[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 42 (Thursday, March 13, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H2408-H2410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to rule IX, I rise in regard to 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, Representative Elijah E. 
Cummings, clearly sought recognition to take his turn for questions 
under committee and House rules;
  Whereas Chairman Issa then unilaterally 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----''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will suspend.
  The Chair is going to ask, in the name of decorum of the House, that 
Members not display their electronic devices. It is a violation of the 
House rules. Regular order would be putting the iPads down. The House 
will not proceed until there is decorum in the House.
  The gentleman will suspend. Proceedings will not resume until there 
is decorum in the House.

                              {time}  1745


                         Parliamentary Inquiry

  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state his parliamentary 
inquiry.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, where is it specifically in the 
rule stated that Members cannot display their iPads? What rule is it?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the precedents of the House, Members 
are not allowed to stage an exhibition. The Chair has ruled based on 
the precedents of the House.
  The Chair asks that Members not display their iPhones and iPads.
  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, may I proceed?
  Mr. Speaker, the Members have removed their iPads. May I proceed?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. When decorum has been restored, the 
gentleman may proceed.
  Only a Member under recognition for debate can display an exhibit.
  Mr. KILDEE. For the purposes of display, this is what the Members 
have been holding.
  May I proceed?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman may proceed.
  Mr. KILDEE. 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 5-minute rule in violation of 
House rule XI;
  Whereas Chairman Issa instructed the microphones 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, has turned off Members' 
microphones while they were questioning a witness, attempted to prevent 
witnesses from answering questions, and has provided information to the 
press before sharing it with committee members;
  Whereas on July 18, 2003, former Chairman of the Ways and Means 
Committee, Bill Thomas, asked the United States Capitol Police to 
remove minority members of the committee from the library where they 
were having a discussion about a pending committee

[[Page H2409]]

markup, and subsequently came to the well of the U.S. House of 
Representatives to publicly apologize for his belligerent behavior;
  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, and requires that he come to the 
well of the House to issue a public apology to Members of the House.
  That concludes the reading of the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Michigan is recognized to 
offer the resolution.
  Does the gentleman offer the resolution?
  Mr. KILDEE. Yes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
  The text of resolution is as follows:


PRIVILEGED RESOLUTION AGAINST THE OFFENSIVE ACTIONS OF CHAIRMAN DARRELL 
                                E. ISSA

       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 unilaterally 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 commmittee, and in particular, the ranking 
     member, who had sought recognition, to make statements under 
     the 5-minute rule in violation of House rule XI;
       Whereas Chairman Issa instructed the microphones 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, has 
     turned off Members' microphones while they were questioning a 
     witness, attempted to prevent witnesses from answering 
     questions, and has provided information to the press before 
     sharing it with committee members;
       Whereas on July 18, 2003, former Chairman of the Ways and 
     Means Committee, Bill Thomas asked the United States Capitol 
     Police to remove minority members of the committee from the 
     library where they were having a discussion about a pending 
     committee mark up, and subsequently came to the well of the 
     U.S. House of Representatives to publicly apologize for his 
     belligerent behavior;
       Whereas Chairman Issa has violated-clause 1 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, and requires that he come to the well of the House to 
     issue a public apology to Members of the House.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution qualifies.
  Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Speaker, I move to lay the resolution on the table.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to lay the 
resolution on the table.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.


                             Recorded Vote

  Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
  A recorded vote was ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 217, 
noes 173, answered ``present'' 10, not voting 31, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 133]

