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99–621 2005

ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING 

BUSINESS MEETING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, FEBRUARY 9, 2005 

Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION 

BOB NEY, Ohio, Chairman 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

JOHN L. MICA, Florida 

JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California 

THOMAS M. REYNOLDS, New York 

CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan 

JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD, 

California 

Ranking Minority Member 

ROBERT BRADY, Pennsylvania 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

PAUL VINOVICH, AStaff Director 

GEORGE SHEVLIN, Minority Staff Director 

(1) 

ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2005 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 9:45 a.m., in Room 1310, 

Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Robert W. Ney [chairman 

of the committee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Ney, Ehlers, Mica, Doolittle, Reynolds, 

Miller, Millender-McDonald, and Brady. 

Also present: Representative Hoyer. 

Staff present: Jeff Janas, Professional Staff Member; Fred Hay, 

General Counsel; Paul Vinovich, Staff Director; George Sherlin, Minority Staff Director; Charles Howell, Minority Chief Counsel; Matt 

Pinkus, Minority Professional Staff Member; and Tom Hicks, Minority Professional Staff Member. 

The CHAIRMAN. The Committee will come to order. 

Today the Committee on House Administration is holding its 

first hearing of the 109th Congress and will be adopting our committee rules and oversight plan for the 109th Congress. In addition, 

time permitting, we will be voting to report a resolution favorably 

to the House dismissing an election contest arising from the Sixth 

Congressional District of Tennessee. 

Before I proceed any further, I would like to take a moment to 

welcome all of our members of the committee for this Congress and 

congratulate our new Ranking Member, the Congresswoman from 

California, Juanita Millender-McDonald. And she is no stranger to 

the committee. She has been on the committee. And she and I 

share expectations for a productive Congress, and I look forward to 

working with our new Ranking Member on a lot of important 

issues, and welcome. 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, so much. 

And let me thank you for the call that you made to me upon my 

appointment to this post, and it was very gracious for you to do 

that. I also would like to thank our esteemed leader, the Honorable 

Nancy Pelosi, for appointing me. I think it fits right in with her 

strong leadership and her total commitment to diversity. And I 

thank all of the members with whom I have had the pleasure to 

work with in the capacity as a member and look forward to working with you just one seat over. Thank you so much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Also would be remiss if I didn’t note we have had 

two previous Ranking Members, Congressmen Larson and Hoyer. 

They were wonderful to work with, and very pleased to have you 

also. 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. May I please say for the record that 

I follow behind very large shoes, literally, but nonetheless exVerDate Aug 04 2004 04:52 Mar 12, 2005 Jkt 099621 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\HR\OC\B621A.XXX B621A
2 

tremely effective, in Mr. Hoyer and then Mr. Larson. And I will 

miss him, but he did extraordinary work, and I am going to see if 

I can follow in his footsteps. 

Mr. EHLERS. If I may, Mr. Chairman, I have worked with Ms. 

Millender-McDonald on other committees, plus we have a personal 

friendship, and I can assure you you won’t be able to fill their 

shoes because you are far too petite for that, but you will more 

than fill the job, and I am very pleased to see you in this position 

and looking forward to working with you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Speaking of Michigan, I want to extend an enthusiastic welcome to our newest member, the gentlewoman from 

Michigan, Mrs. Candice Miller. And even as an Ohio State graduate, I am happy to have you on this committee. But it is a pleasure having you. And also if people aren’t aware, not only is she one 

of the great Members of the House, but her past background and 

knowledge of elections as a secretary of state is a real addition to 

this committee. Welcome. 

