5. An Amendment for Federal Recall

.... As a wholly separate measure to restore the imbalance of the 17th Amendment, the ability of states to recall their federal Senators should become a new power, under the control of each state's upper legislature.

.... The idea is not a new one. Under the original Articles of Confederation, states had the right to recall their federal representatives (although the right was never exercised). When this provision was dropped from the U.S. Constitution, it became a Federalist target in the ratification debates, as allowing an imbalance; and in the years after the constitution was adopted, the ability of states to recall their senators was advocated repeatedly.

.... Often, recall initiatives must be based upon specific grounds. For practical purposes, removal of a senator from office for criminal cause is already addressed through the impeachment provisions of the U.S. Constitution, so this new power need not be redundant. Instead it would focus on true representation as an instrument of their state:

The upper legislature of the statehouse of each state shall have the power to recall one or both of the federal senators from their state at any time, by a two-thirds majority vote, if they determine that the senator is voting in a manner that is contrary to the will of the populous of their state and to their state's interests.

Should a federal senator be removed from office in this manner, they shall be temporarily replaced by a different resident of the same state, as appointed by the governor of that state, until a special election can be convened to establish a new senator who is chosen by the populous of the state.

If the same senator is returned to office by the populous in the special election, the state legislature shall have no further power to remove them from office for the remainder of their senatorial term.

Members of the House of Representatives may be recalled by a voting referendum of the populous of their own district, according to laws and procedures established by each state.

.... Under the present arrangement, senators can only be removed for office by impeachment. However, if the federal legislature itself is unresponsive to the will of the people, as is the recent health care debates, they obviously cannot be trusted to manage their own house. Since the question of appointing senators originally resided with the state legislatures, the ability to recall them must be granted to compensate for the voice that the states, as entities, have lost. 

.... Conversely, members of the House of Representatives are selected by the populous of each district, and they alone have the right issue a recall for this office. However, no such right has been provided under the U.S. Constitution. This amendment would acknowledge this intrinsic right through appropriate legislation and procedures established by each state.