of the 1individual to the office for purposes of 2paragraph (1). 3‘‘(3) SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING SUBMIS-4SION OF NOMINEES SUGGESTED BY PRESIDENT- 5ELECT.—It is the sense of Congress that, prior to 6the inauguration of a President-elect— 7‘‘(A) the President-elect should submit to 8the sitting President suggestions for nominees 9to the offices referred to in the succession list; 10‘‘(B) the sitting President should submit to 11the Senate the nominations of the individuals 12suggested by the President-elect; and 13‘‘(C) the Senate should confirm the ap-14pointment of the nominees submitted by the sit-15ting President so that such individuals may 16begin serving in the offices involved immediately 17upon the inauguration of the President-elect. 18‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULE IF NO INDIVIDUAL IS ON SUC-19CESSION LIST.— 20‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If, by reason of death, res-21ignation, removal from office, inability, or failure to 22qualify, there is neither a President nor Vice Presi-23dent to discharge the powers and duties of the office 248 •HR 5390 IH of President, and if there is no individual on the suc-1cession list— 2‘‘(A) the Speaker of the House of Rep-3resentatives or the minority leader of the House 4of Representatives, as designated by the Presi-5dent-elect in the most recent notice filed under 6paragraph (2), shall act as President; or 7‘‘(B) if the Speaker or minority leader does 8not qualify, the majority leader of the Senate or 9the minority leader of the Senate, as designated 10by the President-elect in the most recent notice 11filed under paragraph (2), shall act as Presi-12dent. 13‘‘(2) DESIGNATION BY PRESIDENT-ELECT.— 14Prior to taking office, the President-elect shall file 15with the Clerk of the House of Representatives and 16the Secretary of the Senate a notice designating 17whether the Speaker or the minority leader of the 18House of Representatives, and whether the majority 19leader or minority leader of the Senate, should act 20as President pursuant to this subsection, and may 21file a revised version of the notice at any time, in-22cluding after taking office. 23‘‘(e) RESIGNATION FROM CURRENT OFFICE.—An in-24dividual is disqualified to discharge the powers and duties 259 •HR 5390 IH of the office of President for purposes of this section un-1less such individual, at the time that such powers and du-2ties devolve upon the individual, meets the following re-3quirements: 4‘‘(1) In the case of the Speaker of the House 5of Representatives under subsection (a)(2)(A) or 6subsection (d)(1), the individual resigns the office of 7Speaker and (in the case of an individual who is a 8Member of the House of Representatives) the office 9of Member of the House of Representatives. 10‘‘(2) In the case of the minority leader of the 11House of Representatives under subsection (d)(1), 12the individual resigns the office of Member of the 13House of Representatives. 14‘‘(3) In the case of the majority leader of the 15Senate under subsection (a)(2)(B) or subsection 16(d)(2), or the minority leader of the Senate under 17subsection (d)(2), the individual resigns the office of 18Senator. 19‘‘(4) In the case of an individual described in 20subsection (c), the individual resigns the office by 21virtue of the holding of which the individual qualifies 22to act as President. 23‘‘(f) APPLICATION OF PROCEDURES TO INDIVIDUALS 24ACTING AS PRESIDENT UNDER THIS SECTION.—The rule 2510 •HR 5390 IH of subsection (a) shall also apply in the case of the death, 1resignation, removal from office, or inability of an indi-2vidual acting as President under this section if, by reason 3of death, resignation, removal from office, inability, or fail-4ure to qualify, there is no Vice President to discharge the 5powers and duties of the office of President. 6‘‘(g) NOMINATION OF VICE PRESIDENT.—Except as 7provided in subsection (a)(2)(B), an individual acting as 8President under this section shall promptly nominate a 9Vice President upon any vacancy in the office of Vice 10President. 11‘‘(h) COMPENSATION.—During the period that any 12individual acts as President under this section, the individ-13ual’s compensation shall be at the rate then provided by 14law in the case of the President.’’. 15SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING VOTES BY ELEC-16TORS AFTER DEATH OR INCAPACITY OF 17NOMINEES. 18It is the sense of Congress that— 19(1) during a Presidential election year, the 2 20nominees of each political party for the office of 21President and Vice President should jointly an-22nounce and designate on or before the first Monday 23in September the individuals for whom the electors 24of President and Vice President who are pledged to 2511 •HR 5390 IH vote for such nominees should give their votes for 1such offices in the event that such nominees are de-2ceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 3date of the meeting of the electors of each State 4under section 7 of title 3, United States Code; 5(2) in the event a nominee for President is de-6ceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 7date referred to in paragraph (1) (but the nominee 8for Vice President of the same political party is not 9deceased or permanently incapacitated), the electors 10of President who are pledged to vote for the nominee 11should give their votes to the nominee of the same 12political party for the office of Vice President, and 13the electors of Vice President who are pledged to 14vote for the nominee for Vice President should give 15their votes to the individual designated for such of-16fice by the nominees under paragraph (1); 17(3) in the event a nominee for Vice President 18is deceased or permanently incapacitated prior to the 19date referred to in paragraph (1) (but the nominee 20for President of the same political party is not de-21ceased or permanently incapacitated), the electors of 22Vice President who are pledged to vote for such 23nominee should give their votes to the individual des-2412 •HR 5390 IH ignated for such office by the nominees under para-1graph (1); 2(4) in the event that both the nominee for 3President and the nominee for Vice President of the 4same political party are deceased or permanently in-5capacitated prior to the date referred to in para-6graph (1), the electors of President and Vice Presi-7dent who are pledged to vote for such nominees 8should vote for the individuals designated for each 9such office by the nominees under paragraph (1); 10and 11(5) political parties should establish rules and 12procedures consistent with the procedures described 13in the preceding paragraphs, including procedures to 14obtain written pledges from electors to vote in the 15manner described in such paragraphs. 16SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING STATUS OF 17PRESIDENT-ELECT. 18It is the sense of Congress that, for purposes of the 19twentieth amendment to the Constitution, the President- 20elect is the individual receiving the requisite number of 21votes cast by the electors at the meeting of the electors 22held pursuant to clause 3 of section 1 of article II of the 23Constitution. 24Æ 

Presidential Succession Act of 2004

bepress Legal Repository

A proposed bill to modify the presidential succession list after the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The list would include the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Ambassador to the United Nations, the Ambassador to Great Britain, the Ambassador to Russia, the Ambassador to China, and the Ambassador to France.https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/twentyfifth_amendment_congressionalmaterials_ppsl/1003/thumbnail.jp

Presidential Succession Act of 2005

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Presidential Succession Act of 2004

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