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1
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Congress serves as the legislative branch of the
3 United States government and is responsible for the passage of
4 laws that affect the lives of all Americans; and
 
5     WHEREAS, Various actions performed or proposed by various
6 members of Congress, including cuts in programs such as Social
7 Security and Medicare, stand in stark contrast to the lucrative
8 benefits and financial security the members of Congress
9 currently possess, which have a much lower chance of being
10 reduced or eliminated; and
 
11     WHEREAS, The United States Constitution guarantees the
12 equal protection and application of the laws to each citizen of
13 our nation; the spirit of the Constitution is violated when
14 members of Congress enjoy the fruits of Congressional benefits
15 and salaries while creating hardships for lower-income
16 Americans through cuts in necessary programs; therefore, be it
 
17     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL
18 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
19 CONCURRING HEREIN, that we hereby apply to Congress to call a
20 limited constitutional convention for the purpose of proposing
21 to the states for ratification an amendment to the United
22 States Constitution; and be it further
 

 

 

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1     RESOLVED, That such an amendment should be worded as
2 follows, without substantial alteration: "Congress shall make
3 no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that
4 does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives,
5 and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators
6 and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the
7 citizens of the United States"; and be it further
 
8     RESOLVED, That this application constitutes a continuing
9 application in accordance with Article V of the United States
10 Constitution until at least two-thirds of the legislatures of
11 the several states have made application for a limited
12 constitutional convention; and be it further
 
13     RESOLVED, That, if two-thirds of the legislatures of the
14 several states make application to Congress to call a limited
15 constitutional convention, the State of Illinois requests that
16 such a convention be called not later than 6 months after
17 Congress receives the necessary applications from state
18 legislatures; and be it further
 
19     RESOLVED, That the limited convention called by Congress
20 shall be limited to the topics proposed in this resolution; if
21 a limited convention were to consider topics beyond the limited
22 scope of this call for a constitutional convention, delegates,

 

 

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1 representatives, or participants shall be selected by the
2 citizens of the State of Illinois to participate in the limited
3 convention and shall be permitted to vote only on proposed
4 amendments topically contained within the scope of this call
5 and shall be instructed to vote against any other proposed
6 amendments; and be it further
 
7     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
8 presented to the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House
9 of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and Secretary of
10 the United States Senate, the members of the Illinois
11 congressional delegation, the presiding officers of each
12 chamber of each state legislature in the United States, and the
13 news media of the State of Illinois.