[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 16 (Wednesday, February 1, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H312-H314]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    ADJUSTING EXPENSES OF CERTAIN HOUSE COMMITTEES IN 112TH CONGRESS

  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend 
the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 496) adjusting the 
amount provided for the expenses of certain committees of the House of 
Representatives in the One Hundred Twelfth Congress.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 496

       Resolved,

     SECTION 1. ADJUSTMENT OF AMOUNTS OF COMMITTEE EXPENSES FOR 
                   THE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS.

       (a) Aggregate Amount for Congress.--Notwithstanding section 
     1(b) of House Resolution 147, the amount paid out of the 
     applicable accounts of the House of Representatives with 
     respect to the One Hundred Twelfth Congress for the expenses 
     (including the expenses of all staff salaries) of each 
     committee named in such section shall be as follows: 
     Committee on Agriculture, $11,848,132; Committee on Armed 
     Services, $14,900,023; Committee on the Budget, $11,680,246; 
     Committee on Education and the Workforce, $16,158,348; 
     Committee on Energy and Commerce, $21,678,149; Committee on 
     Ethics, $6,218,310; Committee on Financial Services, 
     $16,825,969; Committee on Foreign Affairs, $17,331,982; 
     Committee on Homeland Security, $16,347,050; Committee on 
     House Administration, $10,118,345; Permanent Select Committee 
     on Intelligence, $9,977,660; Committee on the Judiciary, 
     $16,265,122; Committee on Natural Resources, $15,235,867; 
     Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, $20,546,873; 
     Committee on Rules, $6,566,883; Committee on Science, Space, 
     and Technology, $12,671,660; Committee on Small Business, 
     $6,598,427; Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, 
     $19,195,872; Committee on Veterans' Affairs, $7,049,575; and 
     Committee on Ways and Means, $18,975,444.
       (b) Second Session Limitations.--Notwithstanding section 
     3(b) of House Resolution 147, the amount provided for the 
     expenses of each committee named in such section which shall 
     be available for expenses incurred during the period 
     beginning at noon on January 3, 2012, and ending immediately 
     before noon on January 3, 2013 shall be not more than the 
     following: Committee on Agriculture, $5,658,638; Committee on 
     Armed Services, $7,374,759; Committee on the Budget, 
     $5,647,061; Committee on Education and the Workforce, 
     $7,812,094; Committee on Energy and Commerce, $10,697,209; 
     Committee on Ethics, $3,393,775; Committee on Financial 
     Services, $8,384,705; Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
     $8,379,512; Committee on Homeland Security, $7,903,326; 
     Committee on House Administration, $5,169,169; Permanent 
     Select Committee on Intelligence, $4,823,910; Committee on 
     the Judiciary, $7,863,716; Committee on Natural Resources, 
     $7,366,101; Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 
     $9,933,819; Committee on Rules, $3,174,898; Committee on 
     Science, Space, and Technology, $5,986,023; Committee on 
     Small Business, $3,383,536; Committee on Transportation and 
     Infrastructure, $9,280,649; Committee on Veterans' Affairs, 
     $3,446,830; and Committee on Ways and Means, $9,174,079.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Brady) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise 
and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 
496.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 
such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 496. This 
resolution adjusts the amounts provided for the expenses of the select 
and standing committees of the House of Representatives in the 112th 
Congress.

                              {time}  1320

  Last November, the Committee on House Administration held a full-day 
hearing at which we heard from our chairs and ranking members. At that 
hearing, 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 this year.
  Madam Speaker, I know, as a committee chairman myself, that we face 
the difficult task of doing more with less. Yet I also know that my 
constituents, all of our constituents, need us to do more with less and 
to rein in government spending. Families have been required to tighten 
their belts, and they constantly ask us to do the very same thing. They 
do not suggest it is easy, because it has not been easy for them. But 
they ask of us that which they have asked of themselves. Today's 
economy has forced our constituents to sacrifice and, as I say, tighten 
their financial belts to make ends meet at home. Congress should not be 
and will not be immune.
  While most committees are taking a 6.4 percent cut in line with the 
reduced funding levels of the 2012 legislative branch appropriation, 
certain committees faced with additional oversight responsibilities in 
2012 were cut at a smaller percentage in order that they might be able 
to conduct their work.
  Particularly daunting will be the Armed Services' charge of managing 
the automatic sequestration of $600 billion in defense cuts triggered 
by the Budget Control Act. And I hasten to add that is in addition to, 
or on top of, the $400 billion cut that is already being enforced by 
prior decisions by this Congress and the President.
  In addition to Armed Services, the Ethics Committee, tasked with 
holding Members and staff to the highest ethical standards, has 
requested and will receive a reprieve from funding reductions.
  To help offset these exceptions and match the reduced appropriations, 
we've identified and reduced authorizations of three committee budgets 
that we feel are able to absorb a slightly higher reduction in 2012. In 
addition to

