[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 51 (Wednesday, March 25, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H3990-H3991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of the 
House and offer the resolution previously noticed.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 286

       Whereas, The Hill reported that a prominent lobbying firm 
     specializing in obtaining defense earmarks for its clients, 
     the subject of a ``federal investigation into potentially 
     corrupt political contributions,'' has given $3.4 million in 
     political donations to no less than 284 Members of Congress.
       Whereas, multiple press reports have noted questions 
     related to campaign contributions made by or on behalf of the 
     firm; including questions related to ``straw man'' 
     contributions, the reimbursement of employees for political 
     giving, pressure on clients to give, a suspicious pattern of 
     giving, and the timing of donations relative to legislative 
     activity.
       Whereas, Roll Call has taken note of the timing of 
     contributions from employees of the firm and its clients when 
     it reported that they ``have provided thousands of dollars 
     worth of campaign contributions to key Members in close 
     proximity to legislative activity, such as the deadline for 
     earmark request letters or passage of a spending bill.''
       Whereas, CQ Today specifically noted a Member getting 
     ``$25,000 in campaign contribution money from [the founder of 
     the firm] and his relatives right after his subcommittee 
     approved its spending bill in 2005.''
       Whereas, the Associated Press also noted that Members 
     received campaign contributions from employees of the firm 
     ``around the time they requested'' earmarks for companies 
     represented by the firm.
       Whereas, clients of the firm received at least $300 million 
     worth of earmarks in fiscal year 2009 appropriations 
     legislation, including several that were approved even after 
     news of the FBI raid of the firm's offices and Justice 
     Department investigation into the firm was well known.
       Whereas, the persistent media attention focused on 
     questions about the nature and timing of campaign 
     contributions related to the firm, as well as reports of the 
     Justice Department conducting research on earmarks and 
     campaign contributions, raise concern about the integrity of 
     Congressional proceedings and the dignity of this 
     institution.
       Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That
       (a) the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, or a 
     subcommittee of the committee designated by the committee and 
     its members appointed by the chairman and ranking member, 
     shall immediately begin an investigation into the 
     relationship between the source and timing of past 
     contributions to Members of the House related to the raided 
     firm and earmark requests made by Members of the House on 
     behalf of clients of the raided firm.
       (b) The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct shall 
     submit a report of its findings to the House of 
     Representatives within 2 months after the date of adoption of 
     this resolution.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution qualifies.


                            Motion to Table

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to lay the 
resolution on the table.
  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.
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, this 15-
minute vote on tabling House Resolution 286 will be followed by a 5-
minute vote on adopting House Resolution 281.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 223, 
nays 182, answered ``present'' 16, not voting 10, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 155]

                               YEAS--223

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Adler (NJ)
     Altmire
     Andrews
     Arcuri
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Braley (IA)
     Brown, Corrine
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Childers
     Clarke
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Connolly (VA)
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Costello
     Courtney

[[Page H3991]]


     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Dahlkemper
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Doyle
     Driehaus
     Edwards (MD)
     Edwards (TX)
     Ellison
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Frank (MA)
     Fudge
     Gonzalez
     Gordon (TN)
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Griffith
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Hall (NY)
     Hare
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Heinrich
     Higgins
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hirono
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Jones
     Kagen
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick (MI)
     Kilroy
     Kissell
     Klein (FL)
     Kratovil
     Kucinich
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee (CA)
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lowey
     Lujan
     Lynch
     Maffei
     Maloney
     Markey (CO)
     Markey (MA)
     Marshall
     Massa
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McMahon
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Michaud
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Mollohan
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (VA)
     Murphy (CT)
     Murphy, Patrick
     Murphy, Tim
     Murtha
     Nadler (NY)
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Nye
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Ortiz
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor (AZ)
     Payne
     Perlmutter
     Peters
     Peterson
     Pingree (ME)
     Polis (CO)
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Richardson
     Rodriguez
     Rohrabacher
     Ross
     Rothman (NJ)
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Salazar
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sarbanes
     Schakowsky
     Schauer
     Schiff
     Schrader
     Schwartz
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sestak
     Shea-Porter
     Sherman
     Shuler
     Sires
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Snyder
     Space
     Speier
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stupak
     Sutton
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Titus
     Tonko
     Towns
     Tsongas
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Wasserman Schultz
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Wexler
     Wilson (OH)
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Yarmuth
     Young (AK)

                               NAYS--182

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Alexander
     Austria
     Bachmann
     Bachus
     Bartlett
     Barton (TX)
     Bean
     Biggert
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boccieri
     Boehner
     Bono Mack
     Boozman
     Boustany
     Brady (TX)
     Bright
     Broun (GA)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Buchanan
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Cao
     Capito
     Carter
     Cassidy
     Castle
     Chaffetz
     Coble
     Coffman (CO)
     Cole
     Crenshaw
     Culberson
     Davis (KY)
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Donnelly (IN)
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Ehlers
     Ellsworth
     Emerson
     Fallin
     Flake
     Fleming
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Foster
     Foxx
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Giffords
     Gingrey (GA)
     Gohmert
     Goodlatte
     Granger
     Graves
     Guthrie
     Hall (TX)
     Halvorson
     Harper
     Heller
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Herseth Sandlin
     Hill
     Himes
     Hodes
     Hoekstra
     Hunter
     Inglis
     Issa
     Jenkins
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jordan (OH)
     Kind
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kirkpatrick (AZ)
     Kosmas
     Lamborn
     Lance
     LaTourette
     Latta
     Lee (NY)
     Lewis (CA)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Loebsack
     Lucas
     Luetkemeyer
     Lummis
     Lungren, Daniel E.
     Mack
     Manzullo
     Marchant
     McCarthy (CA)
     McCaul
     McClintock
     McCotter
     McHenry
     McHugh
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McMorris Rodgers
     McNerney
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Minnick
     Mitchell
     Moran (KS)
     Neugebauer
     Nunes
     Olson
     Paul
     Paulsen
     Pence
     Perriello
     Petri
     Pitts
     Platts
     Posey
     Price (GA)
     Putnam
     Radanovich
     Rehberg
     Reichert
     Roe (TN)
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rooney
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Scalise
     Schmidt
     Schock
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shimkus
     Simpson
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Stearns
     Sullivan
     Teague
     Terry
     Thompson (PA)
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Turner
     Upton
     Visclosky
     Walz
     Wamp
     Whitfield
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Wolf
     Young (FL)

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--16

     Barrett (SC)
     Bonner
     Butterfield
     Castor (FL)
     Chandler
     Conaway
     Dent
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Hastings (WA)
     Kline (MN)
     Latham
     Lofgren, Zoe
     Myrick
     Poe (TX)
     Walden
     Welch

                             NOT VOTING--10

     Cantor
     Deal (GA)
     Engel
     Melancon
     Miller, Gary
     Olver
     Shuster
     Souder
     Waters
     Westmoreland

                              {time}  1520

  Messrs. COFFMAN of Colorado, SMITH of Nebraska and LOEBSACK changed 
their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
  Mr. LUJAN changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  Mr. WELCH changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``present.''
  Mrs. MYRICK changed her vote from ``nay'' to ``present.''
  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.

                          ____________________