Directing the Committee on Ethics to investigate whether Members who make false written allegations that fraud occurred in the conduct of the November 2020 Presidential election have violated the Code of Conduct and should be subject to appropriate sanction, including removal from the House.

IV 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 12 Directing the Committee on Ethics to investigate whether Members who make false written allegations that fraud occurred in the conduct of the November 2020 Presidential election have violated the Code of Con- duct and should be subject to appropriate sanction, including removal from the House. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 4, 2021 Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules RESOLUTION Directing the Committee on Ethics to investigate whether Members who make false written allegations that fraud occurred in the conduct of the November 2020 Presi- dential election have violated the Code of Conduct and should be subject to appropriate sanction, including re- moval from the House. Whereas allegations of massive voting fraud in the November 2020 Presidential election have been refuted by a variety of judges, State election officials, and the Department of Homeland Security; Whereas campaign lawsuits over voter fraud have been thrown out of court; VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR12.IH HR12 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 12 IH Whereas the Trump administration has agreed to allow the formal presidential transition to President-elect Biden to begin; Whereas all 50 states and the District of Columbia have cer- tified their Presidential election results; Whereas in a public letter, all 10 living former Secretaries of Defense declared, ‘‘Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have cer- tified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as pre- scribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.’’; Whereas some Members of Congress plan to reject Presi- dential electors from certain States on January 6, 2021, at a joint session of Congress to count electoral votes and declare election results over baseless allegations of voter fraud in the November 2020 Presidential Election; and Whereas these same members of Congress were also elected in the November 2020 election and were sworn in as Members of Congress on January 3, 2021: Now, there- fore, be it Resolved, 1 SECTION 1. INVESTIGATIONS BY COMMITTEE ON ETHICS 2 OF ACTIONS OF MEMBERS MAKING FALSE AL- 3 LEGATIONS OF VOTING FRAUD IN 2020 PRESI- 4 DENTIAL ELECTION. 5 (a) INVESTIGATIONS.—The Committee on Ethics 6 shall conduct an investigation to determine whether the 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR12.IH HR12 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 12 IH actions of any Member who makes a false written allega- 1 tion that fraud occurred in the conduct of the November 2 2020 Presidential election constitute a violation of the 3 Rules of the House of Representatives, including the Code 4 of Conduct under rule XXIII. 5 (b) RECOMMENDATION FOR REMOVAL.—If, as the re- 6 sult of an investigation under this resolution, the Com- 7 mittee on Ethics determines that a Member has violated 8 the Code of Conduct under rule XXIII of the Rules of 9 the House of Representatives, the Committee shall impose 10 such sanction on the Member as the Committee deter- 11 mines to be appropriate, including a recommendation that 12 the Member be removed from the House of Representa- 13 tives. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:36 Jan 05, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR12.IH HR12 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS