[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 119 (Thursday, September 10, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H7497-H7498]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER

  The SPEAKER. The Chair desires to make a statement. With the 
concurrence of the Minority Leader, the Chair would take this occasion 
to make an announcement regarding proper decorum during debate in the 
House, including one-minute and special-order speeches, specifically 
with regard to references to the President of the United States.
  As indicated in section 17 of Jefferson's Manual, which under rule 
XLII is incorporated as a part of the Rules of the House, Members 
engaging in debate must abstain from language that is personally 
offensive toward the President, including references to various types 
of unethical behavior.
  Rulings in this Congress, which will be annotated in the accompanying 
section 370 of the House Rules and Manual, include references to 
alleged criminal conduct. This documented restriction extends to 
referencing extraneous material personally abusive of the President 
that would be improper if spoken as the Member's own words.
  Occupants of the Chair in this Congress and in prior Congresses have 
consistently adhered to this principle regarding the present and past 
Presidents.
  While several rulings by the Chair in this Congress may have predated 
certain public acknowledgments by the President, and while the standard 
in Jefferson's Manual has been held not to apply in the other body, it 
is essential that the constraint against such remarks in ordinary 
debate continue to apply in the House.
  On January 27, 1909, the House adopted a report in response to 
improper references in debate to the President. That report read in 
part as follows:

       The freedom of speech in debate in the House of 
     Representatives should never be denied or abridged, but 
     freedom of speech in debate does not mean license to indulge 
     in personal abuses or ridicule. The right of Members of the 
     two Houses of Congress to criticize the official acts of the 
     President and other executive officers is beyond question, 
     but this right is subject to proper rules requiring decorum 
     in debate. Such right of criticism is inherent upon 
     legislative authority.
       The right to legislate involves the right to consider 
     conditions as they are and to contrast present conditions 
     with those of the past or those desired in the future. The 
     right to correct abuses by legislation carries the right to 
     consider and discuss abuses which exist or which are feared.
       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 or antagonism from those other branches of the 
     Government with which the House is correlated.

  This is recorded in Cannon's Precedents, volume 8, at section 2497, 
and is quoted in section 370 of the House Rules and Manual.
  In addition to relying on the precedents of the House, the Chair 
would comment on the importance of comity and integrity of debate in 
the House in an electronic age. Debates in the House were not broadcast 
by radio or television before 1978. There were correspondingly fewer 
occasions when Members were called to order for improper personal 
references to Presidents. In 1974, there were no allegations of 
personal misconduct on the part of the President called to order on the 
floor before or during proceedings in executive session of the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Indeed, it is only during the actual pendency of proceedings in 
impeachment as the pending business on the

[[Page H7498]]

Floor of the House that remarks in debate may include references to 
personal misconduct on the part of the President.
  While an inquiry is under way in committee, the committee is the 
proper forum for examination and debate of such allegations. In the 
meantime, it is incumbent on the House to conduct its other business, 
again quoting from the action of the House in 1909, ``in an orderly 
manner and without unnecessarily and unduly exciting animosity among 
its Members or antagonism from those other branches of the Government 
with which the House is correlated.''
  This is not to say that the President is beyond criticism in debate, 
or that Members are prohibited from expressing opinions about executive 
policy or competence to hold office. It is permissible in debate to 
challenge the President on matters of policy. The difference is one 
between political criticism and personally offensive criticism. For 
example, a Member may assert in debate that an incumbent President is 
not worthy of reelection, but in doing so should not allude to personal 
misconduct. By extension, a Member may assert in debate that the House 
should conduct an inquiry, or that a President should not remain in 
office. What the rule of decorum requires is that the oratory remain 
above personality and refrain from terms personally offensive.
  When an impeachment matter is not pending on the floor, a Member who 
feels a need to dwell on personal factual bases underlying the 
rationale on which he might question the fitness or competence of an 
incumbent President must do so in other forums, while conforming his 
remarks in debate to the more rigorous standard of decorum that must 
prevail in this Chamber.
  The Chair will enforce this rule of decorum with respect to 
references to the President, and asks and expects the cooperation of 
all Members in maintaining a level of decorum that properly dignifies 
the proceedings of the House.

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