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97–426 2015

COMMITTEE RESOLUTION AMENDING 

THE COMMITTEE’S REGULATIONS 

AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 

BUSINESS MEETING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

OCTOBER 21, 2015 

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 

CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan, Chairman 

GREGG HARPER, Mississippi 

RICHARD NUGENT, Florida 

RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois 

BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia 

MARK WALKER, North Carolina 

ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania 

Ranking Minority Member 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

JUAN VARGAS, California 

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

SEAN MORAN, Staff Director 

JAMIE FLEET, Minority Staff Director 


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COMMITTEE RESOLUTION AMENDING THE 

COMMITTEE’S REGULATIONS AND FOR 

OTHER PURPOSES 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2015 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:17 a.m., in Room 

1310, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Candice S. Miller 

[chairman of the Committee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Miller, Harper, Nugent, Davis, Comstock, Walker, Brady, Lofgren, and Vargas. 

Staff Present: Sean Moran, Staff Director; John Clocker, Deputy 

Staff Director; Bob Sensenbrenner, Deputy General Counsel; John 

L. Dickhaus, Legislative Clerk; Erin McCracken, Communications 

Director; Katie Patru, Deputy Staff Director: Outreach and Communications; Jamie Fleet, Minority Staff Director; Matt Pinkus, 

Minority Senior Policy Advisor; Khalil Abboud, Minority Deputy 

Staff Director/Director of Legislative Operations; Mike Harrison, 

Minority Chief Counsel; and Eddie Flaherty, Minority Chief Clerk. 

The CHAIRMAN. I now call to order the Committee on House Administration for today’s Committee hearing. We do have a quorum 

present, so we can proceed. I would remind members that the 

record will remain open for 5 legislative days so that members can 

submit any materials that they wish to be included into the record. 

Today, our Committee is going to consider really one important 

item. The Committee resolution before us will be amending The 

Member’s Congressional Handbook to provide more clarity on current regulations governing the use of official resources, as well as 

adding new review requirements. 

This Committee resolution will also be directing the Chief Administrative Officer, the CAO, to submit to the Committee a proposal on how we would improve the transparency of House expenditures in the quarterly statements of disbursements. It also directs 

the CAO to review its own internal finance procedures and to provide the Committee with a complete report on how their finance department complies with the Committee’s voucher documentation 

standards. 

This Committee, of course, is charged with overseeing the dayto-day operations of the House, and it is a responsibility that I 

know each of us take very seriously. Members of this institution, 

each one of us are elected by our constituents and taxpayers; and 

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ington to represent their views and advocate on their behalf, and 

that requires our actions to reflect their interests. All of our actions, not just how we vote on the floor of the House, but certainly 

how we spend our official representational budgets, or as it is commonly called here on the Hill, our MRAs. Members and their staffs 

have to be held accountable to their constituencies; and our Committee, part of our responsibility certainly is to help provide for 

that accountability. 

So in conjunction with the House Committee on Ethics, House 

leadership, and other entities, like the CAO, we work to ensure 

that tax dollars are spent in the most efficient, accountable, and 

transparent way, and we accomplish this by establishing and regularly reviewing and updating the regulations governing how official 

resources might be used. We also try to educate House officers 

about these regulations and working with the CAO to help ensure 

compliance of our regulations, and to improve public transparency 

of all of these expenditures. 

Of course, like any other entity, we are not immune from individuals who break the rules. We certainly can’t force individuals to always do the right thing, but we can make it easier to hold them 

accountable if they don’t. As everyone here is aware, there were 

some recent questions surrounding a particular Member’s use of official resources. Specifically, questions related to the use of official 

resources for car mileage reimbursement, furnishings and decorations in the Washington, D.C., office, as well as the use of charter 

flights. 

I want to be very, very clear here: The resolution that is being 

considered today is not suggestive—it is not suggestive—of this 

particular Member’s culpability. This was not an investigation into 

a particular Member’s use of official resources. This is not an investigative body. The resolution that we are considering today is a result of this Committee’s internal review of our own regulations and 

assessments on ways that we can just improve them. 

