WASHINGTON, D.C. - Maryland Congressman Andy Harris has joined several other Republican representatives in calling for the U.S. Constitution’s 17th Amendment to be repealed.
The 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, allows for the direct popular election of U.S. senators by the public as opposed to the original process of state legislatures electing them. The amendment repeats the first paragraph of Article 1, section 3 of the Constitution and replaces the phrase “chosen by the Legislature thereof” with “elected by the people thereof.” The amendment also allows a state’s governor to appoint a senator in the event of a vacancy, with approval from the state legislature, until the next general election.
Now, Congressman Harris is cosponsoring legislation that would reverse the amendment.
House Joint Resolution 198 was introduced in late June and proposes to amend the constitution to do away with the 17th Amendment, shifting the ability to elect a U.S. senator back to state legislatures.
A constitutional amendment can be proposed by a two-thirds vote in both the U.S. House and Senate or through a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the states, though that method has never been used. The amendment must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states, currently 38 out of 50, to become part of the Constitution. Once the required ratifications are verified, the Archivist of the United States certifies the amendment, making it official.
WBOC reached out to Harris’ office for comment on his support for the proposal. In his response, Harris referenced a President Trump-endorsed voting regulation bill that recently failed to garner enough Republican Senate support to advance.
“I co-sponsored this resolution because the Founding Fathers designed the House to represent the people and the Senate to represent the states,” Harris said in a statement to WBOC. “The 17th Amendment disrupted that constitutional balance. Returning the selection of senators to state legislatures would restore the Senate's original role and strengthen the voice of the states in our federal system. For instance, if a senator today refused to support (or even debate) a popular measure like the Save America Act, but the state legislature supported it, the legislature could replace that senator.”
House Joint Resolution 198 was introduced on June 25 and was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
