up cost and all around election officials can save time and money as they field fewer phone calls from voting from voters inquiring about status of effigy bout's i'd like to now recognize the bill's sponsor represented shoes and they were shown a statement market as you know mr mccarthy and i have really worked closely together on h r twenty five ten and i certainly appreciate my california colleagues input additions in support of this important legislation as you i think an initially alluded to and to give a few more details the bill is modeled on a successful piece of california legislation that allows voters to go online or call a phone number to easily find out whether the elections office has sent out a ballot whether  completed bout has arrived back at the registrar's office and whether the registrar has control has actually counted the ballot and if not why not in san diego county over ninety eight thousand votes should voters check their ballot status online last november a lot of people out there want to know and that's what this is all about tracking gives voters more access and takes a burden off the phone lines at election offices and tracking is particularly useful for men and women in uniform serving overseas the tractor act would allow the federal government to reimburse states for establishing tracking systems but i want to be clear that it would not require any state to set up a tracking system i want to ask my colleagues on both sides  aisle to join mr mccarthy and me in supporting this effort to strengthen the democratic process and give american voters the electoral certainly they deserve i have letters of support that i'll be submitting for the record from the association of american residents overseas chairman thank you very much i just want to thank my colleague susan davis for working on this collaboratively and i believe this will bring accountability back in the process it will be very positive throughout the nation as well  with bipartisan support i would just report to the committee that we did have a hearing that included testimony about this concept and there was universal support for it among our witnesses that the committee would want to know to the house without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table or next order of business is page twenty i'm trying to find contacted by many staff members that have to get that when they get paid once i'm on their third and fourth week they're always always a little short little better if this is an issue filed every other every other fragile state agency and have them get paid  access and implement potentially cost saving practices my understanding is that the policeman ery financial assessments suggest that shifting from a present pay cycle to biweekly pay cycle with a lag time would allow for the house off the handle payroll with a greater accuracy any however i would like to ask the chair this committee seek the input of the nearly ten thousand house employees that would be impacted before making any changes under consideration thank you and i reserve the balance of the time and  member will make a permanent change the law affecting the house staff gym every one of the military services as officers working here in the house to assist our our offices last congress to pass the resolution letting these folks become members of the house gym rather than a passing a similar resolution every congress recommendations of the slave labor task force working group shared by congressman john lewis this task force but several years studying the role of slaves in the construction of the capital we could never make up for that treatment at these laborers or even thank them for the sacrifice but the task for center on the contributions of enslaved african americans and in the construction of the u s capital in the slave labor task force report we know that the annals of history often unfortunately overlook the degree to which our federal city rose in the labor peoples the diligent work of the task force highlights that slave laborers were critical in the areas of carpentry brick making brick laying timber sawing and stone quarry incorporating some of the most skilled elements of building at that time along with some of the most physically demanding is appropriate considering the historical significance of this long time mission emancipation hall in the c b c house a formal recognition of those critical labors c b c s attracted over one million visitors already this bill will further enrich the visitor's experience of the nation's capital by properly recognizing the vital contributions of the laborers who helped to build it thank you very much mr chairman and i would urge support for this bill thank c and great distinction inscription the national motto in god we trust and the pledge allegiance to the flag again these additional choir legislation additions require legislative action we have we have received resolution we have worked with both sides of the aisle and both sides of the capitol the opening of the capitol visitor center december two thousand and eight marked the end of a long process and while the capitol visitor center did a good job of incorporating many elements of the nation's history there were i believe two important references that were absence the pledge of allegiance and our national motto in god we trust i'm pleased that this resolution remedies this oversight incorporates those important parts of our national heritage into the c as the chairman has said we work with the architect of the capitol in making sure that this is appropriate to both for where these are going to appear in the in the c and the appropriateness of how they will be displayed both speak that is both of these are references speak to the consciousness and philosophical roots of our founding fathers and serve as expressions of will in the resolve the american people see at the c d c will be a testimony or a