[House Hearing, 109 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
=======================================================================
BUSINESS MEETING
before the
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, FEBRUARY 9, 2005
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
99-621 WASHINGTON : 2005
_________________________________________________________________
For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government
Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free
(866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail
Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION
BOB NEY, Ohio, Chairman
VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan JUANITA MILLENDER-McDONALD,
JOHN L. MICA, Florida California
JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California Ranking Minority Member
THOMAS M. REYNOLDS, New York ROBERT BRADY, Pennsylvania
CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan ZOE LOFGREN, California
Professional Staff
Paul Vinovich, Staff Director
George Shevlin, Minority Staff Director
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2005
House of Representatives,
Committee on House Administration,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 9:45 a.m., in Room
1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Robert W. Ney
[chairman of the committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Ney, Ehlers, Mica, Doolittle,
Reynolds, Miller, Millender-McDonald, and Brady.
Also present: Representative Hoyer.
Staff present: Jeff Janas, Professional Staff Member; Fred
Hay, General Counsel; Paul Vinovich, Staff Director; George
Shevlin, Minority Staff Director; Charles Howell, Minority
Chief Counsel; Matt Pinkus, Minority Professional Staff Member;
and Tom Hicks, Minority Professional Staff Member.
The Chairman. The Committee will come to order.
Today the Committee on House Administration is holding its
first hearing of the 109th Congress and will be adopting our
committee rules and oversight plan for the 109th Congress. In
addition, time permitting, we will be voting to report a
resolution favorably to the House dismissing an election
contest arising from the Sixth Congressional District of
Tennessee.
Before I proceed any further, I would like to take a moment
to welcome all of our members of the committee for this
Congress and congratulate our new Ranking Member, the
Congresswoman from California, Juanita Millender-McDonald. And
she is no stranger to the committee. She has been on the
committee. And she and I share expectations for a productive
Congress, and I look forward to working with our new Ranking
Member on a lot of important issues, and welcome.
Ms. Millender-McDonald. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, so much.
And let me thank you for the call that you made to me upon my
appointment to this post, and it was very gracious for you to
do that. I also would like to thank our esteemed leader, the
Honorable Nancy Pelosi, for appointing me. I think it fits
right in with her strong leadership and her total commitment to
diversity. And I thank all of the members with whom I have had
the pleasure to work with in the capacity as a member and look
forward to working with you just one seat over. Thank you so
much.
The Chairman. Also would be remiss if I didn't note we have
had two previous Ranking Members, Congressmen Larson and Hoyer.
They were wonderful to work with, and very pleased to have you
also.
Ms. Millender-McDonald. May I please say for the record
that I follow behind very large shoes, literally, but
nonetheless extremely effective, in Mr. Hoyer and then Mr.
Larson. And I will miss him, but he did extraordinary work, and
I am going to see if I can follow in his footsteps.
Mr. Ehlers. If I may, Mr. Chairman, I have worked with Ms.
Millender-McDonald on other committees, plus we have a personal
friendship, and I can assure you you won't be able to fill
their shoes because you are far too petite for that, but you
will more than fill the job, and I am very pleased to see you
in this position and looking forward to working with you.
The Chairman. Speaking of Michigan, I want to extend an
enthusiastic welcome to our newest member, the gentlewoman from
Michigan, Mrs. Candice Miller. And even as an Ohio State
graduate, I am happy to have you on this committee. But it is a
pleasure having you. And also if people aren't aware, not only
is she one of the great Members of the House, but her past
background and knowledge of elections as a secretary of state
is a real addition to this committee. Welcome.
Mrs. Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly
appreciate the invitation to serve on this distinguished
committee. This committee has a high degree of respect and
regard on both sides of the aisle. In my background as a former
Secretary of State, I am delighted that we will be taking up
the subject of HAVA, but I also had a lot of administrative
kinds of responsibilities in my background as well. So with the
kind of high degree of respect that this committee has earned,
being very even-handed and running the mechanics of the House,
it is something I have a great deal of interest in, and
certainly with the respect that you have, Mr. Chairman,
throughout the Chamber, I am really looking forward to serving
on this committee. Thank you.
