[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5033-5034]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE

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

                              H. Res. 1220

       Whereas, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct 
     initiated an investigation into allegations related to 
     earmarks and campaign contributions in the Spring of 2009.
       Whereas, on December 2, 2009, reports and findings in seven 
     separate matters involving the alleged connection between 
     earmarks and campaign contributions were forwarded by the 
     Office of Congressional Ethics to the Standards Committee.
       Whereas, on February 26, 2010, the Standards Committee made 
     public its report on the matter wherein the Committee found, 
     though a widespread perception exists among corporations and 
     lobbyists that campaign contributions provide a greater 
     chance of obtaining earmarks, there was no evidence that 
     Members or their staff considered contributions when 
     requesting earmarks.
       Whereas, the Committee indicated that, with respect to the 
     matters forwarded by the Office of Congressional Ethics, 
     neither the evidence cited in the OCE's findings nor the 
     evidence in the record before the Standards Committee 
     provided a substantial reason to believe that violations of 
     applicable standards of conduct occurred.
       Whereas, the Office of Congressional Ethics is prohibited 
     from reviewing activities taking place prior to March of 2008 
     and lacks the authority to subpoena witnesses and documents.
       Whereas, for example, the Office of Congressional Ethics 
     noted that in some instances documents were redacted or 
     specific information was not provided and that, in at least 
     one instance, they had reason to believe a witness withheld 
     information requested and did not identify what was being 
     withheld.
       Whereas, the Office of Congressional Ethics also noted that 
     they were able to interview only six former employees of the 
     PMA Group, with many former employees refusing to consent to 
     interviews and the OCE unable to obtain evidence within PMA's 
     possession.
       Whereas, Roll Call noted that ``the committee report was 
     five pages long and included no documentation of any evidence 
     collected or any interviews conducted by the committee, 
     beyond a statement that the investigation `included extensive 
     document reviews and interviews with numerous witnesses.' 
     (Roll Call, March 8, 2010)
       Whereas, it is unclear whether the Standards Committee 
     included in their investigation any activities that occurred 
     prior to 2008.
       Whereas, it is unclear whether the Standards Committee 
     interviewed any Members in the course of their investigation.
       Whereas, it is unclear whether the Standards Committee, in 
     the course of their investigation, initiated their own 
     subpoenas or followed the Office of Congressional Ethics 
     recommendations to issue subpoenas.
       Therefore be it: Resolved, that not later than seven days 
     after the adoption of this resolution, the Committee on 
     Standards of Official Conduct shall report to the House of 
     Representatives, with respect to the activities addressed in 
     its report of February 26, 2010, (1) how many witnesses were 
     interviewed, (2) how many, if any, subpoenas were issued in 
     the course of their investigation, and (3) what documents 
     were reviewed and their availability for public review.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution qualifies.


                     Motion to Refer the Resolution

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I move that the resolution be referred to 
the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Massachusetts is 
recognized for 1 hour.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, this is a matter that properly belongs 
before the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
  I yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the previous question is 
ordered on the motion.
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to refer.
  The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that 
the ayes appeared to have it.
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, this 15-
minute vote on the motion to refer the resolution will be followed by 
5-minute votes on adopting House Resolution 1212; and agreeing to the 
Speaker's approval of the Journal.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 406, 
nays 1, answered ``present'' 15, not voting 7, as follows:

                             [Roll No. 187]

                               YEAS--406

     Ackerman
     Aderholt
     Adler (NJ)
     Akin
     Alexander
     Altmire

[[Page 5034]]