nation's history to the history that exists on these capitol grounds again i thank you chairman for your efforts in bringing this important matter for the committee to look forward to its quick passage in a corporation in the chair and the concurrent resolution will be ported to the house without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table authored by myself and congress and zach wamp authorized the c e o to carry out a series of demonstration projects to promote the use of innovative technologies to reduce energy consumption promote energy efficiency as well as cost savings in the house that authorizes a c e o to carry out these demonstration projects and to enter into contracts that are consistent with current house administration regulations for the c requires a report to be submitted to the house administration and appropriations committee analyzing the project in the extent that it reduced energy consumption promoted energy efficiency and save costs for the house it authorizes twenty five million for fiscal year two thousand and ten to carry out the projects until expended it's a bipartisan measure as i noted it's very limited in scope it will help the house determine which technologies are best suited to its needs not only with this further prove our commitment to environmentally sustainable practices but it could also lower the cost of house operations last april i posted a discussion and meeting in silicon valley title how going green saves money jobs and improves lives and asked the chief administrative officer to attend it was a wonderful meeting and we issued a report subsequent to it but one of the things that we learned is that big money can be saved in some of these energy efficiency measures or energy measures for example applied materials installed twenty three thousand sensors in their office towers and was able to reduce energy consumption by nearly half the sensors paid for themselves and eight weeks applied materials as estimated that by installing solar panels it will create nine hundred jobs in addition to the energy so  we believe that this bill will will help our environment it will help our bottom line and will set an example i would note that the appropriations committee has already included such a provision in the appropriations bill with bipartisan support author obviously we're authorizing a substantial sum but they appropriated only two point five million and that was don and i as i understand it a voice vote with want to thank jim and brady while i strongly disagree with the measure before as i believe it is important that the committee engage on these important matters within our jurisdiction as the entity responsible for the capitol complex energy infrastructure the architect of the capitol responsible for meeting mandatory energy efficiency requirements and specific statutory mandates for the use of renewable energy the a o c s effort has successfully reduced capital complex energy's consumption by more than thirteen percent in the past two fiscal years and they oversee has identified projects capable of meeting its thirty percent energy reduction mandate by two thousand and fifteen however the a o c estimates that it will cost three hundred million to carry out these projects and most of these projects remain unfunded the authority granted to the chief administrative officer and h r eleven ninety six conflicts with the architect of the capital's clear responsibility for energy infrastructure in the capitol complex the chief administrative officer has neither the statutory responsibility nor the organizational capability to manage the capitol complex energy infrastructure given the nature of the business in the house of representatives it is essential that the energy services are reliable and operate without unscheduled disruptions while the architect the capital has demonstrated capacity to properly identify document and measure energy saving projects based on the best value for the taxpayer the chief administrative officer has demonstrated no such asadi in the  for a end to executing a project to increase energy efficiency the house spent nearly seven hundred thousand dollars to study the relighting of the dome capital washington post analysis analysis revealed that when factoring in the cost of the construction and installation the c e o s project is likely to have a payback period of well over a century as such our confidence in the c e o s ability to deliver value to the taxpayer is justifiably weak h r eleven ninety six  deeply flawed in a structure and it is a spending authorization it's an act meant would result in organizational confusion and implementation risks that would undermine the collective goal of reducing energy consumption in the house the c e o s demonstrated record on engaging in high profile but poor value projects undermines the credibility of the congress and should not continue to be encouraged thank you and i reserve the balance of the time like the gentleman and that call up and i before the committee h r eleven ninety six without objection the committee to ensure proper controls are in place to avoid abusing this twenty five million dollar authorization this amendment serves two primary purposes the first is to require that any action taken under this authority be formally approved by the committee regardless of the dollar threshold this brings an essential accountability to the process and mitigates concerns that the committee republicans have about a repeat of past procurement activities that circumvent the committee's rightful authority the second objective is to enjoy sure that the contracts awarded under this authority result from an open and competitive process it would be an unacceptable outcome were the c e o to be to award twenty five million dollars worth of sole source contracts under the sway of already selecting contracts without the which this amendment has been offered but i would urge the committee not to agree to the amendment the the amendment is really duplicative i think of language already in the bill on page two line eighteen which requires the c e o to enter into contracts consistent with house of ministration regulations and in fact that does include competitive bids so  think the net result of the amendment would be to add a layer of delay and really no net value to the process this is a pilot process and i hope that we can avoid  i go through and as i analyze when i read the former c e o s report february two thousand and seven i find here a lot of details of what what is working on from audio visual cabling goes into fifty  when i read the current c e o annual report i get a lot of nice big pictures about staff and i don't get the accountability of what we're actually working upon so this amendment does not stop the bill this amendment just brings accountability that if this committee has the jurisdiction this committee should actually see what is transpiring specially the dollar figure we're talking about because i think everybody on this committee believes in the ability for greater energy efficiency here and would gladly support it i would just believe that accountability is a greater opportunity here and asked for and i vote i apologize for being a little delayed here i'm trying to help out mr longdon to mr chairman i have an amendment at the desk i believe it was under mr lundgren's name does anyone have  yes which one is it the number on it insert on line twenty one the following rule the architect of the capitol number two mr chairman is no secret that i disagree with this bill given its underlying flaws its amendment seeks only to provide modest changes designed to simply prevent a bad bill from the coming in operational calamity the architect is clearly responsible for the infrastructure of the buildings and providing the heating cooling and electrical system is a as part of this infrastructure this amendment ensures that any activity pursued under this authorization are coordinated through the a o c so that we can avoid disrupting the essential services provided by the i o c the process outlined in this amendment will void the type of scenario that the members and staff experienced last fall when the c e o failed to properly coordinate with the a o c overloaded a circuit in the house computing facility and caused a lengthy disruption in the access to email and web services when dealing with our central heating cooling and electrical system such a destructive disruption could severely impact members  committee officers to function as i stated earlier this is just an amendment seeking only modest changes asking that the c e o corden ate with the a o c so we do not have disruptions as we make a necessary amendment it would require the ca o to get permission from the a o see before modifications to buildings or grounds that's not necessary the c e o already works with the a o see if there are any changes made to buildings or restrictions like notary signatures and doctors those requiring opposed by some states all voters requesting absentee ballots some states do not allow travel work school illness or jury duty to count as valid excuses to repress them have to think about this bill does not require anyone to vote by mail it just gives voters an option to vote by absentee ballot free from pointless hassles making voters jump through the necessary hoops to vote absentee there's not does nothing to increase security and only decreases participation and can voting on that look to recognize mistake thank you very much and thank you very much for bringing the the bill forward my interest in improving our elections goes back to the wrist major political experience that i had which was serving as president the sandiego the league of women voters i was active in the league because i believe our democracy is furthered through increased participation in the voting process democracy flourishes we all know when all americans have an equal opportunity to participate in elections historically the federal government has opened the doors to those shut out of the voting process in our country has been much the better for it so we should be proud of our nation's history of removing obstacles for voters who have been left out of the voting process intentionally or unintentionally with a baby women racial minorities members of the military americans living overseas eighteen to twenty one year olds fighting for their country or voters with disabilities but we know that there are hard working americans that are still unable to vote for any number of reasons and the next step is to give those who choose to participate and plan to vote the best chance to vote no matter what comes up  and we should remove no unnecessary impediments to their participation by freeing them from such burden some obstacles and i chairman you noted this to voting is no terreri requirement doctor's notes and invasive public record questions about vacation location illnesses pregnancies religious obligations over half the states have no excuse absentee voting and millions of votes have proven to be secure successful and popular as members of congress and of this committee we have a constitutional calling to allow states to administer elections but to step in when there is a need as there is here h r sixteen zero for the universal right to vote by mail act will correct  chairman i'm figuring out this microphone mr chairman i'm concerned that the committee has failed to hold a hearing on this legislation h r sixteen zero four one make significant changes to voting procedures in twenty two states each of these states likely enact their absentee voting requirements with particular goal in mind possibly preventing absentee voting fraud of the nature for which two individuals were arrested last week in new jersey or promoting civic engagement through in person voting y this committee is