The Chairman. Of course, returning to the committee, most
of our Republican members--Mr. Linder is on another committee,
and we appreciate Mr. Linder's service. We have Congressman
Ehlers from Michigan, Congressman Mica from Florida,
Congressman Doolittle from California and Congressman Tom
Reynolds from New York. Certainly last, but certainly not
least, on the Minority side, the honorable gentleman from
Pennsylvania Mr. Brady is returning, and we are happy to have
him.
So we are really pleased to have all the members, and we
are still waiting one more additional appointment for the
Minority side, and when that occurs, we will look forward to
welcoming that member as well.
Ms. Millender-McDonald. One or two appointments?
The Chairman. At least for the 109th there is one more.
I look forward to working with all of you during the next 2
years and the important work that we have. In addition to our
responsibilities of campaign election jurisdiction, we have
already begun our work.
The primary responsibility of the Committee on House
Administration is to make sure that the House runs smoothly so
Members can better represent their constituents. I plan to
continue to work with the committee improving the tools and
technology that Members and staff have at their disposal. We
will look at ways that this committee can assist Members and
the committees of the House in better serving the people who
elect all of us to this institution.
As part of this effort, we are in the process of completing
a House-wide technology assessment, and that will provide a
framework from which this committee can direct and authorize
important changes in technology. And Mr. Ehlers a decade ago
led this charge here in Congress and has continued to do that.
But this assessment, I think, which has been done on a
bipartisan basis, is going to be very healthy for the House,
because if we can better improve our technology,we better serve
the constituency across the country that we represent.
In addition, let me emphasize that safety and security of
all who serve, work or visit this institution remain the
highest priority of this committee as we continue to build on
the many improvements since September 11 of 2001. This
committee prior to that spent a small amount of time on
security. That has been changed in our lives on the Hill, our
family has changed, but we owe it to protect the staff and the
visitors to this great institution so that security will
continue.
And at this time, also, I would like to conclude by
welcoming again our Ranking Member and see if you have some
remarks.
Ms. Millender-McDonald. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I
concur with your sentiments in that we have begun to do a lot
of things in terms of better Member services, advance
technology expansion, and there are many more things that we
will need to do. I look forward to working with you.
I have spoken with some of the department heads. I am
interested in looking at the perimeters around the Capitol and
the House offices to ensure that we will continue with the
security phase of the proposal we have before us.
I would like to extend my welcome to Mrs. Miller. It is
indeed a pleasure to have another woman seated here on this
dais, and we look forward to working with you as well.
Mr. Chairman, that is about it for me.
The Chairman. Any other remarks? If not, we will go onto
the business at hand.
Before we proceed with the adoption of the committee rules
and oversight plan, I do want to take the opportunity as a
final matter of old business to notify the committee that no
action was taken under interim authority requiring full
committee approval by the Chair. We will certainly bring all
the members and particularly our new Ranking Member completely
up to speed on all the matters currently pending before the
committee.
The Chair now lays before the committee the resolution
adopting the committee rules for the 109th Congress. The
committee rules presented only contain one change agreed to by
the Majority and the Minority from the rules which govern this
committee for the 108th Congress; that is to reflect a change
made to the House rules and include the rule which grants the
chairman the authority to offer a privileged motion to go or
agree to conference whenever deemed appropriate. This change
eliminates the need for a pro forma unanimous consent request.
Is there any discussion on this?
Ms. Millender-McDonald. Perhaps not on what you have said,
but I do have an amendment at the desk, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Gentlelady has an amendment at the desk, but
there is no objection?
Ms. Millender-McDonald. No.
The Chairman. And would the gentlelady like to explain her
amendment?