However, it was because of this incident that a lot of questions 

were raised. It initiated our complete, bipartisan—and let me 

stress that—bipartisan review of current regulations, as well as 

House processes and enforcement practices for officials’ expenditures. 

In response, we established an official review group that was led 

by Committee members Rodney Davis, who did an outstanding job, 

and I certainly want to thank him, and his counterpart, Zoe Lofgren, the gentlelady from California. Both of them were former congressional staffers, an interesting thing. Who knew better, really, 

on how our processes worked? They had so much experience in 

managing office operations and expenditures. 

So, again, I want to thank them sincerely. I will tell you also, 

this resolution that we are looking at today is essentially their 

work product. Everybody on this Committee has helped, but it was 

really them. They have been the lead. They conducted a very thorough review, starting with a complete examination of the regulations and The Member’s Congressional Handbook. Specifically, they 

examined ways they could clarify or tighten regulations and reduce 

any gray areas. 


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The review group met with House stakeholders, they met with 

Members, they met with chiefs of staff, individual Member office financial administrators, employees within the Office of Finance, and 

various other entities, focused, again, on House transparency. After 

completing their review and taking into consideration the feedback 

that they collected, they identified ways that we can strengthen as 

a Committee and clarify our regulations and improve the transparency of House expenditures. 

Again, the resolution being considered by the Committee today 

reflects their recommendations and directs additional evaluation of 

House processes that might warrant future changes as well. Always look to the future. 

The resolution, effective immediately if the Committee adopts it 

today, will modify The Member’s Congressional Handbook to clarify 

what type of car mileage is qualified for reimbursement, specifically limiting it to a depreciable asset that you or your family members personally own or personally lease so that there is no confusion. It also adds new thresholds for certain charter flights that 

will now require prior approval by this Committee. 

The resolution also clarifies the regulations for office furniture. 

Currently, the Member’s handbook states that furniture is not reimbursable for the Washington, D.C., congressional office, and this 

remains the same. The resolution would require Committee approval for a furniture item in the district office if it costs more than 

$5,000 per item. And for decorating expenses, only a purchase of 

nominal value, such as frames or bookends or what have you, has 

ever been allowed within our current Member’s handbook. This remains the same. 

In the limited case of fixtures, a Member’s office must obtain approval from the Committee for an item exceeding $5,000. However, 

again, all decorations should be of nominal value. 

In addition to modifying The Member’s Congressional Handbook, 

the resolution also involves the CAO, who is our partner in transparency and helping to ensure that our regulations are followed 

and that each taxpayer dollar is properly spent. This resolution directs the CAO to create a plan to increase the transparency of office expenditures. It also directs the CAO to conduct a complete review of its finance procedures and to report back to our Committee 

on how it complies with the stringent documentation standards established by our Committee. 

I always have said to my staff, I tell them all the time, that the 

largest room is the room for improvement. That means that the reforms that we adopt today will likely not be the last that this Committee ever adopts and that we will continue to review our regulations, as we always do. 

With that, I would now like to recognize my colleague and the 

Committee’s ranking member, Mr. Brady, the gentleman from 

Pennsylvania, for the purpose of his opening statement. I would 

just say again that this review has been extremely bipartisan. The 

ranking member and I have had a number of conversations about 

it. And I think we have worked well together, as have our review 

Committee. 

Mr. Brady. 


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Mr. BRADY. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Thank you for holding this meeting. I have a longer statement for the record, but 

want to underline the important work this Committee does in making sure public funds and other official resources are used properly. 

I would also like to commend Ms. Lofgren and Mr. Davis for taking 

the lead on behalf of the Committee on this project. 

I very much appreciate the work of the bipartisan staff that has 

happened here. Their work has produced some overdue changes to 

our regulations and will give the taxpayers greater transparency on 

how our tax dollars are spent. 

Madam Chairman, I would like to submit my full statement for 

the record, and thank you again for having this meeting. 

[The statement of Mr. Brady follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman very much. 

