109TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 2d Session 109–689 

DIRECTING THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO PROVIDE TO THE HOUSE OF 

REPRESENTATIVES CERTAIN DOCUMENTS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE 

SECRETARY OF STATE RELATING TO THE REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE 

COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON JULY 28, 2006, PURSUANT TO THE IRAN AND SYRIA 

NONPROLIFERATION ACT 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2006.—Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be printed 

Mr. HYDE, from the Committee on International Relations, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

together with 

ADDITIONAL VIEWS 

[To accompany H. Res. 985] 

The Committee on International Relations, to whom was referred the resolution (H. Res. 985) directing the Secretary of State 

to provide to the House of Representatives certain documents in 

the possession of the Secretary of State relating to the report submitted to the Committee on International Relations of the House 

of Representatives on July 28, 2006, pursuant to the Iran and 

Syria Nonproliferation Act, having considered the same, reports 

thereon without recommendation. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

Purpose and Summary ............................................................................................ 2 

Background and Need for the Legislation ............................................................. 2 

Hearings ................................................................................................................... 2 

Committee Consideration ........................................................................................ 2 

Committee Oversight Findings ............................................................................... 2 

Constitutional Authority Statement ...................................................................... 3 

Additional Views ...................................................................................................... 5 


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1Deschler’s Precedents, H. Doc. No. 94–661, 94th Cong., 2d Sess., vol. 7, ch. 24, section 8. 2 H. Res. 985, 109th Cong. (September 7, 2006). 

PURPOSE AND SUMMARY

House Resolution 985 directs the Secretary of State to provide to 

the House of Representatives certain documents in the possession 

of the Secretary relating to the report submitted to the House 

International Relations Committee on July 28, 2006, pursuant to 

the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR THE LEGISLATION

House Resolution 985 is a resolution of inquiry, which pursuant 

to Rule XXIII, clause 7 of the Rules of the House of Representatives, directs the Committee to act on the resolution within 14 legislative days or a privileged motion to discharge the Committee is 

in order. H. Res. 985 was introduced and referred to the Committee 

on International Relations on September 7, 2006. The Committee 

held markup sessions on September 13, 2006 and ordered H. Res. 

985 reported by voice vote without recommendation. 

Under the Rules and Precedents of the House, a resolution of inquiry is one of the methods used by the House to obtain information from the executive branch. According to Deschler’s Procedure 

it is a ‘‘simple resolution making a direct request or demand of the 

President or the head of an executive department to furnish the 

House of Representatives with specific factual information in the 

possession of the executive branch.’’ 1

On September 7, 2006, Mr. Berman of California introduced H. 

Res. 985. The resolution seeks all documents in the Secretary of 

State’s possession relating to the report submitted to the House 

International Relations Committee on July 28, 2006, pursuant to 

the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act.2

The State Department and the International Relations Committee are currently negotiating the release to the International 

Relations Committee of documents within the scope of the resolution of inquiry. In recognition of these ongoing discussions, the 

Committee voted to report H. Res. 985 without recommendation. 

HEARINGS

The Committee did not hold hearings on H. Res. 985. 

COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION

On September 13, 2006, the Full Committee marked up H. Res. 

985, pursuant to notice, in open session and agreed to a motion to 

report the resolution without recommendation to the House by a 

voice vote. 

COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS

The Committee held no oversight activities under clause 2(b)(1) 

of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives. 


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CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT

Pursuant to clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House 

of Representatives, the Committee finds the authority for this resolution in article I, section 1 of the Constitution. 


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ADDITIONAL VIEWS

This resolution of inquiry—which I introduced with Mr. 

Delahunt—directs the Secretary of State to provide information to 

Congress regarding the recent release of a semi-annual report required by the Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act. 

Let me provide a little background on why we are doing this. 

On July 20, Rep. Rohrabacher held a hearing in the Oversight 

and Investigations subcommittee on U.S. nonproliferation goals 

and strategies. 

At that hearing, Acting Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation 

Frank Record—a former staff member of this committee—testified 

that he ‘‘didn’t recall’’ if the long overdue report would include information about any Indian entities. 

When the report was submitted to the Committee only a week 

later—with information about two Indian firms proliferating to 

Iran, and just two days after the vote on the India nuclear deal—

it seemed hard for me to believe that Mr. Record hadn’t known 

about this and that the timing was purely coincidental. 

So on July 28, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Delahunt and I sent a letter 

to Secretary Rice expressing concern about Mr. Record’s testimony 

and requesting a detailed briefing on why this report wasn’t shared 

with members prior to the vote. 

For five weeks we didn’t receive a response. 

It was only after my staff told the State Department I was considering this resolution of inquiry that we finally received a written 

response on September 7. 

Unfortunately, the response was totally inadequate, and State indicated no interest in accommodating our reasonable bipartisan request for a briefing, so our only recourse was to introduce this resolution. 

It wasn’t until the morning of the markup at which we considered this resolution that I received a call from Undersecretary Nick 

Burns, who provided his perspective on why the report was submitted late. 

I like Mr. Burns, and believe he’s a very good diplomat, but in 

this case my approach is the same as former President Ronald 

Reagan—‘‘trust but verify.’’

Even if the report had come to Congress before the vote on the 

India nuclear bill, I don’t think it would have changed my vote in 

favor of that legislation. 

But the information about the Indian entities was very relevant 

to the debate—particularly the motion to recommit, which would 

have conditioned civilian nuclear cooperation on India’s support for 

U.S. efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. 

At the end of the day, this really isn’t about the specifics of the 

India legislation. 


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This is a much larger issue—the right of this Committee, and the 

Congress as a whole, to receive all relevant information when considering an extremely important piece of legislation with serious 

implications for U.S. foreign policy and national security. 

HOWARD L. BERMAN. 

Æ 


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