Mrs. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly appreciate 

the invitation to serve on this distinguished committee. This committee has a high degree of respect and regard on both sides of the 

aisle. In my background as a former Secretary of State, I am delighted that we will be taking up the subject of HAVA, but I also 

had a lot of administrative kinds of responsibilities in my background as well. So with the kind of high degree of respect that this 

committee has earned, being very even-handed and running the 

mechanics of the House, it is something I have a great deal of interest in, and certainly with the respect that you have, Mr. Chairman, throughout the Chamber, I am really looking forward to serving on this committee. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Of course, returning to the committee, most of 

our Republican members—Mr. Linder is on another committee, and 

we appreciate Mr. Linder’s service. We have Congressman Ehlers 

from Michigan, Congressman Mica from Florida, Congressman 

Doolittle from California and Congressman Tom Reynolds from 

New York. Certainly last, but certainly not least, on the Minority 

side, the honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr. Brady is returning, and we are happy to have him. 

So we are really pleased to have all the members, and we are 

still waiting one more additional appointment for the Minority side, 

and when that occurs, we will look forward to welcoming that 

member as well. 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. One or two appointments? 

The CHAIRMAN. At least for the 109th there is one more. 

I look forward to working with all of you during the next 2 years 

and the important work that we have. In addition to our responsibilities of campaign election jurisdiction, we have already begun 

our work. 

The primary responsibility of the Committee on House Administration is to make sure that the House runs smoothly so Members 

can better represent their constituents. I plan to continue to work 

with the committee improving the tools and technology that Members and staff have at their disposal. We will look at ways that this 

committee can assist Members and the committees of the House in 

better serving the people who elect all of us to this institution. 

3 

As part of this effort, we are in the process of completing a 

House-wide technology assessment, and that will provide a framework from which this committee can direct and authorize important changes in technology. And Mr. Ehlers a decade ago led this 

charge here in Congress and has continued to do that. But this assessment, I think, which has been done on a bipartisan basis, is 

going to be very healthy for the House, because if we can better 

improve our technology, we better serve the constituency across the 

country that we represent. 

In addition, let me emphasize that safety and security of all who 

serve, work or visit this institution remain the highest priority of 

this committee as we continue to build on the many improvements 

since September 11 of 2001. This committee prior to that spent a 

small amount of time on security. That has been changed in our 

lives on the Hill, our family has changed, but we owe it to protect 

the staff and the visitors to this great institution so that security 

will continue. 

And at this time, also, I would like to conclude by welcoming 

again our Ranking Member and see if you have some remarks. 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I 

concur with your sentiments in that we have begun to do a lot of 

things in terms of better Member services, advance technology expansion, and there are many more things that we will need to do. 

I look forward to working with you. 

I have spoken with some of the department heads. I am interested in looking at the perimeters around the Capitol and the 

House offices to ensure that we will continue with the security 

phase of the proposal we have before us. 

I would like to extend my welcome to Mrs. Miller. It is indeed 

a pleasure to have another woman seated here on this dais, and 

we look forward to working with you as well. 

Mr. Chairman, that is about it for me. 

The CHAIRMAN. Any other remarks? If not, we will go onto the 

business at hand. 

Before we proceed with the adoption of the committee rules and 

oversight plan, I do want to take the opportunity as a final matter 

of old business to notify the committee that no action was taken 

under interim authority requiring full committee approval by the 

Chair. We will certainly bring all the members and particularly our 

new Ranking Member completely up to speed on all the matters 

currently pending before the committee. 

The Chair now lays before the committee the resolution adopting 

the committee rules for the 109th Congress. The committee rules 

presented only contain one change agreed to by the Majority and 

the Minority from the rules which govern this committee for the 

108th Congress; that is to reflect a change made to the House rules 

and include the rule which grants the chairman the authority to 

offer a privileged motion to go or agree to conference whenever 

deemed appropriate. This change eliminates the need for a pro 

forma unanimous consent request. Is there any discussion on this? 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Perhaps not on what you have said, 

but I do have an amendment at the desk, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Gentlelady has an amendment at the desk, but 

there is no objection? 

4 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. No. 

The CHAIRMAN. And would the gentlelady like to explain her 

amendment? 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. I do have an amendment that was 

previously circulated. This amendment seeks to provide an opportunity for the Minority to inquire into unethical or unlawful conduct by any senior agency official under the jurisdiction of the committee. If adopted, the amendment would add a 19th rule. This 

rule would apply and allow the Minority to petition the Chair for 

a hearing on unethical and unlawful conduct by a government official. If the hearing was not held within a month of the request, 

then the Minority would have a right to conduct such a hearing 

consistent with House rule X1, clauses 11(2)(b) and (2)(c), and consistent with both committee rules and House rules regarding notice 

and the compulsion of testimony on the production of evidence. 