I now would like to recognize Congressman Rodney Davis. Again, 

I want to thank him so much for all of his work. There has been 

a number of months and hours and really a dedicated commitment 

to looking into this entire process. This work product, as I say, is 

really essentially Congressman Davis’ and Congresswoman 

Lofgren’s as well. 

The gentleman from Illinois. 

Mr. DAVIS. Thank you, Chairman Miller. 

As Members of Congress, it is our duty to be good stewards with 

the tax dollars that we are entrusted with. And this internal process, I believe, was to make sure we uphold that duty. 

I would like to again thank Chairman Miller, Ranking Member 

Brady for allowing us to lead this review process. And I want to 

send a special thanks to my colleague, Ms. Lofgren, who was my 

partner in this review process. We would not have gotten to this 

point without everybody’s bipartisan cooperation, and my thanks go 

to each of you. 

As a financial administrator for a Member of Congress for 16 

years, this is an issue that is personal to me too. These are issues 

that I faced when I submitted the paperwork that goes throughout 

the process that we are reviewing today. Ms. Lofgren and I went 

through a comprehensive review that engaged Members, staff, 

Member financial administrators, Member office financial administrators, management of the Office of the CAO, various transparency groups, and also the Ethics Committee. 

While our review found no broad patterns of abuse or fraud, we 

did find areas that we can improve on, many of those mentioned 

in Chairman Miller’s opening statements. Specifically, we need to 

create more transparency. We need to make sure that we improve 

the way our expenses are disclosed on the quarterly statements of 

disbursement, updating the regulations and the guidelines of the 

Member handbook, and providing further clarity and education, 

jointly with the Ethics Committee, to Members of what the responsible use of the MRA entails. 

The House of Representatives is committed to taking the necessary steps to create that transparent system that ensures taxpayer dollars used to perform official and representational duties 

are being spent responsibly and within the guidelines of our House 

rules. 

I want to remind this Committee and those who are in attendance that the executive and the judicial branches do not have the 

same expense transparency requirements imposed on themselves. 

As we are the people’s House, with the constitutional authority to 

control the purse, we hold ourselves to the highest standards to ensure we are responsible with taxpayer money. 

The Committee resolution we will vote on shortly is the result of 

our comprehensive review and will make the necessary changes to 

fulfill our commitment to a more transparent, accountable, and responsible House. Again, I would like to thank my colleague Zoe 

Lofgren for being a great partner throughout this process. 

And also, in closing, thank you again, Chairman Miller, Ranking 

Member Brady, for giving me this opportunity to help improve this 

great institution. 


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I yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman for his comments. I would 

now recognize the gentlelady from California, Congresswoman Zoe 

Lofgren, for her opening statement. 

Ms. LOFGREN. Thank you, Madam Chairman. 

And thanks also to Mr. Brady for your efforts in getting this review started, and certainly to my colleague, Mr. Davis, who has 

worked very diligently with me to try and come to a conclusion. We 

have reviewed a lot of documents, interviewed senior leadership in 

the CAO’s Office, as well as meeting with outside sunshine groups 

who play a valuable role in looking at the institution, and they all 

shared proposals with us. We have talked to other Members, House 

staff about what we could do to improve House operations. 

And I think today is a very good start. As we have noticed, there 

is more work to do. And it is my understanding that the chairwoman is considering holding additional meetings to continue the 

work of modernizing and reforming the regulations for how Members spend tax dollars, and that is really good news. And I look forward to working with all of my colleagues here on the Committee 

to make sure that we improve how the House does business. 

As Mr. Davis and you have referenced, this is a bipartisan effort. 

Our Democratic leader sometimes says show a little love. And what 

that means is let other versions exist. Sometimes you have an idea 

and another person, but when you really sort through it you can 

come to a conclusion because you are really trying to get the same 

thing done. And that is really what this is a product of. 

We have put commonsense conditions on the appropriate use of 

charter aircraft in a way we sorted through the issues so it works, 

we think, in a way without being bureaucratic to Members who 

have very rural districts. We have put limits on how Members can 

use tax dollars to decorate their offices. And as the chairwoman 

has mentioned, we already have a prohibition on using MRAs for 

things that are beyond what the House provides. We will find out 

how that happened in a separate outside review for the one flamboyant instance where that did not occur. But we have emphasized 

that that is the rule, and the expectation is that we would live with 

that rule. 

