IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 310
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 9, 2005
Ms. PELOSI submitted the following resolution; which was laid on the table 
RESOLUTION 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House.
Whereas, in 1968, in furtherance of its constitutional author-
ity and to promote the highest ethical standards for 
Members of Congress, the House of Representatives es-
tablished the Committee on Standards of Official Con-
duct; 
Whereas the ethics procedures in effect during the 108th 
Congress, and in the three preceding Congresses, were 
enacted in 1997 in a bipartisan manner by an over-
whelming vote of the House of Representatives upon the 
bipartisan recommendation of the ten-member Ethics Re-
form Task Force, which conducted a thorough and 
lengthy review of the entire ethics process; 
Whereas rule XI, clause 3(g) of the Rules of the House, first 
adopted in 1997 upon the recommendation of the task 
force, provides that the Committee ‘‘staff be assembled
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and retained as a professional non-partisan staff’’ and 
‘‘[a]ll staff members shall be appointed by an affirmative 
vote of the majority of the Members of the Committee’’; 
Whereas rule XI states that each such staff person ‘‘shall be 
professional and demonstrably qualified for the position 
which he is hired’’ and is prohibited from engaging in 
‘‘any partisan political activity directly affecting any con-
gressional or presidential election’’; 
Whereas rule XI also provides that, ‘‘in addition to any other 
staff provided by law, rule or other authority’’, the Chair 
and Ranking Minority Member may each appoint, with-
out a vote of the Committee, one person as a shared staff 
member from his or her personal staff to perform service 
for the Committee; and further provides such shared 
staff persons are exempt from the provision requiring 
that ‘‘the staff be assembled and retained as a profes-
sional, nonpartisan staff’’ and the provision stating that 
‘‘no member of the staff shall engage in any partisan po-
litical activity directly affecting any congressional or pres-
idential election’’; 
Whereas, from 1997 through 2004, the Staff Director/Chief 
Counsel and other professional staff were appointed by 
an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the 
Committee, and the shared staff members exercised no 
supervisory or other authority over the professional staff; 
Whereas, in January of 2005, the Chairman of the Com-
mittee improperly and unilaterally fired nonpartisan 
Committee staff; 
Whereas the Chairman now proposes to designate his shared 
staff person as the Committee Staff Director, clothed
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with supervisory authority, without subjecting him to a 
vote of the Committee; 
Whereas, because of the Chairman’s proposal and with nearly 
half of the First Session of the 109th Congress having 
expired, the Committee has been unable to carry out its 
charge, set out in rule XI, to investigate allegations of 
misconduct by Members and staff; and 
Whereas the Committee’s resulting inability to carry out its 
duties has subjected the House to public ridicule and pro-
duced contempt for the ethics process, thus bringing dis-
credit to the House: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Committee on Standards of Offi-
cial Conduct is hereby directed to proceed in accord with 
clause 3(g) of rule XI, to appoint, upon an affirmative 
vote of the majority of the Members of the Committee, 
a non-partisan professional staff.
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