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55–482 2010

REVIEW OF THE USE OF COMMITTEE FUNDS 

IN THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 111TH CONGRESS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JANUARY 27, 2010 

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 

Vice-Chairwoman 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

SUSAN A. DAVIS, California 

ARTUR DAVIS, Alabama 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California 

Ranking Minority Member 

KEVIN MCCARTHY, California 

GREGG HARPER, Mississippi 

JAMIE FLEET, Staff Director 

VICTOR ARNOLD-BIK, Minority Staff Director 


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REVIEW OF THE USE OF COMMITTEE FUNDS 

IN THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 111TH CONGRESS 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., in room 

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

[chairman of the committee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Brady, Lofgren, Gonzalez, Davis of 

California, Lungren, and Harper. 

Staff Present: Jamie Fleet, Staff Director; Matt Pinkus, Professional Staff/Parliamentarian; Kyle Anderson, Press Director; Joe 

Wallace, Legislative Clerk; Greg Abbott, Professional Staff; Darrell 

O’Connor, Professional Staff; Shervan Sebastian, Staff Assistant; 

Victor Arnold-Bik, Minority Staff Director; Katie Ryan, Minority 

Professional Staff; Mary Sue Englund, Minority Professional Staff; 

and George Hadijski, Minority Professional Staff. 

The CHAIRMAN. The hearing of the House Administration Committee will come to order. I thank everybody for being here. 

As you all know, we had our hearings in the beginning of the 

year for our committee funding. For the sake of brevity, I am not 

going to read my opening statement. That doesn’t mean my Ranking Member can’t. But we have asked our committees to come back 

and give us sort of a mid-term report on how they are making out, 

because we know we cut a lot of you and we know you are doing 

an excellent job with the limited amount of money that you received. We think you are doing an excellent job, and we would like 

to get a report back on how you are doing, and also if and when 

and how we may have a chance to be helpful. If there is some critical need you may have, we are ready to try to see how we can possibly assist you. 

I know there has been some—I don’t know exactly how many, I 

think I do, but I don’t have it right in front of me—there are some 

committees that were able to be creative with some of your staff 

members that weren’t being paid by you to maybe be moved over 

to some other agencies and we have been able to do that and been 

able to save some money for you. 

With that, I would just like to thank you again for being here 

and recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Lungren, for any comments he would like to make. 


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Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank 

you for the bipartisan manner in which you have approached these 

hearings. Last year when we made the suggestion that we have a 

mid-session or mid-Congress report, you were positively disposed to 

do that. I think it is in our mutual interest to ensure not only the 

prudent use of taxpayer funds but also to ensure that what we 

have believed to be the case—that is, that there is an appropriate 

expenditure of funds between the two parties, that we have the 

two-thirds/one-third—that both sides are satisfied that the level of 

cooperation is where it ought to be. 

Also last year, we both pledged to pursue a Policy of posting all 

committee monthly reports on line so they could be accessible to 

the public under the rubric of transparency. Today those reports, 

which document all the committees’ expenditures and activities are 

available at our House Administration Web site. 

We have even tougher budgetary problems today than we did 

when we were meeting with these committee representatives a 

year ago, but I am interested in finding out how they are proceeding with the budgets that they have. And as the President has 

signaled in his proposal to freeze Federal spending, we at least 

ought to take a look at where we are in terms of spending here in 

the House. 

I am not one that believes that we ought to strip members or 

their staffs or the committees of the funds needed to do the job, because if we are going to do oversight on the executive branch as 

they look at spending priorities, we need to be able to have the 

staff to do that. And we do have some committees that have assumed additional responsibilities, and I think it would be interesting for us to find out how those additional responsibilities compare with the budgets that they have. 

With that, I thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the Ranking Member. 

[The information follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. I am pleased to see the Honorable Zoe Lofgren 

doing double duty here, sitting on a panel with us, sitting on our 

committee here, and now also as the chairperson of the Ethics 

Committee, and also the Ranking Member, Mr. Bonner. Thank you 

for being here. 

We will start off with you, Ms. Lofgren. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. ZOE LOFGREN, CHAIRWOMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT 

Ms. LOFGREN. Thanks to you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to the 

committee and Mr. Harper in particular, who is also a member of 

the Ethics Committee and will know the truth of what we say personally. 

I am going to try and set a standard for the rest of the day by 

asking unanimous consent that my written remarks be made part 

of the record. 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, so ordered. 

Ms. LOFGREN. I will hit a couple of the high points in terms of 

expediency and time. 

We don’t have a two-thirds/one-third rule on the Ethics Committee. We are completely bipartisan. It is the only committee of 

the House that is equally split, five Democrats, five Republicans. 

And we approach our obligation seriously, but without a hint of 

partisanship. And I can say, without dealing with any of the issues 

that are before us that need to be confidential, we have yet to have 

a vote that is less than unanimous in the Ethics Committee. And 

I am so pleased that Mr. Bonner, the Republican Ranking Member, 

is here to issue his statement. 

But we have transformed the Standards Committee this year when, you will recall, we had a budget of $2.7 million. We will return $.3 million of those funds, we did last year, because of vacancies. However, when we began our task, Mr. Bonner and I had— 

we had 15 staff but we had nine vacancies. We have now hired 11 

new staff, including a permanent staff director, a chief counsel, a 

deputy chief counsel, seven investigative attorneys and, as a result, 

the committee is staffed for the first time. 

The staff is working very hard. If you go over there at midnight 

you will find them working, because we have had an incredible 

workload. We have issued more than 475 formal advisory opinions. 

We have fielded 9,700 telephone calls for advice, with 3,900 

e-mails. We have provided training to 10,500 House Members and 

staff, and we have reviewed 2,700 financial disclosures. 

We have commenced or continued our investigative fact-finding 

regarding the conduct of 36 House Members, 7 House employees, 

and one general matter. The committee has issued 17 subpoenas 

from the full committee and resolved 25 investigative matters without impaneling an investigative subcommittee. And we have 

impaneled three investigative subcommittees while continuing another. 

I would note this is a record for the committee as far as we can 

tell. There have never been as many investigations going on as 

there have been today. I should note that that doesn’t mean that 

there is more wrongdoing. It means that the committee has been 

very active, and even a hint that comes to us, we make sure that 


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we can assure the public and our body that things are going well, 

that we take all of these things seriously. 

The four active investigative subcommittees have authorized the 

issuance of 199 subpoenas, interviewed 91 witnesses, reviewed 

nearly 40,000 pages of documents, and held approximately 80 investigative subcommittee meetings. Every one of those actions requires substantial staff effort. 

Just recently we have received in excess of 200,000 pages of documents relating to a matter that we are looking into, and, of 

course, the staff needs to read and review every page of the 

200,000 documents that we have received. 

As we noted when we were here at the beginning, we might need 

to come back for some additional assistance. The committee was 

very welcoming for that concept. We knew that we were starting 

from a low spot, and I think that the committee and the Congress 

will be pleased by the hard work that we have put in. 

I don’t want to toot our own horn, but really this is the most collaborative, bipartisan relationship I think you will find in the Congress. I just can’t say enough good about Mr. Bonner, who has been 

a tremendous part of the renewal of this committee. 

I would turn now to Jo for his statement. Jo. 

[The statement of Ms. Lofgren follows:] 


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STATEMENT OF THE HON. JO BONNER, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS OF OFFICIAL CONDUCT 

Mr. BONNER. Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Lungren, and 

other members of the committee, thank you very much for allowing 

me to be before you today. I too would ask that my written statement, without objection, be entered into the record. 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, so ordered. 

Mr. BONNER. Mr. Chairman, when Chairwoman Lofgren and I 

appeared before your committee last year, the fact is that neither 

she nor I had a long history of working together. We had never 

served on a committee together. In fact, we met for the first time 

as we were going out on that very cold January day for the inauguration of President Obama. Yet we both had been assigned by 

our leadership, Speaker Pelosi and Leader Boehner, to take over a 

committee that, unfortunately, did not always have a reputation for 

working together, even though as the chairwoman noted we are the 

only committee that is divided equally between five Democrats and 

five Republicans. There had been a lot of strife, needless to say, 

over the years. That is not saying anything about any previous 

chair or ranking members, it is just a fact that we inherited. 

The Chair also mentioned, and it is true, that we came in where 

the staff itself was understaffed. There were several vacancies. And 

yet the work of the committee continued to mount, and backlogs 

were becoming more and more noticeable and more and more unacceptable. 

So I welcome this opportunity as a mid-Congress review to not 

only tell you, as the Chairwoman has with the statistical numbers, 

but I think the institution can be pleased with the progress we 

have made and, more importantly, I hope at the end of the day, the 

American people can have a renewed sense of confidence that the 

committee that is charged with the responsibility of education and 

advice, as well as looking into serious allegations of wrongdoing 

and misconduct, is taking our job seriously. 

Really, it is with that thought, Mr. Chairman, that we come before you today to thank you for the support that you have given 

us previously and to let you know that we have not taken that support and that endorsement of our work lightly. 

Certainly the collaboration and the bipartisanship that the 

Chairwoman and I have tried to build upon has been added to by 

the talents of four other colleagues on the Democratic side and four 

other colleagues on the Republican side who have worked in good 

faith every time we have asked them to take on additional responsibilities. So that, at the end of the day, we can hopefully give the 

American people more confidence that we do take ethics seriously 

and it is one of our highest priorities. 

So, really, Mr. Chairman, the chairwoman has already alluded to 

the fact that we have filled a lot of vacancies that we inherited 

when we came into our respective jobs. We have worked to try to 

cut back on some of the long delays of responding to Members and 

responding to staff. 

People sometimes forget that this is a small community of some 

10,000-plus people who work on Capitol Hill. And each one of them 

should have the opportunity, whether it is a new staffer that is just 

joining for the first time or a senior member who has been here for 


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40 years, should have confidence that when they come to us with 

a question, with a matter that needs our review and perhaps our 

advice, that they can get an answer in a reasonable amount of time 

and one that they can go to the bank on. 

With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield for any questions that you or 

the other members might have. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman. 

[The statement of Mr. Bonner follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. I also would like to add in confidentiality, which 

is most important. 

Now, I do appreciate the fact, and I have heard the testimony, 

that there are a lot of advisory requests that come in and you answer them. It is good for everybody to feel how you all are working 

together, and I think it also gives a lot of the Members, and I am 

sure some staff members, mostly Members, it gives them a good 

feeling to know that we can ask a question and it will stop there 

and won’t be—we won’t hear about it again. And in the advisory 

that you give us—which we do need from time to time—that you 

are more knowledgeable than we are in giving us that advisory; 

hopefully we take it and do the right and proper thing. 

So I do appreciate, and it is noted the comaraderie-ship is there 

with the Republicans and Democrats, and it gives a lot of confidence to the Members. I thank you, and I ask Mr. Lungren if he 

has any questions. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I echo the Chairman’s comments, in that Members 

rely on an effective and vigorous Ethics Committee to be able to respond to the questions in a timely fashion. That is why I remember 

when you came here last year, you talked about an increase in your 

budget, most of which I think we were able to approve. Then, looking at the December monthly report, it appears—and, again, I am 

going to say by your report that your committee had over a half 

a million dollar-surplus at the end of 2009. But I understand you 

might be making a request for some additional funds for this next 

year. 

It would be helpful if you could elaborate on the need for the increased spending, because otherwise people will say, Wait a second, 

they had a surplus at the end of the year and now they want an 

increase. Do they expect more work as we go into an election year, 

or do you have to build on what you did last year? If you could tell 

us that. 

Ms. LOFGREN. Certainly. The $500,000 figure is a little bit misleading, because some of it was obligated and not yet actually 

spent. So it is really about $200,000 that went unspent because we 

had vacancies we were trying to fill. But there were vacancies 

throughout the year. 

I will just mention that in some cases the request for advice 

when we arrived, there was a 2-year delay in some cases from 

Members getting advice from the committee. As the Chair has 

mentioned, and the Ranking Member, that is a very important 

function of the committee, because Members don’t want to violate 

the rules. A few outliers maybe, but everybody wants to follow the 

rules. But they can be complicated. So people call in because they 

want advice. They don’t want to misstep. If it is a 2-year delay on 

getting the answer, obviously that is unacceptable. 

Mr. LUNGREN. You might be retired by then, sometimes involuntarily. 

The CHAIRMAN. Sometimes because of a lack of an answer. 

Ms. LOFGREN. That could also be, Mr. CHAIRMAN. So we have 

staffed up. I will tell you, the investigative load is very substantial. 

As I mentioned, we have never had four investigative subcommittees at any one time. Under rule 18(a), the Chair and Ranking 

Member are authorized to have investigations preliminary to any 


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official investigative subcommittee action. And Mr. Bonner and I 

meet frequently. I think we talk almost every day on the matters 

that are necessary to review. In fact, a number of subpoenas were 

issued pursuant to 18(a) authority. There is substantial staff time. 

So we need additional investigative attorneys. 

Do we have the actual staffing plan that we have submitted? 

Mr. LUNGREN. While you have that intermission, also last year 

you talked about the need to upgrade the technology base in the 

committee. Has that been done or is that ongoing, and would we 

expect additional expenditures in that regard? 

Ms. LOFGREN. We have made some progress, although we want 

to make more. Over the last year, the committee has made the ethics process more accessible and convenient and user friendly, using 

technology to allow, for example, financial disclosures to be made 

not just here in the Capitol but available outside the House network. We have worked to improve the registration and delivery of 

online training. I think many members of your staff probably have 

participated in the online training, and we are going to have new 

content available, too. 

We are hoping to incorporate better technology in the advisory 

opinion and travel processes. And I think today we are going to 

make an official announcement on a travel working group that Jo 

and I have appointed, because the travel regulations, they are important, but they are convoluted and they are opaque, and they are 

so time-consuming. 

For example, whole trees are falling before these processes. I 

mean, each person who goes on a trip, even if it is the exact same 

trip, the exact same sponsor, you have separate in-paper processes. 

It is an absurd way to do it. It does not actually allow for transparency to the public. So we are hoping to streamline that, to be 

able to make that more accessible to public view, and also user 

friendly. We have $50,000 allocated for technology, and I think the answer 

to much of our advice work really is to use technology. But we are 

just beginning on what we want to do. 

I have been handed by staff—who we all rely on—if we are able 

to get additional assistance, we have been authorized by the leadership to go from 24 to 29 employees, and we would have those five 

additional positions, a new director of advice and education, three 

investigative counsel, and an additional counsel for our financial 

disclosure unit, and those positions would take the bulk of these 

funds. 

Jo, do you have anything to add? 

Mr. BONNER. Mr. Lungren, in response to your question and to 

add to what the chairwoman has said, neither she nor I would have 

preferred to come to the committee asking for an additional increase in funding. We know that this is a tight time not only for 

Congress, it is really a tight time for the American people. Families 

and businesses are having to make tough decisions, and we have 

tried with every ounce of sincerity to squeeze as much as we could. 

But let me give you an example of where, beyond our control, 

now we have a new outside Committee on Ethics that Congress authorized and that is fully established and operational. In 2009 the 

OCE referred 20 matters to the committee to take up, 12 of which 


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required further review by our committee. So in addition to the 

work that the Chair and I are authorized to commence and that 

the committee is authorized to commence, we now have another 

group that brings—and, as she indicated in her testimony, in one 

instance they brought over 200,000 pages of documents that are 

dealing with the lives and reputations of Members of Congress or 

others who work on the Hill. That is a volume that is staggering. 