We have changed documentation. And I think most importantly, 

we are going to continue a commitment to transparency by putting 

office statements of disbursement online in a searchable and sortable format, which gives the data more meaning and the taxpayers 

additional tools, because the more eyes we have on this, the better 

off we all are. 

Now, I think most Members of Congress, you know, want to play 

by the rules. The last thing you want is a mess in your office. So 

we need to be clear on what the rules are so that people can live 

up to them. 

Even though the resolution we are considering has many good 

changes, I do have one amendment I am going to offer on something we couldn’t come to an agreement on, and maybe we can 

through the amendment process. But I do think this resolution, 

with the exception of that one amendment, strikes the right balance between giving Members the tools they need and the taxpayers confidence that the tax money is being spent wisely. And I 


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think it was a good process, and I thank the chairwoman for yielding to me. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much. 

Are there any other members of the Committee that wish to offer 

an opening statement? Okay. 

I will now call before the Committee our first agenda item, Committee Resolution 114. This is a Committee resolution amending 

the Committee’s regulations and to instruct the CAO. Without objection, the first reading of this resolution is dispensed with, and 

the resolution is considered read and open for amendment at any 

point. 

[The information follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Now, as I mentioned, this resolution will first 

modify The Member’s Congressional Handbook to clarify what type 

of car mileage is qualified for reimbursement. Currently, The Member’s Congressional Handbook says that travel via a privatelyowned or privately-leased vehicle while on official or representational business is reimbursable at a rate-per-mile basis. This resolution will apply a new, very specific definition for privately-owned 

vehicles for the purpose of mileage reimbursement. The new definition makes it clear that to be considered privately owned and eligible for mileage reimbursement, the car must be a depreciable asset 

that is owned by either the Member or the staff using the car or 

one of their immediate family members. 

Now, obviously this would preclude mileage reimbursement for a 

vehicle that might be owned by a campaign. That has never been 

allowed, for taxpayers to reimburse that. But, again, we just want 

to make it clear. 

This resolution will also add a new threshold for charter flights. 

Our current regulations allow for the use of official resources for 

Members and staff to travel aboard chartered aircraft, again, only 

for official business. Today’s resolution will add new preapproval 

requirements for chartered flights. Going forward, any chartered 

flight to and from Washington, D.C., will require prior approval 

from this Committee, as will any chartered flight over $7,500. This 

travel to and from D.C. is intended to only be used when an emergency arises. 

Regarding charter flights, we need to take into account, as has 

been said here already, that you have many Members of Congress 

who represent extremely expansive districts, maybe an entire 

State, with locations that are simply not serviced by commercial 

airlines, and they need to be able to travel throughout their district. So for some of our colleagues, flying smaller chartered flights 

is actually the most effective means of transportation. 

But, again, to prevent any misuse of official resources for charter 

flights, this Committee will now need to approve flights that meet 

the criteria that has been mentioned. Flights originating from 

Washington versus a Member’s congressional district and, again, 

flights that cost over $7,500. 

Also, this resolution will add a new threshold for office furniture 

and decorating purchases that will now require prior approval from 

this Committee before certain purchases can be made. Going forward, again, any furniture item or decorating item that exceeds 

$5,000 must receive approval by this Committee. 

Again, I want to note, as has been mentioned, I keep reiterating 

it here, our current regulations prohibit the use of official resources 

to furnish your Washington, D.C., offices. And in addition to improving our regulations by adding clarity and greater review, one 

goal of this resolution is to improve transparency of House expenditures, and that will be accomplished in two very meaningful ways. 

First, it calls on the CAO to develop a plan to include a more detailed breakdown of travel expenses. Currently, all travel-related 

expenses reported in the statements of disbursement are now bundled into one line item, which means that you really don’t know 

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ing or what have you. And going forward, these line items will be 

broken down. 

