[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 56 (Wednesday, April 28, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4503-S4504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MILLER:
  S.J. Res. 35. A joint resolution to repeal the seventeenth article of 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States; to the Committee on 
the Judiciary.
  Mr. MILLER. Madam President, we live in perilous times. The leader of 
the free world's power has become so neutered he cannot, even with the 
support of the majority of the Senate, appoint highly qualified 
individuals endorsed by the American Bar to a Federal court. He cannot 
conduct a war without being torn to shreds by partisans with their eyes 
set, not on he defeat of our enemy but on the defeat of our President.
  The Senate has become just one big, bad, ongoing joke, held hostage 
by special interests, and so impotent an 18-wheeler truck loaded with 
Viagra would do no good.
  Andrew Young, one of the most thoughtful men in America, recently 
took a long and serious look at the Senate. He was thinking about 
making a race for it. After visiting Washington, he concluded that the 
Senate is composed of:

       A bunch of pompous, old--

And I won't use his word here, I would say ``folks''--

     listening to people read statements they didn't even write 
     and probably don't believe.

  The House of Representatives, theoretically the closest of all the 
Federal Government to the people, cannot restrain its extravagant 
spending nor limit our spiraling debt, and incumbents are so entrenched 
you might as well call off 80 percent of the House races. There are no 
contests.
  Most of the laws of the land, at least the most important and lasting 
ones, are made not by elected representatives of the people but by 
unelected, unaccountable legislators in black robes who churn out 
volumes of case law and hold their jobs for life. A half dozen dirty 
bombs the size of a small suitcase planted around the country could 
kill hundreds of thousands of our citizens and bring this Nation to its 
knees at any time, and yet we can't even build a fence along our border 
to keep out illegals because some nutty environmentalists say it will 
cause erosion.
  This Government is in one hell of a mess. Frankly, as Rett Butler 
said--my dear, very few people up here give a damn.
  It is not funny. It is sad. It is tragic. And it can only get worse--
much worse. What this Government needs is one of those extreme 
makeovers they have on television, and I am not referring to some minor 
nose job or a little botox here and there.
  Congressional Quarterly recently devoted an issue to the mandate 
wars, with headlines blaring: ``Unfunded Mandates Add to Woes, States 
Say; Localities Get the Bill for Beefed Up Security; Transportation 
Money Comes With Strings, and Medicare Stuck in Funding Squabbles,'' et 
cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
  One would think that the much heralded Unfunded Mandate Reform Act of 
1995 never passed. The National Conference of State Legislatures has 
set the unfunded mandate figure for the States at $33 billion for 2005. 
This, along with the budget problems they have been having for the last 
few years, has put States under the heel of a distant and unresponsive 
government. That is us. And it gives the enthusiastic tax raisers at 
the State level the very excuse they are looking for to dig deeper and 
deeper into the pockets of their taxpayers.
  It is not a pretty picture. No matter who you send to Washington, for 
the most part smart and decent people, it is not going to change much 
because the individuals are not so much at fault as the rotten and 
decaying foundation of what is no longer a Republic. It is the system 
that stinks, and it is only going to get worse because that perfect 
balance our brilliant Founding Fathers put in place in 1787 no longer 
exists.
  Perhaps, then, the answer is a return to the original thinking of 
those wisest of all men, and how they intended for this government to 
function. Federalism, for all practical purposes, has become to this 
generation of leaders, some vague philosophy of the past that is dead, 
dead, dead. It isn't even on life support. The line on that monitor 
went flat some time ago.
  You see, the reformers of the early 1900s killed it dead and cremated 
the body when they allowed for the direct election of U.S. Senators.
  Up until then, Senators were chosen by State legislatures, as James 
Madison and Alexander Hamilton had so carefully crafted.
  Direct elections of Senators, as great and as good as that sounds, 
allowed Washington's special interests to call the shots, whether it is 
filling judicial vacancies, passing laws, or issuing regulations. The 
State governments aided in their own collective suicide by going along 
with that popular fad at the time.
  Today it is heresy to even think about changing the system. But can 
you imagine those dreadful unfunded mandates being put on the States or 
a homeland security bill being torpedoed by the unions if Senators were 
still chosen by and responsible to the State legislatures?
  Make no mistake about it. It is the special interest groups and their 
fundraising power that elect Senators and then hold them in bondage 
forever.
  In the past five election cycles, Senators have raised over $1.5 
billion for their election contests, not counting all the soft money 
spent on their behalf in other ways. Few would believe it, but the 
daily business of the Senate in fact is scheduled around fundraising.
  The 17th amendment was the death of the careful balance between State 
and Federal Government. As designed by that brilliant and very 
practical group of Founding Fathers, the two governments would be in 
competition with each other and neither could abuse or threaten the 
other. The election of Senators by the State legislatures was the 
lynchpin that guaranteed the interests of the States would be 
protected.
  Today State governments have to stand in line because they are just 
another one of the many special interests that try to get Senators to 
listen to them, and they are at an extreme disadvantage because they 
have no PAC.
  You know what the great historian Edward Gibbons said of the decline 
of the Roman Empire. I quote: ``The fine theory of a republic 
insensibly vanished.''
  That is exactly what happened in 1913 when the State legislatures, 
except for Utah and Delaware, rushed pell-mell to ratify the popular 
17th amendment and, by doing so, slashed their own throats and 
destroyed federalism forever. It was a victory for special-interest 
tyranny and a blow to the power of State governments that would cripple 
them forever.
  Instead of Senators who thoughtfully make up their own minds as they 
did during the Senate's greatest era of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, we 
now have too many Senators who are mere cat's-paws for the special 
interests. It is the Senate's sorriest of times in its long, checkered, 
and once glorious history.
  Having now jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge of political reality, 
before I hit the water and go splat, I have introduced a bill that 
would repeal the 17th amendment. I use the word ``would,'' not 
``will,'' because I know it doesn't stand a chance of getting even a 
single cosponsor, much less a single vote beyond my own.
  Abraham Lincoln, as a young man, made a speech in Springfield, IL, in 
which he called our founding principles ``a fortress of strength.'' 
Then he went on to warn, and again I quote, that they ``would grow more 
and more dim by the silent artillery of time.''
  A wise man, that Lincoln, who understood and predicted all too well 
the fate of our republican form of government. Too bad we didn't listen 
to him.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the joint resolution be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the joint resolution was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