making a determination that any possible reasoning for justified absentee voting is inadequate and baseless without even taking the time to consult those who would be affected we know that last year the national conference of state legislatures expressed grave concerns in a letter common ng on the legislative predecessor h r two eighty one in addition to asking this committee to consider the many financial costs this unfunded mandate would bring to the already overburdened election official the n c s l stress that there has been no showing with the state system utilizing procedure other than no excuse absentee voting are dysfunctional or broken in their letter they ask this committee to reconsider its decision to move this bill without consulting those who would bear the burden of implementing this legislation at a time when so many state budgets are strain we all know that election officers most already operating on shoestring budgets are one of the first agencies under the nih this highly doubtful that adequate resources would be allocated on the state level to accommodate the new federal mandate created by this legislation it seems to me mr chairman but before we jump in and start telling local governments how they should run their elections we should probably let them tell us what they think about our ideas currently h r sixteen zero four looks like a solution in search of a problem and i would hope that before this committee takes any action on this legislation we would undertake our due diligence and hold a hearing on this issue thank you to reserve the balance of my time i thank the recognize mr harper for five minutes thank you in the finding section of this legislation there are a number of assertions of fact i think are simply wrong and that suggests states are creating rules without any reason by the number eight states that no evidence exist suggesting the potential for fraud in absentee balloting is greater than the potential for fraud by any other method of voting yet much of the vote fraud that we see prosecuted in this nation comes from fraudulent lee requested or returned absentee ballots  to submit for the record an associated press article from friday june five two thousand and nine just five days ago when objections the article states that two former campaign workers were charged with absentee voting fraud in a recent may oral race in atlantic city i'd like to quote to the committee a pertinent section of the article which states the claims of absentee voting fraud quote increased in recent years when friends and relatives of craig callaway the former city council president now serving a federal prison term for bribery perfected the art of collecting and delivering hundreds of absentee ballots close quote i believe logic and common sense tell us that it is easier to vote fraud generally when voters don't have to show up in person and the evidence backs that theory up binding number nine states that the excuse is that many states require in order to request an absentee do nothing to prove voter fraud yet we haven't had a single hearing on this bill we know the supreme court takes congressional finding seriously and i believe we should take them seriously enough to have hearings before we make them this amendment would remove these objectionable findings and other findings that may conclusionary statements without offering proof to support them the committee to adopt this amendment it basically says that there there there is potential for fraud and we haven't been able to we have zero tolerance for but at the same time we haven't had had zero accounts of that however it says that there's no greater  possibility than from other methods and i think clearly as we look at registrars if we look at states there are far greater fraud that's that we have discovered and in those situations and the case that quoted here is really from atlantic city this is not a federal election and the possibility of suppression of votes is so far greater than the possibility of fraud in this instance and that's why that statement is there you may not agree with the statement but i think in fact there's nothing that's not factual about the state with the general ideals i would just note that there were two hearings held on this subject in the in the last congress as well  that's that's true and mr chairman i know that we're going to be hearing a bill today which has not had a hearing as well and i think sometimes we have that opportunity we also had another hearing earlier this year and the issues of absentee voting were also brought up at that time i i haven't this one is pretty straightforward in essence it does two things it would require the state to have the voter signature on file before they send out the ballot and it would require that the state verify the signature matches when they received the return ballot again a verification process that is already common practice for most states i know in california when you go to my election office they will pull up the absentee ballot comes in you're actually signature of your voter registration so it's just making sure that we have accountability as we go forward and just repeat again it does two simple things it requires the state to have a voter's signature i certainly appreciate the concern of my colleague in california has that and i think that what he's stating is that the use of the signature is a very valid way of telling whether or not the person is in fact that individual in california in addition to the fact that this is people are are hired for this purpose alone there are cameras it's really a very secure way of checking to see if that is an accurate  i know from i think i said this before my husband had a call from the registrar because his signature is not as quite the same as it used to be and so they asked give him them a new signature so i know that this is important and i am happy to accept this amendment but i