[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 24, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E709-E710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIQUE RATIFICATION OF THE 27TH 
              AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. KENNY MARCHANT

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 24, 2017

  Mr. MARCHANT. Mr. Speaker, this month, May of 2017, marks the 25th 
Anniversary of the unusual ratification of the 27th Amendment to the 
United States Constitution. Proposed to the state legislatures for 
ratification by the very First Congress in 1789, and sponsored by none 
other than James Madison, who was a Member of this House that year, it 
was finally incorporated into the Federal Constitution more than 202 
years later when the Alabama Legislature became the 38th to approve it 
on this date in 1992.
  Early in our nation's history, this constitutional amendment was 
adopted, pursuant to the Constitution's Article V, by the legislatures 
of Maryland and North Carolina in 1789, by those in South Carolina and 
Delaware in 1790, by those in Vermont and Virginia in 1791, as well as 
by that of Kentucky in 1792. But the proposal still had not gained the 
approval of enough states to be fully ratified. More than 80 years 
after Kentucky, Ohio lawmakers belatedly ratified it in 1873; but by 
then, with so many additional states having joined the Union, the 
ratification threshold had risen much higher. In order to become part 
of the U.S. Constitution today, with 50 states currently in the Union, 
a proposed constitutional amendment requires adoption by at least 38 
states.
  During its later years, as the amendment approached full 
ratification, I was privileged to personally contribute to this 
proposal formally becoming part of the U.S. Constitution. Before 
starting my congressional service in 2005, I was among those members of 
the Texas House of Representatives who voted ``aye'' on House Joint 
Resolution No. 6, on May 25, 1989, during the Regular Session of the 
71st Texas Legislature, by which Texas lawmakers approved the 
amendment.
  A common sense proposal, the amendment reads quite simply: ``No law, 
varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and 
Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of 
Representatives shall have intervened.''
  In other words, Members may set congressional salaries for the next 
term of office, but may not adjust their own wages during their current 
term.
  It is safe to say, Mr. Speaker, that the 27th Amendment would never 
have made its way into the Federal Constitution were it not for the 
dogged persistence of an employee in the Texas House of Representatives 
by the name of Gregory Watson. Back in March 1982, Mr. Watson was a 19-
year-old student at the University of Texas at Austin. At the same 
time, he had just recently been hired to work part-time for a Texas 
state representative at the nearby state Capitol building.
  As instructed, Watson wrote a paper for a course entitled ``American 
Government'' at the University. He ended up choosing as the topic for 
that paper a still-pending proposed constitutional amendment that 
Congress had offered to the state legislatures for ratification some 
192 years earlier. Intrigued, Watson argued in his paper that despite 
the proposed constitutional amendment having lingered before the 
nation's state legislators since the year 1789, it was still needed as 
a means of holding Congress accountable for its actions relative to 
Members' salary and he pointed out, in the paper, that the proposal had 
no deadline by which America's state lawmakers must have taken action. 
Hence, despite its age, the proposed amendment was still technically 
pending business before our country's state legislatures.
  Watson turned in the academic paper and was disappointed to get it 
back later with a grade of ``C'' on it. He also received a ``C'' in the 
course overall. That stood for some 35 years until March 2017 when the 
overall course grade was officially raised to an ``A'' by UT-Austin 
upon formal petition of Watson's former professor.
  Undaunted at the time by the original low grade on his term paper, 
Watson began in the spring of 1982 reaching out to seek sponsorship of 
the proposed constitutional amendment in the various state capitols 
across the United States. He was intent upon this amendment ultimately 
finding its way formally into the U.S. Constitution. The following 
year, 1983, the Maine Legislature became Watson's first success story. 
After that, in 1984, Colorado's lawmakers gave their approval. And from 
that point forward--with Watson vigorously pushing every step of the 
way--its momentum quickened until the proposal officially became the 
27th Amendment to the Federal Constitution on May 5, 1992, a decade 
after Watson first learned of it.
  From 1982 to present, Mr. Watson has been an institution in the halls 
of the Texas State Capitol in Austin, having been employed in both the 
Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate, during his decades-
long career as state legislative staff. Working for a number of my 
then-colleagues, it was there that I first came to know Mr. Watson.
  To commemorate the quarter century of the 27th Amendment's presence 
within the U.S. Constitution, and at the same time to congratulate Mr. 
Watson on the March 2017 raising of his overall course grade from ``C'' 
to ``A'', I include in the Record an article from the March 14, 2017, 
edition of the Austin American-Statesman.
  Mr. Speaker, as we in the Congress debate various proposals to amend 
the Federal Constitution, it is important that we keep in mind the 
lessons that the 27th Amendment's unconventional path to ratification 
teach us about the power of the American people's wishes to ultimately 
prevail in our deliberations.

 Herman: 35 years Later, A+ for Austinite Who Got Constitution Amended?

