[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 76 (Thursday, June 9, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H4318-H4319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE--RESTORING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN ETHICS PROCESS

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, we are halfway through the first session of 
the 109th Congress and the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
has yet to begin its important work; and because the chairman of the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct refuses to obey the rules of 
the House and provide for a nonpartisan staff; therefore, pursuant to 
rule IX, I rise in regard to a question of the privileges of the House 
and offer a privileged resolution.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

       Whereas, in 1968, in furtherance of its constitutional 
     authority and to promote the highest ethical standards for 
     Members of Congress, the House of Representatives established 
     the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct;
       Whereas, the ethics procedures in effect during the 108th 
     Congress, and in the three preceding Congresses, were enacted 
     in 1997 in a bipartisan manner by an overwhelming vote of the 
     House of Representatives upon the bipartisan recommendation 
     of the ten member Ethics Reform Task Force which conducted a 
     thorough and lengthy review of the entire ethics process;
       Whereas, Rule XI, clause 3(g) of the Rules of the House, 
     first adopted in 1997 upon the recommendation of the task 
     force, provides that the Committee ``staff be assembled and 
     retained as a professional non-partisan staff'' and ``[a]ll 
     staff member shall be appointed by an affirmative vote of the 
     majority of the Members of the Committee;''
       Whereas, Rule XI states that each such staff person ``shall 
     be professional and demonstrably qualified for the position 
     which he is hired'' and is prohibited from engaging in ``any 
     partisan political activity directly affecting any 
     congressional or presidential election;''
       Whereas, Rule XI also provides that, ``in addition to any 
     other staff provided by law, rule or other authority,'' the 
     Chair and Ranking Minority Member may each appoint, without a 
     vote of the Committee, one person as a shared staff member 
     from his or her personal staff to perform service for the 
     Committee; and further provides such shared staff persons are 
     exempt from the provision requiring that ``the staff be 
     assembled and retained as a professional, nonpartisan staff'' 
     and the provision stating that ``no member of the staff shall 
     engage in any partisan political activity directly affecting 
     any congressional or presidential election;''
       Whereas, from 1997 through 2004, the Staff Director/Chief 
     Counsel and other professional staff were appointed by an 
     affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the 
     Committee, and the shared staff members exercised no 
     supervisory or other authority over the professional staff;
       Whereas, in January of 2005, the Chairman of the Committee 
     improperly and unilaterally fired nonpartisan Committee 
     staff;
       Whereas, the Chairman now proposed to designate his shared 
     staff person as the Committee Staff Director, clothed with 
     supervisory authority, without subjecting him to a vote of 
     the Committee;

[[Page H4319]]

       Whereas, because of the Chairman's proposal and with nearly 
     half of the First Session of the 109th Congress having 
     expired, the committee has been unable to carry out its 
     charge, set out in Rule XI, to investigate allegations of 
     misconduct by Members and staff;
       Whereas, the Committee's resulting inability to carry out 
     its duties has subjected the House to public ridicule and 
     produced contempt for the ethics process, thus bringing 
     discredit to the House; now be it
       Resolved, That the Committee on Standards of Official 
     Conduct is hereby directed to proceed in accord with clause 
     3(g) of rule XI, to appoint, upon an affirmative vote of the 
     majority of the Members of the Committee, a non-partisan 
     professional staff.

                              {time}  1300

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). In the opinion of the Chair, 
the resolution constitutes a question of privileges of the House.


                  Motion to Table Offered by Mr. Blunt

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. Speaker, I move to table the resolution.


                         Parliamentary Inquiry

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state his parliamentary 
inquiry.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, am I correct that if the gentleman from 
Missouri's motion prevails, that we will be unable to discuss the 
substance of the motion made by the minority leader?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The adoption of the motion to table would 
dispose of the resolution.
  Mr. HOYER. I thank the Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to table 
offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt).
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.


                             Recorded Vote

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
  A recorded vote was ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 219, 
noes 199, not voting 15, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 240]

                               AYES--219

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Alexander
     Bachus
     Baker
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Boozman
     Boustany
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chocola
     Coble
     Cole (OK)
     Conaway
     Crenshaw
     Cubin
     Culberson
     Cunningham
     Davis (KY)
     Davis, Jo Ann
     Davis, Tom
     Deal (GA)
     DeLay
     Dent
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Doolittle
     Drake
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Ehlers
     Emerson
     English (PA)
     Feeney
     Ferguson
     Fitzpatrick (PA)
     Flake
     Foley
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Fossella
     Foxx
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gingrey
     Gohmert
     Goode
     Goodlatte
     Graves
     Green (WI)
     Gutknecht
     Hall
     Harris
     Hart
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Hunter
     Hyde
     Inglis (SC)
     Issa
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Jindal
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     King (IA)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kline
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kuhl (NY)
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Leach
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas
     Lungren, Daniel E.
     Mack
     Manzullo
     Marchant
     McCaul (TX)
     McCotter
     McCrery
     McHenry
     McHugh
     McKeon
     McMorris
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Moran (KS)
     Murphy
     Musgrave
     Myrick
     Neugebauer
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nunes
     Nussle
     Osborne
     Otter
     Oxley
     Paul
     Pearce
     Pence
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Platts
     Poe
     Pombo
     Porter
     Price (GA)
     Pryce (OH)
     Putnam
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Rehberg
     Reichert
     Renzi
     Reynolds
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Ryun (KS)
     Saxton
     Schwarz (MI)
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Sodrel
     Souder
     Stearns
     Sullivan
     Tancredo
     Taylor (NC)
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Turner
     Upton
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                               NOES--199

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bean
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown, Corrine
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     Carson
     Case
     Chandler
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Costello
     Cramer
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Emanuel
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Harman
     Herseth
     Higgins
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick (MI)
     Kind
     Kucinich
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren, Zoe
     Lowey
     Lynch
     Maloney
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy
     McCollum (MN)
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Melancon
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Mollohan
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (VA)
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Sabo
     Salazar
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sanders
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schwartz (PA)
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sherman
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Solis
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Wexler
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Wynn

                             NOT VOTING--15

     Bono
     Cox
     Everett
     Granger
     Hastings (FL)
     Hobson
     Hulshof
     King (NY)
     LaHood
     Menendez
     Murtha
     Strickland
     Sweeney
     Terry
     Tiberi

                              {time}  1323

  Ms. DeGETTE changed her vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''
  Mr. OXLEY changed his vote from ``no'' to ``aye.''
  So the motion to table was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________