mr. chairman , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. chairman , i rise in support of h.r. 841 , the continuity of representation act of 2005 . 
on september 11 , 2001 , the fourth hijacked plane was headed toward the nation 's capital . 
had it not been for the heroic actions of the passengers of united flight 93 who forced the plane down over pennsylvania , congress 's ability to serve the american people may have been severely disrupted . 
currently , there is no mechanism to quickly replace house members by special election . 
during the last congress , the house acted in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion to address this deficiency by passing the predecessor of this year 's bill by a larger than three to one margin . 
unfortunately , the bill was never brought up in the other body because of the objections of one or more anonymous members of that chamber . 
consequently , the guarantee of the right to elected representation following a catastrophic incident has yet been unnecessarily imperiled . 
the legislation before us again today will preserve the people 's constitutional right to directly elected representation by providing for the expedited special election of new members within 49 days of the speaker 's announcement that there are more than 100 house vacancies . 
the house , unique among all branches and bodies of the entire federal government , is rooted in the principle of direct elections , and that principle must be preserved . 
current federal law allows the presidency and the senate to consist of entirely the unelected in certain circumstances . 
without an elected house , the entire federal government could be run and laws could be written without a single branch directly representing the popular will . 
congress has the clear authority to enact the continuity in representation act under article i , section 4 of the constitution , which allows congress , at any time by law , to make or alter state election laws . 
consistent with the right to chosen representation , the founders explicitly considered congress 's power to require expedited special elections as the solution to potential discontinuity in government in extraordinary situations . 
as alexander hamilton wrote , the constitution gives the congress members from both parties have a significant stake in the operation of the house following a terrorist incident , and i am pleased that the legislation before us today is appropriately a product of bipartisan cooperation and input . 
for example , i worked with the gentleman from missouri ( mr. skelton ) xz4003770 , ranking member of the committee on armed services , to craft provisions that govern absentee ballots cast by members of the armed forces , and overseas voters , whose ballots would be counted if they are received within 45 days after the state transmits them . 
further , i have worked with the gentleman from michigan ( mr. conyers ) xz4000800 , ranking member of the committee on the judiciary , to add a provision that all federal laws governing the administration of elections for federal office are explicitly preserved . 
during the committee on house administration 's markup of the bill , a substitute amendment offered by the gentleman from ohio ( chairman ney ) was adopted , which includes further changes that directly respond to concerns expressed by the minority . 
first , the current bill continues to allow states the option of having special election candidates selected by parties within 10 days , but would also authorize the states to select such candidates by any other method including primaries provided such method will ensure the state will hold the special election within the 45-day period . 
second , the bill considered today includes a provision that will allow seats left vacant by delegates and resident commissioners to also be filled by special election pursuant to the bill 's requirements . 
while some take the pessimistic view of the resiliency of the electoral process following an attack on the nation 's capital , i have a different view . 
i have no doubt that the boundless spirit of the american people will ensure that democracy prevails even in the most pressing conditions . 
what i have heard from the opponents of this bill is that they say , well , we can not have an election put together so quickly . 
the gentlewoman from michigan ( mrs. miller ) xz4002761 , i think , has made it quite clear that from her experience as michigan 's secretary of state and chief election officer that we will be able to do that . 
and i point out that what this bill does is to ensure the prompt filling of vacant seats in states that have long special election processes . 
virginia is able to fill vacancies in its general assembly by special election within 12 days after the vacancy occurs provided the governor calls a special election . 
if virginia makes that apply to vacancies in the house of representatives , we are going to have a full virginia delegation sitting in this chamber or elsewhere legislating while the states that decide that they want to have more debates and keep the seats vacant will end up sitting unrepresented here . 
what this bill does is that it speeds up the process in the slow states , the ones that have lengthy special election processes , including the gentlewoman from california 's own state . 
the one seat in the house of representatives that is vacant today is that occupied by our beloved colleague , the late bob matsui . 
he died on january 1. that was 63 days ago , and his seat is still unfilled . 
there is an election next week to fill the vacancy . 
but if no candidate in that election gets more than 50 percent of the vote , then we will wait until may 3 to find out who the new representative from sacramento , california is . 
and what this bill will do is to make sure that california will have a full delegation as quickly as possible , notwithstanding the current state law , while other states fill their delegations up and those representatives-elect will come to congress and be seated and be functioning immediately after their election . 
let us make sure that every state as quickly as possible can have adequate representation . 
let us pass this bill . 
mr. chairman , i reserve the balance of my time . 
ms. millender-mcdonald . 
mr. chairman , i yield myself 30 seconds . 
to respond to the gentleman 's comments about california , it does show that we do need beyond 45 days to hold a special election , such as in the case of our late friend , representative bob matsui . 
and also i refer to the committees that were convened to preserve our institution , and it aligns many states where the vacancy days for holding elections were not fewer than 74 days . 
so those are the number of days that are important that we need to adhere to . 
mr. chairman , i yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from california ( ms. zoe lofgren ) . 
