Raising a question of the privileges of the House.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intent to raise a question of the privileges of the House.

The form of the resolution is as follows:

Whereas, the tradition of the House Chaplain dates to the earliest days of the House of Representatives, beginning in 1789;

Whereas, the role of House Chaplain has been filled by 60 individuals of various religious denominations, serving Members of Congress of all faiths;

Whereas, Father Patrick Conroy has served honorably as House Chaplain since May 25, 2011, when he was appointed by then-Speaker John A. Boehner in consultation with Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi;

Whereas, Father Conroy had been re-appointed and elected by the House of Representatives on three separate occasions, most recently January 3, 2017;

Whereas, on April 16, 2018, the Nation's first Jesuit--and only the second Catholic--Chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives submitted his resignation before the full House;

Whereas, the Chaplain had only eight months remaining in his term of service to the House;

Whereas, this resignation was requested by the office of Paul D. Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives;

Whereas, the Speaker's office said ``. . . the decision (to remove the Chaplain) was his (Speaker Ryan's);''

Whereas, on May 3, 2018, Father Conroy submitted a letter retracting and rescinding his resignation, which was accepted by Speaker Ryan;

Whereas, despite the Speaker's statement accepting this retraction letter, a number of Members of Congress remain concerned about what motivated the original request for Father Conroy to resign and the lack of adequate notification or explanation given to Members;

Whereas, the rights of Members of the House of Representatives were undermined when the leader of one party made a unilateral decision to ask for the resignation of the Chaplain;

Whereas, this resignation and the circumstances behind it has compromised the integrity and the dignity of the House of Representatives by politicizing the office of the House Chaplain;

Resolved, that there is hereby established a select committee to investigate the circumstances around the resignation of the House Chaplain;

The select committee shall be comprised of six members, of which three shall be appointed by the chair of the Committee on Ethics and three by the ranking member of the Committee on Ethics;

The select committee shall investigate the motivations and actions that led to the resignation of the Chaplain, including the decisions to remove the Chaplain and the process by which Members of Congress were notified of the resignation;

The select committee shall provide a report to the House by July 13, 2018.

Mr. Speaker, I do.

Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. Speaker, is this motion privileged?

Mr. Speaker, I am asking on the underlying resolution before you, is it a privileged resolution?

Mr. Speaker, further parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. Speaker, could the House consider this motion immediately? The gentleman from New York requests: Can the House consider this motion immediately?

Will the Chair rule as to whether or not the House could consider this motion immediately?

Mr. Speaker, one more further parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. Speaker, the vote to table that you are speaking of will prevent this measure from coming to the floor today immediately. Is that not true?

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, on May 8, 2018 I was in my district for my primary election and missed rollcall votes 169, 170, 171, and 172. Had I been present, I would have voted: ``Nay'' on rollcall 169, ``Nay'' on rollcall 170, ``Nay'' on rollcall 171, and ``Nay'' on rollcall 172.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would hae voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 171 and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 172.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion at the desk.