March 2, 1932

Mr. NORRIS. Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate the conference report on Senate Joint Resolution 14, fixing the terms of President and Vice President.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore laid 'before the Senate the following conference report submitted by Mr. NoRRIS on Monday last:

The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendment of the House to the joint resolution (S. J. Res. 14) proposing an amendment to the constitution of the United States fixing the commencement of the terms of President and Vice President and Members of Congress and fixing the time of the assembling of Congress. having met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend and do recommend to their respective Houses as follows:

That the Senate recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the House and agree to the same with an amendment as follows: In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the House amendment insert the following:

" That the following amendment to the Constitution be, and hereby is, proposed to the States, to become valid as a part of said Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of the several States as provided in the Constitution:

'''ARTICLE-

"'SECTION 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

" • SEc. 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different "' SEc. 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither · a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.

" ' SEc. 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom · the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them.

"'SEc. 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article. "'SEc. 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission/"

And the House agree to the same.

G. W. NORRIS, WM. E. BoRAH, THos. J. WALSH,

Managers on the part of the Senate.

LAMAR JEFFERS,

RALPH F. LoZIER,

CHAs. L. GIFFORD,

Managers on the part of the House.

Mr. NORRIS. I move that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the conference report.

The motion was agreed to; and the Senate proceeded to consider the conference report.

Mr. NORRIS. Mr. President, I have no desire to take up the time of the Senate unnecessarily. I have an idea that most Senators understand what changes the conferees have made in the joint resolution as it passed the Senate.

I will state briefly that section 1 of the proposed amendment to the Constitution as it now appears in the conference report is identical with section 1 as the joint resolution originally passed the Senate, except as to a change in date. The conference report changes the date from the 2d of January to the 3d of January and changes the other date from the 15th day of January to the 20th day of January. With those exceptions, there is no change whatever in section 1.

Senators all realize that section 1 is really the crux of the entire amendment. It is the section that changes the January? date for the beginning and ending of the terms of President, Vice President, Members of the House, and Members of the Senate, and obviates and does away with what is now known as the short session of Congress. As we have agreed upon it, it provides for tile meeting of Congress on the 3d day of January after the November election instead of the 2d day of January as the joint resolution passed the Senate.

Section 2 of the conference report is identical with section 2 of the joint resolution as it passed the Senate with the exception of changing the date from the 2d day of January to the 3d day of January. That is the date for the convening of Congress. As it passed the Senate it provided for the convening of Congress on the 2d day of January, but as agreed to in conference the date is changed to the 3d day of January.

Section 3 in substance is the same as it passed. the Senate, though several changes have been made by the conferees in the language.

Section 4 of the joint resolution as it passed the Senate is now section 5 and is exactly the same as it passed the Senate except that it applies only now to sections 1 and 2 of the amendment. As it passed the Senate it read:

SEc. 4. The amendment shall take effect on the 15th day of October after its ratification.

As agreed to in conference it now reads:

SEc. 5. Sections 1 and 2 shall take effect on the 15th day of October following the ratification of this article.

That leaves the balance of the section to go into effect as soon as it is ratified.

Mr. SMITH. Mr. President--

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Nebraska yield to the Senator from South Carolina?

Mr. NORRIS. Certainly.

Mr. SMITH. May I ask the Senator what date is provided for the convening of Congress?

Mr. NORRIS. The 3d day of January.

Mr. SMITH. Does not the present law provide for the convening of Congress on the first Monday in December?

Mr. NORRIS. Yes; that is true.

Mr. SMITH. To obviate the question of convening on Sunday, might it not be well to provide a certain day instead of a certain date?

Mr. NORRIS. The conference committee and members of the Judiciary Committee in the consideration of other resolutions which we have passed on before relating to the subject, have given considerable attention to that question. The law provides that the terms of Senators shall be for six years and that the terms of Members of the House shall be for two years. There might possibly come a conflict if we undertake to make the term commence and end on a certain day of the week instead of a certain date. It might make the term a little more than two years, in the case of Members of the House, or a little less than two years. There might be as much as six days' difference.

