(Washington, D.C.)–Congressman Jim Langevin today delivered the following statement in support of further study of continuity of government should a catastrophic event prohibit Congress from meeting to perform its duties.

"Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Cox-Frost Continuity of Congress Working Group in the 107th Congress, I urge my colleagues to support H.Con.Res.190 so that Congress may continue to operate in the aftermath of a catastrophe that kills or incapacitates its members.  I would also like to thank Mr. Dreier, Mr. Frost, Mr. Cox, and Mr. Baird for their leadership on this very important issue.

The Constitution declares that members of the House must be popularly elected.  However, the specter of terrorism - notably reports that the Capitol was an intended target on September 11 - reminds us that mass casualties in Washington or elsewhere could have a detrimental effect on the House's ability to fulfill its duties.  While the Cox -Frost group made some significant progress in resolving these complicated problems in the last Congress, many questions still remain.  For example, I have been working with Mr. Ney, Mr. Hoyer, and Mr. Larson of Connecticut to address the communications needs of Members in emergency conditions.

Yesterday, the Continuity of Government Commission issued its first report with recommendations on preserving Congress's ability to function in the wake of a terrorist attack.  It is Congress's responsibility to consider those recommendations and develop a strategy to ensure that the people's business will not be interrupted.  Today's resolution will help us reach that goal, and I urge my colleagues to support it."

 Last year, Langevin introduced HR 5007, "The Ensuring Congressional Security and Continuity Act," which calls for the investigation of alternatives to conducting Congressional business in and around the United States Capitol. 

Specifically, Langevin envisions that in the event a quorum of Congress could not be present in a single location to conduct congressional business, members could instead utilize an Internet- and/or satellite-based communications system.  A member could log on with secure, biometrics technology from anywhere in the world to acknowledge that he or she is not incapacitated and provide his or her physical location.  This system would also provide members with critical information on pending government activity and response to the attack or disaster and would allow critical business to be conducted away from Washington if necessary.

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