Plus, they also impose upon us a time deadline that we have to respond to or take further action. 

So, in order to be fair to the Members whose names come before 

us, but really more importantly, in order to reassure the American 

people that we are doing everything we can to look at any allegation as seriously as possible and conclude with it, it is going to require some additional people. 

I will echo what the chairwoman said earlier, though. We have 

spent the better part of the year fully staffing the committee. Quite 

frankly, I think the new talent we have brought only has been a 

tremendous complement to the dedicated workforce we already 

had. One individual in particular who just left the committee, creating a vacancy, is now the U.S. Attorney in my district in Alabama. 

So the people that have worked with us continue to do great 

things for service of the country. But that said, the need is obvious 

because of the increased workload that we have had. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Harper. 

Mr. HARPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just simply want to 

say how much I appreciate the way that you work together on this 

committee. I would classify it more as nonpartisan than even bipartisan. I just want to say thank you. 

Mr. BONNER. Mr. Harper, I want to thank you, as the chairwoman did, for your service on the committee. That is one that no 

one volunteers for, but we appreciate the time you invest in it as 

well. 

If I may, Mr. Chairman, I want to echo what Chairwoman 

Lofgren was kind in saying: that she and I have built a strong relationship, a strong working relationship. We have really built a 

strong personal friendship. This is something that, as I indicated 

earlier, when she and I first came to these responsibilities, we did 

not have a preexisting friendship or relationship of working together. 

I don’t know that this means much to the American people, and 

it may not even mean much to the people here who serve on this 

committee, but there has not been one time in the past year where 

Zoe and I have not been in agreement on how we should proceed. 

Traditionally, that is not always the case on this committee, even 

though it is nonpartisan. More importantly, that speaks also for 

the relationship that Mr. Harper has with Mr. Butterfield and that 

the other Democrats and Republicans have. This is truly a model 

of the way a committee should work, and I am just honored to be 

part of it. 

Ms. LOFGREN. If I could just add, Mr. Bonner is a conservative 

Republican from Alabama. I am not. It has nothing to do with the 

job before us. The job before us, and we all feel this way, is to fairly 


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apply the rules and uphold the standards for the country. I think 

every member of that committee—no one asked to be on committee, 

I didn’t ask to chair, and Jo did not ask to be ranking. 

But we take this very seriously. It is not to serve members, it 

is to serve the country, so that the country can have confidence 

that the standards are being upheld. Every member who serves, I 

am just grateful to them. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank both of you, and also thank you for instilling the confidence in a lot of the Members that we can come 

to you for a confidential report and a confidential advisory. We do 

appreciate that. That does ripple through all the Congress. So we 

thank you. I certainly hope my name never comes across either of 

your desks. 

Thank you. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I hope so, too. 

The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. 

Mr. REYES. Good morning, Mr. Chairman. It is my understanding Mr. Hoekstra has been detained and may not be able to 

make it. I am at your disposal. 

The CHAIRMAN. You will have to pick up both ends of it. 

Thank you for coming in. As you know, when we first met last 

year, you came to us for your funding, we also asked that you come 

back a year later and let us know how you are doing, how you are 

making out. We appreciate your being here today. 

Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I just am happy to see Mr. Reyes here. I am sorry 

Mr. Hoekstra is not here. I am sure we will hear from you as to 

the committee’s position on budget and how things are going in 

terms of the working relationship, and if there is anything we need 

to take a look at. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Reyes, the floor is yours. 

Mr. REYES. Thank you. I don’t know who was sitting here before, 

but the seat is nice and hot. 

The CHAIRMAN. We have automatic heaters for certain people 

that we can turn it up or turn it down, just like your committee, 

sir. 

Mr. REYES. Very good. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. SILVESTRE REYES, CHAIRMAN, 

PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE 

Mr. REYES. Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, I thank you for 

providing me with an opportunity to update you on the use of the 

committee’s budget and our authority in the first session of the 

111th Congress. I want to thank both of you for your efforts towards greater accountability and transparency where committee 

funding is concerned. 

I believe these interim reports are an important step in shedding 

light on the committee’s financial decisions. These reports are also 

an excellent opportunity for a chairman to evaluate the allocation 

of committee resources and ask important questions about its operating expenses and the priorities of the committee. 

Before I begin my statement, Mr. Chairman, I would ask that my 

complete statement be entered into the record. 


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The CHAIRMAN. Without objection. 

Mr. REYES. Thank you. As I noted in my February 2009 testimony before this committee, I exercised great fiscal restraint in my 

budget request for the committee’s operation in the 111th Congress. Today, I stand by that request, and I continue to make a 

concerted effort to fulfill the committee’s obligations to conduct appropriate oversight over the Intelligence Community in a fiscally 

responsible manner. 

I have reviewed the committee’s expenditures for legislative year 

2009, along with the estimated outlays for legislative year 2010, 

and I am confident that no increase in budget authority will be 

necessary for HPSCI to complete its oversight mission and to provide the Intelligence Community with the resources and capabilities it needs to carry out its critical mission. Mr. Chairman, the committee was authorized $5,387,500 for the 

first session of the 111th Congress. These funds enabled the committee to hold 99 briefings and hearings at the full committee and 

subcommittee levels, as well as two full committee markups. In 

2009 the committee also conducted 76 foreign and domestic oversight trips. 

According to the figures provided by the House Finance Office, I estimate the committee will return approximately $900,000 of its 

authorized budget to U.S. taxpayers. The unused funds for 2009 

can be attributed to a number of factors: first, numerous equipment 

upgrades and purchases that came in under vendor estimates or 

were found to be unnecessary by the committee’s security and IT 

staff; second, a modification in committee travel reimbursement 

policy from actual expenses to actual expenses within government 

per diem guidelines; third, an increase in foreign oversight travel 

under the financial auspices of the State Department and the military; and, finally, the loss of several of our most highly compensated staff members to the new administration. 

In fact, the lion’s share of unused funds fall within the budget 

category for personnel compensation funds. As you know, committee rules require all committee staff, from the staff director to 

staff assistant, to have a security clearance. The process of conducting the necessary clearance investigation for us is often a 

lengthy one. As a result, turnover in the committee can result in 

long vacancies during which personnel compensation funds are 

simply not spent. The committee also suffered from the temporary 

loss of one employee to a military deployment. 

I would also add that when I appeared before this committee last 

year, the Intelligence Committee had yet to meet and approve the 

oversight plan for the 111th Congress. Since then, the committee 

adopted and has adhered to the legislative and oversight activities 

as they were laid out in the draft plan, with the notable addition 

of an expansion of lines of inquiry on the committee by Oversight 

and Investigations. 

To that end, recent world events, like the shooting at Fort Hood 

and the attempted attack on Northwest Flight 254 and the December 30th attack in Khost, Afghanistan, continue to illustrate the 

challenges facing the Nation and the Intelligence Community. 

These challenges require rigorous and vigilant oversight on the 

part of our committee. The committee views the responsibility to 


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conduct oversight not only in terms of the threats posed to our Nation, but also in terms of our Nation’s ability to disrupt these activities and to be able to respond to those threats. 

The funds requested are the funds required for the committee to 

conduct our oversight properly and, we feel, responsibly. As the primary overseer of the Intelligence Community for the U.S. House of 

Representatives, today I give my commitment that the committee 

will continue to act as guardian of the taxpayer moneys that are 

used to finance our intelligence programs and to account for the 

programs that are intended to safeguard the Nation’s security and 

protect individual freedoms. 

With that, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member, I thank you for 

the chance to update the committee on the fiscal health of HPSCI, 

and I welcome any questions that you might have. 

[The statement of Mr. Reyes follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman. We do understand that 

a lot of your duties are reactionary. Hopefully there will not be too 

many situations that you need to react to. But I thank you for the 

job you and your committee does. 

Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Mr. Chairman, as someone who served on the Intelligence Committee a number of years ago, I understand the work 

that you have to do and the need to have exceptionally talented 

and well-versed staff. You are dealing with some of the most important parts of our Federal Government and it takes some real drilling down to find out what we are talking about and what the conclusions and the consequences of different programs are. Having 

said that, I appreciate your assurance that you have sufficient staff 

and sufficient funding to do the job that you need to do. 

One area I would ask is about modernizing your information 

technology equipment. When you appeared before us a year ago, 

you talked about the possibility of doing that. You were also about 

ready to utilize your new SCIFs over there at the CVC. 

How well has that worked out and are you engaged in a modernization of the technology equipment, particularly given the information security needs of your committee? 

Mr. REYES. Well, I am happy to report that we have, and I think 

everybody understands that when you are talking about technology, it is really an ongoing process, as technology changes just 

about every 6 months, but we have greatly enhanced our IT capability. 

As you mentioned, we moved into the new offices, the new area 

in the Visitors Center, and like anything else that is brand new, 

we are still working through that. One of the areas that we just 

recently, we hope, completed was the ability to have access through 

a fingerprint pad system. We had some issues with that. It was recently completed. It seems to be working fine. 

But other than those normal kinds of things that you encounter, 

we have made a good transition to the new area. We are very 

happy with that. We think it greatly enhances not just our capabilities for the staff and Members, but it also provides us greater 

flexibility in doing the kinds of things we need to do to make sure 

we carry out our responsibilities. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Do you have any reason to believe that Mr. Hoekstra would have a different position in terms of the sufficiency of 

your funding? 

Mr. REYES. I don’t believe so. We are basically following the 

same pattern that he used when he was chair of the committee. So 

I think in that respect, although we may disagree philosophically 

on some political issues, I think the most important thing, and the 

priority for me as it was for him, is to make sure that we do the 

work that is necessary to keep our Nation safe. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Harper. 

Mr. HARPER. No questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for coming in front of 

us, and thank you for the job you do. 

Mr. REYES. Thank you all again. I appreciate the opportunity to 

come before you. 


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The CHAIRMAN. Good morning. 

Mr. RANGEL. Good morning. 

The CHAIRMAN. We take it you two are getting along. 

Mr. RANGEL. We want set the impression. 

Mr. LUNGREN. It looks good so far. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you again for appearing in front of us and 

coming back. We had a hearing a year ago when we did the funding. We asked that you come back and report how you are doing 

financially and with staff. Hopefully we can be helpful, or hopefully 

you are fine. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS 

Mr. RANGEL. Thank you for giving us this opportunity, you and 

my friend, the Ranking Member. If we were doing nearly as well 

politically as we are doing administratively, it would be a great report. 

But we have worked very closely, our staffs, with the Minority. 

They receive one-third of the allocations that you have been able 

to give to us. We do ask for three additional staff members: two for 

the Majority and one for the Minority. We have had a total of 40 

hearings and 9 markups. 1,200 bills, or 17 percent, of all House 

bills have been referred to Ways and Means. 32 went to the floor, 

and of that number 15 have become law. 

We have taken every opportunity, few as they may be, to work 

in a friendly and bipartisan way, and the committee has been good 

to us and we are pretty proud of our record and comity and our 

ability to work together. 

I am here to answer any questions that you may have. 

[The statement of Mr. Rangel follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Mr. Camp. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. DAVE CAMP, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS 

Mr. CAMP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Lungren, and members of committee. Thank you for the opportunity to 

appear here with Chairman Rangel in support of our budget allocation for the second session of the 111th Congress. 

I do want to say that I agree with Chairman Rangel that from 

an administrative standpoint, there has been no partisanship on 

this committee. The committee has been—he has done an excellent 

job of running the committee from an administrative standpoint. 

We do receive our full one-third share, as was the case when we 

were in the Majority. The Minority got a third share and the Majority got a two-thirds share. So this is the way the committee has 

been run for some time, and I just want to say that has gone very 

well. 

We do need the substantial resources that you have allocated to 

us to do our jobs effectively. As the Chairman said, we have had 

many hearings and a number of high-profile issues come to our 

committee, and particularly we anticipate that in the year ahead 

as we look at ways to focus on and create jobs. 

I also want to support the Chairman’s request for an increase in 

our committee staff allotment. Under the increase the Majority 

would receive two, we would receive one. I will say that in terms 

of this year, from my standpoint, I did not realize I was going to 

be the Ranking Member and get authority for that until January. 

So much of last year we were bringing our staff together, putting 

a team together, and bringing people on throughout the year, so we 

did not have everybody on staff and in place in January. But that 

has been occurring through the months of the year. 

Again, I want to support the committee’s 2010 allocation, and 

would be prepared to answer any questions. 

[The statement of Mr. Camp follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman. 

Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I thank you, and I thank both of you for appearing 

before us. I appreciate the spirit of comity with which you have addressed, as you keep saying, administratively your responsibilities. 

I think this is important for the public to understand, I note that 

in virtually every case the committees did not spend all the money 

that was authorized and appropriated for them. So, actually those 

moneys have been saved. 

The question does arise—and I know you can answer this, but 

I would just like it for the record—that at the least according to 

the reports we had from the committee, you did not spend about 

$1,463,000 of your budget. I am not going to criticize you for that 

because, again, that shows you didn’t try to spend everything, as 

we sometimes find the executive branch appears to make sure that 

they spend every penny. 

But would some of that savings from last year be, as you suggested, Mr. Camp, that you were building up your staff, you didn’t 

have your total staff the entire time? Would that be part of it? 

Mr. CAMP. That would be part of it. We obviously tried to be very 

careful, knowing that this is a 2-year plan. But, yes, I was really 

getting the team together for part of last year and did not have everybody in place, so that would explain part of that. But also we 

tried to be responsible, particularly in the first year of a 2-year session. 

Mr. LUNGREN. As I understand also, and I believe it is in your 

formal statement, Mr. Chairman, that you did some upgrades on 

equipment. Is that ongoing? 

And, secondly, one of the concerns people have expressed has 

been are we doing a good enough job as a Congress, in our offices 

and committees, in terms of protection of our IT? That is, are you 

getting the support you need from our IT operation and our operation that protects against cyberattacks and so forth? 

Mr. RANGEL. I hope that you can leave the record open so I can 

give a more detailed report, because, quite frankly, I haven’t received any complaints. But I have to tell you that we have been 

working this staff so hard because of the recent political and legislative position we find ourselves in. So we don’t know exactly what 

we have to do to keep our staff. 

I might even add that Republicans and Democrats have made it 

a lot easier for the Members by giving us guidance as to things 

that we can do and, just as importantly, things that politically we 

can’t even think about. 

So in terms of IT and the other things, I will have to take a look. 

If you will leave the record open, I will get a report for you. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, we can leave the record open 

for you to come back with that report. 

[The information follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Gonzalez. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. No questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Harper. 

Mr. HARPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

I understand there are three new positions—is that right, Mr. 

Chairman—that are going to be added, or you wish to fill; is that 

correct? 

Mr. RANGEL. Yes, we are asking for that. 

Mr. HARPER. Is it possible, certainly in light of our current economy in this country, is it possible that those positions could remain 

unfilled? What impact would that have on the committee if the positions are not filled at this time? 

Mr. RANGEL. I can’t tell you, and I don’t want to find out, frankly. Our staff doesn’t have enough hours in the day. Whether it is 

weekend or late at night, we do what has to be done. They are so 

very supportive. Because of the complexity of some of our work, it 

is really one of those cases that the Members can’t get along without them. It is not an 8-hour day. Anything we can do to ease the 

hours they spend away from their families, we want to do it. In 

their opinion, we could use three workers. Believe me, we have had 

a history, as Dave Camp has said, in doing the best we can with 

what we have to work with. We would not ask for this unless it 

was really badly needed. 

Mr. HARPER. Mr. Camp. 

