[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 19 (Tuesday, February 8, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

           By Mr. SCHWEIKERT:
       H.J. Res. 23.
       Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant 
     to the following:
       Article 5 of the Constitution states: The Congress, 
     whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, 
     shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the 
     application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several 
     states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, 
     which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and 
     purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the 
     legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by 
     conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
     mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; 
     provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the 
     year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner 
     affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of 
     the first article; and that no state, without its consent, 
     shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.