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1 [1] (September 14, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthmbcek0001 and id is 1 raw text is: CRS INSIGHT Congressional Consideration of Resolutions to Censure Executive Branch Officials September 14, 2017 (IN10774) Related Author C hriStopher M. Dais Christopher M. Davis, Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process (cmdavi scrs. lc ov, 7-0656) Over the history of the federal Congress, Members have proposed resolutiona to formally express the House or Senate's censure, disapproval, loss of confidence, or condemnation of the President or other executive branch official or their actions. This Insight summarizes the parliamentary procedures the House and Senate might use to consider a resolution to censure or condemn an executive branch official and provides links to additional reading material on the subject. Two Types of Censure Resolutions An important distinction should be made between two types of censure resolutions: (1) resolutions expressing the sense of the House or Senate that the behavior or actions of an executive branch official should be condemned or censured and (2) resolutions that censure a Member of Congress for disorderly behavior, including ethical violations. Resolutions that censure officials of the executive branch for abuse of power or inappropriate behavior, including ethical violations, are usually simple resolutions of the House or Senate. Such resolutions, however, are distinct in an important way from the simple resolutions by which either chamber may censure one of its own Members, even though the reasons for censure may be similar. Article I, Section 5, of the Constitution grants each chamber the power to discipline its own members, and resolutions censuring a Senator or Representative are based on this power. Resolutions censuring an official of another branch, on the other hand, are merely expressions of the sense of the House or the Senate about the conduct of an individual over whom Congress has no disciplinary authority (except through impeachment). Consequently, both Houses treat these two types of censure resolutions very differently in a parliamentary sense. Resolutions of either type, however, have been rare. Resolutions That Censure a Representative or a Senator Simple resolutions that censure a Member of Congress for disorderly behavior-that is, resolutions carrying out the constitutional function of disciplining a Member under the Constitution-are privileged for consideration in both the House and Senate. In the House of Representatives, such resolutions generally qualify as questions of the rivileges of the Houeunder Rule IX. In this context, the censure of a Representative would occur through a formal vote of the House on a resolution disapproving of the Member's conduct. Such resolutions include the requirement that the

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