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37–079 2007

BUSINESS MEETING 

MEETING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

MEETING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 3, 2007 

Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration 

( 

Available on the Internet: 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/house/administration/index.html 


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COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION

ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania, Chairman 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

SUSAN A. DAVIS, California 

ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

Ranking Minority Member 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California 

KEVIN MCCARTHY, California 

S. ELIZABETH BIRNBAUM, Staff Director 

WILL PLASTER, Minority Staff Director 


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CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 811 AND CONSIDERATION OF RUSSELL V. BROWN-WAITE; GONZALEZ V. DIAZ-BALART; CURTIS V. FEENEY; 

AND COX V. McCRERY 

THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:45 a.m., in Room 

1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Robert A. Brady presiding. 

Present: Representatives Brady, Lofgren, Capuano, Gonzalez, 

Davis of California, Davis of Alabama, Ehlers, and McCarthy. 

Staff Present: Liz Birnbaum, Staff Director; Charles Howell, 

Chief Counsel; Matt Pinkus, Professional Staff/Parliamentarian; 

Janelle Hu, Election Counsel; Kristin McCowan, Chief Legislative 

Clerk; Robert Henline, Staff Assistant; Fred Hay, Minority General 

Counsel; Gineen Beach, Minority Counsel; and Bryan T. Dorsey, 

Minority Professional Staff Member. 

Mr. BRADY. I would like to call the committee meeting to order. 

Good morning, everyone, Members of the Committee and guests. 

I take the chairman’s gavel today with a heavy heart. As you 

know the Committee on House Administration lost our leader, 

Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, on April 22 after her 

too-short tenure in the Chair. I would like to have a brief moment 

of silence to remember the Chairwoman and all she meant to this 

committee and to this Congress. So I would ask for a brief moment 

of silence. 

Thank you all. 

I also would like to welcome today Congressman Artur Davis, 

who was just appointed as the newest member of committee. Congressman Davis, I am sure you will find the work of this committee 

and its responsibilities for the operation of the House both interesting and as inspiring as we all do. Welcome aboard. 

Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. BRADY. We are here to talk about marking up H.R. 811. We 

have amendments on our side, and we have given them to the gentlemen on the Miniority side. We also understand there are nine 

or 10 amendments that they would like to offer today. We just 

think, in order to be fair, there may be some good amendments 

there, and we have not had a chance or opportunity to look at 

them. 

We think we need time to look at those amendments. We are always for making any bill that we have in front of us better. So 


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again, to be fair, we would like time to look at those amendments. 

We just can’t give them the attention they deserve in this short period of time. So I am going to adjourn this meeting until next Tuesday. 

With that, I would like to recognize our Ranking Member, Mr. 

Ehlers. 

Mr. EHLERS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I share your grief and 

concern about our previous Chair and her family. It was a shock 

to all of us. I have been bothered for months, because I knew something was wrong, but she was such a courageous and private person she didn’t want to share her difficulties with anyone. I am 

sorry it came to such a sad conclusion. She worked very, very hard 

in the Congress. 

I got to know her shortly after she arrived. We inadvertently discovered we were both preachers’ kids, and that formed an instantaneous bond. There is an incredible bond between preachers’ kids. 

We grew up with all our friends expecting us to be as evil as they 

were and all our friends’ parents expecting us to set an example 

for their kids that we couldn’t meet. She and I often shared stories 

on that. 

She was a great person, and when we had the speeches on the 

floor, I think Representative Lois Capps expressed it well, that she 

was a woman of elegance and grace. That is a very accurate description of her, and we are all certainly going to miss her. 

I want to extend my congratulations to you on the chairmanship. 

If you win your primary in a few weeks you will have a tough decision whether to stay here in this tremendous position or to govern 

the City of Philadelphia. But I wish you well, no matter what happens. 

Mr. BRADY. I appreciate that. Thank you. 

Mr. EHLERS. I also join in welcoming our new member. I welcome 

you and congratulate you, but I may send you a sympathy card as 

well in a day or two. 

This is an interesting committee. It is a great opportunity to be 

of great assistance to our colleagues and to the entire institution. 

It is a tremendous honor to be here, and we have so many opportunities to do good things for our colleagues and for the people. So 

I think you come to realize how important this is. 

Finally, I want to thank the Chair for postponing this meeting. 

It first of all spares me the dishonor of giving an inflammatory diatribe about receiving the bill at about 9 o’clock last night and not 

having time to study. We scrambled to prepare amendments as 

best we could, but we very much appreciate not only your willingness to look closely at our amendments but also appreciate the 

extra opportunity to review what you have done. 

This is an extremely important issue, and I have here—this is 

just the beginning—I have a folder filled with complaints and opposition from local, county, city and State election officials objecting 

to the bill in its present form. I think we have to take all the comments seriously. I will not bother to put them in the record today, 

but I eventually will if the bill does not change substantially. 

I think a good model to use is the work that was done on the 

original HAVA, and I understand not everyone agrees with that 

bill. Some people think it is terrible. Some think it is marvelous. 


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Nevertheless, this committee worked extremely hard. I don’t know 

that there are any members remaining from that original committee on this committee except for myself. But Representative 

Steny Hoyer, the majority leader, is doing a very good job in that 

position, was a real mainstay on that whole process; and it would 

be worth talking to him just to find out. 

We spent a couple of years on this. We thought we would get it 

done very quickly, but by the time we finished negotiating with 

each other, negotiating with all the election officials around the 

country, and negotiating with the Senate, that consumed almost 3 

years. The product was vastly improved by engaging in that process. 

I hope we can follow the same procedure here. It should not take 

3 years, by any means, but I think we should check with all the 

parties involved and proceed thoroughly, carefully and cautiously 

so that we produce the fine product that we are capable of producing. 

With that, I congratulate you again, Mr. Chairman, and yield 

back. 

Mr. BRADY. Thank you. 

I would like to recognize the lady from California, Ms. Lofgren. 

Ms. LOFGREN. I will be very brief, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to 

just speak briefly about our late colleague, Juanita. 

Not only did I know her as a colleague on this committee, but 

I chair the California Democratic Delegation, and we were very 

proud to have Juanita as a member of our group. 

I would just like to report that at the service that we held we 

had three planeloads from Washington and a tremendous outpouring of love to Juanita’s family and constituents and a very 

large delegation not only from the California delegation but others; 

and certainly her family was appreciative and happy to know, once 

again, the love and affection that she had from her colleagues in 

the Congress. 

We will miss her a great deal. 

I thank the chairman for postponing this. I think it just shows 

everything we already knew about you, which is you go the extra 

mile to be fair and to make sure that everything is in order. So we 

appreciate that very much, Mr. Chairman; and I appreciate the opportunity to report on the services we had for a marvelous person 

who we all admired and loved. 

And I yield back. 

Mr. BRADY. Thank you. This meeting is adjourned until next 

Tuesday. 

Mr. EHLERS. Comment. 

Mr. BRADY. Comment, sure. 

Mr. EHLERS. Just a question, actually. We have several election 

contests before us, one major one which is going to take considerable time, but four minor ones; and I thought we were going to dismiss those quickly this morning. 


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Mr. BRADY. We might as well just adjourn and get it all done on 

Tuesday, if that is okay. 

All right, the meeting is adjourned until Tuesday. 

Mr. EHLERS. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 12:00 p.m., the committee was adjourned.] 

Æ 


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