[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 53 (Thursday, April 15, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H2609-H2610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Mr. FLAKE. 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:

                              H. Res. 1255

       Whereas, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
     initiated an investigation into allegations related to 
     earmarks and campaign contributions in the Spring of 2009.
       Whereas, on December 2, 2009, reports and findings in seven 
     separate matters involving the alleged connection between 
     earmarks and campaign contributions were forwarded by the 
     Office of Congressional Ethics to the Standards Committee.
       Whereas, on February 26, 2010, the Standards Committee made 
     public its report on the matter wherein the Committee found, 
     though a widespread perception exists among corporations and 
     lobbyists that campaign contributions provide a greater 
     chance of obtaining earmarks, there was no evidence that 
     Members or their staff considered contributions when 
     requesting earmarks.
       Whereas, the Committee indicated that, with respect to the 
     matters forwarded by the Office of Congressional Ethics, 
     neither the evidence cited in the OCE's findings nor the 
     evidence in the record before the Standards Committee 
     provided a substantial reason to believe that violations of 
     applicable standards of conduct occurred.
       Whereas, the Office of Congressional Ethics is prohibited 
     from reviewing activities taking place prior to March of 2008 
     and lacks the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents.
       Whereas, for example, the Office of Congressional Ethics 
     noted that in some instances documents were redacted or 
     specific information was not provided and that, in at least 
     one instance, they had reason to believe a witness withheld 
     information requested and did not identify what was being 
     withheld.
       Whereas, the Office of Congressional Ethics also noted that 
     they were able to interview only six former employees of the 
     PMA Group, with many former employees refusing to consent to 
     interviews and the OCE unable to obtain evidence within PMA's 
     possession.
       Whereas, Roll Call noted that ``the committee report was 
     five pages long and included no documentation of any evidence 
     collected or any interviews conducted by the committee, 
     beyond a statement that the investigation `included extensive 
     document reviews and interviews with numerous witnesses.' '' 
     (Roll Call, March 8, 2010)
       Whereas, it is unclear whether the Standards Committee 
     included in their investigation any activities that occurred 
     prior to 2008.
       Whereas, it is unclear whether the Standards Committee 
     interviewed any Members in the course of their investigation.

[[Page H2610]]

       Whereas, it is unclear whether the Standards Committee, in 
     the course of their investigation, initiated their own 
     subpoenas or followed the Office of Congressional Ethics 
     recommendations to issue subpoenas. Therefore be it:
       Resolved, That not later than seven days after the adoption 
     of this resolution, the Committee on Standards of Official 
     Conduct shall report to the House of Representatives, with 
     respect to the activities addressed in its report of February 
     26, 2010, (1) how many witnesses were interviewed, (2) how 
     many, if any, subpoenas were issued in the course of their 
     investigation, and (3) what documents were reviewed and their 
     availability for public review.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution qualifies.


                     Motion to Refer the Resolution

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, I move the resolution be referred to the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Minnesota is recognized 
for 1 hour on the motion to refer.
  Mr. OBERSTAR. Madam Speaker, this is a matter that belongs to the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
  I yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to refer.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. FLAKE. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 385, 
nays 0, answered ``present'' 18, not voting 27, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 206]

