Early this morning, full consideration was given to H.J. Res. 07734 on the floor of the United States Senate. H.J. Res. 07734, also known as the “Restoring Proper Balance of Powers Amendment,” is a bill proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The text of the bill, as passed by the House of Representatives last week, is as follows:

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein),

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This joint resolution may be cited as the ‘Restoring Proper Balance of Powers Amendment’.

SECTION 2. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

The following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

‘Article–

‘Section 1. Neither the Vice President nor any member of the Senate shall have any Vote on pending legislation, unless the House be equally divided.
‘Section 2. The House shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
‘Section 3. All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; the Senate may neither propose or concur with Amendments.
‘Section 4. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to the House, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of the House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall become a Law.
‘Section 5. The President shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the House, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Representatives present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the House, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the House may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the House, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.’.

Before House passage of this constitutional amendment on a 430-1 roll call vote, Rep. Alan Mollohan unsuccessfully attempted to add a perpetual earmark of 1% of the annual federal budget to the Robert H. Mollohan Family Charitable Foundation. In a speech on the floor of the House, the amendment’s solitary opponent Ron Paul declared in a fiery floor speech that although the Constitution appears to grant the Congress the ability to draft and pass constitutional amendments, it doesn’t really, since the 10th Amendment only grants specifically enumerated powers to the Congress and “two thirds” was written in word form, not in numeral form, in Article V. Roscoe Bartlett, head nodding at intervals, failed to cast a vote but did solicit a comfortable pillow.

In its consideration this morning, the Senate passed the Byrd Amendment to H.J. Res. 07734 by an overwhelming 92-6 margin. The Byrd Amendment refines the language of H.J. Res. 07734 to read as follows:

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein),

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This joint resolution may be cited as the ‘Restoring Proper Balance of Powers Amendment’.

SECTION 2. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

‘Section 1. No member of the Senate shall be required to sit with any member of the House at any reception, banquet, fundraiser or other public occasion, unless such member of the House shall have first bathed and been certifiably deloused.
‘Section 2. Senators shall have sole use of all elevators in the Capitol Building and surrounding legislative office buildings.
‘Section 3. Should a member of the House fail to fully appreciate the provisions of this constitutional amendment, she or he may, with permission, kiss the patootie of the nearest available Senator.’.

Representatives from the House and Senate will be meeting next week in conference committee to resolve differences in the text of the amendment between chambers. Leaders from the House and Senate have indicated on condition of anonymity that they are “looking forward” to the meeting.