“Contingent Election” of the President, & More from CRS
What would happen if no candidate for President of the United States won a majority of electoral votes?
The Congressional Research Service explains: “In these circumstances, the 12th Amendment . . . provides that the House of Representatives would elect the President, and the Senate would elect the Vice President, in a procedure known as ‘contingent election’.”
This is not a purely speculative scenario. “Contingent election has been implemented twice in the nation’s history under the 12th Amendment: first, to elect the President in 1825, and second, the Vice President in 1837.”
See Contingent Election of the President and Vice President by Congress: Perspectives and Contemporary Analysis by CRS Specialist Thomas H. Neale, November 3, 2016.
Other new and updated reports from the Congressional Research Service include the following.
The Terrorist Screening Database and Preventing Terrorist Travel, November 7, 2016
Pipeline Security: Domestic Threats, CRS Insight, November 3, 2016
Individual Income Tax Rates and Other Key Elements of the Federal Individual Income Tax: 1988 to 2017, updated November 4, 2016
Treasury’s Recent Report on Foreign Exchange Rate Policies, CRS Insight, November 3, 2016
U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: Trends, Issues, and Implications, updated November 4, 2016
Moldova: A Pivotal Election?, CRS Insight, November 4, 2016
When a hurricane hits, it’s all hands on deck – that goes for federal data, too. Pulling back from our investments in timely, accurate, and accessible public data will only make us less prepared and put us all at greater risk.
This is bigger than a singular elimination of race and ethnicity questions. It could accelerate the second wave of widespread reductions to demographic data, leaving public health officials with even less information to deliver better health outcomes for all Americans.
Soft law was never meant to be a permanent solution. Treating it as one, and letting the sandcastle stand in for the skyscraper indefinitely, is how we end up with a decade of voluntary commitments and no enforceable accountability to show for it.
FAS has partnered with ICLEI USA to launch the CRI Local Advisory Council.