Talk Elections

Though it seems pretty impossible, if both houses of congress was killed what happens? Seriously, in London that awful guy got pretty close to their congress. Whats to say something like that doesn't happen here. If that was to happen here and both houses were killed, what happens to the US? We can't possibly make laws before their re-elected. And if we do, it would be the executive branch taking over both powers. Making it able to just rule over the governmental level on federal grounds fully? Or do we just go without making new laws, without being able to declare war, or what ever other powers the congress holds for how ever long emergency elections take?

Governors would appoint temporary senators and schedule special house elections. A worse scenario is where a very small number remain alive. While the self imposed rules define how large a quorum must be, there is no constitutional rule. This would be an interesting supreme court challenge to see if 3 hypothetical surviving house members could change the house quorum rules and then pass bills as a 3 person body.

Some states doesn't permit senatorial appointments (like Oregon or Wisconsin).

I had no idea until now. According to NCSL, 36 States permit gubernatorial appointments.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vacancies-in-the-united-states-senate.aspx

It is not inconceivable to see the other remaining states quickly passing bills to allow appointments (assuming it isn't baked into the state constitution). I'm sure Oklahoma would make haste if the only ones left in Congress were Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren, Sherrod Brown, Nancy Pelosi and Donna Edwards. Likewise for Oregon if only Cruz, Paul, Gohmert, etc.

Also worth noting is that even among the states listed as having special elections for the senate, most still allow interim appointments, although with a plethora of caveats. When you factor that in, it seems like the vast majority of the states could at least somewhat quickly send a new Senator.

That is so fascinating! I can't wait to share this with my teacher! Thanks you guys.

If you scroll down you'll see that all but 5 states have gubernatorial appointments.

He would have destroyed Parliament with his car?

the 'documentary' "Mars Attacks!" dealt with this very situation. :D

Not sure if you know this, but every year during the State of the Union Address, one Cabinet member stays behind in a secure location.  This is in case, God forbid, the unthinkable ever happens.  The selected member is known as the "designated survivor". 

The plan is that if Congress (during the speech) is ever destroyed by a catastrophic attack (and the president, VP, and Speaker of the House all killed, assumedly), this Cabinet member then automatically becomes the President of the United States.  As such, he gets the job of rebuilding the federal government.  The ABC US show "Designated Survivor" deals with one such scenario. 

Kiefer Sutherland goes from earnest academic do-gooder to the President who can Do What It Takes to save America from the Forces of Evil.

Including a Montana senator who looks suspiciously like Jon Tester.

apology for poor english

when were you when corndress dies?

i was vote demagogue when cort ring

‘congress is kill’

‘no’

That guy pisses me off so much.

The tv guy, not Tester

Right?! That character is just so smarmy and seems like such a know-it-all.

States could change their laws and allow the governor to appoint a senator. But that would require that state lawmakers quickly meet, pass a bill that goes into effect immediately after being signed.

I could see Hawaii winning the race to have the first elected representatives. Ed Case was elected just 25 days after Patty Mink was posthumously re-elected. I don't know if any other state would bother with a special election after the regular November election to the unexpired house term.

Problem is, even with 70-odd appointed Senators within a few weeks, you'd still have a dysfunctional House of Representatives without a quorum for months and months.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/RS21089.pdf

http://www.aei.org/publication/what-if-congress-were-obliterated/

These links may be useful. Personally I feel there would be a long period of martial law and a possible breakdown of constitutional law, especially if there are simultaneous hits to other branches of government; before congress is fully reconstituted.

That would be interesting if Case got back in Congress.

Would both surviving House members get seniority? What about the former Representstives who run for office?

I think it would be a reasonable fudge if a majority of the House of Representatives were killed that whatever survivors happened to be out of town would be able to rewrite the rules to declare themselves to be a quorum, or even a majority (amusingly the likeliest reason for someone to be absent is medical treatment, so we could be stuck with a disproportionately old, sick House...). Much of the regular business of the House would ground to a halt but urgently necessary legislation could still be passed.

The same would be true for the Senate in the immediate aftermath of the attack, though it would quickly be refilled, since most states permit Governors to appoint whoever they want and there would be a clear both national and state interest to fill those seats as quickly as possible. Without much time to interview possible replacements, I could see the new Senate quickly fill up with Carte Goodwin/Jeff Chiesa types (convenient, trustworthy lackies of incumbent Governors) until the next elections.

I'm unaware of any general contingency plan released to the public that addresses this.  What I do know about is the "State of the Union/Congressional Address" plan.  Every year, the president is constitutionally required to give an address on the state of the union.  Before doing this, the president usually names a "designated survivor".  This person's role is to stay behind, just in case the unthinkable happens.  The person named is usually a lower-level Cabinet official.  In case of an attack where Congress, the president, and the VP were all taken out, this "designated survivor" would automatically become President of the United States. 

Wait, I answered this question before.  Never mind! :)

They would still need the Senate (what's left of it + the quickest appointments) and the president. The president would likely take on emergency powers to deal with what would obviously be a major crisis. After some rushed special elections, Congress could get back to work and remove whatever emergency powers were given to the president. It would take many years to really bring politics back to normal though.

Well...this would be interesting.

If Congress was killed then stuff would actually start getting done

Quorom is a majority of the members. If there there was 434 vacancies and 1 representative, they would meet quorum.

Rule XX Section 5 Paragraph (c) of the Rules of the House would come into effect.  For one thing, until the deaths of the members was officially relayed to the House, they would continue to be considered part of the membership and this part of the number needed to form a quorum.

The rules provide for a somewhat different running of the House when the quorum is not sufficient to form a quorum of the whole number (i.e. less than 218).

While the presidency can be easily assumed by the next individual in line, and the senate appointed, how would the nascent government deal with the six week intermission lacking a House of Representatives?

How would emergency resolutions, and financial packages to provide disaster relief to DC be passed without a house to rubberstamp resolutions and originate financial bills?

Are there any workarounds that can be established?

Not all states provides for senatorial appointments. In Oregon or Wisconsin seats are to remain vacant until there's a special election.

Here's the likely composition of the senate if that scenario happens:
()

Republicans - 62
Democrats – 28
Unknown – 2*
Vacant – 8

*–Not sure which way Walker would go. I could see him appointing Mallott, or he could appoint an independent.

Edit: RI does not have gubernatorial appointments. Changed map/totals.

In case of a catastrophic attack, for example? It's unclear to me what exactly would happen.  The feds apparently have "Contingency of Government" plans to deal with such a scenario, but they aren't public.  What is known about such plans is that during the SOTU address each year, one Cabinet member (usually a lower-ranking official) is selected by the president to stay behind, and watch the address from a secure location.  If an attack then took place taking out the entire Congress, that Cabinet member would automatically become President of the United States (the "designated survivor" plan). 

If a recent documentary that I watched is to be believed, Keifer Southerland becomes president.

i dont think charlie, scott, and rauner would go party line, prolly one of each

Oh, Baker would. And weak liberals would keep making excuses for him.