IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 504 

Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 6, 2014 

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

RESOLUTION 

Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 

Whereas on March 5, 2014, during a hearing before the 

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 

Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa gave a statement 

and then posed ten questions to former Internal Revenue 

Service official Lois Lerner, who stated that she was invoking her Fifth Amendment right not to testify; 

Whereas the Committee’s Ranking Member, Rep. Elijah E. 

Cummings, clearly sought recognition to take his turn for 

questions under Committee and House Rules; 

Whereas, Chairman Issa then quickly adjourned the hearing 

and refused to allow him to make any statement or ask 

any questions; 

Whereas Ranking Member Cummings protested immediately, 

stating: ‘‘Mr. Chairman, you cannot run a Committee 

like this. You just cannot do this. This is, we are better 


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HRES 504 LTH 

than that as a country, we are better than that as a 

Committee.’’ 

Whereas, Chairman Issa then returned and allowed Ranking 

Member Cummings to begin his statement, but when it 

became clear that Chairman Issa did not want to hear 

what Ranking Member Cummings was saying, turned off 

Ranking Member Cummings’ microphone, ordered Republican staff to ‘‘close it down,’’ and repeatedly signaled 

to end the hearing with his hand across his neck; 

Whereas Ranking Member Cummings objected again, stating: 

‘‘You cannot have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that’’; 

Whereas Chairman Issa made a statement of his own and 

posed questions during the hearing, but refused to allow 

other members of the Committee, and in particular the 

Ranking Member who had sought recognition, to make 

statements under the five-minute rule in violation of 

House Rule XI; 

Whereas Chairman Issa instructed the microphones to be 

turned off and adjourned the hearing without a vote or 

a unanimous consent agreement in violation of Rule XVI 

because he did not want to permit Ranking Member 

Cummings to speak; 

Whereas Chairman Issa’s abusive behavior on March 5 is 

part of a continuing pattern in which he has routinely excluded members of the Committee from investigative 

meetings, and has routinely provided information to the 

press before sharing it with Committee members; 

Whereas Chairman Issa has violated Clause 1 of Rule XXIII 

of the Code of Official Conduct which states that ‘‘A 

Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer or emVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:17 Mar 07, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR504.LTH HR504

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ployee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner 

that shall reflect creditably on the House’’: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives strongly 

2 condemns the offensive and disrespectful manner in which 

3 Chairman Darrell E. Issa conducted the hearing of the 

4 House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

5 on March 5, 2014, during which he turned off the micro6 phones of the Ranking Member while he was speaking and 

7 adjourned the hearing without a vote or a unanimous con8 sent agreement. 

Æ 


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