A bipartisan group of members in the House and Senate have had enough with gubernatorial appointments to fill vacant Senate seats. With two senators elected to the White House and three nominated to the president's cabinet, there will soon be five Senate appointments in the last month.

House Rules Committee Ranking Member David Dreier (R-Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) are leading the push in the House for a constitutional amendment that would force all Senate vacancies to be filled by special election. Leading the effort in the Senate is Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.).

Dreier and Feingold introduced identical bills in their respective chambers calling for a 28th Amendment to the Constitution. If agreed to, it would read:

No person shall be a Senator from a State unless such person has been elected by the people thereof. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

At a press conference today, Dreier said he believed Senate vacancies were "merely an afterthought" when the 17th Amendment was written and adopted in 1913. Feingold added: "Enough is enough. It's time to place the power...in the hands of the people."