[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 157 (Wednesday, September 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S5247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 5765. Mr. BRAUN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 5745 proposed by Mr. Schumer to the bill H.R. 6833, to 
amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act, the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 
of 1974 to establish requirements with respect to cost-sharing for 
certain insulin products, and for other purposes; which was ordered to 
lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end, add the following:

       DIVISION H--CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF THE UNITED STATES

     SEC. 101. DEFINITION.

       In this division:
       (1) Archivist.--The term ``Archivist'' means the Archivist 
     of the United States.
       (2) Article v convention.--The term ``Article V 
     Convention'' means a convention as described in Article V of 
     the Constitution of the United States that is called by 
     Congress and organized by the Archivist on the application of 
     the legislatures of \2/3\ of the several States for proposing 
     amendments that shall be valid to all intents and purposes as 
     part of the Constitution of the United States when ratified 
     by the legislatures of \3/4\ of the several States, or by 
     conventions in \3/4\ thereof, as one or the other mode of 
     ratification may be proposed by Congress.

     SEC. 102. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds the following:
       (1) Article V of the Constitution of the United States 
     requires that ``The Congress . . . on the Application of the 
     Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call 
     a Convention for proposing Amendments'' to the Constitution 
     of the United States.
       (2) Since the first application approved by a State for an 
     Article V Convention in 1788, 42 States in total have 
     submitted applications.
       (3) The Constitution of the United States states that an 
     Article V Convention shall be called upon the active 
     application of \2/3\ of the States. Such application occurs 
     when a State, through its legislature, approves a petition 
     for an Article V Convention. The threshold of applications 
     from \2/3\ of the States to require an Article V Convention 
     has been met several times, as--
       (A) in 1979, there were 39 active applications;
       (B) in 1983, there were 40 active applications; and
       (C) not less than 34 States have filed active applications 
     as recently as 2021.
       (4) Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist No. 85 stated that 
     ``The Congress `shall call a convention'. Nothing in this 
     particular is left to the discretion of that body''.
       (5) Beginning in 1979, the Federal Government failed in its 
     constitutional duty to count applications and organize an 
     Article V Convention. Since that time, the debt of the United 
     States has increased to more than $30,000,000,000,000 from 
     $830,000,000,000.
       (6) The unanimous opinion of the United States Supreme 
     Court in Chiafalo v. Washington, 140 S. Ct. 2316, 2328 (2020) 
     stated, ``electors . . . have no ground for reversing the 
     vote of millions of its citizens. That direction accords with 
     the Constitution--as well as with the trust of the Nation 
     that here, We the People rule.''.

     SEC. __3. DUTIES OF ARCHIVIST RELATING TO STATE APPLICATIONS 
                   FOR CALLING FOR CONVENTIONS OF STATES FOR 
                   PROPOSING CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.

       (a) Duties Described.--Chapter 2 of title 1, United States 
     Code, is amended by inserting after section 106b the 
     following:

     ``Sec. 106c. Duties relating to State applications calling 
       for Article V Conventions

       ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
       ``(1) Archivist.--The term `Archivist' means the Archivist 
     of the United States.
       ``(2) Article v convention.--The term `Article V 
     Convention' means a convention as described in Article V of 
     the Constitution of the United States that is called by 
     Congress and organized by the Archivist on the application of 
     the legislatures of \2/3\ of the several States for proposing 
     amendments that shall be valid to all intents and purposes as 
     part of the Constitution of the United States when ratified 
     by the legislatures of \3/4\ of the several States, or by 
     conventions in \3/4\ thereof, as one or the other mode of 
     ratification may be proposed by Congress.
       ``(b) Certification and Notification.--
       ``(1) In general.--Not later than 30 days after receiving 
     an application of a State calling for an Article V 
     Convention, the Archivist shall authenticate, count, and 
     publish, on a publicly available website, such applications, 
     together with any resolution of any State to rescind any such 
     previous application submitted by that State.
       ``(2) Existing applications.--Not later than 180 days after 
     the date of enactment of this section, the Archivist shall 
     authenticate, count, and publish all applications of a State 
     calling for an Article V Convention received before the date 
     of enactment of this section.
       ``(c) Certification and Notification Requirements.--Upon 
     receipt and authentication by the Archivist under subsection 
     (b) of applications calling for an Article V Convention of 
     the legislatures of \2/3\ of the several States which have 
     not been rescinded, the Archivist shall publish in the 
     Federal Register a certification that \2/3\ of the several 
     States have called for the Article V Convention, together 
     with a list of the States submitting applications calling for 
     the Article V Convention.''.
       (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 
     2 of title 1, United States Code, is amended by inserting 
     after the item relating to section 106b the following:

``106c. Duties relating to State applications calling for Article V 
              Conventions.''.
                                 ______