It was explained (Mark Stein, BTW) that perhap in the beginning men had to get on horses and brave winter weather etc., in order to get to Washington ... which seems about right
But those days are done
How can we initiate the change to start serving the next day, or week or something ?
I agree that’s how it should be.
I agree--there should be a brief sessions after the election to close out any old business, and then adjourn for the new Congress to take over after the holidays.
I say congress should shut down for 1 month. The election should be the first week of that recess and when congress returns it should be the new congress.
The whole idea of freshmen and Seniors needs to go as well.
Normal people get laid off and security walks them out of the building with all their desk stuff in a box. That needs to happen to politicians who have lost their mandate to rule over us.
It’s because of the presidential election. That one needs time to go from the popular/ technically meaningless vote to the electoral college/ actually chooses a president vote, with time to deal with potential tie-breaking procedures/ other strange political junk before the president actually gets inaugurated. All the other offices take their schedule from that.
ping
use to be the presidential inauguration was in March. Abe Lincoln for instance. Gave the South three months to “source” armories. And for the radicals to set up the bait at Sumter.
Not like a parliament change. Hence the shenanigans of the Lame Duck senate and house, and prez for that matter.
Shameful.
Especially the non-vote on Cruz’s point of order. A simple up or down vote in support or not of a non-Constitutional power grab by the executive branch. That is to say— to do their job the Oath of Office requires to DEFEND the Constitution. And for our military “against all enemies, foreign AND domestic”.
Repeal Section 2 of the 20th Amendment.
72 hours from the election results being certified sounds right for the first organizational meetings of the new congress.
The 20th Amendment specifies the date of Jan 3 for the start of a new Congressional term. There would need to be another amendment to change that date. I would agree that there’s no practical reason any more for not starting the new Congressional term immediately. Flights are available from all over the US and every new Senator and Representative (even from Alaska and Hawaii) could be there within 24-48 hours of the election. There could be some provision for contested races, such as the seat remaining open until the race is decided or the previous incumbent remaining until it’s decided.
You will need to amend the Constitution...
20th Amendment, 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.”