[[Page H313]]

our committee, the Committee on House Administration, the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology, and the Committee on Small Business 
will receive a slightly higher reduction than the 6.4 percent applied 
to the remaining House committees.
  Madam Speaker, as we've demonstrated over the past year, this House 
is committed to living within its means and leading by example by 
putting an end to excessive spending. Our committees do vitally 
important oversight of the executive branch and Federal agencies, and 
that ought to be underscored if we are, in fact, going to be successful 
in holding down and controlling spending in the executive branch. We, 
the legislative branch, are the extension of the people we represent in 
an oversight capacity, and that is an extremely important 
responsibility. Our committees, as I say, do vitally important 
oversight of the executive branch and our Federal agencies; and while 
these reductions in committee funding will require committees to 
allocate their resources more judiciously, I am confident, based on the 
hearing, that they are prudent and manageable.
  Madam Speaker, these are extraordinary times. We face extraordinary 
debt, deficits, and unemployment. Trillion-dollar deficits year after 
year after year would be practically unheard of just a couple of years 
ago; yet, unfortunately, they have become commonplace. That is 
unacceptable. We haven't had an unemployment rate at the levels we have 
seen for such a sustained period of time since the Great Depression. 
Those are not facts that I like to recite on this floor, but those are 
the real facts that face our constituents every single day.
  Unfortunately, my area, over the last several years, we have had a 
higher unemployment rate than that which has prevailed in this country. 
California has had an unemployment rate, I believe, that has been the 
third worst in the entire country. We are not immune from what is being 
felt by the rest of the country. And when I am home, as I am sure other 
Members have found in their districts when they are home, we constantly 
hear the refrain, Where are the jobs? And following that, we hear the 
refrain, Why don't you get your House in order, referring to the entire 
Federal Government. Why don't you bring spending under control, because 
we believe it has a specific and direct and immediate drag on our 
ability to create jobs in this country. That ought to be, along with 
national defense, homeland security, our greatest objective.
  And so this is just a small part of our effort to be responsible. 
Through the adoption of this resolution and the 5 percent cut during 
our first session of the 112th Congress, this House is doing its job to 
step up to the plate and reduce spending and find cost savings wherever 
possible. We are taking bold steps to demonstrate our commitment to 
reduced spending and tighter budgets.
  This is not easy. I don't suggest it is. It is not easy to say that 
we are going to bring our budgets down and that our employees are not 
going to have increased salaries along with Members of Congress, but it 
is at least what we ought to do.
  Combined, I would say these measures--that is, last year and this 
year--represent the largest percentage cut to committee budgets since 
the 104th Congress, when the House then adopted a resolution with an 
amendment by then-House Administration Committee Member John Boehner to 
reduce committee funding by 30 percent.
  Madam Speaker, H. Res. 496 was reported out of the committee in 
December, and I now look forward to its passage by the House. I support 
H. Res. 496 and urge my colleagues to do the same.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to 
House Resolution 496, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to House Resolution 496, which 
would reduce spending in most of the committees of the House by an 
average of 6.4 percent below the level provided in House Resolution 
147, which was adopted last March. That resolution, which passed the 
House unanimously, cut committee funding 5 percent lower than the 
levels for the 111th Congress.
  I've been pleased to work in a bipartisan fashion with my friend and 
my chair, Mr. Lungren, to find ways to reduce the cost of running 
Congress. We have worked together in finding cuts in printing, 
subscription, and technology services, and we have worked together 
opposing cuts to the Capitol Police and in providing for the safety of 
our visitors and our staff. But this deeper cut to committees is the 
wrong cut at the wrong time.
  In reality, we have no idea what effect these new cuts will actually 
have on committee operations. Testimony at our committee's oversight 
hearing last November by both chairs and ranking members confirmed that 
additional budget cuts could undermine our ability to conduct 
legislative and oversight operations.
  I am fearful that further cuts to committees could continue to 
handicap our ability to effectively oversee the executive branch. We 
are cutting deeply into committees who oversee billions of dollars of 
Federal spending. We may not agree on this resolution, but we certainly 
agree that Congress is the first watchdog on executive power and 
executive spending. We need the necessary tools, and they need the 
necessary tools, to do that work.
  I urge my colleagues to defeat this resolution. I urge a ``no'' vote, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. At this time, Madam Speaker, I 
yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Harper), the 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Elections on House Administration.
  Mr. HARPER. Madam Speaker, as a member of the Committee on House 
Administration, I rise in support of H. Res. 496, the 2012 committee 
funding resolution, with full knowledge of the impact the reduced 
funding levels contained in this measure will have on the committee 
system.
  For example, the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, on 
which I also serve, stated during the day-long hearing on this 
resolution that his committee would not be able to hold valuable field 
hearings during 2012 and would have to restrict other committee 
activities. More severe still, more than one ranking member stated that 
committee staff would have to be laid off as a result of the funding 
reductions contained in the resolution. This is unfortunate, but many 
American families have faced reduced activities and layoffs as a result 
of the current economic times, and Congress cannot exempt itself from 
such pain.
  This resolution will roll back committee funding to pre-2007 levels 
and is, I think, a necessary action as we cut spending throughout the 
Federal budget. The committee went to considerable lengths to be fair 
both to all the chairmen but also to the minority with no change made 
to the traditional funding split between the majority and minority. 
This resolution will mean that the current Congress will spend almost 
10 percent less than the previous Congress did. It requires every 
Member of this body, in a nonpartisan manner, to participate in the 
austerity that the American people and the rest of their government are 
experiencing.
  I commend Chairman Lungren for his work on this resolution, and I 
urge a ``yes'' vote on the resolution.

