Posting online might make us feel like we’re doing our civic duty, but we must also take the next step and come up with solutions and propose them to our fellow citizens and legislatures. One proposal might be called the McConnell Amendment for individual state legislative bodies to consider.
Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, House Representative Tom Kean, Jr. of New Jersey, and now Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky all had to be absent from work. McConnell’s current absence garners a great amount of attention, but the memes and jokes will not effect change; we can and should make changes by encouraging our state lawmakers to take action so that we are not left without appropriate representation.
State legislatures should create statutory standards governing federal representation. These standards should establish clear, objective attendance thresholds for sitting U.S. Senators and Representatives.
A possible framework might look like:
- The Threshold: If a sitting U.S. Senator or Representative misses more than eight days of committee meetings or floor votes in person within a legislative session (or period of time) without an explicit extension, the seat is declared functionally vacant.
- The FMLA Provision: Public service should mirror the modern workplace, not a black box. If an official faces a genuine health crisis or family emergency, they can publicly request a formal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) extension, extending their timeline by 30, 60, or 90 days. This creates transparency for constituents while respecting real-life medical realities. Certainly, there would also be ways to safeguard privacy, such as putting the Governor in charge of FMLA requests or a small nonpartisan committee of state legislatures (who likely would also need their own set of governing rules).
- The Replacement Process (Temporary or Permanent as states decide): If the absence exceeds the threshold (or the FMLA extension expires without a return), the governor is required to appoint an interim replacement under the state’s existing vacancy laws or procedures. In same-party restriction states, this preserves the party balance voters chose while ensuring the state retains active votes on the Senate and House floors and appropriate committee representation.
An aging Congress is the reality in modern American politics. Waiting around for federal lawmakers to vote to limit their own power or police their own attendance is a fool’s errand. We have the power to adjust how our state House and Senate leaders attend and behave, and we just need our states to take the action so that we no longer have long-term unexplained absences.
State legislatures have the constitutional authority under the 17th Amendment to define how state representation is maintained in Washington. Rather than rolling our eyes at the latest viral video or tawdry tweet from the Capitol, statehouses must create clear rules for what happens when the people we elect are simply unwilling or unable to show up to work for their constituents.
Find your state representatives to propose this or your own idea at Ballotpedia’s List of United States state legislatures.
© 2026 Brian S Collier. All opinions are those of the author. The author reserves all Rights and copyrights. To request permission to reprint any or all of this article, contact info@redresssouthbend.com.
This was originally posted on the author’s Substack – https://cowborian.substack.com/p/the-proposed-mcconnell-amendment
All opinions, research, and views in this piece are attributed to the author and are not necessarily the thoughts or opinions of Redress South Bend.
