Temporal Convection

Turns out our friendly Senators and Representatives have been really busy proposing amendments to our Constitution. They're filed as House Joint Resolutions or Senate Joint Resolutions and you can easily access them from the government's handy GPO Access website. Each is listed with the men and women who presented it before the appropriate house, but without the political party of those people. You can look that up on your own time.

The Senate has been proportionally busier than the House. Although the House has 4 times as many members, it only proposed twice as many Joint Resolutions.

S.J. Res 1 (1/24/05): Defines marriage as only between a man and a woman
Also S.J. Res 13, H.J. Res 39

S.J. Res 2 (1/24/05): Requires a balanced budget
Also S.J. Res 10, 31, H.J. Res 6, 22, 58, 74

S.J. Res 3 (2/10/05): Congressional term limits (I bet that one went over well)
Also, H.J. Res 11

S.J. Res 6 (2/17/05): Forbids declaration of martial law should Congress be blown up or incapacitated

S.J. Res 7 (3/15/05): Forbids discrimination under the law based on sex (subtle gay marriage amendment?)
Also, H.J. Res 37

S.J. Res 11 (3/16/05): Abolishes the electoral college and allows direct popular election of the President
Also, H.J. Res 8, 17, 36, 50

S.J. Res 12 (4/14/05): Allows Congress to ban flag burning
Also, H.J. Res 5, 10

S.J. Res 24 (9/14/05): Allows the word "God" to appear on the currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance without violating the 1st Amendment

S.J. Res 25 (9/27/05): Allows the President to reduce or cancel any Congressional requests for money (appropriations) before signing the law
Also, H.J. Res 71, 77

H.J. Res 1 (1/4/05): Allows citizens in territories and commonwealths of the United States to vote

H.J. Res 2 (1/4/05): The Ahhnold amendment - allows people who are not born US citizens but have been citizens for 20 years to be nominated as President
Also, H.J. Res 15

H.J. Res 4 (1/4/05): This one is best quoted - "With respect to the right to life, the word `person' as used in this article and in the fifth and fourteenth articles of amendment applies to all human beings irrespective of age, health, function, or condition of dependency, including their unborn offspring at every state of their biological development." [emphasis mine]

H.J. Res 7 (1/4/05): Allows voluntary prayer by groups of students on school property

H.J. Res 9 (1/4/05): Eliminates term limits for the President (everybody freaked out about this one about a year ago)
Also, H.J. Res 24

H.J. Res 14 (1/26/05): Ambitious - "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relative to abolishing personal income, estate, and gift taxes and prohibiting the United States Government from engaging in business in competition with its citizens" - but not likely!

H.J. Res 16 (2/1/05): Slightly less ambitious - just bans income taxes

H.J. Res 21 (2/16/05): Allows officials to participate in or conduct voluntary prayers at official school events

H.J. Res 25 (2/17/05): Completely prohibits social security reform

H.J. Res 26 (2/17/05): Defines a system of alternate representatives, similar to the Presidential chain of succession, in case a Congressman is eliminated during his term

H.J. Res 28 (3/2/05): Formally establishes the right for all age 18+ citizens to vote

H.J. Res 29 (3/2/05): "All persons shall enjoy the right to a public education of equal high quality." (I'd like to see them pull this off.)

H.J. Res 30 (3/2/05): Congress shall have the authority to provide every US Citizen with equal quality health care

H.J. Res 31 (3/2/05): Pro-choice amendment - gives all women reproductive rights

H.J. Res 32, 33 (3/2/05): Both proposed by Mr Jackson of Illinois, concerning the right to live in a nice house and pristine environment

H.J. Res 35 (3/2/05): Provides right to work, and asserts equal work must return equal pay without discrimination

H.J. Res 41 (4/13/05): Babies born in the US are not citizens unless their parents are citizens
Also H.J. Res 46

H.J. Res 42 (4/14/05): Ahhnold 2 - Can hold the office of President after 35 years as a citizen

H.J. Res 43 (4/21/05): Establishes English as the official languge of the United States

H.J. Res 49 (5/12/05): Congress can appoint replacement members should something happen to a significant portion of them

H.J. Res 51 (5/23/05): Requires a 3/5 majority vote to close debate on any topic

H.J. Res 53 (6/9/05): Illegal immigrants are not counted as citizens of a state when determining number of Representatives for that state

H.J. Res 57 (6/30/05): Proposed by like sixty people - "The people retain the right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, and traditions on public property, including schools."

H.J. Res 60 (7/14/05): Forbids the use of eminent domain except for public transportation projects (i.e. roads)

H.J. Res 64 (7/29/05): Removes the lifetime appointment on federal district judges; requires them to be readmitted every 10 years by their state

In case people decide to freak out about some of these, looking at past sessions of Congress will reveal that somebody jumps in and submits a few of these every time a new session of Congress begins. For instance, the amendment eliminating term limits for the President was also proposed in 2003-2004 (H.J. Res 24), 2001-2002 (H.J. Res 39), 1999-2000 (H.J. Res 17), 1997-1998 (H.J. Res 17), 1995-1996 (H.J. Res 68), 1993-1994 (H.J. Res 107) and probably earlier years, as well. Amendments regarding line item vetos, balanced budgets, and direct elections are also common.

The gay marriage amendments, coincidentally (of course), started in 2002.