[[Page S4504]]

                              S.J. Res. 35

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of 
     each House concurring therein), That the following article is 
     proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United 
     States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as 
     part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of 
     three-fourths of the several States within 7 years after the 
     date of its submission for ratification:

                              ``Article --

       ``Section 1. The seventeenth article of amendment to the 
     Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
       ``Section 2. The Senate of the United States shall be 
     composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the 
     legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall 
     have one vote.
       ``Section 3. If vacancies happen by resignation or 
     otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any State, 
     the executive thereof may make temporary appointments until 
     the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill 
     such vacancies.
       ``Section 4. This amendment shall not be so construed as to 
     affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it 
     becomes a valid part of the Constitution.''.
                                  ____


                              S. Res. 334

       Whereas the United States and Singapore have a strong and 
     enduring friendship;
       Whereas the United States and Singapore share a common 
     vision in ensuring the continued peace, stability, and 
     prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region;
       Whereas Singapore is a member of the coalition for the 
     reconstruction of Iraq and is a strong supporter of the 
     coalition efforts to stabilize and rebuild Iraq;
       Whereas Singapore is a steadfast partner with the United 
     States in the global campaign against terrorism and has 
     worked closely with the United States to fight terrorism 
     around the world;
       Whereas Singapore is a core member of the Proliferation 
     Security Initiative and is committed to preventing the 
     proliferation of weapons of mass destruction;
       Whereas Singapore has provided valuable support to the 
     United States Armed Forces, including inviting such Forces to 
     use the state-of-the-art Changi Naval Base;
       Whereas Singapore is the 11th largest trading partner of 
     the United States;
       Whereas Singapore was the first country in Asia to enter 
     into a free trade agreement with the United States;
       Whereas Singapore, which has one of the busiest ports in 
     the world, was the first country in Asia to join the 
     Container Security Initiative (CSI), a key initiative of the 
     United States Customs Service designed to prevent terrorist 
     attacks through the use of cargo;
       Whereas Singapore is a leader in biological research, has 
     established a regional Emerging Diseases Intervention Center, 
     and is leading efforts to respond to new health threats, 
     including emerging diseases and the use of biological agents;
       Whereas the relationship between the United States and 
     Singapore is reinforced by strong ties of culture, values, 
     commerce, and scientific cooperation; and
       Whereas relationship and international cooperation between 
     the United States and Singapore is important and valuable to 
     both countries: Now, therefore, be it
         Resolved, That the Senate--
         (1) welcomes the Prime Minister of Singapore, His 
     Excellency Goh Chok Tong, to the United States;
         (2) expresses profound gratitude to the Government of 
     Singapore for its assistance in Iraq and its support in the 
     global campaign against terrorism; and
         (3) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to the 
     continued expansion of friendship and cooperation between the 
     United States and Singapore.

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