[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 112 (Thursday, July 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H8600-H8601]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Mr. NUNES. Madam 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:

       Whereas, on May 25, 2007, U.S. District Court Judge Oliver 
     W. Wanger issued a ruling that directed the Bureau of 
     Reclamation to reduce water exports from the Sacramento-San 
     Joaquin River Delta to protect a three-inch minnow called the 
     Delta smelt;
       Whereas, on December 15, 2008, the United States Fish and 
     Wildlife Service, based on the Wanger Ruling, issued a 
     Biological Opinion on the Delta smelt that permanently 
     reduced water export from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River 
     Delta which is traditionally delivered to cities and farms in 
     the San Joaquin Valley and the Los Angeles and San Diego 
     basins;
       Whereas according to a University of California at Davis 
     study, based on the water reductions outlined in the Delta 
     smelt Biological Opinion, revenue losses in the San Joaquin 
     Valley of California for 2009 will be $2.2 billion and job 
     losses at 80,000;
       Whereas according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
     the unemployment rate in the San Joaquin Valley has reached 
     the highest level in the Nation;
       Whereas region wide unemployment in the San Joaquin Valley 
     of California is nearly 20 percent and some cities have an 
     unemployment rate of 40 percent;
       Whereas thousands of people who once relied on employment 
     in the agricultural sector are now unemployed and struggling 
     to meet their most basic needs, such as providing food for 
     their families;
       Whereas, on March, 1, 2009, the Sacramento Bee reported 
     thousands of people have been turned away from local food 
     banks as supplies are not ample enough to meet local needs;
       Whereas, on April 14, 2009, the Fresno County, California, 
     Board of Supervisors proclaimed that the man-made drought has 
     created an economic crisis;
       Whereas on June 4, 2009, despite the ongoing man-made 
     drought in California, the National Marine Fisheries Service 
     issued a new Biological Opinion on the spring-run Chinook 
     salmon, Central Valley steelhead, the southern population of 
     North American green sturgeon, and Southern Resident killer 
     whales which further reduces water supplies to Californians;
       Whereas, on June 19, 2009, California's Governor Arnold 
     Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for Fresno 
     County, California, and petitioned President Barack Obama to 
     declare the county a Federal disaster area;
       Whereas on June 28, 2009, the Secretary of the Interior Ken 
     Salazar visited Fresno, California, and held a town hall 
     meeting in which nearly 1,000 people attended to express 
     their dissatisfaction with the lack of action by the Obama 
     Administration;
       Whereas, on July 6, 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported 
     that during Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's town hall 
     meeting on June 28, 2009, the Commissioner of the Bureau of 
     Reclamation, Mike Connor, pledged to provide financial aid to 
     starving families and an audience member replied ``we don't 
     want welfare, we want water'';
       Whereas, on June 29, 2009, CBS 5 Eyewitness News reported 
     that hundreds of San Joaquin Valley farmers protested outside 
     the Federal Building Plaza in San Francisco which houses 
     Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district office;
       Whereas, on June 29, 2009, CBS 5 Eyewitness News reported 
     the protestors blamed Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman 
     George Miller for the water shortage in the San Joaquin 
     Valley;
       Whereas, on June 29, 2009, CBS 5 Eyewitness News reported 
     that protestors were holding signs that said ``ESA Puts Fish 
     Ahead of People'', ``Congress Created Drought'', and ``New 
     Endangered Species: The California Farmer'';
       Whereas, on July 1, 2009, the Fresno Bee reported that a 
     crowd of 4,000 marched through the streets of Fresno, 
     California, to demand that the Federal Government end the 
     man-made drought;
       Whereas, on June 18, 2009, the Democrat leadership held 
     open Roll Call Vote 366 for the purpose of changing the 
     outcome of the vote;
       Whereas during this vote, House Democrat leadership was 
     seen on the House floor pressuring Members of Congress to 
     change their Aye vote to a Nay vote in order to defeat the 
     Nunes Amendment which would have helped to relieve the water 
     crisis in California;
       Whereas, on July 8, 2009, during the mark-up on the Energy 
     and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations 
     Act, 2010, a debate was held on the Calvert Amendment which 
     would have restored water deliveries to Californians;
       Whereas during the mark-up, the Chairman of the 
     Appropriations Committee, David Obey, said ``Recognize there 
     are certain actions, that if you take, this bill won't pass, 
     your earmarks in the bill won't become law'';
       Whereas Chairman Obey violated Clause 16 of House Rule 23 
     by linking passage of the Calvert Amendment to loss of 
     earmarks;
       Whereas, on July 14, 2009, despite historical tradition of 
     open rules during the appropriations process, the Rules 
     Committee blocked an amendment to the Energy and Water 
     Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 
     that would have restored water deliveries to Californians;
       Whereas, for two years, the House of Representatives has 
     known about the man-made drought in California without taking 
     legislative action to resolve the crisis;
       Whereas the lack of action by the House of Representatives 
     has demonstrated that fish are more important than families;
       Whereas article 1, section 8 of the United States 
     Constitution enumerates that the Congress shall have the 
     power to provide for the general welfare of the United 
     States;
       Whereas the House of Representatives has willfully and 
     knowingly failed to provide for the general welfare of the 
     San Joaquin Valley of California; and
       Whereas the failure of the House of Representatives to 
     carry out its duties has subjected the House to public 
     ridicule and damaged the dignity and integrity of the House 
     of Representatives: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Committee on Natural Resources is 
     instructed to discharge H.R.

