[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.''
____________________