[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 29, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H5035-H5036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RAISING A QUESTION OF THE PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring forth the privileged
resolution, H. Res. 1148.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the resolution.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Res. 1148
Whereas, on July 22, 2020, H.R. 7573 was brought to the
House floor for a vote, with the purpose of eliminating four
specific statues or busts from the United States Capitol
along with all others that include individuals who ``served
as an officer or voluntarily with the Confederate States of
America or of the military forces or government of a State
while the State was in rebellion against the United States''
yet failed to address the most ever-present historical stigma
in the United States Capitol; that is the source that so
fervently supported, condoned and fought for slavery was left
untouched, without whom, the evil of slavery could never have
continued as it did, to such extreme that it is necessary to
address here in order for the U.S. House of Representatives
to avoid degradation of historical fact and blatant hypocrisy
for generations to come;
Whereas, the Democratic Party Platform of 1840, 1844, 1848,
1852, and 1856 states ``That Congress has no power under the
Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic
institutions of the several States, and that such States are
the sole and proper judges of everything appertaining to
their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution; that
all efforts of the abolitionists, or others, made to induce
Congress to interfere with questions of slavery . . . are
calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous
consequences; and that all such efforts have an inevitable
tendency to diminish the happiness of the people and endanger
the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to
be countenanced by any friend of our political
institutions.'';
Whereas, the Democratic Party Platform of 1856 further
declares that ``new states'' to the Union should be admitted
``with or without domestic slavery, as [the state] may
elect.'';
Whereas, the Democratic Party Platform of 1856 also
resolves that ``we recognize the right of the people of all
the Territories . . . to form a Constitution, with or without
domestic slavery.'';
Whereas, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 penalized officials
who did not arrest an alleged runaway slave and made them
liable for a fine of $1,000 (about $28,000 in present-day
value); law-enforcement officials everywhere were required to
arrest people suspected of being a runaway slave on as little
as a claimant's sworn testimony of ownership; the Democratic
Party Platform of 1860 directly, in seeking to uphold the
Fugitive Slave Act, states that ``the enactments of the State
Legislatures to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive
Slave Law are hostile in character, subversive of the
Constitution, and revolutionary in their effect.'';
Whereas, the 14th Amendment, giving full citizenship to
freed slaves, passed in 1868 with 94 percent Republican
support and 0 percent Democrat support in Congress; the 15th
Amendment, giving freed slaves the right to vote, passed in
1870 with 100 percent Republican support and 0 percent
Democrat support in Congress;
Whereas, Democrats systematically suppressed African-
Americans' right to vote, and by specific example in the 1902
Constitution of the State of Virginia, actually
disenfranchised about 90 percent of the Black men who still
voted at the beginning of the twentieth century and nearly
half of the White men, thereby suppressing Republican voters;
the number of eligible African-American voters were thereby
forcibly reduced from about 147,000 in 1901 to about 10,000
by 1905; that measure was supported almost exclusively by
Virginia Democrats;
Whereas, Virginia's 1902 Constitution was engineered by
Carter Glass, future Democratic Party U.S. Representative,
Senator, and even Secretary of the Treasury under Democrat
President Woodrow Wilson, who proclaimed the goal of the
constitutional convention as follows: This Democrat
exclaimed, ``Discrimination! Why, that is precisely what we
propose. That, exactly, is what this Convention was elected
for--to discriminate to the very extremity of permissible
action under the limits of the federal Constitution, with a
view to the elimination of every Negro voter who can be
gotten rid of legally.'';
Whereas, in 1912, Democratic President Woodrow Wilson's
administration began a racial segregation policy for U.S.
