[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 38 (Thursday, March 6, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H2215]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   NOTICE OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING A QUESTION OF THE 
                        PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, under rule IX, I hereby give notice of my 
intention to offer a question of the privileges of the House.
  The form of the resolution is as follows:

       Whereas on March 5, 2014, during a hearing before the House 
     Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Committee 
     Chairman Darrell E. Issa gave a statement and then posed ten 
     questions to former Internal Revenue Service official Lois 
     Lerner, who stated that she was invoking her Fifth Amendment 
     right not to testify;
       Whereas the Committee's Ranking Member, Rep. Elijah E. 
     Cummings, clearly sought recognition to take his turn for 
     questions under Committee and House Rules;
       Whereas, Chairman Issa then quickly adjourned the hearing 
     and refused to allow him to make any statement or ask any 
     questions;
       Whereas Ranking Member Cummings protested immediately, 
     stating: ``Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a Committee like 
     this. You just cannot do this. This is, we are better than 
     that as a country, we are better than that as a Committee.''
       Whereas, Chairman Issa then returned and allowed Ranking 
     Member Cummings to begin his statement, but when it became 
     clear that Chairman Issa did not want to hear what Ranking 
     Member Cummings was saying, turned off Ranking Member 
     Cummings' microphone, ordered Republican staff to ``close it 
     down,'' and repeatedly signaled to end the hearing with his 
     hand across his neck;
       Whereas Ranking Member Cummings objected again, stating: 
     ``You cannot have a one-sided investigation. There is 
     absolutely something wrong with that'';
       Whereas Chairman Issa made a statement of his own and posed 
     questions during the hearing, but refused to allow other 
     members of the Committee, and in particular the Ranking 
     Member who had sought recognition, to make statements under 
     the five-minute rule in violation of House Rule XI;
       Whereas Chairman Issa instructed the microphones to be 
     turned off and adjourned the hearing without a vote or a 
     unanimous consent agreement in violation of Rule XVI because 
     he did not want to permit Ranking Member Cummings to speak;
       Whereas Chairman Issa's abusive behavior on March 5 is part 
     of a continuing pattern in which he has routinely excluded 
     members of the Committee from investigative meetings, and has 
     routinely provided information to the press before sharing it 
     with Committee members;
       Whereas Chairman Issa has violated Clause 1 of Rule XXIII 
     of the Code of Official Conduct which states that ``A Member, 
     Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer or employee of the 
     House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall 
     reflect creditably on the House'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives strongly 
     condemns the offensive and disrespectful manner in which 
     Chairman Darrell E. Issa conducted the hearing of the House 
     Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on March 5, 
     2014, during which he turned off the microphones of the 
     Ranking Member while he was speaking and adjourned the 
     hearing without a vote or a unanimous consent agreement.

                              {time}  1115

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the 
floor by a Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader 
as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate precedence 
only at a time designated by the Chair within 2 legislative days after 
the resolution is properly noticed.
  Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the 
gentlewoman from Ohio will appear in the Record at this point.
  The Chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution 
constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at 
the time designated for consideration of the resolution.

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