	Introduction

A question of the privileges of the House is a formal declaration by a Member of the House asserting that a situation has arisen that affects "the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings." Once a question of the privileges of the House is raised, the Speaker must, at some point, entertain the question and rule on its validity. The Speaker makes a ruling regarding whether a question constitutes a valid question of the privileges of the House with guidance from the House Parliamentarian based on House Rule IX and House precedent. If valid, a question of the privileges of the House will be considered on the House floor. Common Categories of Questions Held to Be Valid

				Questions Relating to Organization

Questions may relate to the organization of the House and the rights of Members to their seats or their leadership positions. Questions Relating to Constitutional Prerogatives

Matters related to the House's constitutionally granted powers have been recognized as valid questions of the privileges of the House. Questions Relating to Conduct

Certain questions relating to the conduct of Members, officers, and employees have been held to be valid. Questions Relating to Integrity of Proceedings

Questions of the privileges of the House have included matters related to the integrity of the legislative process, both in committee and on the House floor. The number of valid questions offered each Congress varied significantly, with some Congresses considering as few as two and others considering more than 20. How valid questions were disposed of varied significantly depending on whether the Member offering the question belonged to the majority or the minority party. Of the valid questions offered by the minority party, a large majority (82%) were tabled, meaning that the House chose to dispose of the resolution adversely but without taking a vote on the resolution. The notion of questions of privilege predates Congress. The House, however, demonstrated a historical reluctance to define such a question for over a century until the chamber found it necessary to create a definition as part of a rule that would "prevent the large consumption of time which resulted from Members getting the floor for all kinds of speeches under the pretext of raising a question of the privileges of the House." Despite the creation of the rule, raising a question of the privileges of the House allows any Member to be recognized and to have a resolution read on the floor, even if the question is later ruled not to be valid. There is a contrast between the types of questions raised and the types of questions agreed to. The ratios of the types of questions offered and the types of questions agreed to by the House varied. As displayed in Figure 4 , the greatest number of questions raised related to conduct (39%) and to the House's constitutional prerogatives (23%). Of the resolutions agreed to, however, most (78%) related to the House's constitutional prerogatives, while a relative few (9%) related to conduct. First, recall that the minority party offered a majority (72%) of the total number of valid questions, and the proportion of questions offered by the minority remained consistent during most of the period, as illustrated in Figure 1 . Of the questions offered by majority Members, a majority (69%) were agreed to.
A question of the privileges of the House is a formal declaration by a Member of the House asserting that a situation has arisen affecting "the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity and the integrity of its proceedings." Once a question of the privileges of the House is raised, the Speaker must, at some point, entertain the question and rule on its validity. The Speaker makes such a ruling with guidance from the House Parliamentarian based on House rule and precedent. If it is ruled to be valid, a question of the privileges of the House will be considered and possibly voted on by the House.
The notion of questions of privilege predates Congress, but the House demonstrated a reluctance to define such a question for over a century. The chamber eventually found it necessary to create a definition as part of a rule that would prevent Members from consuming floor time under the pretext of raising a question of the privileges of the House. Despite the creation of the rule, however, raising a question of the privileges of the House continues to allow any Member to be recognized and to have a resolution read on the floor, even if the question is later ruled not to be valid.
Questions recognized as valid comprise several categories, such as:
questions related to the organization of the House and the rights of Members to their seats or leadership positions, questions related to the House's constitutional prerogatives, such as their power to originate revenue legislation, questions related to the conduct of Members, officers, and employees of the House, questions related to the integrity of the legislative process, both in committee and on the House floor, and questions related to the comfort, convenience, and safety of Members.
Certain categories of questions have been held not to constitute valid questions of the privileges of the House, such as questions that are tantamount to a change in House rules, questions that seek to alter or prescribe a special rule reported from the House Rules Committee, and questions expressing legislative sentiment.
From the 104th Congress through the 113th Congress, Members offered 140 questions of the privileges of the House, 73% of which were ruled valid. The number of valid questions offered each Congress varied significantly, with some Congresses considering as few as two and others considering more than 20. The minority party offered 72% of the total number of valid questions, and the proportion of questions offered by the minority remained consistent during most of the period.
How valid questions were disposed of during this time period varied significantly depending on whether the Member offering the question belonged to the majority or the minority party. A majority of questions offered by the majority party were agreed to, while a majority of the questions offered by the minority party were tabled, meaning that the House chose to dispose of the resolution adversely but without taking a vote on the resolution.
A contrast exists between the types of questions raised and the types of questions agreed to by the House. The greatest number of valid questions raised related to the conduct of Members, officers, and employees of the House (39%) and to the House's constitutional prerogatives, such as their power to originate revenue legislation (23%). Of the resolutions agreed to, however, most (78%) related to the House's constitutional prerogatives, while a relative few (9%) related to conduct.