IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 687 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 16, 2006 
Ms. PELOSI submitted the following resolution; which was laid on the table 
RESOLUTION 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
Whereas the Republican Leadership has engaged in a con-
tinuing pattern of withholding accurate information vital 
for Members of the House of Representatives to have be-
fore voting on legislation, and has inserted numerous 
controversial provisions into completed conference reports 
in the dead of night without notifying Democratic Mem-
bers of the House, the press, or the public; 
Whereas on February 1, 2006, the Republican Leadership 
permitted a vote on House Resolution 653 to concur in 
a Senate amendment to the conference agreement on 
Budget Reconciliation, despite the inclusion of inaccurate 
numbers in provisions that cost the Medicare program an 
additional $2 billion dollars; 
Whereas although the Senate Enrolling Clerk had mistakenly 
changed critical numbers which had a major financial 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
21:02 Feb 17, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR687.LTH
HR687
cchase on PROD1PC60 with BILLS
HRES 687 LTH 
significance for Medicare, and had notified the House of 
those errors two weeks prior to the vote on February 1, 
the Republican Leadership deliberately chose to ignore 
that notification and instead allowed the House to vote 
on an incorrect version of this legislation; 
Whereas the conference agreement on Budget Reconciliation 
passed the House by the narrowest of margins, 216–214, 
with every Democrat voting in opposition, and knowledge 
of this mistake may have influenced the outcome of this 
vote, which is why the Republican Leadership chose not 
to pursue the proper course in correcting this legislation; 
Whereas as a result of the concealment of these errors in the 
enrollment of the bill, the law signed by the President of 
the United States on February 8, 2006, is not the same 
as the text cleared by the House on February 1, 2006; 
Whereas the effect of these actions raises serious constitu-
tional questions and jeopardizes the legal status of this 
legislation and The Washington Post has reported: ‘‘Now 
there are questions about the legality of signing a bill the 
House technically did not pass’’ (The Washington Post, 
February 9, 2006); 
Whereas Republican incompetence led to numerous errors in 
this legislation, and two additional errors in the Senate 
amendment that was agreed to by House Resolution 653 
were found by the Congressional Budget Office in a re-
port dated January 27, 2006, five days before the House 
voted on the final conference report: ‘‘The (conference re-
port on Budget Reconciliation) contains two apparent er-
rors in legislative language: one in section 8006 regard-
ing direct loans to parents of postsecondary students, and 
one in section 10002 regarding bankruptcy fees.’’ (CBO 
Report on S. 1932, January 27, 2006); 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
21:02 Feb 17, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR687.LTH
HR687
cchase on PROD1PC60 with BILLS
HRES 687 LTH 
Whereas in this ongoing pattern of abuse of power, the Re-
publican Leadership on December 17, 2005, deliberately 
misled Members of the House by inserting into a com-
pleted conference report without debate or notification a 
provision granting liability protection for drug companies 
from cases involving consumers injured by avian flu vac-
cine (HR 2863, the Defense Appropriations Conference 
Report); 
Whereas the Republican Leadership inserted this liability vac-
cine provision at midnight, after conferees signed what 
they understood to be the final document seven hours 
earlier, thereby breaking their word and assurances that 
‘‘Avian Flu shall be funded at the House level, and will 
not include either indemnity or compensation provisions.’’ 
(House Appropriations Committee Summary, December 
17, 2005, 4:40 p.m.); 
Whereas during passage of the Prescription Drug bill in 
2003, the Republican Leadership and the committees of 
jurisdiction ignored the warnings from knowledgeable ex-
perts that the true cost of the legislation was potentially 
hundreds of billions of dollars higher than the official es-
timate, and intentionally misled Members of the House 
by withholding information for the sole purpose of win-
ning passage of this extremely controversial bill by a sin-
gle vote in the middle of the night; and 
Whereas the Republican Leadership’s culture of corruption 
and its repeated efforts to thwart the normal legislative 
process by cutting corners, inserting hand-written provi-
sions into completed conference reports in the dead of 
night, and rushing through legislation with major errors, 
forces Members to vote on controversial legislation with-
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
21:02 Feb 17, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR687.LTH
HR687
cchase on PROD1PC60 with BILLS