IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1249 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 14, 2010 
Mr. BOEHNER submitted the following resolution 
APRIL 14, 2010 
By motion of the House, referred to the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct 
RESOLUTION 
Raising a question of the privileges of the House. 
Whereas, on March 4, 2010, the Committee on Standards of 
Official Conduct issued the following public statement, 
‘‘The Committee, pursuant to rule 18(a), is investigating 
and gathering additional information concerning matters 
related to allegations involving Representative Massa’’; 
Whereas, on March 8, 2010, Representative Eric Massa re-
signed from the House; 
Whereas, in the days following Representative Massa’s res-
ignation, numerous confusing and conflicting media re-
ports that House Democratic leaders knew about, and 
may have failed to handle appropriately, allegations that 
Representative Massa was sexually harassing his own em-
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ployees raised serious and legitimate questions about 
what Speaker Pelosi, as well as other Democratic leaders 
and their respective staffs, were told, and what those in-
dividuals did with the information in their possession; 
Whereas, on March 11, 2010, the House of Representatives 
voted 402–1 to refer to the Standards Committee House 
Resolution 1164. The resolution would have directed the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to ‘‘inves-
tigate fully, pursuant to clause 3(a)(2) of House rule XI, 
which Democratic leaders and members of their respec-
tive staffs had knowledge prior to March 3, 2010, of the 
aforementioned allegations concerning Mr. Massa, and 
what actions each leader and staffer having any such 
knowledge took after learning of the allegations’’; 
Whereas, House Resolution 1164 also stated, ‘‘Within ten 
days following the adoption of this resolution, and pursu-
ant to Committee on Standards of Official Conduct rule 
19, the committee shall establish an investigative sub-
committee in the aforementioned matter, or report to the 
House no later than the final day of that period the rea-
sons for its failure to do so’’; 
Whereas, thirty-four days have passed since the House vote 
on the resolution that, had it passed, would have required 
the Standards Committee to create an investigative sub-
committee. Nevertheless, during that time, the committee 
has failed to establish an investigative subcommittee and 
has issued no public announcements indicating its inten-
tion to do so; 
Whereas, during the past thirty-four days, numerous news re-
ports have made public additional disturbing information 
about Mr. Massa’s actions and his staff’s attempts to 
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bring their concerns about Mr. Massa’s conduct to the 
attention of Democratic leadership; 
Whereas, the possibility that House Democratic leaders may 
have failed to immediately confront Representative Massa 
about allegations of sexual harassment may have exposed 
employees and interns of Representative Massa to contin-
ued harassment; 
Whereas, as recently as this morning, The Washington Post 
published an article on its Web site and on page three 
of that newspaper headlined ‘‘Staffers’ Accounts Paint 
More Detailed, Troubling Picture of Massa’s Office’’; 
Whereas, the same Washington Post article also contained 
the following sub-headline: ‘‘Workers Felt Helpless’’; 
Whereas, in the wake of the aforementioned media accounts 
and a 402–1 vote by the House that should have signaled 
to the committee the seriousness of this matter, the con-
tinued failure by the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct to establish an investigative subcommittee has 
held the committee and the full House to public ridicule; 
Whereas, clause one of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House 
of Representatives, titled ‘‘Code of Conduct’’ states ‘‘A 
Member, Delegate, Resident Commission, officer, or em-
ployee of the House shall conduct himself at all times in 
a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House’’; 
Whereas, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is 
charged under House rules with enforcing the Code of 
Conduct; 
Therefore, be it resolved, 
(1) the Committee on Standards of Official 
Conduct is directed to investigate fully, pursuant to 
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clause 3(a)(2) of House rule XI, which House 
Democratic leaders and members of their respective 
staffs had knowledge prior to March 3, 2010, of the 
aforementioned allegations concerning Mr. Massa, 
and what actions each leader and staffer having any 
such knowledge took after learning of the allega-
tions; 
(2) within ten days following adoption of this 
resolution, and pursuant to Committee on Standards 
of Official Conduct rule 19, the committee shall es-
tablish an investigative subcommittee in the afore-
mentioned matter, or report to the House no later 
than the final day of that period the reasons for its 
failure to do so; 
(3) all Members, officers and staff are in-
structed to cooperate fully in the committee’s inves-
tigation and to preserve all records, electronic or 
otherwise, that may bear on the subject of this in-
vestigation; 
(4) the Chief Administrative Officer shall imme-
diately take all steps necessary to secure and prevent 
the alteration or deletion of any e-mails, text mes-
sages, voicemails and other electronic records resi-
dent on House equipment that have been sent or re-
ceived by the Members and staff who are the sub-
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