[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 157 (Thursday, December 8, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H11264-H11266]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to rule IX, I rise in regard to a 
question of the privileges of the House, and I offer a privileged 
resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 591

       Whereas the recurring practice of improperly holding votes 
     open for the sole purpose of overturning the will of the 
     majority, including bullying and threatening Members to vote 
     against their conscience, has occurred eight times since 
     2003, and three times in the 109th Congress alone;
       Whereas on November 22,2003, the Republican Leadership held 
     open the vote on H.R. 1, the Prescription Drug Conference 
     Report, for nearly three hours, the longest period of time in 
     the history of electronic voting in the U.S. House of 
     Representatives;

[[Page H11265]]

       Whereas the normal period of time for a recorded vote is 15 
     minutes, and the Speaker of the House has reiterated that 
     policy on Opening Day of each Congress by saying, ``The Chair 
     announced, and then strictly enforced, a policy of closing 
     electronic votes as soon as possible after the guaranteed 
     period of 15 minutes'';
       Whereas the sole purpose of holding the Prescription Drug 
     vote open was to undermine the will of the House, and reverse 
     the position that a majority of the House of Representatives 
     had taken during the entire vote;
       Whereas it was widely reported in the press that former 
     Representative Nick Smith (R-MI) was bribed on the House 
     floor, and the incident was described in Robert Novak's 
     column in the Chicago Sun-Times, November 27, 2003: ``Nick 
     Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 
     in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, 
     fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure 
     Brad Smith never came to Congress. After (Rep.) Nick Smith 
     voted no and the bill passed, (Rep.) Duke Cunningham of 
     California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was 
     dead meat'';
       Whereas the cost of the Prescription Drug bill was a 
     critical factor in determining the votes of many Members of 
     Congress and Richard S. Foster, the chief actuary for the 
     Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, conducted numerous 
     estimates indicating the cost to be much higher, including a 
     June 11, 2003 analysis of a similar plan in the Senate 
     which would have cost $551 billion over ten years and 
     Members were not made aware of this;
       Whereas the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the 
     cost of the Republican Prescription Drug bill to be $395 
     billion over ten years and, yet just two months after the 
     vote in Congress, Joshua Bolten, Director of the Office of 
     Management and Budget, disclosed that the Administration's 
     estimate of the cost was actually $534 billion;
       Whereas Representative Bill Thomas, the Chairman of the 
     Ways and Means Committee and a key negotiator on the bill, 
     told HHS Secretary Thompson on February 10, 2004 in a hearing 
     before the Ways and Means Committee, ``I know some people 
     were surprised that your (HHS) number was higher. I 
     personally was not . . .'' (Hearing Transcript, February 10, 
     2004);
       Whereas, Representative Nancy Johnson, the Chairman of the 
     Ways and Means Health Subcommittee and a key negotiator on 
     the bill, said she knew of the higher estimates and stated, 
     ``Absolutely, we knew about these numbers.'' (The New York 
     Times, March 18, 2004);
       Whereas the Republican Leadership and the Committees of 
     jurisdiction chose to ignore the warnings of higher cost 
     estimates and intentionally misled Members of the House for 
     the sole purpose of winning passage of an extremely 
     controversial bill;
       Whereas in a clear conflict of interest the Chairman of the 
     Energy and Commerce Committee, former Representative Billy 
     Tauzin (R-LA), was actively engaged in a job search with the 
     pharmaceutical industry at the same time that he was a key 
     negotiator on major provisions in the bill, and after its 
     passage, he subsequently left Congress to take a highly paid 
     executive position with the head of the pharmaceutical lobby, 
     and is reportedly making many times his congressional salary;
       Whereas the Republican Leadership's submissiveness to the 
     influence of corporate interests, and their illegitimate 
     efforts to overturn the will of the House to pass flawed 
     legislation like the Prescription Drug bill, which was 
     written to meet the needs of drug companies, call into 
     question the legitimacy of the laws they enact and the agenda 
     they pursue;
       Whereas the culture of corruption has so permeated the 
     Republican Leadership that they will violate their own rules 
     and the customs and decorum of the House to win votes on the 
     floor of the House of Representatives; therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House denounces the culture of 
     corruption exhibited by the Republican Leadership, denounces 
     the ongoing resort to illegitimate actions taken to pass 
     legislation like the Prescription Drug bill under false 
     pretenses, rejects the practice of improperly holding votes 
     open beyond a reasonable period of time for the sole purpose 
     of circumventing the will of the House, and directs the 
     Speaker to take such steps as necessary to prevent any 
     further abuse.


                         parliamentary inquiry

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I would like 
to raise a point of order. I know that we are talking about a previous 
Member, but is it in order for them to impugn the integrity of the 
House or of a previous Member by making statements like that in a 
resolution of this type?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. It is in order first for the Clerk to read 
the resolution.
  The Clerk will proceed.
  The Clerk continued to read the resolution.

                              {time}  1530

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bass). The resolution presents a 
question of the privileges of the House.


                 Motion To Table Offered By Mr. Putnam

  Mr. PUTNAM. Mr. Speaker, I move to table the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion that the 
resolution be laid on the table.
  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 188, not voting 27, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 622]

                               AYES--219

     Abercrombie
     Aderholt
     Akin
     Alexander
     Bachus
     Baker
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Boustany
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Calvert
     Camp (MI)
     Campbell (CA)
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Castle
     Chabot
     Cole (OK)
     Conaway
     Crenshaw
     Cubin
     Culberson
     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
     Granger
     Graves
     Green (WI)
     Gutknecht
     Hall
     Harris
     Hart
     Hastert
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Inglis (SC)
     Issa
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Jindal
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kline
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     Kuhl (NY)
     LaHood
     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
     Pearce
     Pence
     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
     Schmidt
     Schwarz (MI)
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Sherwood
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simmons
     Simpson
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Sodrel
     Souder
     Stearns
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Turner
     Upton
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                               NOES--188

     Ackerman
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bean
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     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)
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Edwards
     Emanuel
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green, Al
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Herseth
     Higgins
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones (OH)
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick (MI)
     Kucinich
     Langevin
     Lantos
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren, Zoe
     Lowey
     Lynch
     Maloney
     Markey
     Marshall
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy
     McCollum (MN)
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McKinney
     Meehan
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Melancon
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Mollohan
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Ross
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger

[[Page H11266]]


     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
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Wasserman Schultz
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Wexler
     Wu
     Wynn

                             NOT VOTING--27

     Blumenauer
     Boyd
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Buyer
     Chocola
     Coble
     DeFazio
     Doyle
     Etheridge
     Everett
     Green, Gene
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Holden
     Hyde
     Jones (NC)
     Kind
     McDermott
     McNulty
     Menendez
     Pascrell
     Paul
     Peterson (PA)
     Sullivan
     Walden (OR)
     Waters
     Woolsey

                              {time}  1548

  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida changed her vote from ``aye'' to ``no.''
  Mr. SOUDER 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.

                          ____________________