When we come to think about it, it might happen and will happen occasionally that we will meet on Sunday, but that would be about the same as the arrangement we have now when we close a session on Sunday. If the 4th of March comes on Sunday, nobody thinks of having a session of Congress on Sunday up until noon on that day. That will not occur hereafter. It may happen that the beginning instead of the end of the session will fall on Sunday, but there will be no more Sunday work than there ever has been.

Mr. SMITH. The time of convening has been made contemporaneous with the beginning of one term?

Mr. NORRIS. Yes.

Mr. BARKLEY. Mr. President--

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Nebraska yield to the Senator from Kentucky?

Mr. NORRIS. Certainly.

Mr. BARKLEY. There is nothing that can be done about it now because the conference report is here, but what was the real objection to having the Congress assemble and the beginning of the terms occur on the first Monday in

Mr. NORRIS. I do not know whether the Senator was here a moment ago when I explained that. I have just stated that if we had it begin on the first Monday in January we would have at least a technical conflict with other provisions of the Constitution which provide that the term of a Member of the Senate shall be six years and of a Member of the House two years. If we had those terms "commence on Monday and end on Monday, it might be that they would be six days more than two years or six days less than two years, or at least there might be several days' difference. As I said, the 4th of March is liable to come on Sunday, but we do not think anything about that. That may be the last day of the session. In this case sometimes the first day of the session may be Sunday, so we will not be any more irreligious under the new plan than we were under the old plan.

Mr. BARKLEY. I was reared in an old-fashioned school of thought which took the position that it is better to work on Sunday when the ox is in the ditch than deliberately to put him in the ditch in order that we might work on Sunday.

Mr. NORRIS. The Senator thinks the ox is more liable to be in the ditch on the last day of the session than on the first day?

Mr. BARKLEY. Yes; that is probably so.

Mr. NORRIS. That may be true.

Mr. WALSH of Massachusetts. Mr. President, may I ask the Senator from Nebraska if any change has been made in the period of time for ratification by the legislatures of the several States?

Mr. NORRIS. Yes; I am just coming to that,

Section 4 of the conference report was not in the joint resolution as it passed the Senate. The Senate conferees, however, have no objection to it, but think it is a good pro­ · vision. It is not necessarily in the amendment changing the terms of office of President, Vice President, and Members of Congress, but it meets a contingency that is liable to occur and reads as follows:

SEC. 4. The Congress may by law provide for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a Vice President whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them. Section 6 was also inserted by the House, but was not in the joint resolution as it passed the Senate. As it passed the House section 6 provided that the amendment would be inoperative unless ratified within seven years after its submission and that it must appear that at least one of the branches of the legislatures passing upon it to ratify it had been elected after the submission of the amendment. The conferees compromised on that, left out the latter clause and put in the first clause, so that section 6 now reads:

SEc. 6. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission.

In effect, it is the same provision that was in the prohibition amendment to the Constitution.

Mr. BINGHAM. Mr. President, may I ask the Senator a question? ·

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator from Barkley Nebraska yield to the Senator from Connecticut?

Mr. NORRIS. Certainly.

Mr. BINGHAM. If this amendment is ratified by the Bratton States, it does away with the December session of Congress?

Mr. NORRIS. Yes.

Mr. BINGHAM. That probably gives us two more months in every alternate year of the session of Congress than we get at the present time. ·

Mr. NORRIS. Yes; I should think so.

Mr. BARKLEY. Mr. President, under the practice, if the conference report is adopted this morning, when will it be submitted to the several States?

Mr. NORRIS. Immediately, I presume, by the Secretary of State.