also want to share with my colleagues that in fact it is a tougher mandate for some states than the process without that signature many states that have no excuse voting use a signature some do not some have chosen not to do that so we are putting some additional what you would consider a mandate i think although i will share in my my  billions of dollars in budget deficits this committee's considering adding another unfunded federal mandate for them to have to absorb this a memo would help allay these concerns by allowing states to opt out of the new requirements of this legislation legislation if they make a showing that implementing this legislation would increase their cost of election ministration and b they are not able to pay for those costs out of existing grant funding or other money provided by the federal government in support of this bill i think this is a reasonable constitutional rights of individuals c d o has determined that h r two eighty one would fall within that exclusion because it would protect individuals voting rights and i think mr chairman when it comes to cost the virginia regist simmons letter and he spoke here just a few months ago about the fact that he's got a drawer full of applications from individuals because of the restrictions in their absentee voting and it takes thousands of dollars he said out of his budget for the increase in man hours postage and supplies needed to process these applications there is a tremendous waste of valuable tax dollars and no excuse access to a ballot through the a question the all through this this bill your use this bill is not an unfunded mandate because it wouldn't force a constitutional right and see that you have a cvo state which backs it up but i wonder where you find this right to an absentee ballot in the constitution and i say that because the u s supreme court hasn't been able to find it in fact in one thousand nine hundred seventy three and pridmore versus renfro the opinion says the right to vote is unquestionably basic to a democracy but the right to an absentee ballot is not historically the absentee ballot has always been views a privilege not an absolute right well thank you i appreciate my colleague callie bringing that forward because it has said there is no fundamental right to vote by up t except to the extent that congress has created such a right in presidential and other federal elections and in fact that's why we're here i mean that that is the obligation that we have that when we see inconsistency when we see disenfranchisement of voters when we see that there is no longer a rationale basis for allowing some people to vote and others not to then i think it's it's important for the congress to step forward and that's what we're doing to we're trying to create that right and official fairly acting like a coach and a referee in the same game i understand the missed missed that represent davis has been working with interest with interested stakeholders and will be offering a substitute for this belt and i would like to recognise represented me thank you very much mr chairman and thank you again for bringing this forward democracy flourishes we know when voters have confidence that the electoral process is fair and their keeper lection office officials are above reproach public confidence in elections is undermined when election officials are accused of favoring their political party or playing politics with election in this ration the passage of h r five twelve the federal election integrity act would serve to remove the threat of such political posturing by congress should restrict a citizen's first amendment right to participate in the political process where there has been no showing of malfeasance or nonfeasance to warrant such a sweeping restriction on speech i am suspicious any time that congress seeks to deny a citizen the right to actively support a candidate of his or her choosing however even more troubling is the underlying tenor of this bill which seems to presuppose that the state's election officials are incapable of demonstrating impartiality and for filling their oath of office and it is accepted then we set the stage for excluding a whole host of election officials from secretary of state down to register voters and poll workers if we cannot trust secretaries of states why should we trust anyone to show impartiality in the ministration of elections when they have shown a political preposition however if we accept as fundamental the lack of impartiality that this bill suggest why should we believe that an absence from formal participation in campaign activities would do anything to lessen election officials prosper sanity for misconduct we must be diligent protect the protectors of both the integrity of federal elections and the and the rights of our citizen to participate in the election of their federal officials i am concerned that this bill endanger both those fundamental principles while the same time trampling on the civil liberties of our elected officials without cause for these reasons i hope the committee will join me in opposing the legislation they can reserve the balance i thank the gentleman and now call up to live before the sway any of the concerns that my colleagues have on this bill because it's very specific about prohibiting campaign activities by cheap state election and ministration officials this is not sweeping we work with the f c c on this  and i think we would all agree that when it comes to federal elections and the chief election official of that state that there needs to be most integrity and perception that this is a fair process and i asked officer which is elected county wide what was the rationale for excluding them in the process as well in working with the f c c on this that's the determination that we made that that's that's our thought that's our jurisdiction and so that's why we wanted to do it in this fashion what was the jurisdiction