[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H31-H32]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair would like to enunciate an 
essential rule of decorum.
  It is an essential rule of decorum in debate that Members should 
refrain from references in debate to the conduct of other Members where 
such conduct is not the question actually pending before the House by 
way of a report from the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct or 
by way of any question of the privileges of the House. The principle is 
documented on pages 168 and 226 of the House Rules and Manual and 
reflects the consistent rulings of the Chair in prior Congresses and 
applies to one-minutes and special-order speeches.
  Neither the filing of a complaint before the Committee on Standards 
of Official Conduct, nor the conduct of investigations in prior 
Congresses, nor the publication in another forum of charges that are 
personally critical of another Member, justify references to such 
charges on the floor of the House. This includes references to the 
motivations of Members who file complaints and to Members of the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
  Clause 1 of rule XIV is a prohibition against engaging in personality 
in debate. It derives from article I, section 5 of the Constitution, 
which authorizes each House to make its own rules and to punish its 
Members for disorderly behavior and has been part of the rules of the 
House in some relevant form since 1789. This rule supersedes any claim 
of a Member to be free from questioning in any other place.
  On January 27, 1909, the House adopted a report that stated the 
following, which is recorded in Cannon's Precedents, volume 8, at 
section 2497:
  ``It is * * * the duty of the House to require its Members in speech 
or debate to preserve that proper restraint which will permit the House 
to conduct its business in an orderly manner and without unnecessarily 
and unduly exciting animosity among its Members.''
  This report was in response to improper references in debate to the 
President, but clearly reiterated a principle that all occupants of the 
Chair in prior Congresses, both Republican and Democratic, have held to 
be equally applicable to Members' remarks in debate toward each other.
  The Chair asks and expects the cooperation of all Members in 
maintaining a level of decorum that properly dignifies the proceedings 
of the House and respects proper rulings of the Chair.


                        Parliamentary Inquiries

  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state his inquiry.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Is it the Speaker's contention that he is 
stating what has been the rules of the House for many years?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The purpose of reading this is that we have 
adopted the rules, and this follows the precedents that have been set 
previously by previous Congresses, both Democrat and Republican, and 
the Chair wanted to reiterate it for all Members, particularly new 
Members.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, further inquiry. Does it 
require a Member to rise on the floor to ask for the enforcement of the 
rule, or is that at the discretion of the Speaker or his designee?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Either the Chair or a Member may initiate 
points of order.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. So if it is not the position of a Member who 
perhaps hears a rule being violated and brings it to the Speaker's 
attention, the Speaker would be in a position to enforce it from the 
Chair. Would the Speaker therefore be required to do it under all 
circumstances and show no discretion?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair normally uses its initiative to 
enforce the rule with respect to references to the President and 
Members of the Senate.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Members of the House, I infer, would need to 
have the rule applied to them by an objection arising from among the 
membership?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. That has generally been the practice of the 
Chair.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. I appreciate that.

[[Page H32]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Not invariably.

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