Ms. Millender-McDonald. I do have an amendment that was
previously circulated. This amendment seeks to provide an
opportunity for the Minority to inquire into unethical or
unlawful conduct by any senior agency official under the
jurisdiction of the committee. If adopted, the amendment would
add a 19th rule. This rule would apply and allow the Minority
to petition the Chair for a hearing on unethical and unlawful
conduct by a government official. If the hearing was not held
within a month of the request, then the Minority would have a
right to conduct such a hearing consistent with House rule X1,
clauses 11(2)(b) and (2)(c), and consistent with both committee
rules and House rules regarding notice and the compulsion of
testimony on the production of evidence.
Mr. Chairman, you have always been most accommodating of
the Minority's interests and concerns in the past, and we look
forward to our continued partnership in exploring what went
right and what went wrong in the 2004 election. Although the
situation is unlikely, particularly on this committee, my
amendment simply provides a means for the Minority to pursue a
concern which might not be of equal interest to the Chair. In
that unlikely event, the Minority could still pursue its
concern in a manner consistent with House rules and committee
rules.
And so, Mr. Chairman, I requested the Office of the
Parliamentarian to review my language and have been assured
that nothing in my amendment is inconsistent with House rules.
So I yield to you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Even though I don't agree with the amendment,
it is germane, and I recognize that. Speaking to the
gentlewoman's amendment, I would like to say I do appreciate
your point of view and your serious nature of the amendment. I
can't agree to its adoption, but I would notice a longstanding
prerogative of the Majority when Democrats were in charge of
the Chamber, now under the Republicans, to call for and conduct
hearings appropriate to the jurisdiction of this committee and
not to be put in a position to be forced by the Minority to
conduct a hearing. That has been longstanding.
I will say that is the intention, of this chairman and this
Majority to conduct thorough oversight over the agencies under
the jurisdiction of this committee, and we have actually done
it--I can site examples with the Smithsonian, the controversy
at the zoo and the outcome of that, and we did address that
issue head on. I would expect nothing short of full
participation and opportunity by the Minority to conduct a
vigorous examination of the issues as part of the process, and
that should be the way it is done.
In addition, I would like to remind the Minority, pursuant
to the House rules and the rules of this committee now before
us, adoption of proposed committee rule 9(c) specifically
provides, as it has in the past Congresses, the following, and
I would like to read it: When any hearing is conducted by the
committee upon any measure or matter, the Minority party
members on the committee shall be entitled, and it is a shall,
upon request to the Chair by a majority of those Minority
members, before the completion of such hearing, to call
witnesses selected by the Minority to testify with respect to
that measure or matter during at least 1 day of hearings.
So there is something built into the rules. The purpose of
that rule is to protect, frankly, the rights of the Minority
and their ability to fully examine the issues in hearing before
the committee.
I appreciate the seriousness with which you approach this.
I can't agree to support it, but I think inherent is the
ability of the Minority to call witnesses, and I do assure you
as issues come up, even though I am not going to support this,
we will be very sensitive to pursuing anything that occurs.
Is there any further discussion on it? Mr. Mica?
Mr. Mica. I have been through two chairmen on the Majority
side and three Ranking Members, and while I think I see some of
the attempt--the intent from the Minority in formalizing a rule
such as you have proposed here, I really don't think it is
necessary.
I look back to the days of the Hoyer-Thomas reign, and I
felt like I was a referee in a food fight, but we have come a
long way, and Mr. Larson operated, I think, with the Majority.
We have important responsibilities, and I don't think it is
necessary, in fact, to formalize. And if it was a different
situation, I might even agree with the Minority, but I think
working together and actually respecting the rights of the
Minority not just with this formalized petition process, but at
any time that there should be an investigation or review when
the Ranking Member and the full committee Chair decide that and
work together, I think both sides benefit from that type of a
system.