                              {time}  1330

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes 
to the gentleman from Georgia, Dr. Gingrey, who is chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Oversight on the House Administration Committee.
  Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding, and I rise in strong support of H. Res. 496, offered by my 
good friend, the chairman of the House Administration Committee, Mr. 
Lungren.
  With all due respect to the ranking member, Mr. Brady from 
Pennsylvania, I have to agree with the chairman that this runaway 
spending that we have seen occur over the last 4 to 6 years has got to 
stop. And the American people clearly, Madam Speaker, are looking to 
Members of Congress to tighten their own belt. And that's why I think 
it's very important that we give them the message that we're willing to 
cut our own salaries, we're really willing to cut our own benefit 
package. And we have done that; we have voted to do that.

[[Page H314]]

  And these cuts, as painful as they are in regard to our House 
committees--indeed, 9.5 percent when we include this cut over all of 
the committees, although we do cut the House Committee on Armed 
Services by a lesser amount, and we plus-up the House Ethics Committee, 
and we think that's very important.
  It is so crucial that we bite the same bullet that everybody else has 
to bite. And this bloated spending, this runaway spending that occurred 
during the previous majority in this House has got to stop. Spending 
$850 billion on a failed stimulus program, increasing the deficit--
doubling it, in fact--having over $1 trillion worth of deficit spending 
for now 4 years in a row when we anticipate the President's next 
budget, this has got to stop.
  So we have to put our money where our mouth is, we have to walk the 
same walk as everybody else, and we have to tighten our belt. So, Madam 
Speaker, that's why I stand here today as a member of the Committee on 
House Administration and one of the subcommittee chairs in strongly 
endorsing and supporting these necessary, painful cuts in H. Res. 496. 
I hope we will have support on both sides of the aisle. I'm confident 
we will.
  I respect, as I say, the ranking member. He's a great Member, he 
works in a bipartisan way, and that's what this is all about.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. I continue to reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes 
to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Nugent), a distinguished member of 
the House Administration Committee and the Rules Committee.
  Mr. NUGENT. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of this 
resolution. This is an important resolution because it brings us back 
to the greatest cut since the 104th Congress.
  You know, in tough times like today where the American people are 
pinching pennies to get by, shouldn't they have the same expectation of 
those that serve them in this great House? I believe they should.
  You know, when talking to people in my district, they ask and say, 
what are you doing to get your house in order? By supporting this piece 
of legislation, this truly talks about cutting the spending in D.C. 
While it's a small amount comparative to the whole budget, it is the 
right step in the right direction. It is about doing more with less. 
The American people are doing that today. So why shouldn't this 
government do the same thing? I appreciate where the chairman, Mr. 
Lungren, has brought us in regards to this important piece of 
legislation. It really moves us in the right direction.
  Cuts across the board are tough; and if you notice what this 
committee did is it didn't cover everybody the same, didn't treat 
everybody the same. Under Chairman Lungren's leadership, and also the 
ranking member, they did it, I believe, in a bipartisan way, that 
didn't take away from the minority in regards to funding as it relates, 
nor differently than it did from the majority.
  So, Madam Speaker, I strongly support this resolution as we move 
forward to cut the budget of committees in this House, just like the 
American people have had to cut their budgets in their house.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I'm prepared to 
close out the debate. I have no other speakers. So if the gentleman 
would finish his time, I would be happy to as well.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman again.
  I urge my colleagues to defeat this resolution, and I urge a ``no'' 
vote.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I would just say 
that this is an effort on our part to give an example to the rest of 
the government. This will be a culmination of about a 10 percent cut 
overall to the committees of this House. We have had combined cuts in 
terms of our own MRAs, that is, the amount that each Member has for his 
budget. And I think as we go forward and having to make some very 
difficult decisions with respect to future controls of spending on the 
Federal establishment in its entirety, it will serve us well that we 
have shown the way, that we can make difficult decisions in this 
regard, and that this is an appropriate, responsible action to take.
  With that, I would urge my colleagues to vote for H. Res. 496.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. Lungren) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 496.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________