Mr. CAMP. I just want to comment and really second that. We do 

have an experienced staff on both sides with a great deal of technical expertise, whether it is trade, tax, or health care, and it is 

very important that we have that continuity because these are 

complex issues. 

I will say that on both sides, Republicans and Democrats, they 

work often until 1 and 2 in the morning, and especially as we are 

preparing for any kind of hearing or legislation. 

So we do need that assistance. There is no new dollar request behind those positions. It is within the existing budget. So we would 

like to be able to have some more hands on deck, frankly. Thank 

you. 

Mr. HARPER. Thank you, Mr. Camp. No additional questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman. Ms. Lofgren. 

Ms. LOFGREN. I have no questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. I thank both of you for coming. We 

appreciate your time and your effort with us. 

The CHAIRMAN. The Chair would like to make a brief announcement while we are waiting for our Energy and Commerce members. I will give up the chair to Mr. Gonzalez, who asked to chair 

for that, and ask him if he would stay a little longer if necessary, 

because I have been summoned to the Speaker’s office, and I am 

hoping I am summoned to her office and not the woodshed. If I 

come back with a smile, I am in good shape. If not, I will come 

back as quick as I can. Thank you. 

Mr. BARTON. Are you ready for us? 

Mr. GONZALEZ [presiding]. We are ready for Energy and Commerce. 

The committee will next consider the budget request of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Of course, we have the ChairVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:13 Mar 24, 2010 Jkt 055482 PO 00000 Frm 00046 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A482.XXX A482

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man, Mr. Waxman, and the Ranking Member. Each of you will be 

given 5 minutes to make your statements, and then, if we have 

some questions, we will be recognizing members of the committee. 

Welcome, good morning, and my personal apologies for not being 

there at the committee this morning as we take up the Burgess 

resolution. 

Mr. Waxman. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

Mr. WAXMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, members of 

the committee. I want to thank you for this opportunity to testify 

and to report on the Committee on Energy and Commerce’s 111th 

Congress expenditures. I am pleased to be here with the committee’s Ranking Member, Joe Barton. 

When I testified before you last February, I described the ambitious agenda planned for the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

in the 111th Congress. At this halfway point in the Congress, I am 

proud to report that the committee has already accomplished a significant portion of that agenda. 

In the past year, the committee reported comprehensive legislation addressing three of the top priorities of the new Obama administration and the American public: health care reform, climate 

change legislation, and energy independence. We also reported food 

safety reform, tobacco legislation, chemical and drinking water security legislation, and consumer financial protection legislation. 

At the same time, the committee maintained a vigorous oversight 

schedule, including hearings on issues relating to the complexity of 

the task of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; the future of our 

electricity grid; government management of high-containment bioresearch laboratories; government regulation of medical devices 

and Medicare and Medicaid programs; business practices in the 

health insurance market the collection of consumer debt, a 

broadband program created by the Recovery Act; and cybersecurity 

issues, among many others. 

At the beginning of the year, I asked for an increase in funds so 

that the committee could hire staff to fill gaps in expertise and ensure sufficient support for the heavy anticipated workload facing 

the committee and its subcommittees. I was pleased that the committee received a 8.3 percent increase over the previous year’s 

funding. 

Consistent with our request, the committee used those funds to 

hire staff, including a senior Medicare expert, a senior attorney 

with significant experience in environmental regulatory work, and 

staff for the chairman emeritus to assist with the health reform effort. 

Overall, after outstanding invoices and obligations are paid, the 

committee will have spent 99 percent of the total funds provided 

to us. I believe this figure underscores that our budget for this year 

was planned and executed in a responsible manner. 

The Committee on Energy and Commerce will continue to carry 

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tion are consistent with the projected budget needs of the committee for the remainder of this Congress. 

Thank you for this opportunity to testify. 

[The statement of Mr. Waxman follows:] 


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Mr. GONZALEZ [presiding]. Thank You, Chairman Waxman. 

At this time the Chair will recognize Mr. Barton, the ranking 

member. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOE BARTON, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

Mr. BARTON. Thank you, Chairman Gonzalez and Congressman 

Harper. It is always good to appear before the House Administration Committee. The Republicans or the minority on the Energy 

and Commerce Committee have fought Chairman Waxman and the 

majority, as you well know, Mr. Chairman, tooth and nail on all 

or most of the policy issues that he just enunciated. I am happy 

to report that on most of the policy initiatives, while they have 

grudgingly gotten out of the committee, they have not become law 

because we have been able to bloody him so much that he has not 

had the energy to push it forward. 

But on the administrative front, Mr. Chairman, we have worked 

in, if not perfect harmony, certainly a spirit of fellowship and goodwill. We have had a fair allocation. Two-thirds of the budget, as it 

should, has gone to the majority and one-third, as it should, has 

gone to the minority. 

Chairman Waxman indicated that the majority has spent 99 percent of their budget allocation. I am proud to report that minority 

has spent only 98 percent; so we have doubled the amount we are 

turning back, and I am very proud of that. Even though we had 

less to spend, we are turning more back. 

So all we ask, Mr. Chairman, is fairness. The two-thirds/onethird allocation, which has been the norm in the committee under 

former Chairman Dingell, Chairman Bliley, Chairman Tauzin, myself, and now Chairman Waxman, we are very appreciative of. So 

we hope the budget allocation continues on that path. 

If I could change the subject just a second, as a Member I want 

to talk about this new password protection program for our BlackBerries. I am not opposed to a password. My initial password was 

being triggered every 2 minutes, which makes it almost impossible 

to use. I have asked the House Information if we could lengthen 

the time. We have got mine up to 30 minutes. I would very respectfully request we give Members the discretion to go up to 6 hours 

or something so that I am not continuously having to rekey my 

password. I don’t use my BlackBerry continuously like some Members. So every time I have to use it, I have got to key in—key in 

the pass code, and sometimes in the heat of the moment, being an 

Aggie, I forget what it is and then I get frustrated and then I yell 

at my staff, and it is just a bad situation, Mr. Chairman. So if you 

could encourage the administrators to give us a little bit more time 

on our password length, I would appreciate that. 

[The statement of Mr. Barton follows:] 


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Mr. GONZALEZ. You ask much of the committee, but we are going 

to be looking into it. As a matter of fact, it was just this morning 

I reset mine to 30 minutes. Mine was at a few minutes. So I understand. 

At this time I am going to recognize Mr. Harper for any questions he may have. 

Mr. HARPER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know during the hearings last year there was talk about transitional costs due to the 

change in chairmanships in order to compensate some of the staff 

on that transitional basis. 

Have those costs subsided or are we looking at perhaps future 

savings as a result of that? 

Mr. WAXMAN. The costs turned out to be approximately $150,000. 

This number reflected the salary costs related to maintaining staff 

from the 110th Congress through the transition period; so we were 

pretty clearly on the mark as to what we would need for that purpose. 

Mr. HARPER. And do you care to respond to the savings ratio 

statement by Ranking Member Barton? 

Mr. WAXMAN. I heard it. It sounded pretty good. 

Mr. HARPER. No other questions, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. BARTON. There will be other transitional costs next year 

when the Republicans are transitioning back into the majority. So 

we will have 150,000 or maybe we can do it for 100,000 next year. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. You can’t say that Mr. Barton does not miss an 

opportunity. 

Mr. WAXMAN. We will make an argument to the American people 

not to change things because it will just cost more money. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Waxman, I am going to join you in that. But 

quickly, it is interesting, I mean if you think a year ago you come 

in and you ask for the budget, today you are here showing us the 

use of it and you’re under budget and such. But was there anything 

coming in as new chairman of obviously a committee with huge jurisdiction and the workload and what was produced, was there any 

unforeseen challenge, anything that you didn’t anticipate? Obviously the budget went well, but what was the challenge coming in 

as the new chairman of this committee when it comes to the budget? 

Mr. WAXMAN. Well, we had an extensive legislative agenda, as I 

mentioned in my opening statement, as well as an oversight agenda, and that is going to continue on in the next year as well. We 

plan to address Toxic Substances Control Act, the public safety network interoperability, spectrum policy, broadband stimulus, FCC 

reform, workforce programs, and Title VII of the Public Health 

Service Act, reauthorization of the substance abuse and mental 

health services block grants, cybersecurity threats to the electricity 

grid, and other issues relating to the Safe Drinking Water Act. 

I am hopeful that these issues will be less polarizing and less 

partisan than we found some of the issues in this previous year as 

we looked at climate change and health care, which saw us pretty 

much voting by and large, not exclusively, but by and large on a 

party line basis. But I am hopeful that we can get back to a time 

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crats and Republicans, where we were looked as solvers of problems, trying to get the best judgments and advice from anybody. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Waxman. Anything 

further? 

Mr. WAXMAN. Could I comment on another subject? 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Yes, go right ahead. 

Mr. WAXMAN. In the Visitors Center I have been surprised to 

find that our BlackBerries are unable to work. We, when I was 

chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, 

provided that the subway systems in the Washington area should 

have the system in place to allow a spectrum that would be available for handheld devices, and it just seems to me, unless there is 

a national security reason, we ought to be able to have the room 

in the Visitors Center where Members get together for meetings 

and caucuses and whatever, a place where we should be able to get 

access to the spectrum. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Waxman, I am just being informed as you 

were expressing your concerns that that actually is being addressed 

as we speak and it is being contracted and such. So hopefully we 

will be addressing that particular problem. 

And Mr. Barton, the 30-minute reset we are going to find out 

what we can do about that. 

But again thank you very much for your testimony. 

Mr. WAXMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. GONZALEZ: I see Mr. Lucas out there. We’re actually running 

a little early and we don’t have Mr. Peterson here yet, but if you 

want to come up and have a seat. Wherever you’re the most comfortable. You come up, we’re going to start talking about Oklahoma 

State Cowboys football. What does next season look like? 

Mr. LUCAS. Well, after the joys of the Cotton Bowl this time . . . 

once again, that eternally optimistic Oklahoma State enthusiasm 

kicks in. But the good citizens of the great state of Texas were 

wonderful hosts for the Cotton Bowl, even if it did turn out to be 

a challenging game, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Ha! A lot of things could have gone better for 

many teams. I was in Pasadena for the Texas game, so that was 

painful. 

Mr. LUCAS. I understand and my sympathies entirely. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. I tell you! We like going around telling people 

that we almost beat Alabama with a freshman quarterback. That’s 

the only way you can get away with that. Mr. Harper, you can appreciate the spin that we had to give that one. It was a very interesting game. It’s a heartbreaker, I tell you. 

Mr. LUCAS. And being a proud supported of the Big 12 family, 

I cheer for our colleagues. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Almost did it. Well, it’ll be interesting. 

Mr. HARPER. Mr. Chairman, being an SEC fan, I’ll just keep 

quiet. 

Mr. GONZALEZ: I figured you were going to chime in there 

Mr. LUCAS. And, probably, until our budget’s verified, I should 

agree with that, too, as a witness. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. The chairman is here. Welcome, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. PETERSON. Sorry I am late. 


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Mr. GONZALEZ. You are still 2 minutes early, but we are going 

to start early. So next we are going to be reviewing the use of funds 

by the Committee on Agriculture and we have the chairman and 

ranking member. Each of you of will have 5 minutes, and then we 

will have questions that will be posed by members of the committee 

as they so desire. 

Chairman Peterson. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. COLLIN C. PETERSON, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 

Mr. PETERSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the 

Committee, for inviting us to share our progress report on the 

budget during the past year and the year ahead, and I appreciate 

my good friend the Ranking Member, Mr. Lucas, for joining me 

today in this discussion. 

During the past year the Agriculture Committee addressed a full 

slate of issues, including primarily the financial derivatives reform 

and conducting oversight on the implementation of the farm bill 

that we passed in 2008. In addition, the Committee spent significant time working with other Committees on a number of other 

major issues. 

When we last sat before this Committee to present our proposed 

budget, we outlined the need for a modest increase in the Committee’s budget to accommodate the legislative and oversight agenda 

that we expected to pursue. While we succeeded in addressing 

many areas on our agenda during the past year, a great deal of 

work remains to be done in the year ahead. 

Mr. Chairman, a major priority of the Committee during the last 

year was the completion and enactment of strong regulations to address the lack of transparency and oversight of derivatives markets. After extensive hearings on these markets in late 2008, particularly concerning the markets for unregulated over-the-counter 

swaps contracts and their role in the financial meltdown, our Committee moved swiftly after the 111th Congress convened to pass a 

strong bipartisan bill last February. That bill served as a marker 

as we worked with other Committees and the Administration on 

broad financial regulatory reform. 

Last summer the Committee reviewed the Administration’s derivatives regulation proposals; and in October we passed another 

bill to strengthen our earlier effort; and finally in December, an 

amendment was made to the financial regulatory reform bill on the 

floor containing many of the principles passed by our Committee 

and was included in the final version of legislation that passed the 

House. 

During the past year, the Committee also devoted significant 

time and resources to monitoring the implementation of the 2008 

Farm Bill. We held numerous hearings and associated meetings 

with Administration officials to ensure that Congressional intent is 

followed as provisions are carried out. These are essential programs for our farmers and ranchers in rural communities, environmental conservation, renewable energy production, and those who 

during these difficult economic times must increasingly rely on the 

nutrition programs that are funded by the farm bill. 


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Moving forward, the Committee will continue to work on these 

important and timely issues, and in the months ahead we will 

begin to hold hearings and consider new ideas for the next farm 

bill. 

In March we plan to have hearings here in Washington and then 

over the next year we will hold field hearings around the country 

so that producers and consumers can tell us how the current farm 

bill is working and what they would like to see in the next farm 

bill. This is a resource-intensive process, but as we have learned 

from previous Farm Bills, this homework is an invaluable component of successful legislation because it allows us to understand the 

implications and the impact of existing policies as we gather new 

ideas for those who are on the ground and actively participating in 

these programs. 

Also, I believe that getting an early start helps us to get to a bipartisan end, which is not always easy to do. We, however, work 

very hard in the Agriculture Committee to make sure that we have 

a bipartisan product and we intend to do that again this farm bill. 

Thank you for this opportunity to provide a status report on the 

Agriculture Committee’s budget. We continue to use the resources 

provided to us wisely to carry out the Committee’s important work, 

and I am happy to answer any questions that you or the Committee will have and we will try to continue to work in a bipartisan 

fashion to accomplish our agenda in the 111th Congress. 

Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Peterson follows:] 


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Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Lucas. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. FRANK D. LUCAS, RANKING 

MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE 

Mr. LUCAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to be here 

today to satisfy the requirements of House Resolution 279. 

As you just heard from Chairman Peterson, our committee has 

enjoyed a long history of bipartisanship, and we have continued 

this cooperation throughout the first session of the 111th Congress. 

As we testified last year, the committee continues to oversee the 

implementation of the Farm Bill and monitor the effects of the economic downturn on rural America. I am encouraged by and support 

Chairman Peterson’s interest in starting our traditional series of 

Farm Bill field hearings early in the implementation process. Given 

the challenges of living in rural America, it is often easier to take 

Congress to the countryside than to bring the country to the city, 

this city. 

In addition to bipartisanship, the Ag Committee has a long history of fiscal responsibility. The travel proposed by Chairman Peterson will cost money, but it is my intention to work with Chairman Peterson and the members of the committee to ensure proper 

stewardship of taxpayer moneys. 

Again, I thank the chairman and the ranking member for this 

opportunity to testify today. 

[The statement of Mr. Lucas follows:] 


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Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Lucas. Mr. Harper 

and Mr. Lungren had to go over to Judiciary on a vote, so you get 

me and that is going to be it. 

