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66–135 2011

ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING 

MEETING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE 

ADMINISTRATION 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, JANUARY 25, 2011 

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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(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION 

DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California, Chairman 

GREG HARPER, Mississippi 

PHIL GINGREY, M.D., Georgia 

AARON SCHOCK, Illinois 

TODD ROKITA, Indiana 

RICHARD NUGENT, Florida 

ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania, Ranking 

Minority Member 

ZOE LOFGREN, California 

CHARLES GONZALEZ, Texas 

PROFESSIONAL STAFF

PHILIP KIKO, Staff Director 

JAMIE FLEET, Minority Staff Director 


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(1) 

ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2011 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, 

Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 2:45 p.m., in room 1310, 

Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Daniel E. Lungren (chairman of the committee) presiding. 

Present: Representatives Lungren, Harper, Gingrey, Schock, 

Nugent, Rokita, Brady, Lofgren, and Gonzalez. 

Staff Present: Phil Kiko, Staff Director & General Counsel; Peter 

Schaelstock, Deputy General Counsel; Kimani Little, Parliamentarian; Joe Wallace, Legislative Clerk; Yael Barash, Assistant Legislative Clerk; Salley Wood, Communications Director; Karin 

Moore, Elections Counsel; Jamie Fleet, Minority Staff Director; 

Kyle Andersen, Minority Press Secretary; and Matt Pinkus, Minority Parliamentarian. 

The CHAIRMAN. I would like to call to order the Committee on 

House Administration for its organizational meeting for the 112th 

Congress. A quorum of its members is present, so we may proceed. 

Given that this is our first meeting, I would like to thank everybody for coming here. I would like to thank my Democratic colleagues for being here in a timely fashion, and we will try and do 

the same thing for you. 

We don’t receive the limelight other committees do, but the work 

we do here is very important. A good portion of the work that we 

do here enables our colleagues and enables us to serve our constituents in effective and efficient ways, and that is an important 

job. What we do is absolutely vital to the proper functioning of this 

institution and our electoral system. 

So I want to welcome everybody here, particularly those who 

served on the committee before: Mr. Harper on my side; my ranking member; the gentlelady from California, with whom I serve on 

another committee and several other committees in the past; and 

the gentleman from Texas, the former judge, who I have to say was 

both accommodating, bipartisan and very fair when we had the 

consideration of a contested election just a couple of Congresses 

ago, and for that I am very pleased to see him on this committee. 

We have several new members on our side. Dr. Gingrey is joining 

us. He is a veteran in the Congress, but this is his first service on 

this committee. Mr. Schock, who has been with us a couple of 

terms here in the Congress, started as a mere child and is still 

here. 

Mr. SCHOCK. Still a child. 


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The CHAIRMAN. Still a child, who actually volunteered for this 

committee. He is very interested in helping us make this institution run. And Sheriff Nugent, a law enforcement officer and elected 

official from the State of Florida, who also was interested in serving on this committee. And we have one other that we are waiting 

for, but we can proceed, Mr. Rokita, who is the former secretary 

of State, that is the top elections officer, for the State of Indiana, 

also will be joining us in a moment. 

I just want to say that, in the last Congress, I was very privileged to be the ranking member serving with Mr. Brady, the chairman. He acted in a bipartisan fashion. We did not, I think, attempt 

to surprise each other. When we had disputes, we were very open 

about the disputes we had. In most cases, we worked very, very 

closely together, and I hope that we will have that opportunity at 

this time as well. The work of this committee is very, very important, and I am very pleased that we are here. 

Today, we have to do a number of things, including formally 

adopting our rules for the committee, formally adopting the subcommittees and the members on the subcommittees. And I would 

just like to say that we are going to have two subcommittees: one 

on Oversight and one on Elections. I thought, because of the importance of the security issue, that we keep that at the full committee 

so all members may participate in it. 

I have had conversations with many members, including most 

members on this panel. There are a lot of ideas out there, about 

what we should and can do, and I want to be very serious about 

that and proceed on a bipartisan basis on that as well. 

One of the things that I found from other members is a very serious concern about how we provide appropriate security in the district and the district offices, and that is one thing that I think that 

we should be very, very cognizant of. 