     Andrews
     Arcuri
     Austria
     Baca
     Bachmann
     Bachus
     Baird
     Baldwin
     Barrow
     Bartlett
     Barton (TX)
     Bean
     Becerra
     Berkley
     Berman
     Berry
     Biggert
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bishop (GA)
     Bishop (NY)
     Bishop (UT)
     Blackburn
     Blumenauer
     Blunt
     Boccieri
     Boehner
     Bono Mack
     Boozman
     Boren
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boustany
     Boyd
     Brady (PA)
     Brady (TX)
     Braley (IA)
     Bright
     Broun (GA)
     Brown (SC)
     Brown, Corrine
     Brown-Waite, Ginny
     Buchanan
     Burgess
     Burton (IN)
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Cantor
     Cao
     Capito
     Capps
     Capuano
     Cardoza
     Carnahan
     Carney
     Carson (IN)
     Carter
     Cassidy
     Castle
     Chaffetz
     Childers
     Chu
     Clarke
     Clay
     Cleaver
     Clyburn
     Coble
     Coffman (CO)
     Cohen
     Cole
     Connolly (VA)
     Conyers
     Cooper
     Costa
     Costello
     Courtney
     Crenshaw
     Crowley
     Cuellar
     Culberson
     Cummings
     Dahlkemper
     Davis (CA)
     Davis (IL)
     Davis (KY)
     Davis (TN)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Diaz-Balart, M.
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Doggett
     Donnelly (IN)
     Doyle
     Dreier
     Driehaus
     Duncan
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     Edwards (TX)
     Ehlers
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     Ellsworth
     Emerson
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     Eshoo
     Etheridge
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     Fleming
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     Fortenberry
     Foster
     Foxx
     Frank (MA)
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     Frelinghuysen
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     Garamendi
     Garrett (NJ)
     Gerlach
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     Gingrey (GA)
     Gohmert
     Gonzalez
     Goodlatte
     Gordon (TN)
     Granger
     Graves
     Grayson
     Green, Al
     Green, Gene
     Griffith
     Grijalva
     Guthrie
     Gutierrez
     Hall (NY)
     Hall (TX)
     Halvorson
     Hare
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Heinrich
     Heller
     Hensarling
     Herger
     Herseth Sandlin
     Higgins
     Hill
     Himes
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Hirono
     Hodes
     Hoekstra
     Holden
     Holt
     Hoyer
     Hunter
     Inglis
     Inslee
     Israel
     Issa
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson Lee (TX)
     Jenkins
     Johnson (IL)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Johnson, Sam
     Jones
     Jordan (OH)
     Kagen
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
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     Kildee
     Kilpatrick (MI)
     Kilroy
     Kind
     King (IA)
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Kirk
     Kirkpatrick (AZ)
     Kissell
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     Kline (MN)
     Kosmas
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     Kucinich
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     Langevin
     Larsen (WA)
     Larson (CT)
     LaTourette
     Latta
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     Markey (MA)
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     Matsui
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     McNerney
     Meek (FL)
     Meeks (NY)
     Melancon
     Mica
     Michaud
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     Miller (MI)
     Miller (NC)
     Miller, Gary
     Miller, George
     Minnick
     Mitchell
     Mollohan
     Moore (KS)
     Moore (WI)
     Moran (KS)
     Moran (VA)
     Murphy (CT)
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     Murphy, Patrick
     Murphy, Tim
     Myrick
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     Paulsen
     Payne
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     Petri
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     Rogers (MI)
     Rohrabacher
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     Ross
     Rothman (NJ)
     Roybal-Allard
     Royce
     Ruppersberger
     Rush
     Ryan (OH)
     Ryan (WI)
     Salazar
     Sanchez, Linda T.
     Sanchez, Loretta
     Sarbanes
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     Schiff
     Schmidt
     Schock
     Schrader
     Schwartz
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     Sutton
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     Terry
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     Visclosky
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     Wasserman Schultz
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     Westmoreland
     Whitfield
     Wilson (OH)
     Wilson (SC)
     Wittman
     Wolf
     Woolsey
     Wu
     Yarmuth
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                                NAYS--1

       
     Rahall
       

                        ANSWERED ``PRESENT''--15

     Bonner
     Butterfield
     Castor (FL)
     Chandler
     Conaway
     Dent
     Diaz-Balart, L.
     Harper
     Hastings (WA)
     Latham
     Lofgren, Zoe
     McCaul
     Simpson
     Walden
     Welch

                             NOT VOTING--7

     Barrett (SC)
     Buyer
     Davis (AL)
     Honda
     Johnson (GA)
     Reichert
     Souder


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (during the vote). There are 2 minutes 
remaining in this vote.

                              {time}  1458

  Messrs. HARPER and BONNER changed their vote from ``yea'' to 
``present.''
  Mr. LATHAM changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``present.''
  So the motion to refer was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________