[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 16, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H662-H663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1800
           RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

  Mr. RUSH. Madam Speaker, I rise to a question of the privileges of 
the House and offer a resolution previously noticed.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H. Res. 53

       Whereas the United States has always been a proud 
     multicultural Nation;
       Whereas since early in our history our Nation has 
     recognized the strength that our diversity brings by making 
     our national motto E Pluribus Unum;
       Whereas on July 13, 2006, on the floor of the House of 
     Representatives, comparing immigrants to livestock, 
     Representative Steve King of Iowa stated, ``We could also 
     electrify this wire with the kind of current that would not 
     kill somebody, but it would simply be a discouragement for 
     them to be fooling around with it. We do that with livestock 
     all the time.'';
       Whereas on March 8, 2008, in an interview with KICD 
     Studios, Representative King stated, ``I don't want to 
     disparage anyone because of their race, their ethnicity, 
     their name--whatever their religion their father might have 
     been. .  . . I'll just say this: When you think about the 
     optics of a Barack Obama potentially getting elected 
     President of the United States--I mean, what does this look 
     like to the rest of the world? What does it look like to the 
     world of Islam?'';
       Whereas on May 21, 2012, while speaking with constituents 
     in Pocahontas, Iowa, Representative King compared vetting 
     immigrants to choosing hunting dogs saying, ``You want a good 
     bird dog? You want one that's going to be aggressive? Pick 
     the one that's the friskiest.'';
       Whereas in July 2012, at a tele-townhall, on President 
     Barack Obama's place of birth, Representative King stated, 
     ``It would have been awfully hard to fraudulently file the 
     birth notice of Barack Obama being born in Hawaii and get 
     that into our public libraries and that microfiche they keep 
     of all the newspapers published. That doesn't mean there 
     aren't some other explanations on how they might've announced 
     that by telegram from Kenya. The list goes on. But drilling 
     into that now, even if we could get a definitive answer and 
     even if it turned out that Barack Obama was conclusively not 
     born in America, I don't think we could get that case sold 
     between now and November.'';
       Whereas on January 4, 2013, in a press release announcing 
     the introduction of his bill, H.R. 140, Representative King 
     stated, ``The current practice of extending U.S. citizenship 
     to hundreds of thousands of `anchor babies' must end because 
     it creates a magnet for illegal immigration into our country. 
     Now is the time to ensure that the laws in this country do 
     not encourage law breaking.'';
       Whereas on July 24, 2014, in an interview with Newsmax 
     discussing undocumented immigrants in the United States, 
     Representative King stated, ``For everyone who's a 
     valedictorian, there's another 100 out there who weigh 130 
     pounds--and they've got calves the size of cantaloupes 
     because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the 
     desert.'';
       Whereas on July 20, 2016, in an interview with The 
     Washington Post, Representative King stated, ``The idea of 
     multiculturalism, that every culture is equal--that's not 
     objectively true.'';
       Whereas on July 18, 2016, in an appearance on MSNBC, 
     Representative King stated, ``Where did any other subgroup of 
     people contribute more to civilization [than White 
     people]?'';
       Whereas on September 18, 2016, on Twitter, Representative 
     King stated, that ``Cultural suicide by demographic 
     transformation must end.'';
       Whereas on March 12, 2017, on Twitter, Representative King 
     shared a story about far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders 
     and added, ``We can't restore our civilization with somebody 
     else's babies.'';
       Whereas on March 13, 2017, on CNN, Representative King 
     stated, ``I'd like to see an America that's just so 
     homogenous that we look a lot the same'' and ``There's been 
     this effort, we're going to have to replace that void with 
     somebody else's babies. That's the push to bring in [so] much 
     illegal immigration into America, living in enclaves, 
     refusing to assimilate into the American culture and 
     civilization.'';
       Whereas on June 12, 2018, Representative King retweeted 
     Mark Collett, a self-described ``Nazi sympathizer'';
       Whereas on September 2, 2018, in an interview with 
     Unzensuriert, a publication linked to a fascist Austrian 
     political party, Representative King stated, ``What does this 
     diversity bring that we don't already have? Mexican food, 
     Chinese food, those things--well, that's fine. But what does 
     it bring that we don't have that is worth the price? We have 
     a lot of diversity within the U.S. already.'';
       Whereas on January 10, 2019, in the New York Times, 
     Representative King stated ``White nationalist, White 
     supremacist, Western civilization--how did that language 
     become offensive?'';
       Whereas Representative King's statements have drawn praise 
     from known White supremacists like former Ku Klux Klan leader 
     David Duke;
       Whereas Representative King dishonors not only immigrants 
     but every American with his racist and xenophobic rhetoric; 
     and
       Whereas Representative King has failed to retract his 
     statement and apologize to the Members of the House
       or Americans across the country: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That--
       (1) Representative Steve King of Iowa, by his despicable 
     conduct, has dishonored himself and brought discredit to the 
     House and merits the censure of the House for the same;
       (2) Representative Steve King of Iowa be censured;
       (3) Representative Steve King of Iowa forthwith present 
     himself in the well of the House of Representatives for the 
     pronouncement of censure; and
       (4) Representative Steve King of Iowa be censured with the 
     public reading of this resolution by the Speaker.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution presents a question of 
privilege.


                            Motion to Refer

  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.

[[Page H663]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
  The Clerk read as follows:
  Mr. Hoyer moves to refer the resolution to the Committee on Ethics.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Maryland is recognized 1 
hour.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I am moving to refer this resolution to the 
Committee on Ethics.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the 
previous question on the motion.
  The previous question was ordered.
  The motion to refer was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________