[House Hearing, 112 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
MARKUP OF H. RES. 496, THE COMMITTEE FUNDING RESOLUTION; COMMITTEE
RESOLUTION 112-9, STANDARDS FOR THE ELECTRONIC POSTING OF HOUSE AND
COMMITTEE DOCUMENTS AND DATA; AND COMMITTEE RESOLUTION 112-10, MEMBERS'
CONGRESSIONAL HANDBOOK
=======================================================================
MEETING
before the
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE
ADMINISTRATION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
Held in Washington, DC, December 16, 2011
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration
Available on the Internet:
www.fdsys.gov
_____
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COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION
DANIEL E. LUNGREN, California, Chairman
GREGG HARPER, Mississippi ROBERT A. BRADY, Pennsylvania,
PHIL GINGREY, M.D., Georgia Ranking Minority Member
AARON SCHOCK, Illinois ZOE LOFGREN, California
TODD ROKITA, Indiana CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas
RICHARD B. NUGENT, Florida
Professional Staff
Philip Kiko, Staff Director & General Counsel
Jamie Fleet, Minority Staff Director
MARKUP OF H. RES. 496, THE COMMITTEE FUNDING RESOLUTION; COMMITTEE
RESOLUTION 112-9, STANDARDS FOR THE ELECTRONIC POSTING OF HOUSE AND
COMMITTEE DOCUMENTS AND DATA; AND COMMITTEE RESOLUTION 112-10, MEMBERS'
CONGRESSIONAL HANDBOOK
----------
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2011
House of Representatives,
Committee on House Administration,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:40 a.m., in room
1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Daniel E. Lungren
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Lungren, Harper, Gingrey, Rokita,
Nugent, Brady, and Gonzalez.
Staff Present: Phil Kiko, Staff Director and General
Counsel; Peter Schalestock, Deputy General Counsel; Kimani
Little, Parliamentarian; Joe Wallace, Legislative Clerk; Yael
Barash, Assistant Legislative Clerk; Salley Wood,
Communications Director; Linda Ulrich, Director of Oversight;
Dominic Storelli, Oversight Staff; Bob Sensenbrenner, Elections
Counsel; Karin Moore, Elections Counsel; George Hadjiski,
Director of Member Services; Richard Cappetto, Professional
Staff; Jamie Fleet, Minority Staff Director; Matt Pinkus,
Minority Senior Policy Analyst; Matt Defreitas, Minority
Professional Staff; and Greg Abbott, Minority Professional
Staff.
The Chairman. I now call to order the Committee on House
Administration for today's committee markup. A quorum is
present, so we may proceed.
Today we will consider two items--actually, three items.
The first will be H. Res. 496, the House Committee Funding
Resolution; secondly, a committee resolution on the new House-
wide electronic posting standards; and, third, consideration of
the revised Members' Congressional Handbook.
H. Res. 496 is a resolution authorizing committee funding
levels for the second session of the 112th Congress. Last
month, this committee held a full-day hearing at which we heard
from nearly every chair and ranking member. As some may recall,
with the agreement of Mr. Brady when he was chairman, we
started a process by which committee chairmen and ranking
members appeared before our committee on an annual basis to
talk about their budgets, rather than just once every 2 years.
During the hearing that we had this year, we discussed how
each committee absorbed the 5 percent budget reduction
implemented at the beginning of the 112th Congress and how, as
we continue to reduce government spending, they will manage
additional reductions for this next year. Listening to the 19
House committees that testified provided important insight into
their needs in serving this institution and in its role of
oversight.
As I have mentioned before, as chairman of the Committee on
House Administration, I certainly understand the challenges of
stretching committee resources. However, as the representative
of California's Third District, where constituents are
continuing to struggle to make ends meet, where we have a 12.4
percent unemployment rate, I appreciate every committee's
willingness to do more with less.
This resolution, matching authorization levels with the
reduced funding levels, required us to make extremely difficult
decisions. Most committees will be faced with tremendous
oversight responsibilities in the year 2012. Particularly
daunting will be Armed Services' charge of managing the
automatic sequestration of $600 billion in defense funding
triggered by the Budget Control Act superimposed over the
already-existing cuts that were mandated by previous votes.
In addition to Armed Services, the Ethics Committee, tasked
with the thankless job, I would say, of holding Members and
staff to the highest ethical standards, has requested, and will
receive under this resolution, a reprieve from authorization
reductions.
