[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 728 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                         July 22, 2004.
Whereas no regularly scheduled national election for Federal office has ever 
        been postponed for any reason;
Whereas regularly scheduled Federal elections took place as scheduled during the 
        Civil War, World War I, and World War II;
Whereas after having been re-elected in an election that took place while the 
        Civil War continued to rage, Abraham Lincoln said ``We can not have free 
        government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to 
        forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have 
        already conquered and ruined us. . . . [T]he election, along with its 
        incidental and undesirable strife, has done good too. It has 
        demonstrated that a people's government can sustain a national election, 
        in the midst of a great civil war. Until now it has not been known to 
        the world that this was a possibility.'';
Whereas the terrorist bombings that took place in Spain on the eve of the 
        Spanish elections in March 2004 were almost certainly perceived by Al 
        Qaeda as having contributed to the defeat of the government that had 
        stood with the United States in the Global War on Terror;
Whereas terrorists may attempt to strike again against the United States in the 
        months leading up to the November 2004 Presidential election in an 
        attempt to alter or affect the election's outcome;
Whereas in the event that such a horrific attack were to occur, the actions of 
        millions of Americans across the Nation casting their ballots would 
        demonstrate powerfully the strength and resilience of our democracy;
Whereas there is no reason to believe that the men and women who administer 
        elections in jurisdictions across the Nation would be incapable of 
        determining how to react to a terrorist attack;
Whereas postponing an election in the aftermath of a terrorist attack would 
        demonstrate weakness, not strength, and would be interpreted as a 
        victory for the terrorists; and
Whereas under section 4 of article II of the Constitution, Congress has the 
        authority to determine the date on which a Presidential election shall 
        take place: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
            (1) the actions of terrorists will never cause the date of any 
        Presidential election to be postponed; and
            (2) no single individual or agency should be given the authority to 
        postpone the date of a Presidential election.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.