But I do have a question because staff had actually briefed us 

a little bit in that in your request a year ago, you indicated that 

it was going to take the resources that obviously you were requesting regarding the 2007 Farm Bill. Then on top of it we had the regulatory issue come up and of course that portion of regulatory reform that fell under your jurisdiction. Mr. Lucas has indicated obviously you will still be continuing some of that work. The budget 

at this point, Mr. Chairman, is adequate? You feel everything— 

right now obviously you did not spend all of the funds—— 

Mr. PETERSON. Right. 

Mr. GONZALEZ [continuing]. But I think it is going to be a busy 

second session. 

Mr. PETERSON. Yes, I think the budget is adequate. I believe that for the last two budgets we have come in about $700,000 underneath the budget. I think the cushion that we have there, if it stays 

where it was, then we are going to be fine. It depends on how many 

field hearings we have and those kind of costs. We are making 

some changes on our side on the staff level; beefing up a couple 

areas. I learned going through the financial derivatives process 

that we had one staffer covering commodities, derivatives, and crop 

insurance, and it was too much. Therefore, we are trying to bring 

in people to focus on those individual areas. So there may also be 

a little increase in staff. 

We have to look at the crop insurance system. The Administration is doing a Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA) right now 

with the crop insurance people. We still have to finish the regulatory reform and we just started on the farm bill. But I think the 

resources we have been given are adequate and we—as Mr. Lucas 

said, we are tight fisted. We are not going to spend any money that 

we don’t have to, and we are going to continue on that path like 

we have in the past. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Lucas, anything you want to add? 

Mr. LUCAS. I would just simply note, Mr. Chairman, in this series of Farm Bill field hearings we will be compelled in the coming 

year to go to a variety of places because agriculture in this country 

tends to grow commodities by regional area and it will be necessary 

to go to those regions to conduct those hearings to get that kind 

of input. So while we spent a great deal of time in this last year 

on things like derivatives, meeting here in the Nation’s capital, 

when we do these field hearings we will be going to the countryside 

and there is just a lot of countryside out there. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you both. We appreciate your testimony 

and your report today. 

Mr. PETERSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. The committee will stand in recess until 1 o’clock 

when we will take up Veterans’ Affairs use of funds. And we will 

stand in recess. 

[Recess.] 

The CHAIRMAN [presiding]. Good afternoon. I would like to call 

the Committee on House Administration to order. And I thank you 


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for being here. We appreciate your coming here from the Veterans’ 

Affairs Committee. 

As you know, we had our hearings earlier in the year and we 

agreed and you agreed, thankfully, to coming back to let us know 

just how you are making out after 1 year of funding and hopefully 

maybe let us know any problems if there were any problems or 

things you may need. Maybe we can be helpful; maybe we can’t. 

And if there is anything that you may want to give back to some 

other committee it could be helpful, which we probably think that 

that might not happen. But we appreciate your being here. And I 

would ask Mr. Harper if he has any remarks at all. No opening remarks. 

Thank you, and the floor is yours, Mr. Chairman. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. BOB FILNER, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS 

Mr. FILNER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Harper. We are 

here together, Ranking Member Buyer and myself, in joint support 

of our budget. 

We oversee the second largest Federal agency, employing over 

260,000 people with a budget of over $108 billion. Our first session 

budget was $3.761 million-plus, and we spent 99.46 percent, better 

than Ivory soap, I think. Our December report shows we have 

spent $3.614 million-plus but we have outstanding budget obligations of 126,000-plus, which includes the salaries that will be given 

out January 1st and 2nd; so our ending balance will be $20,000- 

plus. 

As you know, our committee splits the salary allotment by twothirds to one-third and the minority controls its own payroll budget. 

We held this year, Mr. Chairman, 54 hearings, two of which were 

field hearings, five roundtables, five joint hearings with the Senate, 

and 18 markups. And our 2009 allotment allowed us to pay for 

those field hearings and oversight trips. We were also able to begin 

participation in webcasting our hearings and upgrade and replace 

two servers, and our wish list for next year includes a new constituent management mail system. 

I think we have been providing high quality oversight to ensure 

that veterans and their families and survivors have the highest 

quality of care and services. So I think we are using our money 

wisely and the veterans are getting their money’s worth from our 

oversight. And I am prepared to respond to any of your questions. 

[The statement of Mr. Filner follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. Buyer. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. STEVE BUYER, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS AFFAIRS 

Mr. BUYER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Harper. By way of 

opening, my staff informs me that your staff has been very responsive and very good to work with. So I appreciate that. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. BUYER. I support the request as outlined by Chairman Filner, and very briefly, I support it because I believe it does treat the 

minority fairly in all respects. It maintains the two-thirds/one-third 

division of personnel staffing and funding. It is structured similarly 

to past committee budgets and it has also been transparent. The 

majority shares numbers with us monthly, and the oversight travel 

has worked very well, meaning wherever there has been a request 

from the minority to travel anywhere in the country or U.S. Territories, the majority has been responsive and so has the VA to ensure that travel is done. So I am very appreciative of that. 

Chairman Filner has shared all pertinent information with me 

and staff, and I appreciate his openness in how he has also developed his budget. As I said, he has agreed to monthly staff reviews 

of the committee’s budget execution. I want to thank Bernie 

Dotson. The reason the chairman can tell you that they spent 99.46 

percent is because of Bernie, sitting right here, doing a very, very 

good job. Is that right, Colonel? 

Mr. SHORTER. That is right. 

Mr. BUYER. Making sure that the dollar is followed. So when you 

have a budget of the size that the chairman has, he definitely 

doesn’t want to go over. So I know he is equally appreciative that 

those dollars are watched and taken care of. 

So I am satisfied this has been a reasonable request and it will 

provide the adequate resources for Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

to conduct its business on behalf of our Nation’s veterans. I am 

pleased to support it and if you have any questions I will be more 

than happy to answer. 

[The statement of Mr. Buyer follows:] 

The CHAIRMAN. I have one question. What percent? Ninety-nine 

point? 

Mr. FILNER. Four six. 

The CHAIRMAN. Isn’t Ivory soap 99.44 or something? 

Mr. FILNER. Better than Ivory soap. We are clean as clean can 

be. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Harper, do you have any questions? 

Mr. HARPER. I would just like to compliment you on the things 

that you have been doing, certainly in the way that the requests 

for the travel by minority, the way those all have been handled. I 

would just like to say I appreciate the job you all have been doing. 

Mr. BUYER. Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Yes. 

Mr. BUYER. I would like you to know that under the Republican 

House Conference rules we still maintained our rotation of committee Chairs. So at the end of this year, it ends the 6 years of my 

leadership position on Veterans’ Affairs. There is the potential—I 


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am not saying it’s going to happen but we have to be aware as we 

do our budgeting—that I could have up to five members of my staff 

who are eligible for retirement. So what I have done here is when 

I look at my staff, it is a very senior staff. So for military experience there is 85.5 years; VSO experience, there is 12.5; veteranrelated Hill experience there is 81.25. Total Hill experience, 115 

years, and that is out of nine people. So I am—that means I have 

a lot of accrued leave. When you think about that, that is a lot of 

accrued leave; so we have to make sure we get that budgeted and 

taken care of and so if your staff could be very helpful to us—I 

don’t know, is accrued leave going to be totally our—— 

The CHAIRMAN. It is now. After you put in your plug, it may not 

be, but right now it is. We will take that into consideration. 

Mr. BUYER. I am just asking will you work with us? 

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, absolutely. 

Mr. BUYER. We are going to try to maintain the budgets as we 

set out but there is something in front of me that we can’t—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, that somebody can even have their time and 

run their time out and leave you short. I understand. We will absolutely look at that and I will have our staff contact your staff and 

make sure you are not left shorthanded just because of a budgetary 

problem. 

Mr. BUYER. Right. I just wanted to put you on notice. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. FILNER. Thank you. 

Mr. BUYER. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Good afternoon and thank you for coming in here 

this afternoon. As you know, when we were here a year ago questioning your budget, we asked that everybody come back after a 

year and let us know how you are doing. We know we did cut some 

expenditures from you. We want to make sure that you are functioning properly and have everything you need to be able to function, and hopefully we can be helpful. We want to try to be. We 

don’t know if we can or not but we will try. So we appreciate your 

being here. You can start right now if you like. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Lungren. I appreciate the opportunity to testify regarding the Committee on Foreign Affairs’ use of funds during the first session of 

the 111th Congress. In that first session the committee was allocated a total budget of $9,243,406, which represented an increase 

of 4.78 percent over the previous year. Consistent with past committee practice, including when Republicans were in the majority, 

12 percent of the total budget was set aside for administrative expenses for both the majority and minority offices. The remaining 88 

percent was allocated to staff salaries, of which the majority received 66.6 percent and the minority 33.3 percent, carried out to 

the infinite decimal point. 

Over the past year the majority has experienced some gaps in 

staffing as a result of staff leaving to work in the executive branch 

and the private sector, particularly among our senior staff. However, as of today the majority is almost fully staffed. We expect to 


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be 100 percent staffed in the near future and for the remainder of 

the 111th Congress. 

As of January 21, 2010, the committee had a budget surplus of $655,668. That figure does not reflect approximately $32,000 of information technology equipment purchased for the minority and 

majority offices. After these payments are processed our final year 

surplus should be approximately $623,668. 

Mr. Chairman, I believe we have been responsible stewards of 

taxpayer funds and we have treated the minority in a fair and balanced manner on matters relating to the committee budget. It has 

been an honor to work with my ranking member, Ms. RosLehtinen, and I would be happy to answer any questions. 

[The statement of Mr. Berman follows:] 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, RANKING 

MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, Ranking 

Member Lungren, members of the committee. I would like to commend you for scheduling this hearing to assess the status of our 

committee funding resolution. 

The Committee on Foreign Affairs has had a long and rich history of working in a bipartisan manner to advance our Nation’s security agenda and the foreign policy priorities around the globe. 

Generally, this collaborative approach continued during the first 

session of this Congress with a generally equitable majority-minority distribution of the committee’s funds and resources. Chairman 

Berman and I continue to make progress on a number of issues relating to minority rights, ranging from subcommittee minority 

spaces and equipment to consultation with, or reciprocal treatment 

of, the minority on the activities related to the Trans-Atlantic Legislators Dialogue, TLD, and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, 

NATO–PA. 

With respect to TLD and NATO–PA, I would like to raise concerns about the expenses associated with these sessions and hope 

that, in light of the economic challenges facing our Nation, we 

would seek to be more cost effective in planning the logistics, considering the venues, and coordinating the agenda. Recently with 

the TLD session held in New York, I requested that our one GOP 

staff member stay overnight at a more economical hotel rather 

than at the Waldorf Astoria with the rest of the delegation. Regrettably, the majority refused to authorize payment for the less expensive option and I was actually forced to withdraw that staff member and have them provide support and advice to the members attending that conference via e-mail and telephone. It is my hope 

that this will amount to an isolated incident and that requests that 

I make pertaining to such minority matters would be honored. 

In February of last year when we appeared before you, Chairman 

Berman and I presented a budget request aimed at ensuring the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs have adequate resources to exert 

proper oversight. I do not feel that we have done enough in this 

field. Our Nation and our constituents would be better served if we 

dedicated more of our time and resources to addressing the waste, 

fraud, and abuse or mismanagement of U.S. Government programs 


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that the committee authorizes. In particular, I believe that the 

committee should hold oversight hearings on reports issued by the 

GAO, addressing such serious matters as the provisions of nuclear 

assistance to Iran and Syria by the International Atomic Energy 

Agency and how U.S. contributions are facilitating such assistance 

and technology transfers. There are several such requests submitted by the minority that we are waiting feedback on. 

Lastly, we should explore the possibility at the end of each calendar year of returning unused excess committee funds to the 

Treasury. Rather than wait until the end of the Congress and return in bulk to the Treasury we should consider returning these 

surplus funds on a yearly basis. We should highlight the fact that 

we have come in under budget and have planned effectively. We all 

have to do our part to address this rapidly growing public debt and 

annual budget deficit. 

And I have other remarks for the record but that will about do 

it for my oral presentation. 

[The statement of Ms. Ros-Lehtinen follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. I thank the lady. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you, gentlemen. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lungren, any questions? 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman Berman, I hope you don’t feel uncomfortable sitting 

under the watchful gaze of our former colleague, Mr. Thomas there 

with whom—— 

Mr. BERMAN. Well, now I feel a little uncomfortable. 

Mr. LUNGREN [continuing].With whom you worked so closely over 

the years. 

Mr. BERMAN. How many rooms does he have his portrait in? 

Mr. LUNGREN. Not enough probably. You could ask Bill. 

Mr. BERMAN. Could ask him. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Yes. It reminds me when we were hanging the 

portrait of Mr. Sensenbrenner for one of his committees and Mr. 

Armey was there as the master of ceremonies, and after the member of the clergy had given the benediction Dick Armey said, Padre, 

you may think you have a close connection with God but now I 

would like to introduce someone who actually knows how to perform miracles, the artist who made Jim Sensenbrenner look this 

good. And I will say that artist was capable of miracles. 

Chairman Berman, I just heard a little bit from Ms. RosLehtinen about whatever happened in New York. It is my understanding both sides have worked to reconcile that and—— 

Mr. BERMAN. Well, we are going to be—I personally—neither I 

or Ileana were part of that Trans-Atlantic Dialogue. The one thing 

I can assure you is we will not be having any more Trans-Atlantic 

Dialogues in New York at the Waldorf Hotel while I am chairman. 

But—— 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Chairman, if I could, I was not telling 

the chairman that he could not have the conference wherever he 

wishes, but if I choose to have my staffer stay elsewhere, we were 

turned down and that—— 

Mr. LUNGREN. Hopefully it wasn’t a dangerous place you were 

sending your—— 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. It was not, of course, as it was just a few 

blocks down from the Waldorf and did not reflect any cost as the 

reservation at the Waldorf was easily canceled. This would have 

been a savings. The GOP Member who attended the conference was 

upset. I was upset. And there was just no reason for that to happen. 

Mr. BERMAN. I gather that the reason that decision was made, 

and it was unfortunate, was a group of rooms had been booked at 

the hotel; so they were obligated to pay those rooms. And did not 

want to incur the cost of paying for two hotel rooms for one staffer. 

But we are going to be more careful. 

Mr. LUNGREN. We can make sure we work those things out. 

Mr. BERMAN. By and large what I found so far we sometimes— 

when something becomes a problem the sooner the two of us learn 

about it and talk about it, the easier we are to work through it. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I just wanted to make sure the two of you can talk 

those things out in the future. 

Mr. BERMAN. I think we will. That was unfortunate. 


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Mr. LUNGREN. Let me ask this question. Last year I recall at this 

hearing you were talking about some additional obligations you 

had because of activities I think with the Helsinki Commission, if 

I am not mistaken, and there was a question about whether you 

would have enough funds to cover that. We did not grant you as 

we didn’t grant—I don’t think we granted any committee their full 

request. I just want to make sure you were able to handle that. 

You folks must have worked to ensure that you could take care of 

that within your budgets; is that correct? 

Mr. BERMAN. Yes. I am trying to think now whether—we enacted 

the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and then separately 

continued the House Democracy Assistance Commission as well as 

provided some additional assistance because John Tanner was 

made Chairman of the North Atlantic Assembly. Doug Bereuter 

had been the previous American Member of Congress to have 

chaired it and that was done then, and we ended up working it 

through with the budget we were allotted even though it wasn’t everything we asked for. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I just wanted to make sure—— 

Mr. BERMAN. Yes. And both of those commissions, as well as the 

North Atlantic Assembly, are quite active. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Excellent. 