So I will reluctantly oppose that, but I do rely on the
good faith, I think, of our Chair and the Ranking Member to
bring these issues, these investigative matters forward and
then decide, and pledge also if you don't get that support--I
was in the Minority. I am part of the Majority now, Vern was,
too, and I saw abuse. And I wouldn't--I have always used that
as the model you don't want. And that is a cooperative effort
particularly on this committee.
I will oppose the amendment with that caveat to respect the
right of the Minority to call for investigations and to proceed
as we should on any matters that you feel are of vital interest
to the committee and the Congress and the country. Thank you.
The Chairman. Any other comments? Questions on the
amendment?
Those in favor of the amendment will say aye.
Those opposed will say nay. Nay.
The amendment has failed.
Recognize Mr. Ehlers for the purpose of offering a motion
to adopt the rules.
Mr. Ehlers. Mr. Chairman, I move that the resolution
adopting the committee rules for the 109th Congress be
approved.
The Chairman. Question is on the motion. Those in favor of
the motion will say aye.
Those opposed will say nay. Nay.
The motion is agreed to, and the committee rules of the
109th Congress are approved.
The Chair now lays before the committee a resolution
adopting the oversight plan for the 109th Congress. The
committee oversight plan presented contains revisions proposed
by both the Minority and the Majority to reflect changes to our
oversight priorities primarily to reflect the continued need to
focus on the security of the Capitol complex as well as changes
to the section related to our jurisdiction in Federal election
law. In addition, we have included new mention of our intention
to oversee issues relating to the continuity of Congress and
separation incentive programs or buyouts in the legislative
branch.
Any discussion on it? Mr. Ehlers?
Recognize Mr. Ehlers for the purpose of offering a motion.
Mr. Ehlers. Mr. Chairman, I move that the resolution
adopting the committee oversight plan for the 109th Congress be
approved.
The Chairman. Question is on the motion. Those in favor of
the motion will say aye.
Those opposed will say nay.
The motion is agreed to, and the committee oversight plan
for the 109th Congress is approved.
Mr. Ehlers. Mr. Chairman, if I may just be permitted to
reminisce. It is over 10 years now since I have come on this
committee, and in terms of the oversight that we have done
during that time, it is just remarkable the change that has
occurred in the House. And this is not meant to be a partisan
speech, but when we started reviewing the operation of the
House, the operation of the House officers, we ordered an
audit, an outside audit, the first time in the history of the
Congress. The books of the House had not been audited for 50
years internally and never externally. And the auditors came
back and said, we can't give an opinion because the books of
the House are in such a mess, we can't make sense of them.
And I was reminded of this recently when a reporter called
and asked me to review the progress of the last 10 years, and
that is one little story I told them. But when you look at the
internal operation of the House, we have really gone through a
major change from the good old boy system, the patronage
system, and keeping the books on ledger cards in pencil, I
might add, to a professionally run operation. And I think we
have to pat ourselves on the back a bit and certainly commend
the House, the Chief Administrative Officer and the employees
of the House, for the incredible degree of professionalism that
we enjoy today in the House.
And just a simple matter of the way vouchers are handled, I
mean, you were here at the time, too, and you recall, it might
take us 6 to 8 weeks to get reimbursed for our air travel.
Today it is 2 days after the voucher is submitted. And that is
one small example of the improvements that have been made.
I think this committee deserves a little pat on the back,
and I think the Members of the House do, too, for bringing the
House into the 21st century and developing computerized
financial accounting systems and really doing a good job
running the House. And I wanted to get that statement on the
record.
The Chairman. Thank the gentleman, and also note when I
came here a decade ago, Mr. Thomas became the chairman, and Mr.
Hoyer, there were some contentious arguments in the beginning
of how this structure was going to go, and it ended up at the
end of the day in a good way. Used to be you couldn't do
anything here. Nothing was allowed, and the Chair had to daily
do 200-some vouchers. It wasn't the way to continue on here.
And I think it gave Members a lot more ability and discretion
with their accounts and ability to service their constituents.