                               AYES--217

     Aderholt
     Amash
     Bachus
     Barletta
     Barr
     Barton
     Benishek
     Bentivolio
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (UT)
     Black
     Blackburn
     Boustany
     Brady (TX)
     Bridenstine
     Brooks (AL)
     Broun (GA)
     Buchanan
     Bucshon
     Burgess
     Byrne
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Cantor
     Capito
     Carter
     Cassidy
     Chabot
     Chaffetz
     Coble
     Coffman
     Cole
     Collins (GA)
     Collins (NY)
     Cook
     Cotton
     Cramer
     Crawford
     Crenshaw
     Culberson
     Daines
     Davis, Rodney
     Denham
     DeSantis
     DesJarlais
     Diaz-Balart
     Duffy
     Duncan (SC)
     Duncan (TN)
     Ellmers
     Farenthold
     Fincher
     Fitzpatrick
     Fleischmann
     Fleming
     Flores
     Forbes
     Fortenberry
     Foxx
     Frelinghuysen
     Gardner
     Garrett
     Gerlach
     Gibbs
     Gibson
     Gingrey (GA)
     Gohmert
     Goodlatte
     Granger
     Graves (GA)
     Graves (MO)
     Griffin (AR)
     Griffith (VA)
     Grimm
     Guthrie
     Hall
     Hanna
     Harper
     Harris
     Hartzler
     Hastings (WA)
     Heck (NV)
     Herrera Beutler
     Holding
     Hudson
     Huelskamp
     Huizenga (MI)
     Hultgren
     Hunter
     Hurt
     Jenkins
     Johnson (OH)
     Johnson, Sam
     Jolly
     Jones
     Jordan
     Joyce
     Kelly (PA)
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kinzinger (IL)
     Kline
     Labrador
     LaMalfa
     Lamborn
     Lance
     Lankford
     Latham
     Latta
     LoBiondo
     Long
     Lucas
     Luetkemeyer
     Lummis
     Marchant
     Marino
     Massie
     McAllister
     McCarthy (CA)
     McCaul
     McClintock
     McHenry
     McKeon
     McKinley
     McMorris Rodgers
     Meadows
     Messer
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Miller (MI)
     Miller, Gary
     Mullin
     Murphy (PA)
     Neugebauer
     Nugent
     Nunes
     Nunnelee
     Olson
     Palazzo
     Paulsen
     Pearce
     Perry
     Petri
     Pittenger
     Pitts
     Poe (TX)
     Pompeo
     Posey
     Price (GA)
     Rahall
     Reed
     Reichert
     Renacci
     Rice (SC)
     Rigell
     Roby
     Roe (TN)
     Rogers (AL)
     Rogers (KY)
     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
     Rokita
     Rooney
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roskam
     Ross
     Rothfus
     Royce
     Runyan
     Ryan (WI)
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Scalise
     Schock
     Schweikert
     Scott, Austin
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Simpson
     Smith (MO)
     Smith (NE)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (TX)
     Southerland
     Stewart
     Stivers
     Stockman
     Stutzman
     Terry
     Thompson (PA)
     Thornberry
     Tiberi
     Tipton
     Turner
     Upton
     Valadao
     Walberg
     Walden
     Walorski
     Weber (TX)
     Webster (FL)
     Wenstrup
     Westmoreland
     Williams
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Wolf
     Womack
     Woodall
     Yoder
     Yoho
     Young (AK)
     Young (IN)

                               NOES--173

     Barrow (GA)
     Beatty
     Bera (CA)
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Blumenauer
     Bonamici
     Brady (PA)
     Braley (IA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brownley (CA)
     Bustos
     Butterfield
     Capps
     Cardenas
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Cartwright
     Castor (FL)
     Castro (TX)
     Chu
     Cicilline
     Clark (MA)
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Cohen
     Connolly
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Cummings
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     DeLauro
     DelBene
     Doggett
     Doyle
     Duckworth
     Edwards
     Ellison
     Engel
     Enyart
     Eshoo
     Esty
     Farr
     Fattah
     Foster
     Frankel (FL)
     Fudge
     Gabbard
     Gallego
     Garamendi
     Garcia
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Grijalva
     Hahn
     Hanabusa
     Hastings (FL)
     Heck (WA)
     Higgins
     Himes
     Holt
     Honda
     Horsford
     Hoyer
     Huffman
     Israel
     Jackson Lee
     Jeffries
     Johnson (GA)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Kaptur
     Keating
     Kelly (IL)
     Kennedy
     Kildee
     Kilmer
     Kind
     Kirkpatrick
     Kuster
     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     Lee (CA)
     Levin
     Lewis
     Lipinski
     Loebsack
     Lofgren
     Lowenthal
     Lowey
     Lujan Grisham (NM)
     Lujan, Ben Ray (NM)
     Lynch
     Maffei
     Maloney, Carolyn
     Maloney, Sean
     Matheson
     Matsui
     McCarthy (NY)
     McCollum
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McIntyre
     McNerney
     Meeks
     Meng
     Michaud
     Miller, George
     Moore
     Moran
     Murphy (FL)
     Nadler
     Napolitano
     Neal
     Negrete McLeod
     Nolan
     O'Rourke
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Perlmutter
     Peters (MI)
     Peterson
     Pocan
     Polis
     Price (NC)
     Quigley
     Richmond
     Roybal-Allard
     Ruppersberger
     Ryan (OH)
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sarbanes
     Schakowsky
     Schiff
     Schneider
     Schrader
     Schwartz
     Scott (VA)
     Serrano
     Sewell (AL)
     Shea-Porter
     Sherman
     Sinema
     Sires
     Slaughter
     Speier
     Swalwell (CA)
     Takano
     Thompson (CA)
     Thompson (MS)
     Tierney
     Titus
     Tonko

