[Deschler's Precedents]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access]
[DOCID:52093c12_txt-18]
[Page 1753-1754]
CHAPTER 12
Conduct or Discipline of Members, Officers, or Employees
B. NATURE AND FORMS OF DISCIPLINARY MEASURES
Sec. 17. Imposition of Fine
A fine may be levied by the House against a Member pursuant to its
constitutional authority to punish its Members (Art. I, Sec. 5, clause
2).(1)
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1. See H. Rept. No. 90-27, 90th Cong. 1st Sess. (1967), ``In Re Adam
Clayton Powell, Report of Select Committee Pursuant to H. Res.
1,'' pp. 28, 29.
See also, 2 Hinds' Precedents 1665, p. 1142, for the
Senate censure case of McLaurin and Tillman, both Senators from
South Carolina, 57th Cong.; see also remarks of Senator Mills
(Tex.) in debate on charges against Senator Roach (N.D.), 25
Cong. Rec. 162, 53d Cong. 1st Sess., Apr. 15,
1893. -------------------
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Fine of Member For Acts Committed in Prior Congress
Sec. 17.1 The House agreed to a resolution providing for the imposition
of a fine against a Member-elect charged with misuse of
appropriated funds in a prior Congress.
In 1967, the recommendation of a House committee that Member-elect
Adam Clayton Powell, of New York, be fined was considered and rejected
in favor of a resolution that he be excluded.(2) Two
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2. See H. Rept. No. 90-27, 90th Cong. 1st Sess. (1967), ``In Re Adam
Clayton Powell, Report of Select Committee Pursuant to H. Res.
1,'' p. 33. The committee recommended that ``(3) Adam Clayton
Powell, as punishment (for improper expenditure of House funds
for private purposes, and for maintaining a person on his
clerk-hire payroll who performed no official duties whatever or
did not perform them in Washington, D.C., or in the Member's
district), pay the Clerk of the House, to be disposed of by him
according to law, $40,000; that the Sergeant at Arms of the
House be directed to deduct $1,000 per month from the salary
otherwise due Mr. Powell and pay the same to the Clerk, said
deductions to continue until said sum of $40,000 is fully paid;
and that said sums received by the Clerk shall offset any civil
liability of Mr. Powell to the United States of America with
respect to the matters referred to in paragraphs second and
third above (matter in parentheses).''
See also H. Res. 278, 90th Cong. 1st Sess. The motion for
the previous question on this resolution containing the select
committee recommendation was defeated (113 Cong. Rec. 5020,
Mar. 1, 1967), and a substitute amendment excluding the Member-
elect was proposed and adopted (113 Cong. Rec. 5037, 5038, Mar.
1, 1967). See also Sec. 14.1, supra.
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[[Page 1754]]
years later, however, on Jan. 3, 1969,(3) the House agreed
to a resolution which included a provision for a fine of $25,000 to be
deducted on a monthly basis from Mr. Powell's salary.
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3. 115 Cong. Rec. 29, 34, 91st Cong. 1st Sess., Jan. 3, 1969 [H. Res.
2]. After having been excluded from the 90th Congress (see 14,
supra), Mr. Powell won re-election to the 91st Congress, but
was required to pay a fine for improper expenditures made prior
to the 90th Congress.
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