government employees and, by 1914, the Wilson
administration's Civil Service instituted the requirement
that a photograph be submitted with each employment
application;
Whereas, the 1924 Democratic National Convention convened
in New York City at Madison Square Garden; the convention is
commonly known as the ``Klan-Bake'' due to the overwhelming
influence of the Ku Klux Klan in the Democratic Party;
Whereas, Democrat President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
continued Woodrow Wilson's policy of segregating White House
staff and maintained separate dining rooms for White and
Black staffers. He also continued the White House
Correspondents Association's ban on credentialing Black
journalists for White House duties until outside pressure
from Black publications finally forced a change in policy in
1944, the last year of his presidency. According to the
American Journal of Public Health, prior to his presidency,
Roosevelt not only banned Blacks from receiving treatment at
his polio facility in Warm Springs, Georgia, Black staff were
forced to live in the basement of the facility or in a
segregated dormitory while White staff lived in the hotel or
in surrounding cottages;
Whereas, Democrat Congressman Howard Smith, former chairman
of the House Rules Committee introduced the ``Declaration of
Constitutional Principles'' in a speech on the House floor
where he attacked the Supreme Court's 1954 decision on Brown
v. Board of Education of Topeka (KS) which determined that
segregated public schools were unconstitutional. Smith's
declaration urged people to utilize all ``lawful means'' to
avoid the ``chaos and confusion'' which would occur if they
desegregated schools. History.House.Gov states that ``Under
Smith, the Rules Committee became a graveyard for
[[Page H5036]]
numerous civil rights initiatives in the 1950s.'';
Whereas, in 1964, the Democratic Party led a 75-calendar-
day filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act;
Whereas, leading the Democrats in their opposition to civil
rights for African-Americans was a fellow member of the
Democratic Party, Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia--a
known recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan;
Whereas, Democrats enacted and enforced Jim Crow laws and
civil codes that forced segregation and restricted freedoms
of Black Americans in the United States; and
Whereas, on June 18, 2020, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
ordered the removal from the Capitol portraits of four
previous Speakers of the House who served in the Confederacy
saying that the portraits, ``set back our nation's work to
confront a combat bigotry;'' the men depicted in the
portraits were Democrat Robert M.T. Hunter, Democrat Howell
Cobb, Democrat James L. Orr and Democrat Charles F. Crisp:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Speaker of the House of Representatives
shall remove any item that names, symbolizes, or mentions any
political organization or party that has ever held a public
position that supported slavery or the Confederacy, from any
area within the House wing of the Capitol or any House office
building, and shall donate any such item or symbol to the
Library of Congress.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The resolution qualifies.
Motion to Table
Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
The Clerk read as follows:
Mr. Clyburn moves that the resolution be laid on the table.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to table.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to section 3 of House Resolution
965, the yeas and nays are ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 223,
nays 176, not voting 31, as follows:
[Roll No. 207]
YEAS--223
Adams
Aguilar
Allred
Amash
Axne
Bass
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Boyle, Brendan F.
Brindisi
Brown (MD)
Brownley (CA)
Butterfield
Carbajal
Cardenas
Carson (IN)
Cartwright
Case
Casten (IL)
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Chu, Judy
Cicilline
Cisneros
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Connolly
Cooper
Correa
Costa
Courtney
Cox (CA)
Craig
Crist
Crow
Cuellar
Cunningham
Davids (KS)
Davis (CA)
Davis, Danny K.
Dean
DeFazio
DeLauro
DelBene
Delgado
Demings
DeSaulnier
Deutch
Dingell
Doggett
Doyle, Michael F.
Engel
Escobar
Eshoo
Espaillat
Evans
Finkenauer
Fletcher
Foster
Frankel
Gabbard
Garamendi
Garcia (IL)
Garcia (TX)
Golden
Gomez
Gonzalez (TX)
Gottheimer
Green, Al (TX)
Grijalva
Haaland
Harder (CA)
Hastings
Hayes
Heck
Higgins (NY)
Himes
Hollingsworth
Horn, Kendra S.
Horsford
Houlahan
Hoyer
Huffman
Jackson Lee
Jayapal
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson (TX)
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Khanna
Kildee
Kilmer
Kim
Kind
Kinzinger
Kirkpatrick
Krishnamoorthi
Kuster (NH)
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lawrence
Lawson (FL)
Lee (CA)
Lee (NV)
Levin (CA)
Levin (MI)
Lieu, Ted
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren
Lowenthal
Lowey
Lujan
Luria
Lynch
Malinowski
Maloney, Carolyn B.
