IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 591 

Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 8, 2005 

Ms. PELOSI submitted the following resolution; which was laid on the table 

RESOLUTION 

Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 

Whereas the recurring practice of improperly holding votes 

open for the sole purpose of overturning the will of the 

majority, including bullying and threatening Members to 

vote against their conscience, has occurred eight times 

since 2003, and three times in the 109th Congress alone; 

Whereas on November 22, 2003, the Republican Leadership 

held open the vote on H.R. 1, the Prescription Drug Conference Report, for nearly three hours, the longest period 

of time in the history of electronic voting in the U.S. 

House of Representatives; 

Whereas the normal period of time for a recorded vote is 15 

minutes, and the Speaker of the House has reiterated 

that policy on Opening Day of each Congress by saying, 

‘‘The Chair announced, and then strictly enforced, a pol-
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icy of closing electronic votes as soon as possible after the 

guaranteed period of 15 minutes’’; 

Whereas the sole purpose of holding the Prescription Drug 

vote open was to undermine the will of the House, and 

reverse the position that a majority of the House of Representatives had taken during the entire vote; 

Whereas it was widely reported in the press that former Representative Nick Smith (R–MI) was bribed on the House 

floor, and the incident was described in Robert Novak’s 

column in the Chicago Sun-Times, November 27, 2003: 

‘‘Nick Smith was told business interests would give his 

son $100,000 in return for his father’s vote. When he 

still declined, fellow Republican House members told him 

they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After (Rep.) Nick Smith voted no and the bill 

passed, (Rep.) Duke Cunningham of California and other 

Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat’’; 

Whereas the cost of the Prescription Drug bill was a critical 

factor in determining the votes of many Members of Congress and Richard S. Foster, the chief actuary for the 

Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, conducted 

numerous estimates indicating the cost to be much higher, including a June 11, 2003 analysis of a similar plan 

in the Senate which would have cost $551 billion over ten 

years and Members were not made aware of this; 

Whereas the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated 

the cost of the Republican Prescription Drug bill to be 

$395 billion over ten years and yet, just two months after 

the vote in Congress, Joshua Bolten, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, disclosed that the Administration’s estimate of the cost was actually $534 billion; 
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Whereas Representative Bill Thomas, the Chairman of the 

Ways and Means Committee and a key negotiator on the 

bill, told HHS Secretary Thompson on February 10, 

2004 in a hearing before the Ways and Means Committee, ‘‘I know some people were surprised that your 

(HHS) number was higher. I personally was not . . .’’ 

(Hearing Transcript, February 10, 2004); 

Whereas Representative Nancy Johnson, the Chairman of the 

Ways and Means Health Subcommittee and a key negotiator on the bill, said she knew of the higher estimates 

and stated, ‘‘Absolutely, we knew about these numbers.’’ 

(The New York Times, March 18, 2004); 

Whereas the Republican Leadership and the committees of 

jurisdiction chose to ignore the warnings of higher cost 

estimates and intentionally misled Members of the House 

for the sole purpose of winning passage of an extremely 

controversial bill; 

Whereas in a clear conflict of interest the Chairman of the 

Energy and Commerce Committee, former Representative 

Billy Tauzin (R–LA), was actively engaged in a job 

search with the pharmaceutical industry at the same time 

that he was a key negotiator on major provisions in the 

bill, and after its passage, he subsequently left Congress 

to take a highly-paid executive position with the head of 

the pharmaceutical lobby, and is reportedly making many 

times his congressional salary; 

Whereas the Republican Leadership’s submissiveness to the 

influence of corporate interests, and their illegitimate efforts to overturn the will of the House to pass flawed legislation like the Prescription Drug bill, which was written 

to meet the needs of drug companies, call into question 
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the legitimacy of the laws they enact and the agenda they 

pursue; and 

Whereas the culture of corruption has so permeated the Republican Leadership that they will violate their own Rules 

and the customs and decorum of the House to win votes 

on the floor of the House of Representatives: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House denounces the culture of 

2 corruption exhibited by the Republican Leadership, de3 nounces the ongoing resort to illegitimate actions taken 

4 to pass legislation like the Prescription Drug bill under 

5 false pretenses, rejects the practice of improperly holding 

6 votes open beyond a reasonable period of time for the sole 

7 purpose of circumventing the will of the House, and di8 rects the Speaker to take such steps as necessary to pre9 vent any further abuse. 

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