Mr. Chairman, you have always been most accommodating of the 

Minority’s interests and concerns in the past, and we look forward 

to our continued partnership in exploring what went right and 

what went wrong in the 2004 election. Although the situation is 

unlikely, particularly on this committee, my amendment simply 

provides a means for the Minority to pursue a concern which might 

not be of equal interest to the Chair. In that unlikely event, the 

Minority could still pursue its concern in a manner consistent with 

House rules and committee rules. 

And so, Mr. Chairman, I requested the Office of the Parliamentarian to review my language and have been assured that nothing 

in my amendment is inconsistent with House rules. So I yield to 

you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Even though I don’t agree with the amendment, 

it is germane, and I recognize that. Speaking to the gentlewoman’s 

amendment, I would like to say I do appreciate your point of view 

and your serious nature of the amendment. I can’t agree to its 

adoption, but I would notice a longstanding prerogative of the Majority when Democrats were in charge of the Chamber, now under 

the Republicans, to call for and conduct hearings appropriate to the 

jurisdiction of this committee and not to be put in a position to be 

forced by the Minority to conduct a hearing. That has been longstanding. 

I will say that is the intention, of this chairman and this Majority to conduct thorough oversight over the agencies under the jurisdiction of this committee, and we have actually done it—I can site 

examples with the Smithsonian, the controversy at the zoo and the 

outcome of that, and we did address that issue head on. I would 

expect nothing short of full participation and opportunity by the 

Minority to conduct a vigorous examination of the issues as part 

of the process, and that should be the way it is done. 

In addition, I would like to remind the Minority, pursuant to the 

House rules and the rules of this committee now before us, adoption of proposed committee rule 9(c) specifically provides, as it has 

in the past Congresses, the following, and I would like to read it: 

When any hearing is conducted by the committee upon any measure or matter, the Minority party members on the committee shall 

be entitled, and it is a shall, upon request to the Chair by a majority of those Minority members, before the completion of such hearVerDate Aug 04 2004 04:52 Mar 12, 2005 Jkt 099621 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\B621A.XXX B621A
5 

ing, to call witnesses selected by the Minority to testify with respect to that measure or matter during at least 1 day of hearings. 

So there is something built into the rules. The purpose of that 

rule is to protect, frankly, the rights of the Minority and their ability to fully examine the issues in hearing before the committee. 

I appreciate the seriousness with which you approach this. I 

can’t agree to support it, but I think inherent is the ability of the 

Minority to call witnesses, and I do assure you as issues come up, 

even though I am not going to support this, we will be very sensitive to pursuing anything that occurs. 

Is there any further discussion on it? Mr. Mica? 

Mr. MICA. I have been through two chairmen on the Majority 

side and three Ranking Members, and while I think I see some of 

the attempt—the intent from the Minority in formalizing a rule 

such as you have proposed here, I really don’t think it is necessary. 

I look back to the days of the Hoyer-Thomas reign, and I felt like 

I was a referee in a food fight, but we have come a long way, and 

Mr. Larson operated, I think, with the Majority. 

We have important responsibilities, and I don’t think it is necessary, in fact, to formalize. And if it was a different situation, I 

might even agree with the Minority, but I think working together 

and actually respecting the rights of the Minority not just with this 

formalized petition process, but at any time that there should be 

an investigation or review when the Ranking Member and the full 

committee Chair decide that and work together, I think both sides 

benefit from that type of a system. 

So I will reluctantly oppose that, but I do rely on the good faith, 

I think, of our Chair and the Ranking Member to bring these 

issues, these investigative matters forward and then decide, and 

pledge also if you don’t get that support—I was in the Minority. I 

am part of the Majority now, Vern was, too, and I saw abuse. And 

I wouldn’t—I have always used that as the model you don’t want. 

