Bill would push Ridge up in presidential line
By Jim Abrams, Associated Press, 7/1/2003
URL:http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/182/nation/Bill_would_push_Ridge_up_in_presidential_line+.shtml
WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge could move up to eighth in the line of presidential succession, leapfrogging 10 other Cabinet members in a congressional effort to better prepare in case of a catastrophic attack on Washington.
Under legislation approved by the Senate and pending in the House, Ridge would move from 18th to eighth, behind Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and in front of Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, in line to succeed the president.
The measure sped through the Senate without debate Friday.
Ridge, asked about the legislation yesterday, said: ''One of our responsibilities obviously is continuity of government ... and where the Congress thinks the secretary should fit, that's their judgment. I'm satisfied with it.''
The current system dates to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, signed by President Truman, which specifies that the vice president, the speaker of the House, the president pro tempore of the Senate, and the secretary of state are next in line to take over the presidency if necessary. Other Cabinet members are listed according to the date their offices were established.
With the formation of the Homeland Security Department early this year, Ridge became 18th in the succession line, behind Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi.
But there has been a push to change the order, both in the House and in the Senate, where Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, and Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, sponsored the legislation.
DeWine said the Homeland Security chief, because of his responsibilities for disaster relief and security, would be best qualified to take over the nation after an attack that took the lives of the top seven successors.
''We need to be prepared for even the worst-case disaster scenario,'' DeWine said, adding that it makes sense to break with tradition and elevate the head of the largest and one of the most powerful departments.
Representative Christopher Cox, Republican of California, said in introducing legislation in the House in early June that the Homeland Security chief should be placed higher, because his job is ''dealing with mortal threats to the country.'' Cox and Representative Martin Frost, Democrat of Texas, have proposed a bill that also would make the Homeland Security secretary eighth in line and clarify other language in the 1947 law. Representative Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia, has introduced a similar bill.
The current order of succession lists Vice President Dick Cheney, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Senate President Pro Tempore Ted Stevens, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and Norton.
Then, Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman, Secretary of Commerce Donald L. Evans, Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez, Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, Secretary of Education Roderick R. Paige, Principi, and Ridge.
But the Constitution requires that the president be a natural born citizen, so Chao, born in Taiwan, and Martinez, who came to the United States from Cuba, would not be eligible. |
