[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 173 (Thursday, October 31, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

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                           HON. JOHN W. ROSE

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 31, 2019

  Mr. JOHN W. ROSE of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, on Thursday, October 
31, I was unable to vote on the day's legislation due to a family 
emergency. Because of this unplanned absence, I missed seven Roll Call 
votes. Importantly, I was not present to cast my vote on Roll Call No. 
604 on the passage of House Resolution 660 (H. Res. 660).
   Had I been present to vote on H. Res. 660, I would have voted 
``No.''
   I find it incredibly disappointing that the House of Representatives 
took up H. Res. 660, which moves us away from historic precedent and, 
instead, enacts unique constraints on Members of Congress who are in 
the Minority during this impeachment inquiry. In the resolution for the 
President Clinton impeachment inquiry, the House Majority provided 
strong, bipartisan checks and balances regarding subpoena authority. 
These were the same checks and balances afforded to Congress during the 
President Nixon impeachment inquiry.
   However, H. Res. 660 removes Ranking Members' traditional co-equal 
subpoena power. Members of the Minority also lose the traditional right 
to refer to the committee questions on whether subpoenas can be 
exercised unilaterally by the Chairman.
   For a process as important and consequential as an impeachment 
inquiry, my constituents in the Sixth District of Tennessee, and the 
American people, deserve better. They deserve fairness. They deserve 
transparency. H. Res. 660 gives our constituents neither.

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