IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 623 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 4, 2007 
Mr. BOEHNER submitted the following resolution; which was laid on the table 
RESOLUTION 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
Whereas clause one of House rule XXIII (Code of Official 
Conduct) states, ‘‘A Member, Delegate, Resident Com-
missioner, officer or employee of the House shall conduct 
himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect 
creditably on the House,’’; 
Whereas the House Ethics Manual states that, ‘‘The public 
has a right to expect Members, officers and employees to 
exercise impartial judgment in performing their duties’’ 
and ‘‘this Committee has cautioned all Members ‘to avoid 
situations in which even an inference might be drawn 
suggesting improper action’ ’’; 
Whereas clause eight of House rule XVII states, ‘‘The Con-
gressional Record shall be a substantially verbatim ac-
count of remarks made during the proceedings of the 
House, subject only to the technical, grammatical, and 
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•HRES 623 LTH 
typographical corrections authorized by the Member, Del-
egate, or Resident Commissioner making the remarks’’; 
Whereas during proceedings of the House on August 3, 2007, 
the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Boehner, the Republican 
Leader, offered a privileged resolution, H. Res. 612; 
Whereas after the clerk completed reading the resolution, the 
gentlewoman from California, Ms. Tauscher, who was in 
the chair, recognized the gentleman from Maryland, stat-
ing, ‘‘For what purpose does the gentleman from Mary-
land rise?’’; 
Whereas the gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Hoyer, the Ma-
jority Leader, then proceeded to debate Representative 
Boehner’s motion, stating, ‘‘Madame Speaker, enough is 
enough’’; 
Whereas in response to the chair’s query, ‘‘Does the gen-
tleman have an amendment?’’ Majority Leader Hoyer 
stated, ‘‘I move to table the resolution’’; 
Whereas the chair then recognized the Republican Leader 
who raised a point of order that the chair failed to ac-
knowledge, which the chair declined to entertain; 
Whereas as the chair was putting the question to the House, 
Republican Leader Boehner stated, ‘‘isn’t it correct that 
the gentleman from Maryland engaged in debate, which 
allows the House to then proceed with up to one hour of 
debate on this resolution?’’; 
Whereas the chair stated, ‘‘The chair did not yet rule that 
the question constitutes a question of privilege’’; 
Whereas a video recording produced by the Office of the 
Chief Administrative Officer confirms that the chair, in 
fact, never ruled on whether the resolution offered by the 
Republican Leader constituted a question of privilege; 
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Whereas the Speaker, as the presiding officer, has a duty to 
be a fair and impartial arbiter of the proceedings of the 
House, held to the highest ethical standards in deciding 
the various questions as they arise with impartiality and 
courtesy toward all Members, regardless of party affili-
ation; 
Whereas the Republican Leader, and any other Member of 
the House raising a point of order, is entitled to state a 
point of order and to receive a ruling on it from the 
chair; 
Whereas statements made on the floor of the House during 
the aforementioned proceedings of August 3, 2007, do 
not appear in the Congressional Record for that day, and 
the same Congressional Record reports as having been 
spoken statements that were not made; 
Whereas the House adopted H. Res. 611, establishing a Se-
lect Committee to investigate voting irregularities occur-
ring in the House on August 2, 2007; and 
Whereas H. Res. 612 was offered in response to the events 
stemming from the incident of August 2, 2007: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That— 
(1) the Select Committee to Investigate the 
Voting Irregularities of August 2, 2007, is directed 
to investigate and include in the initial report its 
findings and resulting recommendations concerning 
the actions of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Tauscher) while presiding over the House on August 
3, 2007, at the time the Republican Leader offered 
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H. Res. 612 and the actions which led to the dif-
ferences between the statements in the Congres-
sional Record and those actually spoken on that day; 
and 
(2) the Congressional Record for the legislative 
day of August 3, 2007, be corrected to reflect ver-
batim the words actually spoken during consider-
ation of H. Res. 612. 
Æ 
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