[[Page H8601]]

     3105, the Turn on the Pumps Act of 2009, for immediate 
     consideration by the House of Representatives.

                              {time}  1200

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Does the gentleman from California wish to 
present an argument on why the resolution qualifies as privileged for 
immediate consideration?
  Mr. NUNES. Yes, Madam Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlemen from California is recognized.
  Mr. NUNES. Under rule IX, questions of the privileges of the House 
are those that affect its rights collectively, its safety, dignity, and 
the integrity of its proceedings.
  Madam Speaker, this privileged resolution allows us to rectify the 
problems that the Democrat leadership has created out in California. If 
we move forward with this today, 40,000 people can go back to work and 
we can move on and everybody will be fine.
  So I urge the passing of this resolution today, and I yield back.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair is prepared to rule.
  In evaluating the resolution offered by the gentleman from California 
under the standards of rule IX, the Chair must be mindful of a 
fundamental principle illuminated by annotations of precedent in 
section 706 of the House Rules and Manual. That basic principle is that 
a question of the privileges of the House may not be invoked to 
prescribe a rule or order of business for the House.
  The Chair finds that the resolution offered by the gentleman from 
California, by directing action with respect to a bill that is pending 
before a standing committee, prescribes a rule or order of business. 
Under a long and well-settled line of precedent presently culminating 
in the ruling of July 17, 2009, such a resolution cannot qualify as a 
question of the privileges of the House.
  The Chair therefore holds that the resolution is not privileged under 
rule IX for consideration ahead of other business. Instead, the 
gentleman may introduce the resolution through the hopper in the 
regular course.
  Mr. NUNES. Madam Speaker, I appeal the ruling of the Chair.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is, Shall the decision of the 
Chair stand as the judgment of the House?


                            Motion to Table

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I move to table the appeal of 
the ruling of the Chair.
  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. NUNES. Madam 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 the motion to lay the appeal on the table will be 
followed by 5-minute votes on:
  Adopting House Resolution 669; and suspending the rules and adopting 
House Resolution 566 and House Resolution 350.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 249, 
nays 179, not voting 5, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 616]