[[Page H2410]]


     Tsongas
     Van Hollen
     Veasey
     Vela
     Velazquez
     Visclosky
     Walz
     Wasserman Schultz
     Waters
     Wilson (FL)
     Yarmuth

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--10

     Brooks (IN)
     Capuano
     Clarke (NY)
     Conaway
     Dent
     Deutch
     Gowdy
     Issa
     Meehan
     Sanchez, Linda T.

                             NOT VOTING--31

     Amodei
     Bachmann
     Barber
     Bass
     Becerra
     Courtney
     Davis (CA)
     Davis, Danny
     Delaney
     Dingell
     Franks (AZ)
     Gosar
     Gutierrez
     Hensarling
     Hinojosa
     Mulvaney
     Noem
     Pastor (AZ)
     Peters (CA)
     Pingree (ME)
     Rangel
     Ribble
     Ruiz
     Rush
     Scott, David
     Smith (WA)
     Vargas
     Wagner
     Waxman
     Welch
     Whitfield

                              {time}  1810

  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.
  Stated for:
  Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall vote No. 133, I was unavoidably 
detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''


                          Personal Explanation

  Mrs. WAGNER. Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, March 13, 2014 I was unable to 
be in Washington, D.C. and vote on the legislative business of the day.
  On Ordering the Previous Question for consideration of H. Res. 515, a 
resolution providing for consideration of both H.R. 3189, Water Rights 
Protection Act and H.R. 4015, SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment 
Modernization Act of 2014, rollcall vote No. 125, had I been present I 
would have voted ``yes.''
  On Adoption of H. Res. 515, a resolution providing for consideration 
of both H.R. 3189, Water Rights Protection Act and H.R. 4015, SGR 
Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2014, 
rollcall vote No. 126, had I been present I would have voted ``yes.''
  On Agreeing to the Ellison of Minnesota Amendment No. 1 to H.R. 3973, 
Faithful Execution of the Law Act of 2014, rollcall vote No. 127, had I 
been present I would have voted ``no.''
  On the Motion to Recommit with Instructions H.R. 3973, Faithful 
Execution of the Law Act of 2014, rollcall vote No. 128, had I been 
present I would have voted ``no.''
  On Passage of H.R. 3973, Faithful Execution of the Law Act of 2014, 
rollcall vote No. 129, had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''
  On Agreeing to the Polis of Colorado Substitute Amendment No. 3 to 
H.R. 3189, Water Rights Protection Act, rollcall vote No. 130, had I 
been present I would have voted ``no.''
  On the Motion to Recommit with Instructions H.R. 3189, Water Rights 
Protection Act, rollcall vote No. 131, had I been present I would have 
voted ``no.''
  On Passage of H.R. 3189, Water Rights Protection Act, rollcall vote 
No. 132, had I been present I would have voted ``yes.''
  On the Motion to Table the Question of the Privileges of the House, 
rollcall vote No. 133, had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

                          ____________________