Presidential succession bill boots House, Senate officials

WASHINGTON -- Two senators introduced legislation last week that would eliminate the speaker of the House and the Senate's president pro tempore from the line of officials who would succeed the president if he were killed, unable to govern or removed from office.

The bill and an accompanying resolution are meant to answer a question "that none of us like to think about but which we're ill- prepared to deal with," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said.

"In the event that the president and the vice president are unable to perform their duties, what happens next?" he said.

Leaving the two high-ranking legislators in the chain could change not just the person but also the party in White House, Cornyn and Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said. That could cause a dramatic shift in government policy.

"It's not a question of preserving the presidency for a Democrat or a Republican," Lott said. "The point is to have some consistency in policies that reflects the people's will when they elected a Democrat or Republican."

Cornyn said James Madison, America's fourth president, criticized a lack of clarity in the Constitution that did not explicitly state that members of the president's Cabinet -- not legislators -- should succeed the president.

"That's not clear," he said. "This would make it clear."

Cornyn also said if a president and vice president were unable to govern, Madison's contention could become the basis for litigation to determine who would replace them -- thus delaying the inauguration of new leaders.

"None of us want government by lawsuit, or the uncertainty that would be created if we don't do anything," Cornyn said. "The American people should never be in doubt, at any time, (about) who's the president and who's in charge."

The bill would also put the secretary of homeland security sixth in the chain, behind the attorney general and before the secretary of the interior.

The vice president is currently first in the line. The speaker of the House and president pro tempore of the Senate are second and third.

They are followed by members of the president's Cabinet, excluding the head of homeland security: the secretary of state; the treasury secretary; the defense secretary; the attorney general; the interior secretary; agriculture secretary; commerce secretary; labor secretary; health and human services secretary; housing and urban development secretary; transportation secretary; energy secretary; education secretary and veterans affairs secretary.

The bill also states that any Cabinet member serving as president will do so until a new president is elected or the current president or vice president is again able to serve; that Cabinet members do not have to resign their posts to serve as president; and that only Cabinet members previously confirmed by the Senate may serve as president.

The resolution would create a non-binding protocol under which outgoing presidents would nominate a president-elect's chosen Cabinet secretaries prior to inauguration, and the Senate would confirm as many as possible.

According to a statement from Cornyn and Lott, a terrorist attack during a newly elected president's inauguration could also cause a change in the party at the White House because the line of succession would still be made up of the previous president's Cabinet.

Cornyn said the resolution couldn't compel a departing president to nominate the next president's Cabinet.

"(But) I can't imagine any outgoing president not wanting to make provision for the continuity of the presidency," he said.

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