Mr. BARKLEY. The legislature in my State is now in session and will adjourn on the 17th of March. I should be very happy to see my State ratify it, because when I came to the House of Representatives in 1913 the first measure I introduced was similar to the one which we are now about to adopt. Personally I should be very much gratified if it could be submitted to the Kentucky Legislature in order that they might vote on it before they adjourn.

Mr. NORRIS. Mr. President, if no Senator wishes to discuss the matter, I ask for the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered, and the Chief Clerk proceeded to call the roll.

Mr. JONES <when his name was called). I have a general pair with the senior Senator from Virginia [Mr. SwANSON], who is necessarily absent. I understand, however, that if present he would vote as I intend to vote on this question. So I shall vote. I vote "yea."

Mr. McNARY <when his name was called). Announcing my pair with the junior Senator from Arkansas [Mrs. CARAWAY], I am advised that if present she would vote as I am about to vote. I will therefore vote. I vote "yea."

Mr. TOWNSEND <when his name was called). I have a general pair with the senior Senator from Tennessee [Mr. McKELLAR]. I am informed that if present he would vote as I intend to vote. I therefore feel at liberty to vote and vote" yea."

The roll call was concluded.

Mr. HATFIELD (after having voted in the affirmative>. I have a general pair with the senior Senator from North Carolina [Mr. MoRRISoN]. I am informed that if present he would vote as I have · voted. I th~refore feel at liberty to vote and will let my vote stand.

Mr. BINGHAM (after having voted in the negative>. In the absence of the junior Senator from Virginia [Mr. GLAss], who is my general pair, I am obliged to withdraw my vote.

Mr. HEBERT. Again announcing my pair with the Senator from Louisiana [Mr. LoNG], I withhold my vote.

Mr. FESS. I desire to announce the following general pairs:

The Senator from California [Mr. SHORTRIDGE] with the Senator from Georgia [Mr. HARRIS]; and

The Senator from Delaware [Mr. HASTINGS] with the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. HULLJ.

I am not advised as to how any of those Senators would vote if present.

Mr. SHEPPARD. I wish to announce that the Senator from Texas [Mr. CoNNALLY], the Senator from Georgia [Mr. HARRIS], the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. McKELLAR], the Senator from North Carolina [Mr. BAILEY], the Senator from Missouri [Mr. HAWEs], and the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. HULL] are necessarily absent from the Senate. If present, they would vote "yea" on the adoption of the conference report.

Mr. WAGNER. I transfer my general pair with the Senator from Missouri [Mr. PATTERSON] to the Senator from Texas [!VIr. CoNNALLY] and vote" yea."

The result was announced-yeas 74, nays 3, as follows:

YEA8-74

Ashurst Cutting Kendrick Sheppard Austin Davis Keyes Shipstead· Bankhead Dickinson King Smith Barbour Dill La Follette Smoot

Fess Lewis Steiwer

Black Fletcher Logan Thomas, Idaho Blaine Frazier McGill Thomas, Okla. Borah George McNary Townsend

Glenn Moses Trammell

Brookhart Goldsborough Neely Tydings Broussard Gore Norbeck Vandenberg Bulkley Hale Norris Wagner Bulow Harrison Nye Walsh, Mass. Byrnes Hatfield Oddie Walsh, Mont. Capper Hayden Pittman Watson Carey Howell Reed Wheeler Copeland Johnson Robinson, Ark. White Costigan Jones Robinson, Ind. Couzens Kean Schall

NAY&--3

Dale Me teal! Waterman

NOT VOTING-19

Batley Glass Hull Shortridge Bingham Harris Long Stephens Caraway Hastings McKellar swanson Connally Hawes Morrison Walcott Coolidge Hebert Patterson

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Two-thirds of all Senators present and voting having voted in the affirmative, the conference report is agreed to.

Mr. COOLIDGE subsequently said: Mr. President, I was necessarily absent from the Chamber when the vote was taken on the Senate Joint Resolution 14-conference report. If I had been present, I would have voted" yea."