To offset these exceptions, we have identified and reduced
the authorization of budget committees that we feel are able,
even though it is difficult, to absorb a slightly larger
reduction in 2012. In addition to ourselves, that is the
Committee on House Administration; the Committee on Science,
Space, and Technology; and the Committee on Small Business, who
will receive slightly higher reductions than the 6.4 percent
cut applied to the remaining House committees. Provided that
their needs may change throughout the year, we can always
consider future funding resolutions.
Again, this process did require difficult decisions, and I
want to thank each member of the committee for their
cooperation and each of the committees for their cooperation.
Our second item for consideration is the committee
resolution on House-wide electronic posting standards that will
vastly improve public access to House and committee documents.
Effective January 1, 2012, these standards require the
Clerk of the House to establish and maintain a centralized Web
site where the public can access all House bills, amendments,
and resolutions for floor consideration in XML, an open,
searchable format. These standards also instruct the Clerk to
establish additional functionality on the centralized site to
support committee documents posted in XML.
With the adoption of these standards, for the first time
the public will have easy access to searchable information on
pending and adopted legislation. It is our hope that this
enhanced access will increase constituent feedback on
legislative initiatives and ultimately improve the legislative
process.
We would certainly like to thank the Clerk of the House and
each committee for their assistance and cooperation throughout
this process. And I look forward to identifying ways to further
increase transparency.
And then the third matter that we will bring up is the
Members' Congressional Handbook. This has been a project of
some duration, in which we have received active participation
by the minority side. We have incorporated a number of their
suggestions in the changes that have been made in the handbook.
We think we make it much more understandable to Members. There
is greater specificity. It is consistent with the statutes and
House rules. It updates all references to those, the offices
and phone numbers.
Substantive changes: We didn't think the franking
regulation should be in the handbook, that it ought to be in a
separate handbook. The town hall section has been updated to
reflect technological changes. The Web site section has been
updated to reflect technological changes. To make it very
specific so that Members know, food is permitted for two
legislative planning sessions for Members' offices. The
security portion has been rewritten in light of the new
security concerns. Representational programs have been
identified and added.
We clear up the question about whether Members or their
staff, under extraordinary circumstances, like a bad snowstorm
that would not allow people to return to their residences in
this area, whether those kinds of costs could be reimbursed.
Under extraordinary circumstances, that would be allowed with
written authorization from the committee. And then we
specifically identify the categories where advance payments can
be made, payments from one year to the next.
We think these are all good changes that will allow easier
understanding of what the rules are, allow Members to ensure
that they abide by the rules, and to give direction both to
committees and staff when future questions come up.
And so I would like to thank my colleagues for being here
today.
And I would now recognize the ranking member, Mr. Brady,
for any opening statement he may wish to give.
Mr. Brady. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I oppose this unprecedented committee
defunding resolution, which will reduce committee budgets by an
average of 6.4 percent during the second session. The cut comes
9 months after committees had already received their budgets
for the entire 112th Congress in House Resolution 147,
following the 5 percent cut in total House fundings.
As we heard testimony during our recent follow-up on
oversight hearings, additional sudden budget cuts undermine the
House's basic legislative and oversight functions. We should
listen to the testimony from our colleagues where many of them
said they cannot afford these cuts.
We should also recognize that the original 5 percent cut
was sufficient. Staff now will have to be dismissed on some
committees, if this resolution passes, without any rationale or
notice. And the Democratic minority will bear the brunt of this
cut. As you know, when you took over control of the House, you
now have two-thirds of all the committee staff and we went from
two-thirds down to one-third. We had to make our cuts, and that
is the way it works, and we understand that. But now they will
have to take another additional cut after a cut before.
And that is why I am going to offer an amendment. I am just
hoping that some of our committees can be resourceful enough to
try to make do with these cuts without having to lay off any
additional staff. It is not their fault. I think and I am sure
that you agree with me and everybody else here agrees that we
have great staff here. I know I could not function without my
staff.
And we do have a barebones staff now. I do recognize and
understand the fact that--it is not underestimated that we have
to do some kind of cutting somewhere. We have already shown
that. And I just hope that we don't do it to the detriment of
how we can function in this House.
So, Mr. Chairman, with that, I urge my colleagues to defeat
this resolution.
The Chairman. I thank the gentleman for his comments,
although I may disagree with him.
And I do just want to say for the record that the ranking
member has been very open about his positions on this but also
very cooperative in tough decisions that we have had to make.
All Members are reminded that they have an opportunity to
put a statement in the record, if they wish.
The Chairman. And I would now call up and lay before the
committee House Resolution 496 to adjust the amount provided
for the expenses of certain committees.
Without objection, the bill will be considered as read and
open for amendment at any point.
[The bill follows:]
The Chairman. Are there any amendments to the resolution?
Mr. Brady. Mr. Chairman?
The Chairman. Yes?