Maloney, Sean
Matsui
McAdams
McBath
McCollum
McEachin
McGovern
McNerney
Meeks
Meng
Mfume
Moore
Morelle
Moulton
Mucarsel-Powell
Murphy (FL)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Neguse
Norcross
O'Halleran
Ocasio-Cortez
Omar
Pallone
Panetta
Pappas
Pascrell
Payne
Perlmutter
Peters
Peterson
Phillips
Pingree
Pocan
Porter
Pressley
Price (NC)
Quigley
Raskin
Rice (NY)
Rose (NY)
Rouda
Roybal-Allard
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Rush
Sanchez
Sarbanes
Scanlon
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schneider
Schrader
Schrier
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell (AL)
Shalala
Sherman
Sherrill
Sires
Slotkin
Smith (WA)
Soto
Spanberger
Speier
Stanton
Stevens
Suozzi
Swalwell (CA)
Takano
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tlaib
Tonko
Torres (CA)
Torres Small (NM)
Trahan
Trone
Underwood
Vargas
Veasey
Vela
Velazquez
Visclosky
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson Coleman
Welch
Wexton
Wild
Wilson (FL)
Yarmuth
NAYS--176
Allen
Amodei
Armstrong
Arrington
Babin
Bacon
Baird
Balderson
Banks
Barr
Bergman
Biggs
Bilirakis
Bishop (NC)
Bishop (UT)
Brady
Brooks (AL)
Brooks (IN)
Buchanan
Buck
Bucshon
Budd
Burchett
Burgess
Byrne
Carter (GA)
Carter (TX)
Chabot
Cheney
Cline
Cloud
Cole
Comer
Conaway
Cook
Crawford
Crenshaw
Curtis
Davidson (OH)
Davis, Rodney
Emmer
Estes
Ferguson
Fitzpatrick
Fleischmann
Flores
Fortenberry
Foxx (NC)
Fulcher
Gaetz
Gallagher
Garcia (CA)
Gianforte
Gibbs
Gohmert
Gonzalez (OH)
Gooden
Gosar
Granger
Graves (LA)
Graves (MO)
Green (TN)
Griffith
Grothman
Guest
Guthrie
Hagedorn
Harris
Hartzler
Hern, Kevin
Herrera Beutler
Hice (GA)
Higgins (LA)
Hill (AR)
Hudson
Huizenga
Hurd (TX)
Jacobs
Johnson (LA)
Johnson (OH)
Johnson (SD)
Joyce (OH)
Joyce (PA)
Katko
Keller
Kelly (MS)
Kelly (PA)
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kustoff (TN)
LaHood
LaMalfa
Lamborn
Latta
Lesko
Long
Loudermilk
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Marshall
Massie
Mast
McCarthy
McCaul
McClintock
McHenry
McKinley
Meuser
Miller
Moolenaar
Mooney (WV)
Murphy (NC)
Newhouse
Norman
Nunes
Olson
Palazzo
Palmer
Pence
Perry
Posey
Reed
Reschenthaler
Rice (SC)
Riggleman
Roby
Rodgers (WA)
Roe, David P.
Rogers (AL)
Rose, John W.
Rouzer
Roy
Rutherford
Scalise
Schweikert
Scott, Austin
Sensenbrenner
Shimkus
Simpson
Smith (MO)
Smith (NE)
Smith (NJ)
Stauber
Stefanik
Steil
Steube
Stewart
Stivers
Taylor
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiffany
Timmons
Tipton
Turner
Upton
Van Drew
Wagner
Walberg
Walden
Walker
Walorski
Waltz
Watkins
Weber (TX)
Webster (FL)
Wenstrup
Westerman
Williams
Wilson (SC)
Wittman
Womack
Woodall
Yoho
Young
Zeldin
NOT VOTING--31
Abraham
Aderholt
Barragan
Beatty
Blunt Rochester
Bost
Bustos
Calvert
Cohen
Collins (GA)
DeGette
DesJarlais
Diaz-Balart
Duncan
Dunn
Fudge
Gallego
Graves (GA)
Holding
Jordan
Lamb
Marchant
Mitchell
Mullin
Richmond
Rogers (KY)
Rooney (FL)
Ryan
Smucker
Spano
Wright
{time} 1925
Messrs. GROTHMAN, LATTA, BISHOP of North Carolina, and LONG changed
their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Ms. SPANBERGER and Mr. GREEN of Texas changed their vote from ``nay''
to ``yea.''
So the motion to table was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 965, 116th Congress
Butterfield (Kildee)
Chu, Judy (Takano)
DeSaulnier (Matsui)
Frankel (Clark (MA))
Garamendi (Sherman)
Grijalva (Garcia (IL))
Hastings (Wasserman Schultz)
Hayes (Courtney)
Huffman (Kildee)
Jackson Lee (Cuellar)
Johnson (TX) (Jeffries)
Kaptur (Dingell)
Kennedy (Kuster (NH))
Kind (Beyer)
Kirkpatrick (Stanton)
Langevin (Lynch)
Lawson (FL) (Evans)
Lieu, Ted (Beyer)
Lipinski (Cooper)
Lofgren (Jeffries)
Lowenthal (Beyer)
Lowey (Tonko)
McEachin (Wexton)
Meng (Clark (MA))
Moore (Beyer)
Mucarsel-Powell (Wasserman Schultz)
Napolitano (Correa)
Payne (Wasserman Schultz)
Pingree (Clark (MA))
Pocan (Raskin)
Pressley (Garcia (IL))
Roybal-Allard (Aguilar)
Rush (Underwood)
Serrano (Jeffries)
Thompson (CA) (Kildee)
Thompson (MS) (Bishop (GA))
Titus (Connolly)
Watson Coleman (Pallone)
Wilson (FL) (Adams)
____________________