                               YEAS--385

     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Adler (NJ)
     Akin
     Alexander
     Altmire
     Andrews
     Arcuri
     Austria
     Baca
     Bachmann
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bartlett
     Barton (TX)
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Biggert
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Bishop (UT)
     Blumenauer
     Blunt
     Boccieri
     Boehner
     Bono Mack
     Boozman
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boustany
     Brady (PA)
     Brady (TX)
     Braley (IA)
     Bright
     Broun (GA)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown, Corrine
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Buchanan
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Cantor
     Cao
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Carter
     Cassidy
     Castle
     Chaffetz
     Childers
     Chu
     Clarke
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Coffman (CO)
     Cohen
     Cole
     Connolly (VA)
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Costello
     Courtney
     Crenshaw
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Culberson
     Cummings
     Dahlkemper
     Davis (AL)
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (KY)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Deutch
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Donnelly (IN)
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Driehaus
     Duncan
     Edwards (MD)
     Edwards (TX)
     Ehlers
     Ellison
     Ellsworth
     Emerson
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Fallin
     Farr
     Fattah
     Filner
     Flake
     Fleming
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Foster
     Foxx
     Frank (MA)
     Franks (AZ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Fudge
     Garamendi
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
     Giffords
     Gingrey (GA)
     Gohmert
     Goodlatte
     Gordon (TN)
     Granger
     Graves
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Griffith
     Grijalva
     Guthrie
     Gutierrez
     Hall (NY)
     Hall (TX)
     Halvorson
     Hare
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Heinrich
     Heller
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Herseth Sandlin
     Higgins
     Hill
     Himes
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hirono
     Hodes
     Holden
     Holt
     Honda
     Hoyer
     Hunter
     Inglis
     Inslee
     Israel
     Issa
     Jackson (IL)
     Jenkins
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones
     Jordan (OH)
     Kagen
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick (MI)
     Kilroy
     Kind
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kirkpatrick (AZ)
     Kissell
     Klein (FL)
     Kratovil
     Kucinich
     Lamborn
     Lance
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     LaTourette
     Latta
     Lee (CA)
     Lee (NY)
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (GA)
     Linder
     Lipinski
     LoBiondo
     Loebsack
     Lowey
     Lucas
     Luetkemeyer
     Lujan
     Lummis
     Lungren, Daniel E.
     Lynch
     Mack
     Maffei
     Maloney
     Manzullo
     Marchant
     Markey (CO)
     Markey (MA)
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (CA)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McClintock
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHenry
     McIntyre
     McKeon
     McMahon
     McMorris Rodgers
     McNerney
     Meeks (NY)
     Melancon
     Mica
     Michaud
     Miller (MI)
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Minnick
     Mitchell
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Murphy (CT)
     Murphy (NY)
     Murphy, Patrick
     Murphy, Tim
     Nadler (NY)
     Napolitano
     Neal (MA)
     Neugebauer
     Nunes
     Nye
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olson
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor (AZ)
     Paul
     Paulsen
     Payne
     Perlmutter
     Perriello
     Peters
     Peterson
     Petri
     Pingree (ME)
     Pitts
     Platts
     Poe (TX)
     Polis (CO)
     Pomeroy
     Posey
     Price (GA)
     Price (NC)
     Putnam
     Quigley
     Rangel
     Rehberg
     Reichert
     Reyes
     Richardson
     Rodriguez
     Roe (TN)
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Rooney
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Ross
     Rothman (NJ)
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Ryan (WI)
     Salazar
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sarbanes
     Scalise
     Schakowsky
     Schauer
     Schiff
     Schmidt
     Schock
     Schrader
     Schwartz
     Scott (GA)
     Scott (VA)
     Sensenbrenner
     Serrano
     Sessions
     Sestak
     Shadegg
     Shea-Porter
     Sherman
     Shimkus
     Shuler
     Shuster
     Sires
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Smith (WA)
     Snyder
     Souder
     Space
     Speier
     Spratt
     Stark
     Stearns
     Stupak
     Sullivan
     Sutton
     Tanner
     Taylor
     Teague
     Terry
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Thompson (PA)
     Thornberry
     Tiberi
     Tierney
     Titus
     Tonko
     Tsongas
     Turner
     Upton
     Van Hollen
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Walz
     Waters
     Watson
     Watt
     Waxman
     Weiner
     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Wilson (OH)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Yarmuth
     Young (FL)

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--18

     Blackburn
     Bonner
     Butterfield
     Buyer
     Castor (FL)
     Chandler
     Conaway
     Dent
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Harper
     Hastings (WA)
     Latham
     Lofgren, Zoe
     McCaul
     Myrick
     Simpson
     Walden
     Welch

                             NOT VOTING--27

     Barrett (SC)
     Bean
     Berry
     Bilbray
     Boyd
     Capito
     Gallegly
     Gonzalez
     Hoekstra
     Jackson Lee (TX)
     Kline (MN)
     Kosmas
     Marshall
     McCotter
     Meek (FL)
     Miller (FL)
     Mollohan
     Pence
     Radanovich
     Rahall
     Ruppersberger
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Tiahrt
     Towns
     Wamp
     Wasserman Schultz
     Young (AK)

                              {time}  1616

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
  Ms. CASTOR of Florida and Mr. WELCH changed their vote from ``yea'' 
to ``present.''
  So the motion to refer was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________