And that is a cooperative effort particularly on this committee. 

I will oppose the amendment with that caveat to respect the 

right of the Minority to call for investigations and to proceed as we 

should on any matters that you feel are of vital interest to the committee and the Congress and the country. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Any other comments? Questions on the amendment? 

Those in favor of the amendment will say aye. 

Those opposed will say nay. Nay. 

The amendment has failed. 

Recognize Mr. Ehlers for the purpose of offering a motion to 

adopt the rules. 

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Chairman, I move that the resolution adopting 

the committee rules for the 109th Congress be approved. 

The CHAIRMAN. Question is on the motion. Those in favor of the 

motion will say aye. 

Those opposed will say nay. Nay. 

The motion is agreed to, and the committee rules of the 109th 

Congress are approved. 

The Chair now lays before the committee a resolution adopting 

the oversight plan for the 109th Congress. The committee oversight 

plan presented contains revisions proposed by both the Minority 

6 

and the Majority to reflect changes to our oversight priorities primarily to reflect the continued need to focus on the security of the 

Capitol complex as well as changes to the section related to our jurisdiction in Federal election law. In addition, we have included 

new mention of our intention to oversee issues relating to the continuity of Congress and separation incentive programs or buyouts 

in the legislative branch. 

Any discussion on it? Mr. Ehlers? 

Recognize Mr. Ehlers for the purpose of offering a motion. 

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Chairman, I move that the resolution adopting 

the committee oversight plan for the 109th Congress be approved. 

The CHAIRMAN. Question is on the motion. Those in favor of the 

motion will say aye. 

Those opposed will say nay. 

The motion is agreed to, and the committee oversight plan for 

the 109th Congress is approved. 

Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Chairman, if I may just be permitted to reminisce. It is over 10 years now since I have come on this committee, 

and in terms of the oversight that we have done during that time, 

it is just remarkable the change that has occurred in the House. 

And this is not meant to be a partisan speech, but when we started 

reviewing the operation of the House, the operation of the House 

officers, we ordered an audit, an outside audit, the first time in the 

history of the Congress. The books of the House had not been audited for 50 years internally and never externally. And the auditors 

came back and said, we can’t give an opinion because the books of 

the House are in such a mess, we can’t make sense of them. 

And I was reminded of this recently when a reporter called and 

asked me to review the progress of the last 10 years, and that is 

one little story I told them. But when you look at the internal operation of the House, we have really gone through a major change 

from the good old boy system, the patronage system, and keeping 

the books on ledger cards in pencil, I might add, to a professionally 

run operation. And I think we have to pat ourselves on the back 

a bit and certainly commend the House, the Chief Administrative 

Officer and the employees of the House, for the incredible degree 

of professionalism that we enjoy today in the House. 

And just a simple matter of the way vouchers are handled, I 

mean, you were here at the time, too, and you recall, it might take 

us 6 to 8 weeks to get reimbursed for our air travel. Today it is 

2 days after the voucher is submitted. And that is one small example of the improvements that have been made. 

I think this committee deserves a little pat on the back, and I 

think the Members of the House do, too, for bringing the House 

into the 21st century and developing computerized financial accounting systems and really doing a good job running the House. 

And I wanted to get that statement on the record. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentleman, and also note when I 

came here a decade ago, Mr. Thomas became the chairman, and 

Mr. Hoyer, there were some contentious arguments in the beginning of how this structure was going to go, and it ended up at the 

end of the day in a good way. Used to be you couldn’t do anything 

here. Nothing was allowed, and the Chair had to daily do 200-some 

vouchers. It wasn’t the way to continue on here. And I think it 

7 

gave Members a lot more ability and discretion with their accounts 

and ability to service their constituents. 

That is one of the changes, technology. I mean, when you look 

back, I think there were a lot of changes that were started and 

have continued to this day, and we may have disagreements here 

and there, but I think the good thing about this committee is that 

it respects the institution of the House, and the Members have 

done that. And we will say our peace and have our arguments, but 

the idea is that the Members and the staff can better service the 

constituents across the country. And with it, the new technology 

means tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people now 

can see the Congress as this is broadcast today. 

