[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H6884-H6885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    ELECTION OF MEMBERS TO CERTAIN STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE HOUSE

  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution 
(H. Res. 186) and ask for its immediate consideration.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 186

       Resolved, That the following named Members be, and are 
     hereby, elected to the committees indicated:
       (1) to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure: 
     Representative Frank Mascara of Pennsylvania; and
       (2) to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight: 
     Representative Tim Holden of Pennsylvania.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California [Mr. Fazio] is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, I simply would indicate that 
these two gentlemen are very much eligible for the committees they have 
been recommended by our caucus to assume. The gentleman from 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Mascara], a new Member, former county commissioner 
from Washington County, PA, is eminently qualified for the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure. When he came to this Congress, he 
was not given a major committee.
  With the opening on the former Committee on Public Works and 
Transportation, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Mascara] sought 
and was unanimously selected by our steering committee for that role. 
In assuming that assignment, he made available a position on the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight which allowed a second-
term Member, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Holden], to accept a 
second committee because he had been prevented from having more than 
his major committee, the Committee on Agriculture.
  I think there is no controversy. The ratios on these committees are 
maintained.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. FAZIO of California. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I am somewhat torn as to what to do here 
today regarding the privileged resolution of the minority caucus 
leader. The resolution, offered at the direction of the minority 
caucus, would appoint Mr. Mascara to the Transportation and 
Infrastructure Committee and Mr. Holden to the Government Reform and 
Oversight Committee.
  As I pointed out to the minority leader last Monday, the history and 
precedents of this House allowed each party to appoint those members of 
its caucus to available committee slots as it saw fit, without the 
consent or approval of the opposing caucus.
  Never before last Monday has a Member of this body had to face the 
recorded vote of members of the other party to accept his conference's 
assignment to a standing committee.
  Now it seems to me that if the minority wishes to engage in a case of 
tit-for-tat, then for us as the majority, it is a bit like engaging in 
a duel with an unarmed man. Two hundred thirty-two Republican votes 
would indicate that the minority would have a difficult--if not 
impossible--time placing any member of its caucus on a committee unless 
the majority party felt it was in the majority's interest to have that 
minority member on the committee.
  And yet, this is what the minority seems to want as a new precedent 
of the House given their actions of last Monday.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time if I might, 
I do not believe I have a great deal of time. How much time is 
available?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California has 1 hour.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Well, I think that might give me sufficient 
time to yield further.
  Mr. BOEHNER. I thank my friend the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, in the interest of comity, however, I will not call for 
a recorded vote, subjecting your leadership, Mr. Mascara, and Mr. 
Holden to the humiliation of defeat.
  I would hope that in the future, those Democrats who care for this 
institution, have a respect for the history of the House, who are tired 
of pointless dilatory tactics, and who want to roll up their sleeves 
and get to work on balancing the budget, preserving Medicare, and 
saving our country for our children, I hope they will prevail upon 
their leadership to put childish actions aside and put the interest of 
the country before those of a partisan few.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, if I might comment at this 
time, I think in all the time I have been associated with the 
leadership on this side of the aisle when we were in the majority, I 
can remember no instance in which an appointment to a committee was 
made that would have changed the committee ratio without the complete 
consultation of the minority leader and the Speaker. I know for a fact 
that whenever a special election would occur and changes would occur in 
the ratio of our memberships in the full body or on each committee 
individually, our Speakers, whether they were recent or in the distant 
past, consulted with the minority leader, and when it was required, we 
adjusted the number of members on the committee to conform to the ratio 
that we had reached agreement on at the beginning of that Congress.
  My personal problem with what happened with the appointment of the 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Laughlin] was that we did not have that kind 
of consultation which occurred in every instance when we were in the 
majority. That is the reason why I think our side reacted as we did. It 
was not a question of who. It was a question of process, mutual 
respect, and recognition of each party's role once we had agreed on the 
ratios at the beginning of the Congress.
  I think that was the point that the people on this side of the aisle 
reacted to, and I think that was really why we acted as we did. Not in 
a manner that could be described as childish but in a manner that 
reflected the degree to which we resented the treatment that we had 
been accorded.
  But I think that is behind us for now. Perhaps we will visit this 
issue again at some point. But I do appreciate the fact that the 
majority is not going to interfere with the appointment that these two 
gentlemen seek which does not change the ratios whatsoever and which 
merely maintains our balance as 

[[Page H 6885]]
it existed at the beginning of the Congress on both these committees.
  Mr. Speaker, if there is no further comment or request for time, I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
  The resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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