Secondly, the CAO will be required to present the Committee 

with a plan to publish the statements of disbursement electronically, again, as has been mentioned, in a searchable, sortable format, unlike what is currently the less user friendly format that we 

have online today. 

Finally, this resolution directs the CAO to review and explain 

how its Office of Finance complies with our documentation standards. This review we think is very, very important, because with 

each purchase that an office makes, depending on the type of purchase and the amount of the purchase, certain documentation is required for justification. We just need to make sure that those documents are being collected and reviewed in the finance department. 

I certainly think, and I think we all pretty much agree, these are 

very commonsense revisions that will help provide more clarity to 

the current regulations and establish what we think is appropriate 

preapproval requirements. Certainly, the new transparency directives included in this resolution, as well as the additional review 

of the CAO’s financial processes, are very important steps forward 

towards improving public access and insight on how official resources are spent. Of course that ultimately improves accountability. 

Once again, I just want to thank our review team for their recommendations. I look forward to seeing the plans put forth by the 

CAO. I would recognize Mr. Brady if he has any statement on the 

resolution. 

Mr. BRADY. No. 

The CHAIRMAN. All right. 

Would any member like to offer an amendment to this resolution? 

Ms. LOFGREN. Madam Chair? 

The CHAIRMAN. The gentlelady from California is recognized. 

Ms. LOFGREN. I have an amendment, amendment number two. 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the amendment will be considered as read. 

[The information follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. The gentlelady is recognized for 5 minutes to 

speak in favor of her amendment. 

Ms. LOFGREN. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

As you have outlined the resolution, I think there is much merit 

in what we have before us. I think we will have more transparency 

and more accountability. So that is a good thing. 

The one thing that we did not come to agreement on is greater 

detail on the voucher documentation standards for mileage. Now, 

right now you really can’t find out very much about where someone 

is going or on what day. And I am mindful that we have received 

a letter to you from the Sergeant at Arms expressing concern about 

details in the statement of disbursements about Members’ travel 

itinerary, providing a clue to where a Member may be at a given 

time. And quoting from the letter, it says, ‘‘While the statement of 

disbursements lists past travel, one could conceivably review the 

material to determine a pattern. Once a pattern is identified, an 

individual could more accurately pinpoint a routine or a frequently 

traveled route, thus enhancing a Member’s vulnerability to unwanted encounters.’’ 

I appreciate that the Sergeant at Arms’ job is to keep us safe, 

but I did something last night just to see whether it was doable. 

I went on the Internet, and in about 10 minutes I could find the 

home address of members of this Committee. So we are fooling ourselves if we think that putting the taxpayers’ money being used for 

a route is somehow keeping us safe when in about 10 minutes 

somebody can find out where we live. And as we all know, we have 

no security in our home. So I just think the Sergeant at Arms, 

while doing his job, is overreacting, to the detriment of sunshine. 

I have three amendments, and the first amendment would specifically provide for point-to-point disclosure. I am not going to offer 

that in view of the Sergeant at Arms’ letter. But amendment number two, which I am offering, would provide for the name of the 

travel, the dates of the traveler period during which the travel occurred, not to exceed a month, the locations of travel expressed in 

general terms. For example, your district office, which everyone 

knows is on the Internet, to a ZIP Code so that people would have 

an idea of where you are going—it would be a general idea, but at 

least there would be some sunshine on it—and the number of miles 

traveled in each journey and the mileage rate. 

I think this would increase the transparency of this, and I think 

it is meritorious. I understand we just couldn’t come to agreement 

in the course of our otherwise very collegial effort. But I do think 

this is meritorious. I think it deals with the issue—that I disagree 

with—raised by the Sergeant at Arms. 

And so I offer the amendment and recommend that we do one 

further step on transparency in the matter I have suggested. And 

I would also ask unanimous consent to put amendment one and 

three, that I am not offering, into the record of the proceedings. 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection. 

[The information follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. I would also, if I could respond to the gentlelady, 

I would also ask UC to enter into the record this letter that you 

did reference from Paul Irving, who is our Sergeant at Arms. Without objection, so ordered. 

[The information follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. He does specify here about security concerns that 

he has, and I am in opposition to the gentlelady’s amendment. 