I think it is a lot of great changes, in the last 10 years, but the 

gentleman is correct, and you have been a big part of it, change 

doesn’t come without a lot of work. 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that 

historical perspective, Mr. Ehlers, because it is important for this 

committee to ensure that the Members have the capabilities of 

reaching out beyond the scope of our own constituency. But we 

have brought into this place advanced technology now that really 

expands our interaction with the public. When I was out on the 

campaign trail, there were many who said, ‘‘we don’t have time to 

look at C–SPAN, but we can contact you with e-mail and converse 

with you there.’’ I think any time you are dealing with the people’s 

House, it should be as professional as it should be, and I commend 

this committee for the work they have done and the work we are 

setting out to do for the continuation of that professionalism. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentlelady. 

Mr. Ehlers. 

Mr. EHLERS. One quick comment on that, and that is perhaps 

one of the biggest changes. When I came here, I was astounded because I was familiar with computers and e-mail. It was easier to 

e-mail Moscow or Timbuktu than to send an e-mail 20 feet down 

the hall to a colleague. And as a result of what we have done today, 

our e-mail in our office outnumbers our U.S. mail about 5 or 8 to 

1, and that is total turnaround. And we have made House documents available to the public for the first time, and so the average 

citizen can know as much as a paid lobbyist. And I think those are 

important achievements. 

The CHAIRMAN. Appreciate the Member’s comments. 

Our next item on the agenda is a resolution dismissing an election contest arising from the Sixth Congressional District from 

Tennessee. The clerk will read the motion. 

The CLERK. Resolved: That the election contest relating to the office of Representative from the Sixth Congressional District of Tennessee is dismissed. 

The CHAIRMAN. Chair recognizes the gentlelady from California. 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

This is a bipartisan agreement that the election contest relating 

to the Sixth District of Tennessee is completely frivolous. This is 

the same contest by the same minor constituent and candidate, 

making the same erroneous claims, which was unanimously rejected by this committee and by the full House 2 years ago. It 

should be dismissed without wasting any additional time. ThereVerDate Aug 04 2004 04:52 Mar 12, 2005 Jkt 099621 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\B621A.XXX B621A
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fore, I move that the committee order reported favorably to the 

House an original resolution, the text of which is before the members, to dismiss the election contest from the Sixth District of Tennessee. 

The CHAIRMAN. I would note that this is completely frivolous and 

agree with the gentlelady. 

And the question is on the motion. Those in favor of the motion 

will say aye. 

Those opposed will say nay. 

Motion is agreed to, and the resolution dismissing the election 

contest will be reported favorably to the House. 

Again, I want to thank everybody for being here. We have our 

brand new appointed member that has now arrived; is that correct, 

Mr. Hoyer? 

Mr. HOYER. No, sir, but I appreciate the chairman allowing me 

to sit in the seat of the unappointed member. 

The CHAIRMAN. We just praised you quite a lot, so—— 

Mr. HOYER. Sorry I was late. 

Mr. BRADY. I, too, would like to welcome the gentlelady from 

Michigan. No disrespect to the returning members, but it is good 

to see another lovely face on our committee. 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Millender-McDonald. 

Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Hoyer tends to 

fill voids no matter where they are, so we are happy he is filling 

the void this morning. 

It is good to have you here, Mr. Whip. 

The CHAIRMAN. I now ask unanimous consent that members 

have 7 legislative days to submit material into the record and for 

those statements and materials to be entered into the appropriate 

place in the record. Without objection, the material will be so entered. 

[The information follows:] 

COMMITTEE INSERT TO COME 

The CHAIRMAN. I also ask unanimous consent the staff be authorized to make technical and conforming changes on all matters 

considered by the committee at today’s hearing. Without objection, 

so ordered. 

And having completed our business for this meeting, the committee is hereby adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:08 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]