Mr. BERMAN. The Trans-Atlantic Dialogue is a different group 

than those three. That is really the U.S. To the European Parliament. 

Mr. LUNGREN. And I just want the record to reflect again what 

you said in your statement that you folks did not bust your budget. 

You actually had money remaining and helped us out overall there 

with the overall legislative budget. So we thank you for that. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. Harper. 

Mr. HARPER. No questions. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. No questions. Thank you both for coming. 

Mr. BERMAN. Thank you. 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. This hearing of the Committee on House Administration will be adjourned until after the votes, approximately 2 

o’clock, 2:15. Thank you. 

[Recess.] 

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to call the Committee on House Administration back to order and thank the gentlemen for appearing 

in front of us today. 

As you know, when we did our budget for the committees, we 

asked them to come back in a year, and thank you for doing that, 

telling us how you are getting along and just how we could be helpful, how you could be helpful, and how you are managing. Unfortunately, I know we had to cut some funding, but I know Transportation is doing well, it is extremely active, so I know you are getting along. 

I don’t really understand why this is happening, but I hear that 

it is Mr. Mica’s birthday today. I thought you stopped celebrating. 

I know I did a while ago. In any case, happy birthday to you. 


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We will start with Chairman Oberstar. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

Mr. OBERSTAR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Mica and I both 

appreciate the opportunity to be with you, Mr. Brady and you, Mr. 

Lungren, and review where we are and account for our allocation 

of funding. 

I sent a friend a birthday card recently with the connotation, 

‘‘How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?’’ It 

is fun to think about. 

This committee allocated us $10,237,447 in your budget resolu- tion. We have allocated $9,054,321. There are $108,170 in outstanding obligations yet to be paid from our 2010 funds. We take 

great pride in the work of this committee. I keep a report card in 

my pocket, not only of the results of the stimulus programs under 

our committee’s jurisdiction, but also of the hearings, markups, 

bills and resolutions reported to the House, bills and resolutions 

passed by the House, and public laws and resolutions. 

Not only are we the largest committee in the House or the Senate, we are the most active. We act on initiatives of Members of 

both sides of the aisle. Whatever their interests or concerns are, we 

respond to those. 

In the first session of this Congress, we moved 65 bills and resolutions through full committee. Key elements of that number 

passed the House and were transmitted to the Senate. But among 

those are FAA authorization, $50 billion, the Senate hasn’t acted 

on it 2 years in a row; authorization for the Coast Guard, restructuring, changes in the Coast Guard operation, new mandates for 

the Coast Guard Academy, minority outreach and inclusiveness. 

That is long overdue in the Coast Guard. We have that in this legislation. The Senate hasn’t acted on it. That is a $10 billion authorization. 

We have also moved legislation to improve Maritime workforce 

development, cruise vessel safety, water quality investment, assistance to State and local governments to reduce damage caused by 

natural hazards through the Predisaster Mitigation Program of 

FEMA. 

We also moved legislation creating a National Women’s History 

Museum. We moved the bill to reauthorize State revolving loan 

funds, to fund wastewater treatment facilities across the country. 

It hasn’t been authorized in 15 years. We moved it in the last Congress and moved it again in the first session of this Congress. Unfortunately, the Senate hasn’t acted on it. But we have done our 

portion. 

Every 30 days we hold a hearing in the full committee on those 

portions of the stimulus that are under our committee’s jurisdiction, and today we can track 760,000 direct jobs and jobs created 

in the supply chain under highway, transit, fixed guideway, aviation, wastewater treatment, Corps of Engineers, Federal public 

buildings, the Maritime Administration, shipbuilding that uses a 

lot of steel, and Coast Guard retrofit of bridges. We can account for 

24,000 land miles of highway improvement throughout the Nation 

and 1,200 bridges built new or improved or expanded. 


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That has required a great deal of staff effort, 13 hearings that 

we have held so far on the program and another one to come next 

week. So I think we have well and effectively used, invested our 

fund. Most of the budget, nine-tenths of it, goes to staff. One-third 

of our allocation goes to the Republican side for their staff salary 

requirements. 

We expect that in 2011, our expenses will be comparable to or 

just slightly more than 2010. There are staff vacancies we still 

need to fill on our Aviation Subcommittee, and our Public Buildings and Grounds and the Economic Development Subcommittee. 

So we will proceed with those and make every effort to keep ourselves in line with the budget allocated by the committee. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Oberstar follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Birthday boy. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOHN MICA, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

Mr. MICA. Thank you. I have been trying to avoid that, both in 

our T&I Committee this morning and throughout the halls of Congress, but I guess the word spread. I probably look a lot older 

today. 

I will just say that the Chairman has expressed the workload of 

the committee. It is the biggest committee in Congress and probably has been one of the most productive and bipartisan in its activity. 

On our side of the aisle, we have tried to be good stewards of taxpayers’ dollars, return as much as we can. We expected probably 

even more activity on a major highway and transportation bill, and 

we may see some of that and we may have to ramp up a bit. But, 

again, strange things happen on the way down the track, so-tospeak, or down the highway, and we got sidetracked a bit on that. 

On our side, we have held the positions at a minimum, although 

we do need to fill a couple. We haven’t got the big PR team they 

had, the Republicans had in the last Congress, nor have we 

lawyered up as much as they did. I think we are doing fine without 

that, and hopefully we will have some funds that the Congress can 

utilize, particularly in this time of huge Federal deficits. 

Thank you for your cooperation in supporting our work. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Mica follows:] 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

First of all, I thank both of you for appearing, and once again I 

happen to think these are good meetings, if for no other reason 

than to reflect on the fact that many committees are able to not 

only stay within their budget but actually return some money to 

our legislative function, and therefore to the Treasury, and in that 

way show that we don’t follow the practice of spending every penny 

we have every year to make sure we don’t get cut the next budget. 

So I appreciate what your committee has done. 

It is my understanding that the allocation between the two committees is appropriate and has been followed, as was suggested last 

year. I was going through my notes and I recall the hearing last 

year, the Ranking Member was talking about some increased independence on travel issues. Has that been resolved? Do I recollect 

that correctly? 

Mr. MICA. Let me say we have had some concerns about that, 

but if the table should turn in the election and I take the Chair 

position, I will have a separate allocation for the Minority for some 

independent travel. We don’t have that right now. 

Mr. LUNGREN. But you folks appear to be getting along. 

Mr. MICA. Fine. 

Mr. OBERSTAR. I don’t know of any problem about travel funds. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Mr. Mica is smiling more this year than last year 

in his appearance before us. That is a positive. 

Mr. MICA. That is one reason we have less money, because I 

don’t use any—or very little of the funds. 


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Mr. LUNGREN. Let me ask this about updating IT operations 

within your committee. Is that ongoing, and do you believe that 

your committee is getting the support it needs in the area of cybersecurity? That is, we have a unit here in the House that is trying 

to protect against cyberattacks from our individual offices and committees and so forth. One of the complaints we are having right 

now is the new limitation we have on BlackBerrys that arises out 

of our concern about cyberattacks. 

I just wonder if you have any thoughts on whether or not we are 

giving you sufficient support in that arena? 

Mr. OBERSTAR. Keven Sard is our committee cyber-guru, our 

technical expert, and he assures me that whatever support he has 

requested has been forthcoming from HIR, House Information Resources, and assures me that all security that is necessary for our 

computer system has been put in place. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank both of you. I appreciate it. 

We are going to jump ahead of Global Warming and go to Science 

and Technology. We will take them ahead of Global Warming. 

Thank you for appearing in front of us today. As we said to everyone else, we had hearings a year ago, with funding requested. 

We want to just double-check back and make sure everything is 

going okay and you have everything you need to be able to have 

a good, productive committee. So we appreciate hearing from you. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. BART GORDON, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 

Mr. GORDON. Thank you, Chairman Brady and Ranking Member 

Lungren. We always look forward to this annual visit and we are 

glad to be back again. I will try to follow the Chairman’s 2-minute 

rule here and just first say we certainly appreciate the allocation 

you gave us last year. We have tried to use it judiciously. 

Last year we had a budget of slightly less than $7 million. We 

are projecting an overall surplus of $274,000. As most committees, 

most of our money goes to personnel, 93 percent. We have a little 

different situation in that we really need to have staff, most of 

them need to have a deep science kind of background. They are 

hard to find, they are expensive, the administration continues to 

poach them, or the private sector. So we are trying to grow some 

internally, but we appreciate your help with that. 

In terms of the other categories—travel, supplies and equipment—we are estimating a surplus of $32,000 in travel, $34,000 in 

equipment. We are over our budget in supplies, but we are told 

that some of the items that we had considered as equipment actually fall under the category of supplies, so we hope that is going 

to level out. 

We are going to continue our effort in terms of equipment to update in 2010 to replace our desktop computers. Every year that I 

have come here, I have told you that we hope—there is something 

called a Lectriever, a filing system that is well over 20 years old. 

I have told you each time we are going to try to replace that. I will 

tell you that again. And hopefully we will get that done this year. 


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Mr. Hall and I and our staffs work well together, and I think you 

can anticipate that continuing this coming year. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Gordon follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Hall. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. RALPH M. HALL, RANKING 

MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 

Mr. HALL. Mr. Chairman, members, I thank you. The Chairman 

has pretty well laid it out. I know the purpose of this meeting is 

to report on the budget and to ensure that we have received at 

least our allocation of one-third, and we have: one-third of the salary, one-third of the travel. Everything has been done. 

Bart is one of the most fair men I have ever known in my life 

and worked with. Sometimes he likes to know how many. We have 

15 GOP staffers and 5 GOP designees and 1 on maternity leave, 

for a total of 21 staffers. We have an excellent staff of individuals 

from a lot of backgrounds. 

The Chairman always likes to recount the advanced degrees of 

the staffers. So far on the record, on the GOP staff we have three 

law degrees. I apologize for that. 

Mr. GORDON. That doesn’t count. 

Mr. HALL. One has a doctorate and five have masters degrees. 

I graduated in a class of 38 and I graduated 38th, and I didn’t 

know until 5 o’clock that afternoon that I was really going to graduate. I had to go across the street and borrow a coat to graduate 

in. 

One time I made four F’s and a D and my dad punished me for 

spending too much time on one subject. So I don’t have a masters 

or a doctorate degree. I have a law degree from SMU. 

The salary allocation is exactly two-thirds Majority and one-third 

Minority. They made sure to set aside a third of the travel budget, 

and if we fudged on that a little bit, we worked it out some way. 

Finally, in terms of equipment and supplies, the Majority has always responded to our requests and we have up-to-date technology 

and equipment. You inquired about that. 

Chairman Gordon probably would like to discuss his plans on upcoming legislative agenda. I know he is going to mention his desire 

to reauthorize the America Competes bill, as well as NASA. I applaud the Chairman for setting very ambitious goals. He worked on 

technology, engineering, math, STEM education. He is almost the 

father of that. 

While overall supportive, our primary goal was to continue to ensure that the taxpayers’ dollars are spent wisely and efficiently. 

And along with my Republican colleagues, we are going to continue 

to assess legislation that creates new government programs and 

offer amendments to ensure that Federal programs are effective 

and run in a transparent and efficient manner. 

One thing I would like to say, whether it is on the record or off 

the record, the Chairman and I have had a very good working relationship. We have probably passed more beneficial legislation in 

numbers than any other committee, and it is because he is bipartisan. He has worked with us. I will miss working with him as he 

leaves the Hill for what I am sure is going to be fulfilling, next 

State over in Tennessee. 

I always said if it hadn’t been for Tennessee, there wouldn’t be 

a Texas. I think Bart told me one time there wouldn’t have been 


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a Texas anyway if there had been a back door in the Alamo. I don’t 

agree with that. That was a heroic stand down there. 

But he is a fine legislative authority, a fine family man, really 

a fine athlete, and he is a super friend. I yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Hall follows:] 

The CHAIRMAN. Any questions, Mr. Lungren? 

Mr. LUNGREN. No. I am just happy to be here at the Bart Gordon 

retirement. I have heard shorter eulogies. 

I want to thank both of you. All we are attempting to do is to 

make sure your budgets are in accord with what you had thought 

they were when you came to us a year ago and that we have the 

one-third/two-thirds, and that we are doing what we need to do in 

the area of equipment for our committees, to make sure we can do 

the job that is necessary. 

Again, I appreciate the fact that you are able to report that you 

didn’t spend all your money. 

Mr. HALL. I didn’t know that. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I know that. I was going to wait until you got out 

of the room. But this is kind of interesting, because there is always 

the criticism of government that, when it comes to the end of the 

year, they spend as much as they can to make sure they protect 

the budget for this year. But you have come forward, as a number 

of committees have come forward, and talked about how they didn’t 

need to spend everything they had this last year, but yet they were 

able to do the job. So we appreciate that. I thank both of you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, do you want me to come up here? 

The CHAIRMAN. We are trying to find out if Mr. Sensenbrenner 

is showing up. We were told he is on his way, so we will wait. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Maybe Mr. Markey could tell us why the Celtics 

are superior to the 76ers? 

Mr. MARKEY. Because the 76ers don’t have Julius Erving, Wilt 

Chamberlain—— 

The CHAIRMAN. Could somebody shut their mics off? 

Mr. LUNGREN. Or we could compare the Philadelphia Eagles to— 

no, I don’t want to get in trouble there. 

Mr. MARKEY. They actually had a superior team this year. 

I could begin, if you want, and complete my testimony, because 

Mr. Sensenbrenner and I are in agreement on the recommendations we are going to make. 

The CHAIRMAN. Certainly. Go ahead. You can begin. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. ED MARKEY, CHAIRMAN, SELECT 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND GLOBAL 

WARMING 

Mr. MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much, and thank 

you, Ranking Member Lungren. 

Last year, you asked me to appear in front of your committee to 

report on the finances of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. I am happy to return to you today 

to report on our progress. 

The select committee had a 2009 committee authorization of 

$2,096,900. As of January 22nd, 2010, the committee had spent apVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:13 Mar 24, 2010 Jkt 055482 PO 00000 Frm 00104 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\A482.XXX A482

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proximately $1,967,000. The committee has approximately 

$129,000 remaining at this time. Of this, a significant percentage 

has been spent in preparation for 2010 and is working through the 

finance system. 

The select committee has always operated on a strict two-thirds 

Majority, one-third Minority split on funds as well as personnel 

slots. Fourteen slots are allocated to the Majority, seven to the Minority. I think Mr. Sensenbrenner will agree with me that we have 

worked amicably with the Minority on matters of committee administration. 

The select committee’s mission is to investigate, study, make 

findings and develop recommendations on policies, strategies, technologies and other innovations intended to reduce the dependence 

of the United States on foreign sources of energy, and achieve substantial permanent reductions in emissions and other activities 

that contribute to climate change and global warming. 

To that end, the select committee held 14 hearings in 2009. 

While the select committee does not have legislative authority, we 

used these hearings to educate the Members and the House on important issues on energy independence and global warming. 

We held hearings on topics ranging from international climate 

negotiations to smart grid technology; climate science to intellectual property; green jobs to agriculture and forestry. In addition, 

the staff took this information and developed concrete policy recommendations across a range of issue areas. These hearings and 

policy recommendations proved very important to the House as it 

worked its way through the American Clean Energy and Security 

Act. 