                               YEAS--249

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Adler (NJ)
     Altmire
     Andrews
     Arcuri
     Baca
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bean
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Boccieri
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Braley (IA)
     Bright
     Brown, Corrine
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Castor (FL)
     Chandler
     Childers
     Chu
     Clarke
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Connolly (VA)
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Costello
     Courtney
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     Dahlkemper
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Donnelly (IN)
     Doyle
     Driehaus
     Edwards (MD)
     Edwards (TX)
     Ellison
     Ellsworth
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Foster
     Frank (MA)
     Fudge
     Giffords
     Gonzalez
     Gordon (TN)
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Gutierrez
     Hall (NY)
     Halvorson
     Hare
     Harman
     Heinrich
     Herseth Sandlin
     Higgins
     Hill
     Himes
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hirono
     Hodes
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hoyer
     Inslee
     Israel
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson, E.B.
     Kagen
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick (MI)
     Kilroy
     Kind
     Kirkpatrick (AZ)
     Kissell
     Klein (FL)
     Kosmas
     Kucinich
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee (CA)
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Loebsack
     Lofgren, Zoe
     Lowey
     Lujan
     Lynch
     Maffei
     Maloney
     Markey (CO)
     Markey (MA)
     Marshall
     Massa
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McMahon
     McNerney
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Melancon
     Michaud
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, George
     Mitchell
     Mollohan
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (VA)
     Murphy (CT)
     Murphy (NY)
     Murphy, Patrick
     Murtha
     Nadler (NY)
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Nye
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor (AZ)
     Payne
     Perlmutter
     Perriello
     Peters
     Peterson
     Pingree (ME)
     Polis (CO)
     Pomeroy
     Price (NC)
     Quigley
     Rahall
     Reichert
     Reyes
     Richardson
     Rodriguez
     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
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Space
     Speier
     Spratt
     Stupak
     Sutton
     Tanner
     Taylor
     Teague
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Titus
     Tonko
     Towns
     Tsongas
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Walz
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Welch
     Wexler
     Wilson (OH)
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Yarmuth

                               NAYS--179

     Aderholt
     Akin
     Alexander
     Austria
     Bachmann
     Bachus
     Barrett (SC)
     Bartlett
     Barton (TX)
     Biggert
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Blackburn
     Blunt
     Boehner
     Bonner
     Bono Mack
     Boozman
     Boustany
     Brady (TX)
     Broun (GA)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Buchanan
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Buyer
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Cantor
     Cao
     Capito
     Carter
     Cassidy
     Castle
     Chaffetz
     Coble
     Coffman (CO)
     Cole
     Conaway
     Crenshaw
     Culberson
     Davis (KY)
     Deal (GA)
     Dent
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Ehlers
     Emerson
     Fallin
     Flake
     Fleming
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Foxx
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Gingrey (GA)
     Gohmert
     Goodlatte
     Granger
     Graves
     Griffith
     Guthrie
     Hall (TX)
     Harper
     Hastings (WA)
     Heller
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Hoekstra
     Hunter
     Inglis
     Issa
     Jenkins
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones
     Jordan (OH)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kline (MN)
     Kratovil
     Lamborn
     Lance
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Latta
     Lee (NY)
     Lewis (CA)
     Linder
     LoBiondo
     Lucas
     Luetkemeyer
     Lummis
     Lungren, Daniel E.
     Mack
     Manzullo
     Marchant
     McCarthy (CA)
     McCaul
     McClintock
     McCotter
     McHenry
     McHugh
     McKeon
     McMorris Rodgers
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Minnick
     Moran (KS)
     Murphy, Tim
     Myrick
     Neugebauer
     Nunes
     Olson
     Paul
     Paulsen
     Pence
     Petri
     Pitts
     Platts
     Poe (TX)
     Posey
     Price (GA)
     Putnam
     Radanovich
     Rehberg
     Roe (TN)
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Rooney
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Royce
     Ryan (WI)
     Scalise
     Schmidt
     Schock
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Souder
     Stearns
     Sullivan
     Terry
     Thompson (PA)
     Thornberry
     Tiahrt
     Tiberi
     Turner
     Upton
     Walden
     Wamp
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Wolf
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Bishop (UT)
     Hastings (FL)
     McCarthy (NY)
     Rangel
     Stark

                              {time}  1232

  Mr. GRIFFITH changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
  Messrs. CONYERS and FOSTER changed their vote from ``nay'' to 
``yea.''
  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.

                          ____________________