[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 20 (Thursday, February 16, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H351-H353]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE--PRIVILEGED RESOLUTION REGARDING CULTURE OF 
              CORRUPTION SURROUNDING BUDGET RECONCILIATION

  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. 687

       Whereas the Republican Leadership has engaged in a 
     continuing pattern of withholding accurate information vital 
     for Members of the House of Representatives to have before 
     voting on legislation, and has inserted numerous 
     controversial provisions into completed conference reports in 
     the dead of night without notifying Democratic Members of the 
     House, the press, or the public;
       Whereas on February 1, 2006 the Republican Leadership 
     permitted a vote on House Resolution 653 to concur in a 
     Senate amendment to the conference agreement on Budget 
     Reconciliation, despite the inclusion of inaccurate numbers 
     in provisions that cost the

[[Page H352]]

     Medicare program an additional $2 billion dollars;
       Whereas although the Senate Enrolling Clerk had mistakenly 
     changed critical numbers which had a major financial 
     significance for Medicare, and had notified the House of 
     those errors two weeks prior to the vote on February 1, the 
     Republican Leadership deliberately chose to ignore that 
     notification and instead allowed the House to vote on an 
     incorrect version of this legislation;
       Whereas the conference agreement on Budget Reconciliation 
     passed the House by the narrowest of margins, 216-214, with 
     every Democrat voting in opposition, and knowledge of this 
     mistake may have influenced the outcome of this vote, which 
     is why the Republican Leadership chose not to pursue the 
     proper course in correcting this legislation;
       Whereas as a result of the concealment of these errors in 
     the enrollment of the bill, the law signed by the President 
     of the United States on February 8, 2006 is not the same as 
     the text cleared by the House on February 1, 2006;
       Whereas the effect of these actions raises serious 
     constitutional questions and jeopardizes the legal status of 
     this legislation and The Washington Post has reported: ``Now 
     there are questions about the legality of signing a bill the 
     House technically did not pass'' (The Washington Post, 
     February 9, 2006);
       Whereas Republican incompetence led to numerous errors in 
     this legislation, and two additional errors in the Senate 
     amendment that was agreed to by House Resolution 653 were 
     found by the Congressional Budget Office in a report dated 
     January 27, 2006, five days BEFORE the House voted on the 
     final conference report: ``The (conference report on Budget 
     Reconciliation) contains two apparent errors in legislative 
     language: one in section 8006 regarding direct loans to 
     parents of postsecondary students, and one in section 10002 
     regarding bankruptcy fees.'' (CBO Report on S. 1932, January 
     27, 2006);
       Whereas in this ongoing pattern of abuse of power, the 
     Republican Leadership on December 17, 2005 deliberately 
     misled Members of the House by inserting into a completed 
     conference report without debate or notification a provision 
     granting liability protection for drug companies from cases 
     involving consumers injured by avian flu vaccine; (HR 2863, 
     the Defense Appropriations Conference Report);
       Whereas the Republican Leadership inserted this liability 
     vaccine provision at midnight, AFTER conferees signed what 
     they understood to be the final document seven hours earlier, 
     thereby breaking their word and assurances that ``Avian Flu 
     shall be funded at the House level, and will not include 
     either indemnity or compensation provisions.'' (House 
     Appropriations Committee Summary, December 17, 2005, 4:40 
     PM);
       Whereas during passage of the Prescription Drug bill in 
     2003, the Republican Leadership and the committees of 
     jurisdiction ignored the warnings from knowledgeable experts 
     that the true cost of the legislation was potentially 
     hundreds of billions of dollars higher than the official 
     estimate, and intentionally misled Members of the House by 
     withholding information for the sole purpose of winning 
     passage of this extremely controversial bill by a single vote 
     in the middle of the night; and
       Whereas the Republican Leadership's culture of corruption 
     and its repeated efforts to thwart the normal legislative 
     process by cutting corners, inserting hand-written provisions 
     into completed conference reports in the dead of night, and 
     rushing through legislation with major errors, forces Members 
     to vote on controversial legislation without thorough time 
     for review and must be denounced: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Committee on Standards of Official 
     Conduct shall begin an immediate investigation into the abuse 
     of power surrounding the inaccuracies in the process and 
     enrollment of the Budget Reconciliation legislation cleared 
     for the President on February 1, 2006.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution qualifies.


                 Motion to Table Offered by Mr. Boehner

  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to table the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to 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 187, answered ``present'' 6, not voting 20, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 13]

                               AYES--219

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Alexander
     Bachus
     Baker
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett (MD)
     Barton (TX)
     Bass
     Beauprez
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bonner
     Bono
     Boozman
     Boustany
     Bradley (NH)
     Brady (TX)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp (MI)
     Cannon
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chocola
     Coble
     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)
     Everett
     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
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayes
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Hostettler
     Hulshof
     Hyde
     Inglis (SC)
     Issa
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Jindal
     Johnson (CT)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones (NC)
     Keller
     Kelly
     Kennedy (MN)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     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)
     Moran (KS)
     Murphy
     Musgrave
     Myrick
     Neugebauer
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nunes
     Nussle
     Otter
     Oxley
     Paul
     Pearce
     Pence
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Platts
     Poe
     Pombo
     Porter
     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
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Sodrel
     Souder
     Stearns
     Sullivan
     Sweeney
     Tancredo
     Taylor (NC)
     Terry
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Turner
     Upton
     Walden (OR)
     Walsh
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     Westmoreland
     Wicker
     Wilson (NM)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wolf
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                               NOES--187

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bean
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brown (OH)
     Brown, Corrine
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardin
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     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
     Edwards
     Emanuel
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Gonzalez
     Gordon
     Green, Al
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Herseth
     Higgins
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     Johnson, E. B.
     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)
     Michaud
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Ross
     Rothman
     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
     Strickland
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Towns
     Udall (CO)
     Udall (NM)
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Wexler
     Wu
     Wynn

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--6

     Doyle
     Green, Gene
     Jones (OH)
     Mollohan
     Roybal-Allard
     Stupak

                             NOT VOTING--20

     Berman
     Bishop (UT)
     Blumenauer
     Campbell (CA)
     Carson
     Evans
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hunter
     Kingston
     Melancon
     Miller, Gary
     Osborne
     Price (GA)
     Simpson
     Thomas
     Wamp
     Wasserman Schultz
     Whitfield
     Woolsey


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood) (during the vote). Members are 
advised that 2 minutes remain in this vote.

[[Page H353]]

                              {time}  1155

  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.
  Stated against:

                          ____________________