Select committee members also serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Ways and Means, the Committee on Natural Resources, the Agriculture Committee, and the Committee on Financial Services. As these committees considered the portions of the 

ACES legislation, they were able to utilize the findings of our hearings. 

In addition to this work, the select committee used its power to 

conduct a 2-month investigation on more than a dozen fraudulent 

letters sent to several Members of Congress as part of a campaign 

run by the firm Bonner & Associates and contracted by the American Coalition For Clean Coal Electricity. This campaign was designed to influence Members of Congress, but ultimately the investigation concluded with a hearing featuring some of the central figures in the controversy, including victims of the fraud. The fraudulent letters were staged to appear as if they were sent by groups 

representing senior citizens, minorities and veterans. 

Lastly, the select committee shared its views with the administration on a range of topics, including urging Secretary Chu to conduct an audit of Energy Star, urging the Obama administration to 

protect the Arctic from drilling threats, and calling for clean energy 

reform. 

The select committee is working hard to continue our work on 

the climate and energy debates. We look forward to bringing witnesses to Washington from all over the country that can share with 

our members the threats posed by global warming and the potential for our green energy future. 


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I thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, and I yield 

back the balance of my time. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Markey follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Sensenbrenner. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JAMES F. SENSENBRENNER, RANKING MEMBER, SELECT COMMITTEE ON ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND GLOBAL WARMING 

Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Chairman, I will be very brief. I disagree with practically everything that the Chairman and the Majority have done, but I do support the budget request that has been 

submitted by the select committee. It does provide the Minority 

adequate funds to vigorously dispute and tear apart everything 

that the Chairman wants to do, and that is all I can ask. 

I yield back the balance of my time. 

The CHAIRMAN. I know the feeling, sir. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Sensenbrenner follows:] 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lungren, any questions? 

Mr. LUNGREN. Well, I am glad the two of you work so well together. 

As I recall at the hearing we had last year, the anticipation was 

that the select committee would be phased out at the end of this 

Congress. Is that what we are still talking about? 

Mr. MARKEY. There has been no change in that from the Speaker. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I happen to think it is important for us to carry 

out our work that we have to. Various committees do fact-finding 

and so forth, and I know there was some controversy about Members attending the Copenhagen Summit. But I take it the two of 

you attended as members of this select committee; is that correct? 

Mr. MARKEY. That is correct. 

Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Yes, we did. 

Mr. LUNGREN. And would the costs then have been incurred by 

the committee budget? 

Mr. MARKEY. The costs were incurred by the State Department. 

Mr. SENSENBRENNER. This was the Speaker’s delegation. It was 

not a committee codel. 

Mr. LUNGREN. So there is no need for additional funds to cover 

that in the budget request that you made; is that correct? 

Mr. MARKEY. No, not at all. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I think that is all I have. They get along so well, 

Mr. Chairman, there is nothing more we have to ask. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. I thank both of you for coming. We 

appreciate it. 

Thank you for coming here today. As you know, we asked when 

we had our funding hearings a year ago that people come back to 

find out just how your committee is faring with the cuts we had 

to make, and we are looking forward to whatever report you would 

like to report to us. 

Mr. Chairman, you are on. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. THOMPSON. Thank you very much, Chairman Brady and 

Ranking Member Lungren. Mr. Lungren and I have been together 

already today, and I look forward to his input here. 


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I would like to thank you and all of the members of the committee to allow me and Ranking Member King—and in his absence, 

Mr. Olson will present the Minority position on Homeland Security. 

Thank you for the 2009 funding authorization approved by this 

committee. The Committee on Homeland Security has been able to 

both be vigilant and thorough in our approach. This committee has 

conducted 51 hearings, considered 14 measures, and conducted 42 

offsite Member-staff visits, field hearings, conferences, meetings 

and briefings all regarding measures to secure the homeland. 

In 2009, the committee spent 92 percent of its allocated funds. 

Of that, 87 percent was on staff salaries alone. The committee had 

remaining approximately $680,000. We are here to request that the 

funds authorized for 2010 come to the amount of $9,058,134. These 

funds are necessary to pay salaries for the total of 75 staff, both 

Majority and Minority combined, and operating expenses for the 

full committee and its six subcommittees. 

The 2010 allocation is approximately 3.9 percent over the 2009 

allocation. Most of the increase will be used for merit pay and 

COLAs for staff, which I believe Representative King would agree 

they are the best and brightest on the Hill. In addition to providing 

for our staff, the allocation assures that they have access to reliable 

and cutting-edge equipment and technology, as well as updated security software. 

Last year, the committee met with airport and transit authorities, first responders and border security officials. We conducted 

many site visits and attended relevant conferences. We anticipate 

that slightly more travel will occur this year, especially after the 

attempted bombing on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to 

Detroit, Michigan on this past Christmas Day. 

It is this committee’s intent, and we have already done so, to 

travel throughout the country ensuring the security of all our airports, train stations, borders and ports. As we all know, the nature 

of homeland security, after all, is a local matter affecting all of our 

communities in different ways. A one-size-fits-all approach to security simply will not do, and constant interaction and cooperation 

with each State and local community are essential to forming the 

best policy. 

I know these are challenging times, and I appreciate the support 

this committee has shown us in the past, and I look forward to 

your support in the future. 

Thank you for your time, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Thompson follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. King. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. PETER KING, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY 

Mr. KING. Thank you, Chairman Brady, Ranking Member Lungren and members of the committee, for the opportunity to testify 

on behalf of Ranking Member King in support of funding for the 

Committee on Homeland Security in 2010. 

As the Chairman stated, the committee on Homeland Security 

finished the first session of the 111th Congress with allotted funds 

remaining. We join him today in supporting the funding level of 

$9,058,134 for the second session, as previously approved by the 

Committee on House Administration. 

The Committee on Homeland Security serves an important role 

in providing oversight for the Department of Homeland Security. In 

2009 we saw an increase in terrorist plots against the homeland. 

In May, four men were arrested for attempting to bomb a synagogue in New York City and shoot down planes at a military base 

in Newberg, New York. In September, Najibullah Zazi had direct 

ties to senior al Queda leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He 

was charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. 

And Husein Smadi was arrested for attempting to bomb a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas. 

In November, U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan murdered 13 military personnel during a terrorist attack at Fort Hood, Texas. It was 

later revealed that Major Hasan had e-mail exchanges with 

Yemen-based radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki. 

Most recently, on Christmas Day, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab 

attempted to detonate a bomb on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 flying into Detroit, which would have killed nearly 300 people. This 

morning, the Committee on Homeland Security held a hearing on 

this nearly successful terrorist attack, the most serious in our country since September 11, 2001, and steps that are being taken to ensure that a similar attack does not happen again. 

In the upcoming year, we are hopeful that our committee will 

also address important issues within its jurisdiction, including the 

terrorist shooting at Fort Hood, the administration’s decision to 

close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, the security implications of civilian trials of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorists in New York City, and the urgent 

need to strengthen our border security. 

It is also imperative that the Committee on Homeland Security 

pass an authorization bill for the Department of Homeland Security to ensure the Department has the policy, guidance and resources it needs to fulfill its mission. The House should pass the 

authorization bill prior to House action on the Homeland Security 

appropriations bill for fiscal year 2011. 

It is critical that the Speaker of the House take steps in 2010 to 

consolidate congressional oversight of the Department of Homeland 

Security. As you know, this was one of the key recommendations 

of the 9/11 Commission, yet it remains one of the only recommendations by the commission that has not been fully implemented. 


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Over 80 committees and subcommittees currently exercise oversight for the Department of Homeland Security. This untenable situation results in contradictory guidance provided to the Department on key policies and programs, imposition of burdensome 

workloads that divert limited resources, unnecessary detractions 

for senior Department officials, and jurisdictional battles among 

House committees that impede passage of key Homeland Security 

legislation. 

Given the important role that the Committee on Homeland Security plays in overseeing the Department tasked with protecting our 

country from a terrorist attack and being better prepared for natural disasters, we request that the Committee on House Administration continue to support the previously authorized funding level 

for the second session of the 111th Congress. 

I would like to highlight two key areas where we believe additional budgetary focus should be given in the coming year. The Minority members and staff need better and more reliable access to 

the SCIF, our secure office space. In 2008, Chairman Thompson 

committed to working with us to provide this access. But there are 

outstanding issues. 

For example, on the days immediately following the Christmas 

bombing attempt on Flight 253, our staff was unable to access the 

committee’s SCIF space and had to rely on the House Sergeant of 

Arms’ SCIF in order to conduct oversight and communicate with 

the Intelligence Community. I hope that the 2010 budget will allow 

for greater Minority access. 

The second issue I hope will be addressed this year with the approved budget is the scheduling of Minority-requested field hearings. We have had difficulty scheduling these field hearings, despite multiple field hearings held in districts of Democrat committee members, and we are concerned with the denial of requests 

and continued delays in scheduling others. We hope this imbalance 

will be addressed in the second session in the same bipartisan tradition the committee has operated under in the past. 

In closing, we support the additional funding for the committee 

in 2010 and look forward to working with you and Chairman 

Thompson to accomplish these goals. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I welcome any 

questions you may have. 

The Chairman. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. King follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. LUNGREN. Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman THOMPSON, since we had the committee before our 

committee a year ago, we now have the CVC and we have a SCIF 

over there and so forth. Are we still having a problem with dealing 

with them over there about space for us? 

Mr. THOMPSON. Well, we did. We have kind of resolved that part. 

As you know, I had from the Majority side of the budget that space 

that we have in the SCIF, and actually my budget ended up providing the equipment and other items for the SCIF. To my knowledge, all of the other issues associated with the SCIF have been resolved. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Okay. I just understood there was some problem 

about us having sufficient workspace for both the Majority and Minority over there. 

Mr. THOMPSON. I will ask staff. But at this point I know we have 

Majority staff there. 

Mr. Olson. If I could interject, I think our big problem is having 

24–7 access to a SCIF. As we know, the most recent terrorist attack in our country happened on Christmas Day, and not a lot of 

people were here. It is important that we have access to a facility 

like that. 

Mr. LUNGREN. If there is anything this committee can do, if there 

is a problem in terms of—I heard there was a computer room that 

could be used for a Minority secure room and so forth. If we need 

some authority from this committee on help from this committee, 

we will be happy to help with it, if that is a problem. 

Mr. THOMPSON. I appreciate it, Mr. Lungren. We have now employed a full-time security person for the SCIF whose primary responsibility is the custody of the records as well as scheduling for 

the SCIF. The only thing I ask is that if the request is made, that 

it should come through the Chairman, like it has always, and we 

will be more than happy to accommodate the request. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I just want to make sure there is no budget problem with that. 

Mr. THOMPSON. No budget problem. 

Mr. LUNGREN. One thing near and dear to my heart about field 

hearings, I don’t want to make it personal, but I asked for a field 

hearing that we have had kind of a delay in getting any response 

on. I just wondered if we are going to be able to work some of these 

things out in terms of some field hearings that the Minority have 

requested. 

Mr. THOMPSON. I think you will be very satisfied in the future. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I thank the Chairman very much, and I thank 

both of you for appearing, and I am privileged to serve on that committee. I think we do good work. I think by and large, there is a 

bipartisan approach. I think there are some huge issues out there. 

I would echo Pete’s comments that I would wish that the rest of 

the Congress would understand the consolidation that might be appropriate of authority. I know, Mr. Chairman, that might put you 

in a difficult situation, to say anything on that. But I will just remark for the record that the 9/11 Commission did indicate as recently as this week that that is one shortcoming of the Congress, 

and they have not directed any criticism at the Homeland Security 


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Committee, but rather suggested there ought to be more consolidation of authority. I think they speak the truth. 

Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. Lungren, I agree 100 percent with you. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I am not trying to get you in trouble on that. 

Mr. THOMPSON. I got myself in trouble, because I raised it and 

tried to get that issue attended to, and I will continue to do likewise. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Lungren. 

Also I want to thank the committee because, Mr. Chairman, we 

had a problem at the Philadelphia airport. You were prompt, extremely quick in helping us resolve the problem. We had a problem 

with security dogs, and you got right to the problem and told us 

what we needed to be doing to try to make sure our airport was 

secure and safe. It happened within 24 hours, and I do appreciate 

that. Thank you. 

Mr. THOMPSON. Thank you very much. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you for being here. 

Good afternoon. Thank you for appearing in front of us today. As 

you know, we did our budgetary allowances on our committees last 

year. We asked if they would come back and let us know how you 

are getting along, how you are getting along with our cuts and 

making sure everything is getting along well. We appreciate both 

of you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member, for being here 

today. 

Mr. Miller. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. GEORGE MILLER, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR 

Mr. MILLER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Lungren. 

The CHAIRMAN. Push that button, please. Push that button. 

Mr. MILLER. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the 

committee at this midterm review here. I would like to thank Mr. 

Kline, the senior Republican, for his support of our committee 

budget, both when we presented it first and again this time. 

The committee has been especially active during the first session 

of Congress. The committee’s Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was the 

first bill signed by President Obama. 

The committee also played a major role in crafting the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In the spring, President Obama 

signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, the first reauthorization of the National Corporation for Community Service, 

and the committee achieved House passage of the Student Aid and 

Fiscal Responsibility Act, providing $87 billion in savings and increased student aid and deficit reduction. 

Lastly, the committee has been working, along with our colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and 

Commerce Committee, to accomplish President Obama’s health 

care reform agenda. 

To finance these efforts, the committee has received $8,617,000 

for its operational expenses for the first session of the 111th Congress. The amount allocated between the Majority and Minority 

has been, as designated by the House Administration Committee, 

the customary two-thirds and one-third split between the Majority 


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and the Minority. These divisions have allowed the Minority to 

adequately staff and prepare the Republican members of the committee for the actions of the committee, and they are, I believe, in 

compliance with the directive of this committee. 

For the first session of this Congress, we presently estimate the committee has spent about $8,073,000, and would likely produce a 

balance of $544,000. The majority of that balance is largely due to 

the fact that several senior staffers of the committee have accepted 

employment with the Obama administration. 

Two of our staffers were confirmed by the Senate for assistant 

secretary positions. One was appointed the acting assistant secretary, and yet another accepted a chief of staff position for a senior official at the Department of Education. These senior staffs had 

salaries on the higher spectrum of the salary scale compared to 

other staff. This left us with a higher balance for 2009 than initially projected. 

As the committee continues its busy workload, we are scheduled to receive $8,953,000 for the second session. I believe that amount 

is appropriate, given the anticipated legislative activity for the 

committee in 2010. 

We are in the process of hiring additional staff and will utilize 

nearly all of our 52 Majority staff slots to complete what will continue to be a packed legislative calendar. The committee will be 

working on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, with the 

Ways and Means Committee jointly on pensions, and we have met 

on a bipartisan basis with the Secretary of Education to discuss the 

reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. 

So this year will also be busy in this session of the Congress. 

Thank you. I will be happy to answer any questions. 

The Chairman. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Miller follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Kline. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOHN KLINE, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR 

Mr. KLINE. Chairman Brady, Ranking Member Lungren, thanks 

for the opportunity to testify today as part of your review of the 

Education and Labor Committee funding for the first session of the 

111th Congress. As you know, in June of last year I became the 

Ranking Member on the committee, and I am grateful to serve in 

that capacity and to work with my colleagues on that committee, 

including our Chairman, Mr. Miller. 