               (By Ken Herman--American-Statesman Staff)

       Looks like we're heading for a happier new ending on a 
     happy old story that some of you might not know about. 
     Gregory Watson seems headed for an upgrade.
       We begin back in spring 1982 when Watson, then a University 
     of Texas student, signed up for Sharon Waite's GOV 310 course 
     on American Government. For his term paper, young Watson 
     researched the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. 
     Constitution, a hot topic of the day.
       But Watson diverted when he came upon a book that listed 
     other proposed constitutional amendments proposed but never 
     ratified by the required three-fourths of the states.
       ``And this one instantly jumped out at me,'' he recalled.
       ``This one'' was proposed in 1789 and concerned 
     congressional pay raises. At the time Watson believed six 
     states had ratified it, with the most recent being Virginia 
     in 1791. (This turned out to be wrong; two others later did.)
       Another key year here is 1917. Before that, Congress did 
     not put expiration dates on proposed constitutional 
     amendments. That meant the 1789 one was still in play, and 
     this gave birth to a term paper Watson recalls he titled, 
     ``Can a proposed constitutional amendment to the U.S. 
     Constitution offered by Congress in 1789 still be ratified by 
     the state legislatures after all these years?''
       OK, not a title that smoothly rolls off the tongue, but on 
     point.
       The amendment says any pay hike members of Congress OK for 
     themselves can't take effect until after the subsequent U.S. 
     House election. The topic was hot in the early 1980s because 
     in 1981 Congress had, in Watson's words, ``slipped itself a 
     sneaky pay raise'' by tucking it into a coal miner health 
     care bill.
       So Watson turned his paper in to the course teaching 
     assistant, who gave it a C-. Watson, a persistent fellow, 
     appealed to Waite.
       ``She said she'd take a look at it. So 1 gave it to her,'' 
     Watson told me. ``And then the next class period, she kind of 
     physically tossed it back at me and said, `No change.' ''
       He got a C in the course and says he was ``kind of, sort 
     of' angry at Waite and the T.A.
       ``So I said, `I will not let this disappoint me. I will go 
     out and get that thing ratified,' '' Watson said.
       He did, starting by contacting lawmakers in Maine in 1983. 
     Watson's thing became the 27th (and most recent) amendment to 
     the U.S. Constitution in 1992.
       And that was that. The U.S. Constitution had a new 
     amendment. And Watson still had a C in GOV 310.
       About a year ago, UT government professor Zach Elkins and 
     KUT Managing Editor Matt Largey contacted Watson and 
     expressed interest in his story, but Watson didn't know what 
     they were up to.
       He found out March 4, live and on stage at the Paramount 
     Theatre, where he had been invited for what he thought was to 
     be a Q&A about his involvement in amending the U.S. 
     Constitution. His story was one of several told at something 
     called Pop-Up Magazine, which is kind of a live newsmagazine. 
     Several other topics came up before Largey's telling of 
     Watson's story, who then was invited on stage.

[[Page E710]]

       ``It was at that point that professor Elkins handed me the 
     envelope,'' Watson said.
       The envelope contained an Update of Student Academic Record 
     form requesting that his 1982 grade in the government course 
     be changed from C to A+. It was signed by Waite.
       In the space for ``Explanation of error, delay or special 
     circumstances,'' Waite wrote, ``In light of the student's 
     heroic efforts to prove the professor and T.A. wrong in their 
     assessment of his term paper, Mr. Watson deserves an A+.''
       (FYI, UT doesn't do plus or minus grades so, if the form is 
     approved, Watson's grade in the course will become an A.)
       Waite, who was a lecturer at UT from 1981 to 1983, now 
     works on a Mission citrus farm that's been in her family 
     since 1922. Thanks to Watson's achievement, she proudly calls 
     herself ``a footnote to a footnote of history.''
       But she says C was the proper course grade at the time 
     because she thought his theory about getting the 
     constitutional amendment ratified was far-fetched. ``I 
     thought it couldn't be done,'' she said. ``So he just 
     proceeded to prove me wrong.''
       ``Hey, a lowly lecturer has had more effect on the 
     Constitution than anybody in the professorial ranks,'' Waite 
     said with a laugh.
       Elkins said he teaches about Watson's effort as an 
     inspiring example of ``heroic citizenship.''
       ``We just need the dean's signature, and it's done,'' 
     Elkins said of the grade change effort.
       If this gets rejected, nobody should ever wear burnt orange 
     again.
       Largey remains understandably fascinated by Watson's story, 
     which he has told at Pop-Up Magazine events in San Francisco; 
     Washington; New York; Portland, Ore.; and Seattle.
       ``He is one of a kind,'' he said of Watson.
       Largey's KUT story about Watson is scheduled to air at 6:45 
     and 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. You also should be able to find it at 
     KUT.org.
       Happier ending upcoming, indeed. And you might have a 
     chance to make it even happier. Watson, 54, long has 
     struggled financially as he worked in the government world, 
     where jobs come and go.
       Watson never graduated from college. He's been pretty much 
     a constant presence at the Texas Capitol since 1982, where 
     he's worked for 15 different lawmakers. He moved to Austin 
     City Hall in 2015 to work for then-Council Member Don 
     Zimmerman. When Zimmerman was defeated last year, Watson was 
     out of work. He's now an aide to Rep. Stephanie Klick, R-Fort 
     Worth.
       In addition to the government jobs, Watson has moonlighted 
     in retail and has bused tables at a downtown restaurant. His 
     current legislative job ends when the legislative session 
     ends in May. He needs a job after that. Maybe you know of 
     something.
       I can tell you Watson knows his way around government and 
     got the U.S. Constitution amended.
       And, assuming the change gets OK'd, he got an A in GOV 310.
       One more thing: Yes, Watson still has his 1982 term paper--
     somewhere.
       ``I have tried and tried and tried to find that thing,'' he 
     said. ``I don't know where I put it. It's not the type of 
     thing I would have thrown in the garbage. So it's somewhere. 
     And I'm one of these funny people that keeps everything, so 
     I've got storage unit after storage unit. It's somewhere in a 
     box in a storage unit.
       ``Hopefully, the termites haven't gotten to it.''
       They wouldn't dare.

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