**U.S. House of Representatives,**

**Select Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of August 2,
2007**

**Meeting to Adopt Final Report**

**Statement of Ranking Member Mike Pence**

**September 25, 2008**

I would like to begin by thanking Chairman Delahunt. The Select
Committee to Investigate the Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007,
first met formally on September 27^th^ of last year. We met informally
prior to that, and over the course of the past year Chairman Delahunt
has been fair and evenhanded in running this committee. We have been
able to come together in a bipartisan manner, putting partisan politics
to the side, and as we will see today, the result of our work is a
landmark report that I believe will benefit the House for years to come.

Before I discuss the report, I want to thank the other members of the
Select Committee. It has been a pleasure to serve with Reps. Artur Davis
and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. On my side of the aisle, I am especially
grateful to have been able to serve with our Vice Ranking Member Steve
LaTourette and Rep. Kenny Hulshof. Their years of experience and
reputations for integrity were confirmed by their work on this Select
Committee, and I thank them for their hard work, diligence and service.

The Select Committee also has benefitted from the cooperation and
assistance of many professionals in the House. The Clerk of the House,
Lorraine Miller, and her office were exemplary. The same can be said for
the House Parliamentarian John Sullivan and his office. I have enjoyed
getting to know former Parliamentarian Charlie Johnson throughout this
investigation, and I am grateful for his help. Finally, I would be
remiss if I didn't thank Judy Schneider and Mike Koempel of the
Congressional Research Service, who have been extremely helpful and
whose counsel I always value.

Not here with us today are our outside counsel, Mark Paoletta and Andrew
Snowdon. These fine lawyers led our investigation with integrity and a
strong dedication to finding out what happened the night of August
2^nd^.

                       

As Members of Congress, we do a lot of things in the House of
Representatives -- we attend hearings, we help constituents with various
problems, we conduct oversight, we debate the pressing issues of the
day, but the most important thing we do is vote on behalf of the people
we were elected to serve.

This Select Committee was charged with the solemn duty of investigating
what happened on the night of August 2, 2007, when a vote on the
Republican motion to recommit the Agriculture Appropriations bill went
awry. The vote was controversial; it would have amended the bill to deny
taxpayer-funded benefits from being received by illegal immigrants. The
vote was close. And, as this Select Committee found, the Republicans
were right, the vote was wrong.

The report that we are about to adopt states:

> There may be a disagreement about what should be the final vote tally,
> but one fact is indisputable: **the vote tally of 212 yeas and 216
> nays that was finally announced is incorrect**. It is either 215 yeas
> and 213 nays, which would have reflected the tally at the time the
> Chair prematurely announced the statement of result, or 211 yeas and
> 217 nays, which would have reflected the tally had Mr. Boehner's well
> card been processed.

The report goes on to find that when the Speaker pro tempore, Rep. Mike
McNulty, called the vote for a second time at 214-214 -- when the actual
vote tally was 215-213 according to the Electronic Voting System and all
votes cast at that time -- that it would have been just as reasonable
for him to stop right there and re-announce the vote with the then
correct tally of 215-213 as what he did, which was hold the vote open.
If he had followed this parliamentary route, the Republicans would have
won the vote.

He did not, however, and the vote was held open for approximately seven
additional minutes. At the end of that time, the vote total was
announced as 212-216, with the Republicans losing. During the time the
vote was held open, the Republican Leader submitted a well card to
change his vote, but this vote change was not processed by the
professional staff on the rostrum. For a Member of Congress not to have
a cast vote counted correctly is a very serious matter, and it will
forever be a black mark on the 110^th^ Congress.

In testimony received by this Select Committee, we heard from numerous
witnesses that they had never seen a vote closed without a tally slip.
The tally slip, of course, is the piece of paper containing the final
vote tally that is passed from the tally clerks to the Parliamentarian
to the Presiding Officer for announcement. It is the confirmation that
all votes have been properly input and recorded in the Electronic Voting
System.

Mr. McNulty did not use a tally slip in calling Roll Call 814. This is
the first documented instance in recent history of the House of this
happening. The failure to use a tally slip caused not only great
confusion and chaos in the House, but also an inaccurate result to be
announced.

Clearly this vote was wrong. It was incorrect in its final tally. It
could have been called at 215-213. No tally slip was used. And, adding
to all of this was the Majority Leader and his actions during the vote.

The Majority Leader acknowledged yelling at Mr. McNulty and others on
the rostrum to shut down the vote after the Speaker voted and caused the
tally to reach 214-214. He acknowledged directing his anger to the
Parliamentarian, saying "We control this House, not the
Parliamentarians," when he mistakenly thought the Parliamentarians had
advised Mr. McNulty to hold the vote open rather than call it in the
Democrats' favor.

There is nothing wrong with any Majority Leader seeking to have a vote
closed when his side is winning. But there is a line that must not be
crossed. In his testimony, the Majority Leader admitted that it was
"certainly possible" that he helped to create an atmosphere where Mr.
McNulty felt pressure to close the vote sooner than he might have
otherwise. While Mr. McNulty denied hearing the Majority Leader or
feeling pressure, others on the rostrum heard and felt it. It added to
the confusion of the night and was unfortunate.

Anger reigned on the House floor on August 2^nd^. Mr. Hoyer was angry,
and Republicans were angry. In fact, they walked-out. In my opinion,
with our finding today that the vote was incorrect and that it could
have been called at 215-213, that anger was justified.

But the House floor should not be a place where anger reigns. And, we
have come together with a series of recommendations that I believe, if
followed by whichever party is in the Majority when the gavel falls next
January, will prevent another night like August 2^nd^ and another vote
like Roll Call 814.

In our report we recommend the removal of the new sentence in clause
2(a) of rule XX of the House Rules. This sentence is the one that the
new Majority added to the rules in January 2007 to prevent a vote from
being held open for the "sole purpose of reversing the outcome of such
vote." Republicans never agreed with the addition of this sentence to
the House Rules, and I am pleased that my Democrat colleagues have found
agreement with us on this point. As we have said since the beginning of
this Congress, the sentence is unworkable and very difficult to enforce.
The Select Committee's investigation actually showed that it caused new
problems without solving the old ones.

We also recommend that the Speaker include in the Speaker's opening day
announcement regarding voting in the House a statement that the Speaker
expects all Presiding Officers to wait on certification from the clerks
that the tally is accurate before announcing the result of a vote. This
means that a tally slip will have to be used to call a vote. We never
should have another vote called without a tally slip. Ever. And if this
recommendation is followed, we will prevent future votes from being
called incorrectly.

There are other very good recommendations that I am pleased we could
agree on, such as increased training for Members of the House,
especially those presiding in the Chair. Ultimately, the integrity of
the House of Representatives is completely dependent on the integrity of
each vote that takes place on the floor of the Congress. Adherence to
our recommendations will prevent the integrity of the House of
Representatives from being challenged again.

We cannot restore Roll Call 814, but we can restore what has been taken
-- the fundamental respect for the independence, fairness and integrity
of the House of Representatives. By acknowledging what happened that
evening, and embracing our recommended reforms, this Congress can learn
from the lessons of August 2nd, move beyond that dark moment and restore
the confidence of the American people that this is not a Democratic
House, this is not a Republican House, this is the People\'s House and
their will is worked every time a vote is called.