The one area where I find that we do find some divergent points 

of view based on our party is in the area of election law, but I think 

there are probably some areas where we can get some agreement 

there as well. And if we have disagreements, we will deal with 

them openly, and we will have opportunity for discussion and opportunity for debate and opportunity for amendment as well. 

And so, with that, I would like to invite my ranking member, Mr. 

Brady, to give any comments he may have. 

Mr. BRADY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Just real quickly, you already introduced our returning members. 

I thank them for their service in the past and look forward to, 

again, their service in the future, especially Ms. Lofgren, who I understand now is not on the Ethics Committee any longer—but did 

an outstanding job, and it is good to have you back here with me. 

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate you. I appreciate your fairness. You 

went right down the line, almost to the square foot, on the onethird/two-thirds with the office space. And I appreciate the money, 

the finances. You went right down the two-thirds/one thirds with 

that, and I do appreciate that. And I appreciate you. I appreciate 

your friendship, your decency, and I look forward to working along 

with you, as you have with me in the last 4 years. 

Also for the new members, this is a committee that helps people. 

We don’t want to help them get in trouble; we want to help them 


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before they get in trouble. We like to work that way. The Chairman 

and I always did that. If there is anything we can do, we will bend 

over backwards to put you on the right path. We have a great staff, 

both minority and majority, that we instruct to do that. 

So, this is a Members’ committee, and you are fortunate to have 

a chairman that knows that, and I think I know that, too, and we 

will continue to go forward with that. 

So, again, thank you, and I look forward to a good productive 

couple of years with you at the head. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Ranking Member and 

former chairman. 

I would say one of the bits of counsel I have given to the freshmen Members is to contact The House Administration Committee, 

and in many ways, that will avoid the House Ethics Committee 

from contacting you. We do try and explain what is allowable 

under the Rules and how that is effectuated by Members’ proper 

use of their MRAs, as well as the questions we have on committees 

and other things. So we do strive to do that. 

Mr. BRADY. Just one other thing. It is private. It will be private. 

It will be confidential. If there is something you think you are 

going down the wrong path, we keep it private. We keep it confidential, because it could be one of us one day. 

The CHAIRMAN. I know some other members have to go to some 

other committee meetings. We have just a small bit of official business here. But prior to that, I would ask if any members, either 

veterans of this committee or new members, have anything to say. 

All right. With that, I would like to consider the Resolution 112– 

1, committee rules. 

[The information follows:] 


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The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Rule XI, Clause 2, the Committee on House Administration shall adopt written rules governing its procedure. The proposed rules for the committee are 

found in Committee Resolution 112–1, which all members have 

been given a copy of. 

The rules are similar to the rules adopted by this committee during the last Congress with just a few changes. The changes have 

been made to conform our committee rules to the House Rules, as 

amended in this Congress. 

Most of the changes provide for greater transparency. For example, they specify that documents must be posted on the committee’s 

Web site. They provide for 3 days notice of committee meetings. 

They require that the text of any legislation to be considered at a 

meeting be posted 24 hours in advance. They also require that any 

amendments adopted at a meeting be posted online within 24 

hours. And they reflect the change in our subcommittee structure. 

We worked with the minority to prepare these rules, and we appreciate their input. And we made some changes in accordance 

where their input. Overall, I think that these changes provide for 

greater transparency in the operation of the committee and hope 

that members will support them. 

So at this time I would ask whether there are any amendments 

to the resolution? 

If not, I would call for the vote. And I ask for all members who 

are in favor of adopting the resolution to signify by saying aye. 

Any opposed? 

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

is adopted, and so ordered. 

As noted in Rule no. 16 of the Rules of the Committee on House 

Administration for the 112th Congress, there shall be two standing 

subcommittees of this committee. The names and jurisdictions of 

the subcommittees shall be, number one, the Subcommittee on 

Elections, which will deal with matters pertaining to election law, 

including the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Federal Contested Elections Act, and the Help America Vote Act; number two, 

the Subcommittee on Oversight, which shall deal with matters pertaining to the operations of the Library of Congress, the Architect 

of the Capitol, the Capitol Visitor Center, the Chief Administrative 

Officer, the Government Printing Office, and the House Inspector 

General, among others. 