Again, I am very appreciative of all the work that you have done 

on this, and I think we have just taken such a huge step forward. 

You know, one of the other hats I wear, I am the vice chair of 

the Homeland Security Committee, and perhaps I sat in too many 

classified briefings. I know there is not a lot of sympathy for Members of Congress, but there is a security risk. I think when you 

have a letter from the Sergeant at Arms pointing something like 

this out, we should take this gentleman’s comments to heart. 

I think that there will be much greater transparency, or certainly 

accountability—let me say that, accountability in the finance department with the voucher system, et cetera. I just feel that this 

is a step that is not necessary. But again, I am appreciative of the 

gentlelady offering the amendment. I will be opposing this particular amendment. 

Are there any other members that wish to comment on the 

amendment? 

Mr. NUGENT. Madam Chair, if I may? 

The CHAIRMAN. Yes, the gentleman from Florida, former sheriff. 

Mr. NUGENT. I appreciate that. 

I truly want to express my gratitude to Ms. Lofgren and to Rodney Davis for working so diligently on putting this together. Long 

overdue. I think we would all agree that there is probably other 

things that we should do as we move forward, whether it is leased 

vehicles and some of the excesses that we have seen in the past, 

but that is not what we are talking about today. 

I will tell you, coming from the State of Florida that probably has 

the most open, transparent records system in the United States, 

but even they saw the need to safeguard law enforcement by not 

putting their addresses on public documents. It causes you a problem when you go to refinance a home because when they go to a 

public document search they can’t find you. 

But that is a safety concern. And I think the State of Florida, 

like I said, it has the most open, transparent records system in 

America, has decided, you know, we need to protect those folks. I 

think that is part of the problem that we see today across this 

country in regards to, you know, folks that are just upset with government per se. 

And I worry, and I agree with the Sergeant at Arms that when 

you do this and put it on the Net, that it does create an additional 

concern for those of us who are serving. And, you know, if questioned, obviously we put the detail in to our folks and then they 

transcribe it and put it in for the disbursement for the statement 

of disbursements. So that backup information is there in case there 

ever is a question, whether it comes to Ethics or something else. 

I would suggest that all Members keep that information, and I 

would think most do, because none of us want to have an ethics 

complaint against us or the FBI coming in and seizing your 

records. None of that we want to see happen. 

But I do think that where we are today, with the hatred that is 

out there, particularly towards government and government officials, we need to be very, very careful. And I would suggest that 

we do follow the recommendation of the Sergeant at Arms. While 


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he is responsible for our safety, and Ms. Lofgren stated it, that 

they don’t provide security at your home. 

And so your travel methods—you know, we tell law enforcement 

change your travel methods, don’t take the same route to work 

every day. Do things that if someone wants to hurt you, it makes 

it more difficult for them to do that. And I would suggest the same 

thing holds for Members of Congress. 

Ms. LOFGREN. Would the gentleman yield? 

Mr. NUGENT. I would be glad to yield. 

Ms. LOFGREN. I appreciate that. And I think none of us wants 

Members of Congress to be unsafe. I mean, and you are right, there 

are people who are unhinged. We certainly remember our colleague 

Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head. Of course that was at 

a publicized meeting, which all of us go and do. 

I just put it on the radar screen here. I fly home every week, just 

like everybody else. And you can go on United Airlines 2 days in 

advance and you can see my name. It is on the seat I am in, and 

anybody can see it. So if we think that we are anonymous in terms 

of our travel, we are not. And I think that it would be very helpful 

to have it posted for the public. I realize we have a disagreement 

here. But I just point out this information is in some cases already 

available. 

Mr. NUGENT. Well, I would suggest, though, reclaiming my 

time—— 

Ms. LOFGREN. I yield back. 

Mr. NUGENT [continuing]. Is that we should err on the side of 

caution. If anything, from what we have seen, violence in America 

today, we really ought to be err on the side of caution. While I understand the transparency issue, I think that in our office records 

it clearly is there if anyone wanted to see it or check. 

