[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13282-H13283]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRIES

  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barr). The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, is it not the longstanding tradition and, in 
fact, the rules of the House that no Member is to discuss the workings 
of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct? Are these not rules 
that were adopted under previous Democratic Congresses, and it is not 
legitimate for Members to discuss the internal workings of the 
Committee on Standards of 

[[Page H 13283]]
Official Conduct on the floor of the House?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is correct and the Chair will 
read from page 526 of the House Rules manual under rule number XIV:

       Members should refrain from references in debate to the 
     official conduct of other Members where such conduct is not 
     under consideration in the House by way of a report of the 
     Committee on Standards of Official Conduct or a question of 
     privilege of the House.

  The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, what in the rules prevents a Member of this 
House from discussing an action that has taken place on the House 
floor? The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Doggett] is not discussing what is 
occurring in the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The 
gentleman is discussing what is happening on the House Floor.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The discussion of the pendency of matters 
before the Standards committee is not in order.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, is the Chair suggesting that it is out of 
order to discuss a matter which occurred on the House floor? Because 
that is the action to which the gentleman's remarks were referring.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Wisconsin is placing 
words in the Chair's mouth. That was not the Chair's response. The 
response was that the statements that the gentleman from Texas was 
making referring to matters currently before the Committee on Standards 
of Official Conduct are not in order.
  All the Chair is stating at this point is that for further purposes 
of discussion this evening, if a point of order is raised, there should 
be no further such discussion as the gentleman from Texas raised.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, then is it the ruling of the Chair that the 
resolution that the House just voted to table on the floor of this 
House concerning the desire for a report from the committee, the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, is improper and cannot be 
discussed even during special orders?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair is simply stating that in response 
to the parliamentary inquiry from the gentleman from Pennsylvania, that 
the references that the gentleman from Texas made in discussing that 
resolution went beyond reciting its consideration. That is the very 
limited extent of the Chair's response.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, so, the Chair is not saying that the 
resolution itself, which I read from throughout the course of my 
remarks, would not be the proper subject of debate here in the course 
of special orders?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution was considered as a question 
of the privileges of the House----
  Mr. DOGGETT. And so it is a proper subject.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. And is no longer at this time under 
consideration by the House, based on the action of the House previously 
today.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I have a further parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, is the gentleman from Texas entitled to 
discuss action which took place on the House floor? Is there any action 
that takes place on the House floor that any Member of this House is 
not allowed to refer to?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Would the gentleman from Wisconsin begin 
again, the Chair was preoccupied looking up the rule in the manual.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I am simply asking if the gentleman from Texas 
is within the rules of the House if he continues to discuss a matter 
which occurred on the House Floor.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will not issue anticipatory 
rulings. The Chair simply responded to the parliamentary inquiry from 
the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
  The 5 minutes of the gentleman from Texas having expired, there is no 
longer anything before the Chair to consider, and the Chair will not 
and cannot issue anticipatory rulings.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I have a further parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, because the Chair has ruled, if I 
understand it, in response to the parliamentary inquiry that certain 
remarks would not conform with the rules of the Chair, and since all of 
my remarks centered on reading a privileged resolution that the House 
had just tabled, is it the ruling of the Chair that because the 
resolution was tabled, it is not proper for consideration here since it 
dealt with the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct and pending 
business?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Only to the extent that the gentleman's 
remarks went beyond that.
  Mr. DOGGETT. So, reading the resolution would be within the rules of 
the House?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution has, in fact been tabled----
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I am well aware of the fact that it has 
been tabled. That is what I have been talking about the last 5 minutes. 
My inquiry, Mr. Speaker, is whether or not a discussion of the action 
in tabling that resolution, and my reading of the resolution that was 
tabled, would be within the rules of the House, because your previous 
response to the parliamentary inquiry of the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania suggests otherwise.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The content of the resolution is not the 
proper subject for debate in this House when it is no longer pending, 
and it is no longer pending.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, is it proper to read verbatim, without any 
commentary whatsoever, a resolution which has been tabled by the House, 
in a special order after regular business has ended?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Not if the text of the resolution itself 
involves official conduct.
  Mr. HOKE. So, Mr. Speaker, reading the text verbatim of a resolution 
which has been tabled pertaining to a matter before the Committee 
on Standards of Official Conduct is, in fact, out of order after it has 
been tabled?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is correct.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I have a further parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, the Chair is not, however, ruling that it is 
out of order for any Member of this House to address any action taken 
by the House on this floor, is the Chair?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair is making no global rulings.
  Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, I think what the Chair is saying is that the 
gentleman can proceed if he is not discussing the committee, but 
discussing floor action.

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