Mr. Brady. I would like to offer an amendment to the
resolution.
The Chairman. The gentleman is recognized for that.
Mr. Brady. I would like to offer an amendment to provide
the opportunity for committee staff to receive their salaries
for up to 60 days if they are dismissed as a result of passage
of this resolution.
This is a common practice in the private sector and a lot
of other--and all sectors of people that, when they do get laid
off, especially at city, State, Federal, that they do provide
this.
The amendment is a modified version of House Resolution
1104, brought to the floor at the end of the 109th Congress by
our former chairman, Vern Ehlers.
The Chairman. If the gentleman will yield for just----
Mr. Brady. Sure.
The Chairman [continuing]. A moment, without objection, the
amendment will be considered as read.
[The amendment by Mr. Brady follows:]
The Chairman. And the gentleman is recognized for 5 minutes
to speak on behalf of it.
Mr. Brady. Thank you.
Unfortunately, it was withdrawn prior to a final vote. That
resolution, unlike this one, also included transition funding
for departing leadership staff.
Again, not to reiterate, but I just feel badly for the
people that do work--and all of them work extremely hard. I
love when they pull my BlackBerry up and they tell us our
schedule and they put the question mark behind when we are
going to be leaving here.
And, as you all know, our staff stay right with us. They
don't get any overtime, they don't get any compensation time.
And if we could just give them a little something to give them
a little bit of time, because this is coming on them quickly
too.
And, hopefully, it doesn't have to happen. Hopefully, we
can be creative through our committees and the rest of the
committees can be creative, where we don't have to hurt the
little people and the people that are here supporting us 24-7.
So, with that, Mr. Chairman, I just appreciate you taking
my amendment and ask for its adoption.
The Chairman. I thank the gentleman.
Are there other Members who wish to speak to the amendment?
Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Chairman?
The Chairman. The gentleman from Texas.
Mr. Gonzalez. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I, of course, would be supportive of the amendment.
This is not a new idea, and it actually has been argued
from Members on the other side of the aisle. We all recall 2006
and the debate then, and it was appropriate. Taking into
consideration that individuals will be losing their jobs as a
result of more austere times, our belt-tightening on the Hill,
which is the appropriate thing to do, but, still, this is a
hardship that is going to befall many families at a more
difficult time than when this was debated previously, let's say
in 2006, when the Democrats took the House and we knew that
there would be a reduction of staff members on the Republican
side. But I think the same rule would apply and the same
consideration as to the families that are going to be impacted.
It is a more difficult time today. All of us have to
acknowledge the difference between 2006, even though we were on
the road to the recession, no doubt, but the full impact of it
has been felt. And not to make things harder or more dire for
those that may not be employed on the Hill anymore or in the
committees and the wonderful work they provide us, it is going
to be a tough job market. We all know that.
So that a severance package, which, obviously, is commonly
an industry standard in the private sector, shouldn't be
something so foreign to us, when we think in terms of fairness,
when individuals lose jobs through no fault of their own, not
as a result of underperformance, but actually they are valued
members of what we try to do up here. And if we are going to do
any budget cutting, I think we have to do it in a fair and
equitable manner.
So I am glad that Mr. Brady is introducing the amendment,
and I am hoping that we can act accordingly and in a fair
fashion.
And I would yield back.
The Chairman. I thank the gentleman for his comments.
I might just recognize myself to oppose this amendment. I
do not do that with any great joy. We are in very difficult
times. Individual Members, in terms of the impact of the
cutbacks in our own offices, have had to make some very, very
difficult decisions. In my own office, I am down two of my
staffers as a direct result of the budget constraints that we
have had to impose.
While a couple of chairmen said they might have to lay off,
most indicated--chairmen or ranking members--most indicated
that they would do everything they could to ensure that that
did not occur.
And this is different than the times when there is a change
in leadership from one party to the other. And I know we have
had attempts to try and have severance packages in those
particular circumstances. Frankly, we just don't have the money
to do that at this time.
And so I would reluctantly oppose the gentleman's
amendment.
Mr. Gingrey. Mr. Chairman?
The Chairman. The gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. Gingrey. Mr. Chairman, I know that this amendment, as I
read through it and listened to Mr. Brady and Mr. Gonzalez, is
coming from the heart and an act of compassion on their part,
and I commend them for that.
And, you know, we could quibble, you know, about the number
of days that a person had been employed during the year and
whether it was continuous or not continuous service and all
that. But I, too, while initially I felt that I would support
this amendment, I am going to be opposed to it because of two
points.
And the chairman addressed maybe at least one of those
points, in regard to if we made this a part of the resolution,
then it would be an entitlement that would have to be done. And
we would have to get budget authority and appropriations to do
that.
