Vetoed Presidential Succession Insurance Act

[HatManMC]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
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A BILL TO
AMEND THE CONSTITUTION


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The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:

PART I — PRELIMINARIES

1. Short Title and Enactment

(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Presidential Succession Insurance Act" or "PSIA".

(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.

(3) This Act has been authored by Representative HatManMC with review and revision from Representative _GreyMC, President xXTheoryXx, and Stanley582.

(4) This Act has been co-sponsored by Representative _GreyMC.

(5) This Act amends the following acts:
(a) Constitution of the Commonwealth of Redmont

2: Reasons and Intent
(1) After the succession crisis involving the dissolving of both House and Senate, the resignation of the Presidency under Multiman155, and the resignation of the Presidency under Just_Jada, it was proven that our current succession provisions in the Constitution are not extensive enough.
(2) By expanding the order of succession to a total of 12 consecutive successions after the President, we can help better ensure the safety of the Executive Branch.

PART II - AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION

Part III, section 26 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Redmont shall be amended as follows:
26. Order of Succession

(1) Presidential Succession. In the event that the President is incapacitated, removed from office, or inactive for more than 7 days unannounced, the Vice President will assume the Presidency.

(2) Dual Succession. If the Vice Presidency is vacant in s26(1), the President of the Senate will temporarily assume a caretaker administration and will immediately facilitate a presidential election.

(a) The President of the Senate will maintain their role within Congress throughout this period.

(b) In the case of a vacancy within the offices of the Presidency, Vice Presidency, and Presidency of the Senate, order of succession to the Presidency to establish a caretaker administration as said in §26(2) shall follow a set order determined by Congress in an act of legislation.

(bd) If 30 days or less remain, the newly elected administration will serve through the upcoming electoral month until the next presidential election. This results in a maximum term length of five months during a dual succession special electionspecial election involving a succession involving the President of the Senate or further down the list.

 

[xXTheoryXx]

Veto

PRESIDENTIAL VETO
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The Presidential Succession Insurance Act amends section 26 of the Constitution to provide that where the Presidency, the Vice Presidency and the Presidency of the Senate are all vacant, the order of succession to a caretaker administration is to be set by Congress in ordinary legislation, and extends the five month cap on a special election administration to those successions. Its purpose is one I share, and section 1(3) records that I reviewed it. The text that goes to referendum must nonetheless be judged as text, and this text cannot go to the people as it stands. I veto it, and I return it for correction.

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First, the gap is real.

Section 26 runs out at the President of the Senate. When both chambers stood dissolved and two Presidents resigned in succession, there was no President of the Senate to run out to, and the Constitution had nothing further to say. A line of succession that ends at an office which can itself be vacant is not insurance, and Congress is right to extend it.

Second, the Bill extends nothing by itself.

The new paragraph 26(2)(b) names no successor. It leaves that to an Act of Congress, and Congress has sent the Presidential Succession Order Allotment Act alongside this Bill to be that Act. I return it today for reasons of its own. The point here is narrower: after this amendment the Constitution on its own stands exactly where it stands today, and section 2(2)'s twelve successors are a promise about a statute, not a provision of this text. A line of succession that lives in ordinary law can be rewritten by ordinary majority and assent, by the very officers whose succession it governs, and in the scenario section 2(1) describes, with both chambers dissolved, there is no Congress to repair it.

The delegation also carries a cost the Bill does not address. Section 28(2) provides that no person may hold the position of Executive Officer concurrently with an elected position in Congress, and section 41 makes the President an Executive Officer. Section 26(2)(a) carves the President of the Senate out of that rule. Section 51 provides that no text outside this document is constitutionally binding, so an Act of Congress cannot carve out anyone else. The companion Act places the Speaker of the House first in its list. Under this amendment as drafted, the Speaker could serve only by resigning from Congress to hold a caretaker administration measured in days.

Third, the text carries defects the Constitution cannot cheaply repair.

Under section 36 the only way to change a word of this document is a supermajority in both chambers, assent and a referendum. Every defect below costs that to fix, and no Clerk can fix it for us.

(1) The lettering skips a paragraph. The Bill strikes the "b" of the existing paragraph (b) and inserts "d", so that section 26(2) would read (a), (b), (d). There is no (c). The thirty day rule would be cited past a gap for as long as the text stands.

(2) The operative words of the new paragraph (d) are not constitutional language. A five month term is permitted "during a special election involving a succession involving the President of the Senate or further down the list". The Constitution has no list. The clause reads as a note to the drafter rather than a provision, and it is the clause that governs how long an unelected administration may sit.

(3) The trigger does not match the section it sits in. Section 26(1) operates where the President is incapacitated, removed, or inactive for seven days unannounced. Removal vacates the office; inactivity does not. The new paragraph (b) applies only to "a vacancy within the offices of the Presidency", so where a President goes silent and the Vice Presidency and the Presidency of the Senate are both empty, which is the case most likely to arise, the paragraph does not engage.

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What I would sign.

A Bill that letters the new paragraph (c), triggers it "where section 26(2) applies and the office of President of the Senate is vacant", provides that a person who assumes a caretaker administration under the section retains any seat they hold in Congress, and restates the five month rule as applying "to a special election held under this section". Congress may choose whether to write the order into section 26 itself or to delegate it, and if it delegates, the section should say what happens while no Act is in force. A corrected Bill reintroduced this session, with the companion Act corrected to match, will have my assent the day it reaches me. Congress may instead override under section 46(2), which requires 80% of both chambers, but the corrected Bill is the shorter road.

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My thanks to Representative HatManMC for authoring this Bill, to Representative _GreyMC for co-sponsoring it, and to both of them and to Stanley582 for the review recorded at section 1(3).

Accordingly, I veto this Bill, and it is returned to Congress.

Theory Fontaine
30th President of the Commonwealth of Redmont
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