And I think by things that you are doing in regards to separating 

air reimbursement for flights, for mileage, I think that then opens 

up that transparency that we are looking at, because when you see 

a Member that has this huge number and you can pull up other 

Members and see everybody else is relatively in this category and 

you have got one guy or gal way up here, that in and of itself might 

draw some scrutiny I would think. And I think by putting it online 

it certainly opens that up to scrutiny. 

So, Madam Chair, once again, I really do appreciate all the work 

that Ms. Lofgren and the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Davis, have 

done as it relates to opening this process up for transparency. And 

with that, I yield back, and I oppose that amendment. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank the gentleman. 

Any other members? 

Mr. DAVIS. Yes, Madam Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Davis. 

Mr. DAVIS. Again, the changes that we have made towards openness, transparency have been phenomenal. And to have only one 

area of disagreement I think is a testament to how well this Committee worked together in a bipartisan fashion. 

Now, I too oppose this amendment. Obviously, we wouldn’t have 

had this disagreement if I didn’t. And I appreciate the comments 

that Mr. Nugent made as a former law enforcement official. I think 

his comments need to be taken into serious consideration, as the 


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letter from the Sergeant at Arms, Mr. Irving. But let me address 

a few other issues that I think are pertinent to this debate. 

I appreciate the fact that people know where we live. I would 

argue, because of my security system at home, because of other 

methods that I can protect myself and my family with, I am much 

safer at home than I am traveling throughout my district doing my 

representational duties. So somebody having my home address, I 

feel a little bit safer there than I do out on the road at different 

public events. 

And our public schedule many times is released. So, Ms. Lofgren, 

you are right, many individuals can have access to where we are 

going. Frankly, I had an experience where I had a group of individuals come talk to me about a very important issue to them at a 

public meeting, and while I was on my way to another publicly disclosed meeting they decided to visit my home and deliver that same 

message to my then 12-year-old son. These are issues that we face 

as Members of Congress, and it is bullying tactics likes that that 

I think are becoming more prevalent in today’s day and age. 

Now. If security issues don’t really concern you as a Member of 

Congress, if those issues don’t concern you, what is great is the 

processes we have in place right now, you can already by your expense reimbursements, by each voucher request that you submit, 

you can individualize every single trip. You can put the detail on 

there, you can individualize it, make an individual expense reimbursement for every single mileage trip that you want to put in 

there. 

So those Members who want to do that can do it. And I will give 

you an example. When the travel subsistence category came into effect a few years ago, while I was a financial administrator for a 

Member, I chose not to use that category. So the statement of disbursements for the Member that I worked for still was broken 

down into the categories that we are going to get to by the time 

the next legislative year starts. That will add, along with the transparency, sortable, transparent documents that are going to be posted online, will give more transparency to what we do in our Member offices. 

So the security issue is real. If somebody isn’t concerned about 

that, you can disclose whatever you want on each individual document submission now. I would urge those Members who feel that 

that is important to do so. And in the end, I will vote no on this 

amendment, but, again, it isn’t through a lack of appreciation for 

what we were able to accomplish overall. 

And thanks again. I yield back. 

The CHAIRMAN. Any other members wish to be recognized to 

speak on the amendment? 

Mrs. Comstock. 

Mrs. COMSTOCK. Thank you. 

Madam Chairman, I too appreciate all the hard work that the 

Committee has done. And I just wanted to recommend, as the Committee is looking through how we can do the sorting and have the 

transparency that we want and really provide the picture in a better way, Virginia has a system that is called the Virginia—it is 

vpap.org, is the Web site. It is Access Project. And what it does is 

it takes all the submissions that we have—this is on the political 


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side, but it would be easily applicable for our MRA—when we submit those documents they are almost immediately able to put them 

up. And they have a much better sorting system than I have seen 

on any of the Federal databases that look at our campaign disbursements. 

And this is done privately by just a couple of guys. They are privately supported. They are a great resource. And so I would just 

recommend that the Committee take a look at it. It is vpap.org, vp-a-p.org. And that Web site is a great model for transparency. Because I know when I put my records in, I actually can see how everything is sorted and how it is spent better than we can do almost 

ourselves internally. They do it that well. 

Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Thank you for those comments. 

Any other members wish to speak to this amendment? If there 

are no more comments, we will vote on the gentlelady’s amendment. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlelady 

to the resolution. 

All those in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. 

All opposed, signify by saying nay. 

In the opinion of the chair, the nays have it and the amendment 

is not agreed to. 

Ms. LOFGREN. Could I have a recorded vote, Madam Chair? 

The CHAIRMAN. There is a recorded vote requested. And the clerk 

will call the roll. 

The CLERK. Mr. Harper? 

Mr. HARPER. Nay. 

The CLERK. Mr. Harper votes nay. 

Mr. Nugent? 

Mr. NUGENT. No. 

The CLERK. Mr. Nugent votes no. 

Mr. Davis? 

Mr. DAVIS. No. 

The CLERK. Mr. Davis votes no. 

Mrs. Comstock? 

Mrs. COMSTOCK. No. 

The CLERK. Mrs. Comstock votes no. 

Mr. Walker? 

Mr. WALKER. No. 

The CLERK. Mr. Walker votes no. 

Mr. Brady? 

Mr. BRADY. Yes. 

The CLERK. Mr. Brady votes yes. 

Ms. Lofgren? 

Ms. LOFGREN. Yes. 

The CLERK. Ms. Lofgren votes yes. 

Mr. Vargas? 

Mr. VARGAS. Aye. 

The CLERK. Mr. Vargas votes aye. 

Chairman Miller? 

The CHAIRMAN. No. 

The CLERK. Chairman Miller votes no. 

The CHAIRMAN. In the opinion of the chair, the nays have it. The 

amendment is not agreed to. 


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Are there any other amendments? If not, I would move that the 

Committee adopt the Committee resolution. The question is on the 

motion to adopt the resolution. 

All those in favor, signify by saying aye. 

All those opposed, say nay. 

In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, the ayes have it, 

and the motion is agreed to. 

Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. 

I would ask, first of all, unanimous consent that a joint explanation statement of today’s resolution as it relates to the changes 

to the Member’s handbook be entered into the record. Without objection, so ordered. 

[The information follows:] 


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smartinez on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with HEARINSGInsert offset folio 46 here 97426A.009
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The CHAIRMAN. For all the matters that the Committee has considered today, I would also ask UC that the staff be authorized to 

make any technical and conforming changes if necessary. Without 

objection, so ordered. 

As we conclude today’s markup, I just want to say again I know 

there was a lot of comment about sometimes things happening in 

Congress and Congress doesn’t take the correct action. But I think 

what you saw today is really a very good government, a very good 

government. This is important, I think, that the people of America 

see that the Congress is reacting to things that happen, that we 

are very, very desirous of having full transparency of how we utilize taxpayers’ finances. 

Again, in a time of sometimes people say that, you know, the two 

parties can’t work together, I think what has just happened here 

today shows that actually the two parties can work together in a 

very, very good way. As we always call this the people’s House, I 

think the people were very well served today by this resolution. 

And again, this won’t be the end of it. This Committee always is 

taking a look at what we are doing. Always the largest room is the 

room for improvement. 

Mr. DAVIS. Will the gentlelady yield very quickly? 

The CHAIRMAN. Absolutely I will yield. 

Mr. DAVIS. In the midst of all of this, trying to make sure we got 

these changes through, I forgot to thank, and I think most of us 

forgot to thank the hard work that our staffs on both sides of the 

aisle did in helping to make this a reality today. So I would like 

to submit a congratulations to each of them for all the hard work 

that they put in. And my apologies for unfortunately waiting until 

the end of the hearing. 

Ms. LOFGREN. I would like to join in that thanks for both staffs. 

The CHAIRMAN. I would join in that as well. I know that on our 

side and on the other side the staffs did put a tremendous amount 

of hours into this work product. So it has been a truly, as I say, 

bipartisan, team effort. Something I think we can all take a lot of 

pride in, most importantly, the people that we serve. 

With that, this concludes today’s markup. Without objection, this 

meeting is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:57 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 


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