And it is within the prerogative of each and every
committee to decide in their own budget, even though I know the
budgets are getting skimpier and skimpier and more difficult to
find the resources to give severance pay, whether one committee
does it for a month, another committee does it for 2 months,
and they set the parameters upon which a severed employee would
be eligible for that pay, if any.
I think that is really what goes on in the private sector,
as well. Mr. Brady referenced, you know, the private sector,
and that is absolutely true. But there are many companies that,
you know, you get 2 weeks' notice that your job is going to be
eliminated and you get paid up to the last day you work, and
that is it. Others are more generous, if they can afford to be.
So I understand where Mr. Brady is coming from in regard to
the amendment, but for those reasons I will also oppose it.
The Chairman. If there is no further discussion, I will
call a vote.
All those in favor of the amendment offered by the ranking
member, say, ``aye.''
And those opposed, ``nay.''
In the opinion of the chair, the nays have it.
Are there any other amendments?
If not, I move that the committee favorably report House
Resolution 496 to the House.
And the question is on the motion.
All those in favor, signify by saying, ``aye.''
And those opposed, ``no.''
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the
motion is agreed to.
Mr. Brady. Mr. Chairman?
The Chairman. Yes?
Mr. Brady. Could I announce that the minority requests 2
additional calendar days, provided by Clause 2 of Rule XI of
the rules of the House, to file views.
The Chairman. Without objection.
Mr. Brady. Thank you.
The Chairman. Without objection, the motion to reconsider
is laid on the table.
Pursuant to Clause 2 of Rule XI, Members are entitled to 2
additional calendar days to file such views in writing and
signed by the Member with the clerk of the committee.
I ask unanimous consent the staff be authorized to make any
necessary technical and conforming changes to the measure that
the committee just considered.
Without objection, it is so ordered.
I now call up and lay before the committee Committee
Resolution 112-9 to adopt online posting standards.
Without objection, the resolution will be considered as
read and open for amendment at any point.
[The resolution follows:]
The Chairman. Are there any amendments to the resolution?
If not, I move that the committee adopt the resolution. The
question is on the motion.
All those in favor of the motion, signify by saying,
``aye.''
All opposed, signify by saying, ``nay.''
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the
motion is agreed to.
Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon
the table.
I ask unanimous consent that the staff be authorized to
make any necessary technical and conforming changes to the
measure that the committee just considered.
Without objection, so ordered.
The last matter that we have would be for us to consider a
committee resolution to adopt a revised version of the Members'
Congressional Handbook. This version, which has been made
available to the members of the committee, is the one before
us.
[The handbook follows:]
The Chairman. The last time the committee overhauled this
document was over a decade ago. Our offices have worked
extensively on a bipartisan basis this year, reaching out to
Members and staff, to determine the best changes and necessary
updates. I am pleased to say that we now have a finished
product that provides greater clarity and reflects technical
advances, such as Members' ever-increasing Web presence,
encompassing everything from official Web sites to tele-town
halls.
I appreciate the ranking member's support in pursuing this
bipartisan effort to provide clear, up-to-date regulations for
the use of our Members through their Members' representational
allowances.
And I would ask unanimous consent that the consideration of
the committee resolution to adopt the Members' Congressional
Handbook be added to the agenda for today's markup.
And, without objection, it is so ordered.
So I would call up and lay before the committee the
Committee Resolution 112-10 to adopt the Members' Congressional
Handbook.
Without objection, the resolution will be considered as
read and open for amendment at any point.
[The resolution follows:]
The Chairman. Well, before I do that, I just might ask if
the ranking member has any comments on this.
Mr. Brady. Just, Mr. Chairman, I am very appreciative of
the majority's consideration of the minority's suggestions and
the effort to include my staff throughout this process. And I
thank you and thank your staff.
The Chairman. I thank the gentleman for his comments.
Are there any amendments to the resolution?
If not, I move the committee adopt the resolution.
The question is on the motion.
All those in favor of the motion, signify by saying,
``aye.''
All opposed, ``nay.''
In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it, and the
motion is agreed to.
Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon
the table.
I want to thank all the Members for their attendance, for
their cooperation, and for their work on this. Also, your
staffs have been very, very helpful. They have been directly
involved in this, and without their help we couldn't have
gotten it done. We are getting it done under the wire.
I think my hope is that I might be able to bring it to the
floor later, if we worked it out for a UC on the Members'
Handbook. We would not be able to do that if we hadn't been
able to get this done at this moment.
So I thank everybody here, and Merry Christmas.
[Whereupon, at 11:05 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]