Proposed amendments to the United States constitution - Definition and Overview

Many (sometimes scores) of amendments are proposed in Congress every year, although most never even get out of committee.

Below is a running list of proposed amendments.

• In 2004 Utah senator Orrin Hatch proposed an amendment to ensure the continuity of operations of the United States Congress in the case of emergencies in which a large number of Senators or Representatives are incapacitated. Such an amendment would allow Congress itself to make emergency appointments to fill vacancies, rather than going through the usual by-election process. [1] (http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.View&PressRelease_id=963)
• Senator Hatch has also promoted an amendment to allow naturalized citizens with at least twenty years' citizenship to become President. Many people believe he wants this amendment so that Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has endorsed this amendment, can make a run for the presidency in the near future.
• The Federal Marriage Amendment which defines marriage. Proposed in the spring of 2004 by multiple sources (including President George W. Bush). A cloture motion to force a direct vote on this amendment was defeated in the Senate on July 14, 2004 by a wider-than-expected margin of 50 nay votes to 48 yea votes; this has stopped progress of the amendment for the foreseeable future.
• A balanced budget amendment in which Congress and the President are forced to balance the budget every year.
• An amendment to explicitly protect the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, displays of the Ten Commandments and voluntary school prayer. Introduced on 9 Apr 2003 as HJ Res 46 [2] (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:15:./temp/~c108f910VB::).
• To protect the reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance and National Motto. Introduced on 18 March 2003 as HJ Res 40 [3] (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:6:./temp/~c108f910VB::), on 13 March 2003 as HJ Res 39 [4] (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:8:./temp/~c108f910VB::), on 3 March 2003 as SJ Res 7 [5] (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:9:./temp/~c108f910VB::) and on 27 Feb 2003 as HJ Res 26 [6] (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c108:7:./temp/~c108f910VB::)
• The Flag Burning Amendment which gives Congress the power to make flag-burning illegal. It has been repeatedly approved by the House, but is consistently rejected in the Senate, the last time being 2001.

See also

• American Constitutional Amendments
• United States Constitution
• Constitutional amendment process
• List of unsuccessful attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution

External link

• Some proposed amendments to the United States Constitution (http://www.usconstitution.net/constamprop.html)