That is one of the changes, technology. I mean, when you
look back, I think there were a lot of changes that were
started and have continued to this day, and we may have
disagreements here and there, but I think the good thing about
this committee is that it respects the institution of the
House, and the Members have done that. And we will say our
peace and have our arguments, but the idea is that the Members
and the staff can better service the constituents across the
country. And with it, the new technology meanstens of thousands
or hundreds of thousands of people now can see the Congress as this is
broadcast today.
I think it is a lot of great changes, in the last 10 years,
but the gentleman is correct, and you have been a big part of
it, change doesn't come without a lot of work.
Ms. Millender-McDonald. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that
historical perspective, Mr. Ehlers, because it is important for
this committee to ensure that the Members have the capabilities
of reaching out beyond the scope of our own constituency. But
we have brought into this place advanced technology now that
really expands our interaction with the public. When I was out
on the campaign trail, there were many who said, ``we don't
have time to look at C-SPAN, but we can contact you with e-mail
and converse with you there.'' I think any time you are dealing
with the people's House, it should be as professional as it
should be, and I commend this committee for the work they have
done and the work we are setting out to do for the continuation
of that professionalism.
The Chairman. Thank the gentlelady.
Mr. Ehlers.
Mr. Ehlers. One quick comment on that, and that is perhaps
one of the biggest changes. When I came here, I was astounded
because I was familiar with computers and e-mail. It was easier
to e-mail Moscow or Timbuktu than to send an e-mail 20 feet
down the hall to a colleague. And as a result of what we have
done today, our e-mail in our office outnumbers our U.S. mail
about 5 or 8 to 1, and that is total turnaround. And we have
made House documents available to the public for the first
time, and so the average citizen can know as much as a paid
lobbyist. And I think those are important achievements.
The Chairman. Appreciate the Member's comments.
Our next item on the agenda is a resolution dismissing an
election contest arising from the Sixth Congressional District
from Tennessee. The clerk will read the motion.
The Clerk. Resolved: That the election contest relating to
the office of Representative from the Sixth Congressional
District of Tennessee is dismissed.
The Chairman. Chair recognizes the gentlelady from
California.
Ms. Millender-McDonald. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This is a bipartisan agreement that the election contest
relating to the Sixth District of Tennessee is completely
frivolous. This is the same contest by the same constituent and
minor candidate, making the same erroneous claims, which was
unanimously rejected by this committee and by the full House 2
years ago. It should be dismissed without wasting any
additional time. Therefore, I move that the committee order
reported favorably to the House an original resolution, the
text of which is before the members, to dismiss the election
contest from the Sixth District of Tennessee.
The Chairman. I would note that this is completely
frivolous and agree with the gentlelady.
And the question is on the motion. Those in favor of the
motion will say aye.
Those opposed will say nay.
Motion is agreed to, and the resolution dismissing the
election contest will be reported favorably to the House.
Again, I want to thank everybody for being here. We have
our brand new appointed member that has now arrived; is that
correct, Mr. Hoyer?
Mr. Hoyer. No, sir, but I appreciate the chairman allowing
me to sit in the seat of the unappointed member.
The Chairman. We just praised you quite a lot, so----
Mr. Hoyer. Sorry I was late.
Mr. Brady. I, too, would like to welcome the gentlelady
from Michigan. No disrespect to the returning members, but it
is good to see another lovely face on our committee.
The Chairman. Ms. Millender-McDonald.
Ms. Millender-McDonald. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Hoyer tends to
fill voids no matter where they are, so we are happy he is
filling the void this morning.
It is good to have you here, Mr. Whip.
The Chairman. I now ask unanimous consent that members have
7 legislative days to submit material into the record and for
those statements and materials to be entered into the
appropriate place in the record. Without objection, the
material will be so entered.
I also ask unanimous consent the staff be authorized to
make technical and conforming changes on all matters considered
by the committee at today's hearing. Without objection, so
ordered.
And having completed our business for this meeting, the
committee is hereby adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 10:08 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]