Chairman Miller has continued to provide the Minority staff with 

autonomy over our allotted share of the committee funding, and I 

am grateful for that. As the standard procedure, we are allotted 

one-third of the committee’s annual funding. In 2009, the Minority 

received $2,734,363. According to our records, we spent 

$2,519,503.73, with additional 2009 obligations totaling $117,666. 

These expenditures will leave us with a year-end balance of 

$97,193.18. Our balance reflects the work of the committee 

throughout the first session of this Congress. 

One concern I would like to raise before the committee today is 

in regards to the Minority’s ability to properly track our funding 

outlays and obligations in real time. Currently the Majority has 

sole access to the financial report software that provides up-to-theminute information about the committee’s funding balance. 

To expand our ability to track the most current data, we would 

like to work with Chairman Miller and his staff to gain access to 

this type of real-time financial data software. We would be requesting access solely to the Minority’s account information in order to 

monitor our expenses and obligations in real time. This data would 

be an important asset to the Minority staff. 

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to testify today. I appreciate your time. I would be happy to answer any questions you 

might have. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Kline follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I guess the only thing I would ask, is there any 

problem with having the Minority have this ability to track their 

funding? Is that a problem at all? 

Mr. MILLER. I would say at this point that I have only heard 

about this for the first time. I think yesterday the staff mentioned 

there might be a discussion of this. I don’t know. I haven’t had any 

conversations with Mr. Kline. I don’t know if the staffs have or not. 

As I understand it, under the current procedures I think on all 

committees, they submit their expenses and we pay those, and that 

is how it is done. I don’t know what information—— 

Mr. LUNGREN. Then the committee reports to us once a month 

and we actually make that information available on our Web site. 

Mr. MILLER. I don’t know what information would be available 

that is not available today. But we haven’t had that discussion, so 

that is ignorance on my part as to what that might be. 

Mr. KLINE. We would like to just be able to track it in real time 

with payables and receivables and be able to monitor the progress. 

Currently, if we wait until reports come out at the end of the 

month which we get to look at, that is very useful. Those are reports that are shared and you get to see. The Majority, of course, 

gets to track this in real time, and they track Majority and Minority expenditures, as I understand it, in real time. We are not looking for access to the Majority, but we would like to be able to have 

software to help the staff manage our spending. 

Mr. LUNGREN. So your purpose is to only make sure that you are 

watching your money during the month, rather than just finding 

out at the end of the month? 

Mr. KLINE. Exactly. And having software to help us do that. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Okay, I understand. 

Mr. MILLER. I will have to sort it out. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I was trying to figure out what it was, and it 

sounds like Mr. Kline is just saying he would like to have an ability to see what we spend within the month rather than just wait 

to the end of the month, if we could help with tracking. It seems 

to me that is something the two of you can work out. 

Mr. MILLER. We will figure it out. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I appreciate the fact that Mr. Kline was very nice 

not to make any comments about his position on the legislation you 

cited in your statement. 

Mr. MILLER. His strong, strong support. 

Mr. KLINE. George. 

Mr. MILLER. For the alternatives. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you for your presentations. I think this is 

part of our transparency, just to make sure the public sees we are 

holding ourselves accountable and that we are watching where the 

dollars are spent. I appreciate it very much. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Thank you for appearing. 

Thank you for appearing here today. As you know, we asked everybody to come back after 1 year and let us know how you were 

doing with the cuts that were made. You didn’t need any. You 

didn’t ask for any extras. But just to find out how the committee 

is doing and how you figure to do for the next year. 


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Mr. Ryan will not be here, he just couldn’t get here today, so you 

have the whole budget in your hands, sir. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOHN SPRATT, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET 

Mr. SPRATT. Okay. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Lungren, thank you both 

for the chance to testify before this committee regarding the Budget Committee’s funding level for the next fiscal year. 

When Congressman Ryan and I appeared before this committee 

1 year ago, we asked for a funding level for 2009 and for 2010 that 

was frozen at the same level that we had received for 2008. The 

committee funding resolution provided us with the requested budgetary freeze. 

On both sides of the aisle, we at the Budget Committee have 

prided ourselves on spending carefully the funds that we have been 

provided with. As a result, I am pleased that the Budget Committee can report that we have not spent all of the funds that the 

funding resolution allowed for the first session of the 111th Congress. 

A portion of these unused resources reflect some funds that were 

built into our base budget as part of the funding process for the 

110th Congress. At the beginning of the 110th Congress, we also 

requested a freeze for 2007 and 2008 to keep funding at the same 

level that the Budget Committee had received not just for 2006, 

but for 2004 and 2005 as well. As things turned out, the funding 

resolution for the 110th Congress did not freeze the Budget Committee’s level, but provided us with an increase of about 4 percent. 

Those funds have been carried forward into our budget for the 

111th Congress. 

The largest area where our spending needs have been lower than 

anticipated for the first session of the 111th Congress is in the area 

of personnel, especially on the Majority side. We have experienced 

some staff turnover, either as the direct or indirect result of jobs 

opening up in the administration. 

In some cases we have been stretching ourselves thin with staff 

resources doing more or less and in some cases doing more with 

less, and in some cases we may undertake additional hiring in the 

second session of the 111th Congress. 

We hoped, for example, to hire a policy director in the first session of the 111th Congress, but we have not yet found the person 

we want to fill that particular position. 

On equipment costs, for example, we have also tried to be frugal. 

Instead of purchasing a new $25,000 copier to replace the old one, 

we chose to repair the old one at a much lower cost. I didn’t know 

that until I read that myself. My experience with the old copy machines is that they will drive you up the wall. But in any event, 

we have withheld that money and tried to repair the old one at a 

much lower cost. 

The problem is because some of our computer equipment, notably 

monitors, is old and out of warranty, it will be cheaper this year 

for us to replace rather than repair the ones that break. 

Regardless of which party has been in the majority, the Budget 

Committee has always fostered a collegial bipartisan relationship 

on the issue of the committee’s budget. For all—not the House 


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budget but the committee’s budget. For all equipment and other 

nonpersonal expenses we handle funding for the majority and minority out of a common fund, and both the majority and minority 

receive upgrades on an equal basis in terms of timing and quality. 

For personnel costs the majority and minority have long maintained an arrangement wherein the minority fully controls onethird of the total budget for personnel and one-third of the available staff slots allocated to us. I believe that Mr. Ryan’s testimony 

will affirm that our colleagues in the minority found this to be a 

workable, equitable, and fair arrangement. 

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Lungren, that is the scope of my testimony. 

I will be glad to answer any questions you may have. 

[The statement of Mr. Spratt follows:] 


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Mr. SPRATT. I have a copy of Mr. Ryan’s testimony which I will 

submit for the record and I would be happy if Mr. Smythe would 

read it into the record at this point in time. It is not very long. 

Mr. SMYTHE, do you want—— 

The CHAIRMAN. We could have the statement put in the record. 

Mr. LUNGREN. We will just accept it. 

The CHAIRMAN. We will accept the statement for the record. 

Mr. SPRATT. Okay. 

[The statement of Mr. Ryan follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And I want 

to tell my friend from South Carolina that I enjoyed my service on 

the Budget Committee and it was not my decision to get off. I enjoyed working with you, Mr. Chairman, and the staff is an excellent staff both majority and minority. 

I believe your committee has the distinction of being the one that 

requested the smallest increase; that is, I think you asked for no 

increase this last time, which, as I say, the smallest increase of any 

request of any committee in the House. And you have actually not 

expended all of those funds and, having been a member of that 

committee and still a recipient of the material that comes out of 

that committee, I know that your committee is doing a great job 

in terms of presenting those issues. We can disagree on where the 

majority comes out versus where the minority comes out, but the 

quality of the work product is exceptionally good, and that is something that we ought to remind folks back home. Your committee is 

doing excellent work. 

You asked for no increase in budget and you even exceeded yourself by coming in below that budget but yet have performed your 

job and I thank you for that, and I thank Mr. Ryan for that in 

absentia. And I have no questions. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you and again, Mr. Chairman, thank you 

for your time. 

Mr. SPRATT. Thank you very much indeed. 

The CHAIRMAN. For now this hearing will stand adjourned until 

4:00 p.m. 

[Whereupon, at 3:25 p.m., the committee was recessed, to reconvene at 4:00 p.m. This same day.] 

Mr. GONZALEZ [presiding]. Good afternoon. We are going to reconvene, and at this time we are going to entertain testimony by 

the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Armed 

Services. Each member will obviously have 5 minutes in which to 

make their statement and then we will have questions that any of 

the members of the committee wish to pose. 

At this time we would recognize the chairman, Mr. Skelton. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. IKE SKELTON, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES 

Mr. SKELTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate your allowing us to testify and it is good to be here with my friend and 

my new partner, Buck McKeon, ranking member. 

You have the committee’s budget data and supporting materials 

before you; so let me make a few brief remarks. 

Before I discuss our summary, let me say that we certainly appreciate the renovation that your committee gave us in our committee room. It looks great and we especially appreciate the renovation to allow wheelchair access as well as the updated audio 

system. We just had our very first closed briefing there and used 

it and it is just excellent. So thank you again for that. 

Our committee has been very, very active last year and beginning this year. We intend to use our renovated hearing room quite 

often. Last year we conducted 122 hearings and 55 briefings. At 

that rate of 177 hearings conducted, I think we will continue to do 


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that. We had seven pieces of legislation, including the major bill, 

five hundred and some thirty-eight billion dollars, for the Defense 

Authorization Act, which is over 50 percent of the discretionary 

portion of the entire Federal budget, and that includes weapons 

systems. And we also had major legislation that passed and was 

sent to the President, the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act, 

steps in reforming the process of buying weapons systems, a major 

step. Your committee provided our committee with $15.8 million for the 111th Congress. Of that, $7.8 million was allocated for 2009 

and the committee expended and obligated 98.8 percent of those 

funds. The remaining 1.2 percent served as a buffer so we would 

not exceed any fund allocation. 

The committee staff that we have is just outstanding. They are 

experts in their technically skilled areas and they are all very professional. Our staff now is allocated 71 seats serving 62 members, 

and of course we think that is far below and we know it is far 

below the average of other House committees, not in keeping with 

past history of our committee. During the 103rd Congress, Chairman Les Aspin had a staff of 82 to assist only 55 members. There 

remains unmet staffing needs on both sides of the aisle, and we 

would certainly appreciate your consideration to assist us in that 

regard. 

The last thing I would like to mention is to raise the need to upgrade our committee’s Internet presence. Buck and I are in agreement that we need to better utilize technology to ensure the public 

is fully aware of what our committee is doing as well as to support 

the national defense. To that end we need additional resources to 

improve both the majority and the minority Web sites to enhance 

document distribution, video and audio webcasting and increase 

the visibility of our committee. 

These are budgetary challenges and we are certain you can be 

of support for us. Thank you. 

[The statement of Mr. Skelton follows:] 


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Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

We will recognize now the ranking member, Mr. McKeon. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. HOWARD P. ‘‘BUCK’’ McKEON, 

RANKING MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES 

Mr. MCKEON. Thank you, Chairman Gonzalez, Ranking Member 

Lungren, and distinguished members of the committee. As a former 

businessman, I applaud your new initiative to review how each 

committee spent its budget in the first session of the 111th Congress. It is hard to prepare a credible business plan for the coming 

year without reviewing the previous year and making necessary 

adjustments. I believe you will agree that under the leadership of 

my new good friend and partner, Chairman Ike Skelton, we have 

efficiently spent our limited resources. 

While we have accomplished a great deal, there are a number— 

multiple programs, including and especially the Department of Defense initiated mid-year programmatic changes, requiring closer 

scrutiny. Due to our limited staff, we could provide only cursory 

oversight to these programmatic changes and necessarily deferred 

digging into higher—high profile—several high profile programs. 

While our Nation is at war, our priority naturally focused on the 

war effort, but we do have a duty to examine everything the Department of Defense does to meet emergency threats to our national security. 

As the chairman noted, the Department of Defense budget accounts for more than 50 percent of all Federal discretionary spending. Additionally, we are engaged in two wars and are seemingly 

discovering new threats and undertaking new operations weekly. 

In barely a month we have had a Christmas Day terrorist bomber, 

a resurgent al Qaeda in Yemen, and a major relief operation in 

Haiti. 

The programs our committee oversees are subject to change 

every year. Indeed, programs often change during the year. We do 

not oversee mandatory programs on automatic pilot nor long authorized programs subject to the relatively lengthy swings of the 

economic cycle but dynamic literally life and death national security efforts that are in a constant flux. These huge complex programs require continuous examination by expert staff. 

Last April, the Secretary of Defense announced a multitude of 

major changes to Pentagon spending priorities, yet we are barely 

able to address those issues. Next week we will receive the Department’s Quadrennial Defense Review, setting the course of defense 

priorities in spending for the next 4 years on the same day that we 

receive the President’s budget submission for fiscal year 2011. It is 

absolutely critical these plans be critically examined by the Congress, yet we have staffing and budget ratios well below those of 

other House committees. 

The oversight of the huge national security budget and important 

international operations takes a large talented and well-coordinated staff effort. I urge the committee to provide the Committee 

on Armed Services with additional staff and fiscal resources commensurate with our sworn constitutional duty to provide for the 

common defense. 


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Yet these are difficult times. I understand that. But national security cannot be shortchanged. Press reports indicate that the 

President will freeze discretionary spending for all programs except 

national defense and a few others. I cannot speak for other committees, but I do know that we need to conduct effective, meaningful 

oversight. If the administration believes that national defense 

should be exempt from budget freezes in these tough economic 

times, then Congress should do no less. 

Lastly, I have to echo the chairman’s concern about the committee’s Internet presence. In today’s world no credible organization 

can operate effectively without an aggressive, robust, and wellmanaged Web site. Frankly, both Ike and I operate minimally functional sites that are in need of professional help. We don’t want to 

be flashy, just thorough, informative, and transparent. Additionally, we need better video and webcasting capability to highlight 

Department of Defense officials and others providing testimony on 

these high-profile programs and issues. We owe the American people and our men and women in uniform no less. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I look forward to 

your questions. 

[The statement of Mr. McKeon follows:] 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thanks very much, Mr. McKeon. The Chair will 

recognize Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

When I hear your testimony talking about the serious nature of 

the jurisdictional issues that you have, I am reminded a number 

of years when I was on the Budget Committee and the then head 

of the OMB said, you know, if we don’t get our mandatory spending 

under control, and he was referring to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, he said by the year 2040 there will be zero left in the 

budget for all discretionary matters, including national defense. 

And I thought, whoa, talking about national defense as discretionary and talking about the fact that we would have zero. Now, 

we know we would never get to that, but it does show to me at 

times that we don’t always appreciate what the first obligation of 

the Federal Government is. So I appreciate the work that you do 

on your committee. 

One of the things I would like to ask, your committee, do you 

have the one-third/two-thirds ratio or do you have nonpartisan 

staff members? How does that work? 

Mr. SKELTON. We historically for the last 50 years have had a 

bipartisan, nonpartisan effort. However, the minority, when I was 

minority I had X number of appointees as we do that today. When 

I was initially ranking member at first, I had seven of my very 

own. And I don’t know what Buck started off with, but fortunately 

he is up to 15 of his very own. But a professional staffer is just 

that, is on call for whoever needs help whether it be pay raise or 

airplanes or ships or whatever. And frankly it works, it is a pretty 

good tradition. I have been on the committee since late 1980 and 

it works very, very well. However, I do remember the fact that we 

had the larger number of staffers for only 55 members back when 

Les Aspin was here, but Les Aspin got it. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Mr. McKeon, about how that works out with staff? 


