House Rule IX - Questions of Privilege

Rule IX

Questions of Privilege

1. Questions of privilege shall be, first, those affecting the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings; and second, those affecting the rights, reputation, and conduct of Members, Delegates, or the Resident Commissioner, individually, in their representative capacity only.
2. (a)(1) A resolution reported as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered from the floor by the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader as a question of the privileges of the House, or offered as privileged under clause 1, section 7, article I of the Constitution, shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn. A resolution offered from the floor by a Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner other than the Majority Leader or the Minority Leader as a question of the privileges of the House shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn only at a time or place, designated by the Speaker, in the legislative schedule within two legislative days after the day on which the proponent announces to the House his intention to offer the resolution and the form of the resolution. Oral announcement of the form of the resolution may be dispensed with by unanimous consent.
(2) The time allotted for debate on a resolution offered from the floor as a question of the privileges of the House shall be equally divided between (A) the proponent of the resolution, and (B) the Majority Leader, the Minority Leader, or a designee, as determined by the Speaker.
(b) A question of personal privilege shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn.

The privileges of the House, as distinguished from that of the individual Member, include questions relating to its constitutional prerogatives in respect to revenue legislation and appropriations. The constitutional prerogatives of the House also include its function with respect to: (1) impeachment and matters incidental thereto <snip>
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_house_rules_manual&docid=hruletx-66

On edit: maybe i posted this a day early. this is the procedure by which Kucinich will introduce his impeachment resolution (HR 333)

There are sure to be people who will try to make it sound like Dennis is trying something extra-constitutional.

Thanks for your work!

:yourock:

:beer: :toast:

she can stall it for two days, but there's no denying that impeachment qualifies as a question of the privilege of the House.

if only our Speaker knew anything at all about the House rules...


and thanks for your message. :hi:

had she read Rule IX, she wouldn't have been quite so rash in her pronouncement.

"a question of the privileges of the House shall have precedence of all other questions except motions to adjourn only at a time or place, designated by the Speaker, in the legislative schedule within two legislative days after the day on which the proponent announces to the House his intention to offer the resolution and the form of the resolution."

The question must be voted on within 2 days of its proposal.

All this means is that the Speaker cannot ingnore this motion for longer than two days.

US House Democratic Leader To Block Cheney Impeachment Effort
Tuesday November 6th, 2007 / 19h03
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday he will block an effort to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney.

Democratic presidential hopeful Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio has announced he will try to force a vote on Cheney's impeachment.
Hoyer said he will use parliamentary tactics to table that effort.
"Impeachment is not on the agenda," Hoyer said.
Hoyer said his decision was not based upon the merits of the impeachment effort, but rather because the new Democratic majority had more important issues to resolve.

more: http://www.easybourse.com/Website/dynamic/News.php?NewsID=334258