that we have did you think regionally writing the bill that you would include county election officers as well the original bill was not a specific and that's why when we started working with does not exclude in any way that individual from running for state offices an office in thousand in fact we see that they are allowed to do that now while the while they are still holding that office they can still file for a different office ok so if i'm secretary of state of my state and i have a family member running for governor some else i can help with that one that actually does have an exclusion for family members even though their family members running for governor or running for any office it's ok for family but not to participate in the other ok i just want to clarification thank you an  is laid upon the table his wisdom as we move forward for over a year i've been working with our colleagues here in the house as well as those and other chambers to pass legislation that would help make those vote counts of our hero serving and protecting our nation abroad so mr chairman i'm has been report after report deal the detailing the disenfranchisement of military personnel to in adequate ballot delivery methods the most recent in two thousand and seven by the ac reported that out of nine hundred ninety two thousand ballots sent to military and oversea voters for the two thousand and six election over six hundred sixty thousand were never returned to election officials to be counted we don't need another report nor can we stand idly by and watch as more of our troops votes go on counted we must take action i am pleased this bipartisan common sense legislation that i enter deuced along with our colleague from oklahoma dan boren will establish procedures for the collection return transportation and tracking of marked absentee ballots of our troops serving overseas this bill will use express mail delivery services of the postal service to help ensure those who fight for our freedoms can have their votes counted this would help our troops and i'm pleased that the record we have a hearing on this bill well i appreciate the question if i can ask for the chairman in march we had a hearing on the two thousand and eight elections where the military votes were prominent last month we did have a hearing specifically devoted to military and overseas voting where h r twenty three ninety three was discussed the committee explored the issue and i'm pleased we're acting today and in the last congress we did have a hearing before the committee as well on the on the bill itself and the only changes from the from the past bill the president were the ideas that it was going to be the postal service with the help of the chairman advice on that and the other any members of the bill easier and quicker for us to process those absentee ballots and that having more standardized absentee ballots throughout the country also would be an assist to our military and so i hope that we can resolution will be reported to the house without objection the motion is to reconsider is laid upon the table of the library of congress is established in eight hundred thirty two with a collection of words thirty million volumes is the largest law library in the world the books house the library cover almost every jurisdiction in the world where the law library and by the way i  over here from chairing the california delegation meeting and i am pleased to have authored this bill with our colleague mr lundgren the bill is named after william orton a member of the united states house of representatives and utah is third district one thousand nine hundred ninety one thousand nine hundred ninety seven who passed away in april of this year bill was a tireless advocate for the law library and we think this legislation is a fitting way to honor his memory the law library of congress maintains a unique and world renowned collection this bill will help ensure that the law library will have the resources needed to maintain and expand its collections while the same time modernizing its system the act includes  authorizing three point five million for maintaining an administrative the operations of the law library including the cataloguing of the collection without the catalogs the collections are not accessible in a line item for the law library to ensure the autonomy and ability to improve the law library and creation of the william wharton a program the donations are provided for in kind contributions in support of the program and the bill also requires an annual report it authorizes to be appropriated for the program and i'm out this is the organ program of forty percent of the amount of the donations accessed by the library of congress trust fund  board in support of this legislation is the american bar association the american association of law libraries and the northern california association of law libraries and the american association of law libraries and northern california love going to offer an amendment thank you mr chairman i offer an amendment i think is put before the house basically the amendment changes the name of the law library of congress to the national law library it's a simple change but coupled with a full bill would do much to increase the role and status of the law library i believe that the library has no objection to this name change and that mr lundgren concurs the bill and this amendment are a great step forward in making the national law library a first class library that congress congress legal researchers and members of the public to serve and i would just like to note here this is an issue i think is enormously important for the country but it's not one that everybody pays attention to certainly the bar association and the advocates the law library yes and the late bill warden spent a lot of time in promoting this and i really am grateful to them for putting in the volunteer time to get us to this