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Mr. MCKEON. Well, we are having some negotiations. We are 

talking about it. I feel we need more people on our side and I like 

the bipartisanship and Ike and I work together very, very well. I 

need more people. He doesn’t feel at this point he is able to give 

me more. But, you know, I am a little unique. I have been a ranking member on two committees; so I get to see what Education and 

Labor was like and what Armed Services is like. When I was chairman on the Education Committee, we had over 50 people. It is 52 

now. I think it was about the same when I was chairman. And as 

ranking member I had 26. And we had a lot of work to do on that 

committee. And I am not saying that they should have less people, 

but now I get to see what we have to do in Armed Services and 

we pass a $550 billion budget and then we almost start right away 

on the next budget, and we could use more help so that we could 

oversee better the $550 billion and the $120 billion that goes to 

Iraq and Afghanistan. And so I am here pleading for more resources that we could use, and then Ike and I will have to work 

out how we use those resources. But I don’t want to blow up the 

bipartisanship that we have on the committee, but we need more 

help. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I was struck by the chairman saying when he first 

came he got seven people. I remember when I was elected Attorney 

General I had almost a thousand lawyers and 5,000 employees, and 

I said, How many do I get to bring in? Seven. Someone said it is 

like trying to turn the Queen Mary with a paddle. But we managed 

somehow. We managed somehow. 

Let me just ask you this. We had a real concern across the government in legislative—excuse me. The executive branch gets more 

publicity, but we know that we have been subject to cyber attacks 

throughout. Does your committee get the support that it needs 

from HIR and our arm of HIR which works 24/7 on just dealing 

with cybersecurity? 

Mr. SKELTON. The answer is yes. And you may know that the 

Department of Defense is in the process of establishing a cyber 

command. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Right. 

Mr. SKELTON. That of course will come under our purview. We 

are blessed with a very few, but we are blessed with experts in that 

field. As time goes by undoubtedly we will need additional experts 

in that field, too. But this is serious business. This is very serious 

business. We just had a briefing, classified briefing, on China that 

touched on this issue just a few moments ago. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I know Members are complaining now about how 

we have to have passwords for our BlackBerries and we are now 

moving towards encrypting the information here. But the fact of 

the matter is this is serious business, and Members of Congress 

have to understand that we have got to be part of it as well as 

show an example for others. We have had Members lose these 

things, even in foreign countries, and people have to understand 

the information that is in here that could go down and some Members think well there is no—I don’t have any information. I am just 

on this committee or that committee. Well, we know it is called 

connecting the dots. You get a lot of information or you can break 

into our systems and be able to have a presence there is seemingly 


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undetected. And we have just got to do a better job. I just wanted 

to make sure that you felt you are getting the support that you 

need in your committee in that regard as well. 

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, and the Chair will recognize Mrs. 

Davis. 

Mrs. DAVIS of California. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And certainly Mr. Skelton and Mr. McKeon, chairman and ranking, did a 

fine job I think in presenting the Armed Services Committee. It is 

a very active committee, I know, because it is pretty exhaustive actually. If you attend all the hearings that are going on, it is a tremendous amount of workload and I know that the staff works very 

hard. So I really am here to just say that I think that the question 

of additional help is not just in looking to add people that would 

not be working hard. I mean clearly that is what happens on this 

committee. And I appreciate the fact that I think Mr. McKeon certainly has great support and probably you would like to have more. 

But I think my feeling, being there as both a minority and majority 

member, is that the staff is there for everybody and very, very 

helpful. I mean there were times I honestly did not know who was 

who because, you know, whether it was assisting us in some of the 

trips we had to make to Iraq, Afghanistan, wherever that might be, 

I honestly did not know. Everybody was extremely helpful, good 

with information, and willing to answer questions. 

So I just want to applaud the staff overall. Really it is a very, 

very hardworking staff. And one of the things that is happening 

now that I think is very important is the oversight on the committee, taking issues such as the oversight of contractors, which 

was done earlier this year and breaking off a committee to do that 

work, and that takes additional staff willing and able to pick up 

that burden and I think they did a great job. So I just want to 

thank them for being here. 

Mr. SKELTON. If I may comment on that, when the Democrats 

came in the majority, we kept by and far most of the folks that 

were already there. They are pros. That is what they do in life. 

And I don’t think you could find a better set of skilled defense people anywhere than on our staff. I think they are just excellent. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much. 

Quickly, just a couple of observations and one question, and that 

is, first, the fact that you are pointing out the need to improve 

what I will refer to as your Internet presence. One of course is 

transparency and letting the public know what you’re doing to the 

extent that you are allowed to get that information out there I 

think is very, very important. And also as an information source. 

Obviously the public, their faith can be shaken at times and the 

work that you do and the fact that it could be reviewed to the extent it can. So I commend you for that. I think it is underutilized, 

and the fact that you recognize its importance. 

The other thing is yes, there is going to be a freeze but there is 

not going to be a freeze when it comes to what you do. My concern 

of course is that your plate is already overflowing and will continue 

to be overflowing, and I think the ranking member, Mr. McKeon, 

said something about cursory oversight. These programs that you 

oversee, that you authorize and such are incredibly costly and can 


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be very complicated. So that is a concern that I would express right 

now, and I am very sensitive to the remarks that were made regarding the need for additional personnel and such, which leads me 

to the only question I have, and that is to Mr. Skelton. 

Staff had pointed out to me, Mr. Chairman, that at your last testimony before the committee you pointed out how difficult it was 

to retain highly qualified staff with the expertise because obviously 

the grass can be greener out there in the private sector. What is 

the status of that since your last testimony? 

Mr. SKELTON. Well, the Pentagon has taken several—I don’t 

know the exact number, but they have taken several. And the 

young lady right behind me has been nominated to be number two 

in the Air Force when the Senate gets around to confirming her; 

so we lose our Staff Director. My recollection is, Mr. Chairman and 

Mr. Lungren, that I asked for an additional 12 slots when I testified before is my recollection. Does that sound right? I think I am 

right. And we could use every one of them. We lost 13 staff mostly 

to the Pentagon last year. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Well, thank you very much, of course, for your 

service and the fine work that the committee does. 

Do you have anything further? Otherwise you are excused at this 

time and I will see you tonight or at votes. Thank you. 

Mr. SKELTON. Thank you so much. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. And I believe that we have the Committee on 

Small Business. Are they here? 

I welcome the Chair, the Honorable Nydia Vela ́zquez, and of 

course the ranking member Sam Graves. Each of you will be given 

5 minutes to make your statement and then to entertain any questions members of the committee may have. 

The Chair will recognize Chairwoman Vela ́zquez. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. NYDIA M. VELA ́ ZQUEZ, CHAIRMAN, 

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Thank you, Chairman Gonzalez and Ranking 

Member Lungren. I really appreciate the opportunity to come before the Committee on House Administration to further discuss the 

first session’s budget for the Committee on Small Business. 

Pursuant to House Resolution 279, the Committee on Small 

Business was funded at $7,236,082 for the 111th Congress, with 

$3,548,839 of those moneys set as the first session limitation. As 

I have stated before, Ranking Member Graves has full control over 

a third of that budget. 

With that being said, it should be noted that the Committee on 

Small Business has been very productive this past year with 18 

bills passed in 2009. Mr. Graves and myself have pooled all our resources to accomplish such an endeavor. In fact, Mr. Chairman, 

you will need to go back to the 98th Congress to find a time when 

the Small Business Committee has done more. At that time 22 bills 

were passed and that was over a 2-year period. Again we managed 

to pass 18 bills in the time span of just 1 year. 

This Congress the committee obtained a much needed increase in 

terms of funding. I was very pleased to see this considering that 

previously small business was awarded the smallest allocation of 

any committee. If I recall correctly, we only received 3.3 percent 


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more than we did during the 103rd Congress, which was 17 years 

ago. Once again, I would like to point out that our budget has not 

come close to keeping pace with inflation. At this time we are the 

fourth lowest funded committee in the 111th Congress. Yet as far 

as hearings and bills passed, you could say, Mr. Chairman, that we 

are one of the most active. We have matched the committee’s hearing production to that of the last year that saw Small Business 

rank second in total hearings back in the 109th Congress. 

I am happy to report that the Office of the Speaker responded 

favorably to our request for additional staff slots and granted us 

with an increase of nine slots, six for the majority and three for the 

minority, effective June 4, 2009. This takes the Small Business 

Committee to 42 staff slots total, which are essential for Mr. 

Graves and myself to further strengthen the committee’s ability to 

cover the broad range of issue areas that encompass small business, especially given the time of our economy where so many 

small businesses are suffering. 

As chairwoman of the Small Business Committee, one of my priorities has been to address the committee’s technology gap. We 

have a responsibility to our members and frankly we do not have 

the necessary tools to provide the support at an acceptable level, 

which needless to say puts us at a serious disadvantage. I would 

like to point out that when first taking over in the 110th Congress 

and for the duration of the first session in 2007, the committee operated under duress with an antiquated computer system and inadequate equipment. It was imperative that we make significant investments to correct these deficiencies. Thankfully, we have been 

able to get over this hurdle. I don’t think we are all the way there, 

but we have made significant progress the past few years. 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Graves and I have worked in 

a bipartisan manner so that the Small Business Committee continues to be the productive committee it has been. We are aware 

of the current crisis facing our Nation’s small businesses, and we 

welcome the challenges they represent. 

Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Lungren, Mr. Gonzalez, 

I thank you for your time and please let me if there are any questions you may have. 

[The statement of Ms. Vela ́zquez follows:] 


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Mr. GONZALEZ. The Chair will recognize the ranking member, 

Mr. Graves. 

STATEMENT OF THE HON. SAM GRAVES, RANKING MEMBER, 

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

Mr. GRAVES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member 

Lungren. I will be brief. 

The chairwoman pointed out very adequately how the committee 

works. It is a committee that, you know, we continue to have a 

great working relationship between the chairman’s office and my 

office. Our staffs work very well together. Particularly in these 

times when small businesses are struggling in a big way as a result of the economy, we have been able to get our work done on 

a timely basis. Our problem is with the Senate more than anything 

else and trying to get them move on some of the pieces of legislation, particularly the reauthorization of the SBA. 

I appreciate everything the chairwoman does. It is a very important committee. I would argue particularly in this these times it is 

one of the most important committees we have here on the Hill, 

and I welcome any questions you may have. 

[The statement of Mr. Graves follows:] 


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Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Graves. 

The Chair will recognize Mr. Lungren. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Did I hear you correctly, Mr. Graves, that you 

have trouble with the Senate? I am astounded. 

First of all, I want to thank you both for coming in and I want 

to thank you, Madam Chairman, for the fact that your committee 

operates with one-third of the budget actually given to the minority 

and not just personnel but one-third. That is a great example. We 

appreciate that and you have been consistent in that. 

I notice that you have a large amount of your budget that you 

did not spend this last year. Was that because of staff or what was 

that? And I am not saying you should have spent it all. I am just 

trying to find out. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Yes. Basically the money that we requested was 

to hire five more slots and we were not approved for the slots until 

late in June, in the beginning of June. And as you know, my committee has been overwhelmed with the work responding to the economic crisis impacting small businesses. So we need the money. It 

has not been spent but it definitely wasn’t because we didn’t need 

it. It was just the timing when those slots were approved by the 

Speaker. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I appreciate that. I also notice that you are the 

only person who submitted a statement using both sides of the 

paper; so you folks are doing an excellent job in saving money 

wherever you can. 

Where are you in terms of your IT? Are your systems where you 

think you need to be? Does the committee need to upgrade? I mean 

we always need to upgrade somewhat but are you substantially 

where you need to be? 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. I believe we achieved the technology gap and the 

upgrade that we needed to have, yes. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Are you satisfied with that, Mr. Graves? 

Mr. GRAVES. We have made some significant changes and 

launched our minority Web site for the Small Business Committee 

and have been working—in fact, that has been our main focus. The 

committee needed—there were just a lot of improvements that 

needed to be done, the computer system being a big part of that, 

and that is actually where we have been focusing the majority of 

our attention from the minority side is just making the improvements. The chairwoman has given us the resources we need and 

the latitude to be able to make good use of what we are trying to 

do. 

Mr. LUNGREN. I must confess I haven’t taken a look at your Web 

site, but a lot of small businesses in my community, as I am sure 

in other districts, are looking to see what the government is doing 

for them or to them or are allowing them to do. They are very interested in the government presence or absence of presence in the 

small business world. Would going to your Web sites assist them 

in finding their way through the morass of the Federal Government more than just giving them information about your committee? So if I were to tell them in addition to going to the Small 

Business Administration Web site, you ought to go to the committee Web site because there is information there that could assist 

you in finding good pathways to answer your questions. 


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Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Definitely and—but SBA, the Small Business 

Administration, also has a good Web site that will—can guide them 

to where the resources are and information regarding where the 

businesses are established, regional offices and all the network of 

small business development centers that we have across the Nation, close to 68. 

Mr. LUNGREN. When I am having a town hall meeting or something and someone asks me about small business, in addition to 

the fact I happen to think tax policy is extremely important there, 

but I also try and tell them you might check the Web site for the 

SBA. It hadn’t dawned on me to say check the Web site at Small 

Business Committee from the House. But that would be—— 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. You are welcome to do that, sure. 

Mr. GRAVES. I mentioned earlier how active we were. And our 

number of hits and inquiries has just exploded since we have 

launched our new—or gotten so active particularly in the IT area. 

We have gotten a lot of inquiries and sent out a lot of information. 

And we encourage, too, if they can’t find what they need to find on 

our Web site, just call the office, the committee office, and I know 

that the chairwoman’s site does the same thing and we will navigate them through. Sometimes the SBA can be pretty tough to find 

your way through unless you have a little bit of help, but we have 

seen an explosion on those, if you want to call them hits, inquiries, 

however you want to put it. 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. And workshops that are conducted nationwide 

throughout regions and congressional districts. 

Mr. LUNGREN. Thank you very much. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you, Mr. Lungren. 

Just a real quick observation, having served on the committee 

where the chairwoman—obviously it was last Congress but I can 

attest to the busy, busy agenda and it has even gotten busier, 

which leads me to the next question to both the chairwoman and 

to the ranking member. Tonight, the President will make his State 

of the Union Address and he is going to touch on small business. 

So what I perceive for your committee is a lot more work this second session of the 111th. How are you all prepared budget-wise for 

what I think would be the additional workload? Now, you may disagree and say, ‘‘Look, we are already so busy that we are going to 

be busy as heck anyway.’’ What do you see in the coming months 

budget-wise and workload? 

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Well, as I mentioned to you in my statement, we 

are the committee that received the smallest amount of any—even 

when you compare that we got, I believe, one of the highest percentages last year. But that doesn’t make up for the fact that 

throughout the years the committee really got the smallest amount 

of any of the committees and it doesn’t keep up with inflation. So 

we will take every help that we can get and every support in terms 

of the budget. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you. 

Mr. Graves. 

Mr. GRAVES. So much of it depends on what the President is 

going to propose tonight. If it is an expansion of SBA programs and 

an expansion of some of the—you know, even some new programs, 


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obviously we are going to have to wade our way through that and 

work our way through it. But most of it depends obviously on what 

he is going to do. If it is tax policy, that could be something completely different. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Thank you very much and if you have anything 

further we will entertain it at this time. Otherwise you are dismissed. 

Mr. Lungren, anything? 

Mr. LUNGREN. No, thank you. 

Mr. GONZALEZ. Otherwise we stand adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:35 p.m., the committee was adjourned.] 


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