Later in 1909, Senator Elihu Root (R-NY) drafted legislation establishing an advisory commission of fine arts. Representative Samuel W. McCall (R-MA) introduced the bill, H.R. 19962, into the United States House of Representatives. The House passed the legislation on February 9, 1910. The House bill made the members of the commission subject to approval by the Senate, gave their term of office as four years, and their qualifications as artists "of repute". In addition to having an advisory capacity on all questions of art and design, the commission was given final say on the selection of sites for monuments and statues. Root managed the House bill through the Senate. Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon opposed the bill, and it was bottled up the Committee on the Library. But in mid-March, a group of renegade Republicans joined forces with Democrats to strip Speaker Cannon of much of his power. The fine arts commission bill quickly passed through the committee and was brought up for a vote on the Senate floor.