[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H10775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Does the gentleman from California [Mr. 
Waxman] have a parliamentary inquiry he wishes to make?
  Mr. WAXMAN. I do, Madam Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it,
  Mr. WAXMAN. As I understand it, Madam Speaker, the House of 
Representatives has spent around half a million, maybe more, to ask for 
a report to be submitted to our committees. Why can that not be made 
public, and why is that inappropriate to say on the House floor?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Prior rulings of the Speaker have sustained 
the point of order in this and prior Congresses that press accounts 
relating to matters currently before the Standards of Official Conduct 
Committee are not a proper subject for debate on the floor. That is why 
the gentleman from Georgia's point of order was sustained.
  Mr. WAXMAN. Further parliamentary inquiry, Madam Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman may proceed.
  Mr. WAXMAN. There is a ruling that we as Members of the House of 
Representatives may not speak in protest over the committee's refusal 
to make this report public?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The duty of the Chair is to enforce the 
rules of the House as they are written and have been interpreted. The 
rules of the House, as the Chair has ruled in this and prior 
Congresses, make it out of order for any Member to refer to any subject 
currently before the Standards Committee, whether through the Members' 
own words, or through the recitation of words printed in any other 
medium outside the floor of this House, except when a question of 
privilege is pending.
  The Chair will continue to abide by and enforce the rules of the 
House.

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