IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 470 

Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 21, 2009 

Mr. BISHOP of Utah submitted the following resolution; which was referred 

to the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION 

Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 

Whereas the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, a Representative from 

California, served from 1997 to 2002 as Ranking Democratic Member of the House Permanent Select Committee 

on Intelligence; 

Whereas Representative Pelosi currently serves as Speaker of 

the House, a position of considerable power and influence 

within the Congress; 

Whereas title 3 of the United States Code designates the 

Speaker of the House as third in line of succession to the 

Presidency; 

Whereas Speaker Pelosi has publicly challenged the truthfulness of what she and other congressional leaders were 

told by Central Intelligence Agency officials about the 


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•HRES 470 IH 

agency’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists; 

Whereas in an MSNBC interview on February 25, 2009, 

Speaker Pelosi stated, ‘‘I can say flat-out, they never told 

us that these enhanced interrogation techniques were 

being used’’; 

Whereas Speaker Pelosi’s public statements allege a sustained pattern of deception by government intelligence officers charged by law with informing Congress about the 

agency’s activities; 

Whereas when asked at a press conference on May 15, 2009, 

widely reported by the news media, ‘‘Madame Speaker, 

just to be clear, you’re accusing the CIA of lying to you 

in September?’’ Speaker Pelosi stated, ‘‘Yes’’; 

Whereas during the same press conference the Speaker subsequently stated, ‘‘So yes, I’m saying they are misleading, 

the CIA was misleading the Congress’’ and further, ‘‘they 

mislead us all the time’’ and ‘‘they misrepresented every 

step of the way’’; 

Whereas in a memorandum to CIA employees released publicly on May 15, 2009, Leon Panetta, the CIA Director, 

stated, ‘‘It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the 

Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional 

inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 

2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the 

interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing the enhanced 

interrogation techniques that had been employed’’; 

Whereas national and international media reports on this 

controversy have damaged the reputation of the House by 

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•HRES 470 IH 

gressional oversight may have been undermined through 

false or misleading statements by intelligence officials; 

and 

Whereas in order to safeguard the reputation of the House 

it is imperative to reconcile as soon as possible the aforementioned contradictory statements by Speaker Pelosi 

and CIA Director Panetta: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) a Select Subcommittee of the Permanent 

3 Select Committee on Intelligence shall be established 

4 to review and verify the accuracy of the Speaker’s 

5 aforementioned public statements; 

6 (2) the Select Subcommittee shall be comprised 

7 of four members of the full committee, two ap8 pointed by the chairman of the committee and two 

9 by its ranking minority member; 

10 (3) The subcommittee shall have the same pow11 ers to obtain testimony and documents pursuant to 

12 subpoena authorized under clause 2(m) of rule XI of 

13 the Rules of the House; and 

14 (4) the Select Subcommittee report its findings 

15 and recommendations to the House not later than 

16 sixty calendar days after adoption of this resolution. 

Æ 


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