Date: 2005-04-27
Speaker: ZOE LOFGREN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I strongly support the House Committee Funding Resolution for the 109th Congress as approved by the House Administration Committee on Thursday. April 21. 2005. This Resolution assures that the Minority will be treated fairly in regard to both committee budgets and staff. It abides by the 2/31/3 principle in which the Minority receives 1/3 of the staff. 1/3 of the budget. and control over that budget. It is my understanding that every Chair and Ranking Member in the House have come to an agreement on their individual budgets. and all treat the Minority in a fair and respectful way. I commend Chairman NEY and Ranking Member MILLENDERMCDONALD for their hard work on this Resolution. During Markup of the Committee Funding Resolution. Congresswoman MILLENDERMcDONALD offered an amendment regarding House Committees use of the Frank. Under this amendment. Committees will be limited to a $5.000 franking budget per year. and Committees will need to abide by. and receive apr- proval from. the House Franking Commission n for any mass mailings. This is an important g proposal that I strongly support. This amendh ment assures that House Committees will only - use the Frank for official purposes. and stem the questionable franking practices that devel4 oped at the end of the 108th Congress. Finally. I must comment on the controversy - surrounding the budget of the Resources - Committee during the 108th Congress. My colleague Chairman NEY was elected to - Congress in 1994. the same year as me. As you will recall. 1994 was the year that the Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. Led by Newt Gingrich. the incoming memr bers of the House promoted the Contract with America. The Contract promised that under Republican rule. the House would pass a number of resolutions and bills within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress. One of the promises made by the Republicans was to pass a resolution on the first day of the 104th Congress that would provide for the selection of a major. independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste. fraud or abuse. Republicans were concerned that tax dollars were being misspent by the House of Representatives. Chairman NEY signed the Contract with America. and I can only assume that he supported this provision. It seems odd to me now that a little over 10 years later. my friend BOB NEY and his Republican colleagues do not seem to have the same zeal for investigating waste. fraud and abuse here in the House. During the Committee Funding Resolution hearings in March. I posed several questions about the budget and policies of the Resources Committee during the 108th Congress to Resources Committee Chairman RICHARD POMBO. On October 6. 2004. The Hill reported that Chairman POMBO planned to close the Resources Committee for a month leading up to the November 2004 elections. It went on to state that the staff would receive a month of vacation time and Chairman POMBOs spokesman stated ontherecord that some staff may choose to go and work on campaigns during their time off. During the hearing. I posed several questions about the vacation policy of the Resources Committee to Chairman POMBo and gave him the opportunity to clear up the confusion about the events leading up to the 2004 elections. Chairman POMBO welcomed the opportunity to address the issue. He answered some of my questions at the hearing. and said he would need to get back to the Committee regarding others. In an effort to get to the bottom of this issue and clear up any confusion. I put my questions in writing for Chairman POMBo. The record. at the direction of Chairman NEY. was held open so Chairman POMBO could respond to the House Administration Committee within 30 days. Chairman POMBO did respond to some. but not all. of my questions in writing on Both Chairman NEY and representatives of 1 Chairman POMBO have categorized these ordinary and routine inquiries as something extraordinary. Mr. POMBOs spokesman has actu- t ally compared me to Senator Joseph McCarthy. While I find that comment to be a bit weird. I am prepared to state unequivocally that I do not believe Chairmen POMBO or NEY are communists! So the record is totally clear. I have included in the Committee Report accompanying this resolution all of the correspondence between myself. Chairman NEY and Chairman POMBO on this issue as well as the transcript of our discussion at the committee hearing. This report should be posted on the House Administration Committee Web site. I will also note that at this time. Chairman POMBo has still not answered all of my written questions. It is the job of the House Administration Committee to oversee all operations of the House of Representatives. including the approval of taxpayerfunded committee budgets. Under this Committee Funding Resolution. the Resources Committee will receive a 7.5 increase in their operating budget in the 109th Congress. It is only appropriate that the House Administration Committee confirm that the money spent by the Resources Committee during the 108th Congress was done so in a proper way. Chairman POMBO still has the ability to quickly clear up this confusion. I remain hopeful that Chairman POMBO will take the time to answer all the written questions in detail about the policies and practices of the Resources Committee to reassure that tax dollars are being spent in a legal. fair. and ethical manner. Chairman NEY. signers the Contract with America. and anyone else that believes in good government. should demand nothing less.