Committee Resolution 112–2 appoints members to the subcommittees as follows: On the Subcommittee on Elections, Representative Harper will be the chair and the other Republicans will 

be Representatives Gingrey, Nugent and Rokita. Representative 

Lofgren will be the ranking member. Representative Gonzalez will 

also be on the subcommittee— 

Ms. LOFGREN. No. 

The CHAIRMAN. Okay. Representative Robert Brady from Pennsylvania and Representative Charles Gonzalez, with Mr. Brady 

being the ranking member on the subcommittee. 

The Subcommittee on Oversight: Representative Gingrey from 

Georgia will be the chairman. The other members will be Representative Schock and Representative Nugent and Representative 

Rokita on the Republican side. Zoe Lofgren, as I understand it, will 


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be the ranking member on that subcommittee, and Mr. Gonzalez 

will be the other member on that subcommittee. 

Are there any amendments to the resolution or discussion on the 

resolution? 

Hearing none, I would ask members who are in favor of adopting 

the resolution to signify by saying aye. 

Any opposed? 

Hearing none, it is so ordered. 

Pursuant House Rule X, Clause 2 and Clause 4, the Committee 

on House Administration shall conduct oversight of matters within 

its jurisdiction. Rule X, Clause 2(d) further states that no later 

than February 15th of the first session of Congress, this committee 

shall adopt an oversight plan for that Congress. The proposed oversight plan for the 112th Congress is found in Committee Resolution 

112–3, which has been distributed to all members. 

This year’s oversight agenda will focus on identifying and reducing wasteful spending within House operations by increasing operational efficiency and attempting to streamline various House technology initiatives. Members’ services and franking regulations will 

also be a high priority for the committee as we work to simplify 

procedures and provide guidance on how Members can effectively 

communicate with their constituents, particularly as it pertains to 

the use of social media and emerging technologies. 

And I have been encouraged by discussions that have already 

taken place between our two sides on that, and I think we can resolve some of these issues and make it work more efficiently and 

also make it easier for the Members to understand what they can 

or cannot do. Making things Member-friendly is very important, 

and that is part of our overall oversight agenda. 

The committee will also work with the agencies under our direct 

oversight by establishing best practices to improve their services to 

the House community, as well as the millions of constituents visiting each year. These agencies include the Office of Chief Administrative Officer, Architect of the Capitol, House Inspector General, 

Clerk of the House, Sergeant at Arms, the Library of Congress, 

Smithsonian Institute, the Government Printing Office, and the 

United States Capitol Police. 

Again, I would ask if there are any comments or amendments to 

this resolution. 

Hearing none, I would ask for the vote. 

I ask for all members who are in favor of adopting the resolution 

to signify by saying aye. 

Any opposed? 

Hearing none, it is so ordered. 

Now, the nitty-gritty. The resolution on the parking policy. Pursuant to House Rule X, Clause 1, the Committee on House Administration has jurisdiction over the parking facilities used by Members, staff and authorized personnel of the House of Representatives. The text of the proposed parking policy for the 112th Congress is found in Committee Resolution 112–4. 

I do want to thank the minority for their consultation, their suggestions and bipartisan work on the parking policy. Further, I want 

to thank House Parking Security for working with the committee 

to develop the policy. 


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We added just a few words to make clear, for instance, if you are 

here for the President’s State of the Union address and your spouse 

drives in with another car, we want to make it clear that that is 

appropriate that both cars could be parked at the same time; And, 

if a Member has his car parked here while we are on a district 

work period, that does not constitute storage under our rules. I just 

want to make sure that Members know exactly what they can or 

cannot do. 

Are there any amendments to the resolution or any comments on 

the resolution? 

Hearing none, I would ask for all members who are in favor of 

adopting the resolution to signify by saying aye. 

Any opposed? 

Hearing none, it is so ordered. 

That concludes the official business that we have, and if anyone 

has something for the good of the order, it would be heard now. 

If not, I want to thank everybody for their attendance here. I 

meant what I said about the bipartisan nature of this committee. 

We have a lot of work to do. And I want to thank everybody for 

their indications of sincerity and enthusiasm for the work that we 

have to do. 

With that, this committee meeting is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:00 p.m., the committee was adjourned.] 


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