[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.
____________________