[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 164 (Monday, November 18, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H7162-H7163]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1715
   CLARIFICATION OF DETERMINATION OF COMPENSATION OF CHIEF FINANCIAL 
                    OFFICER OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 3343) to amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to clarify 
the rules regarding the determination of the compensation of the Chief 
Financial Officer of the District of Columbia.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3343

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. CLARIFICATION OF DETERMINATION OF COMPENSATION OF 
                   CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OF DISTRICT OF 
                   COLUMBIA.

       (a) Determination of Compensation.--Section 424(b)(2)(E) of 
     the District of Columbia Home Rule Act (sec. 1-
     204.24(b)(2)(E), D.C. Official Code) is amended to read as 
     follows:
       ``(E) Pay.--The Chief Financial Officer shall be paid at a 
     rate such that the total amount of compensation paid during 
     any calendar year does not exceed an amount equal to the 
     limit on total pay which is applicable during the year under 
     section 5307 of title 5, United States Code, to an employee 
     described in section 5307(d) of such title.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
     shall apply with respect to pay periods beginning on or after 
     the date of the enactment of this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Issa) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia 
(Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, a capable chief financial officer is paramount to the 
physical health and integrity and defensiveness of any organization 
that he or she oversees. The District of Columbia is no exception. Just 
the opposite. The Federal city is perhaps the most important place for 
people to look at a microcosm of whether or not the Federal Government 
can be fiscally responsible.
  In the 1990s, when the District of Columbia was bankrupt, Congress, 
at its discretion and the direction of this committee, stepped in with 
sweeping legislation to help the city's sinking financial ship. 
Included in these reforms was the establishment of an independent chief 
financial officer to oversee the city's finances. Since the creation of 
this position, Congress has come to rely upon the D.C. CFO to give an 
objective, unvarnished picture of the city's finances. The D.C. CFO is 
our best window into the financial status of the Federal city.
  The bill before us today spends no Federal dollars. It simply allows 
the District to use its own locally generated funds to pay its CFO as 
much as a member of the Federal Government's Senior Executive Service 
can receive in total compensation. Now, I know that the men and women 
here on the floor understand the Senior Executive Service. But for 
those who may not, we have, throughout the government, hundreds and 
hundreds and hundreds of positions that are very senior that make, in 
fact, at times more than Members of Congress. These are specialists. 
These are highly trained career professionals that, in fact, make up to 
but not more than the Vice President.
  Back in the 1990s when we created this position, we established an 
amount that seemed reasonable at the time. Today, establishing a more 
flexible amount, one that can change over time as the Senior Executive 
Service changes, makes more sense. Ultimately, there are CFOs 
throughout government--some of them controlling less responsibility and 
smaller amounts of funds and certainly, in many cases, less significant 
and complex relationships than that of a city of over 500,000 with 
countless different departments, including, obviously, the

[[Page H7163]]

education of children, the security of the Federal city, and the like. 
For that reason, it seems only fitting that we link it to a salary that 
can be at least as great as a senior Federal service.
  Now, ultimately, we are not mandating a salary. We are only allowing 
the city to recruit someone who is created by an act of Congress to 
serve this body as a window into our oversight of the Federal city. 
This legislation was supported unanimously by the Oversight and 
Government Reform Committee last month, and I urge all Members to 
support this important technical change to the charter for the city of 
the District of Columbia.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I associate myself with the remarks of the 
chairman.
  I rise in support of this important legislation, with special 
appreciation to Majority Leader Eric Cantor and particularly to 
Chairman Issa and Ranking Member Cummings for quickly marking up this 
bill so that it could come to the floor expeditiously, as the District 
is in the throes of hiring a new CFO. I will have more to say on their 
indispensable support presently.
  The District of Columbia's independent chief financial officer is a 
unique office in the United States created by Congress. The city cannot 
obligate or expend funds without the CFO's approval, and the CFO can 
only be terminated for cause.
  Today's bill, which contains a formula developed by Chairman Issa, is 
an important example of the chairman's continuing commitment to assist 
the city in improving and safeguarding its vital operations.
  When the current CFO announced his retirement earlier this year, the 
Mayor formed a CFO search committee, led by Alice Rivlin, the former 
head of the D.C. Financial Control Board, the Office of Management and 
Budget, and the Congressional Budget Office, and former Mayor Anthony 
Williams.
  The search committee determined that the allowable compensation that 
is in the bill is necessary for the recruitment and retention of a CFO, 
but the District government does not have the authority under the Home 
Rule Act to alter the CFO's compensation. This bill would amend the 
Home Rule Act to permit the D.C. government to pay its CFO an amount 
that may not exceed the pay of members of the Senior Executive Service 
in agencies with an Office of Personnel Management-certified appraisal 
system.
  Currently, the Home Rule Act sets the CFO's pay at the basic pay for 
level I of the executive schedule. The bill's compensation standard, as 
with the term of an interim CFO under the D.C. Chief Financial Officer 
Vacancy Act, which we got enacted earlier this year, was established by 
Chairman Issa and is supported by the city. I am particularly grateful 
to the chairman and also to Majority Leader Cantor for their continued 
partnership on legislation to improve the efficiency and effectiveness 
of the District of Columbia government.
  As with today's bill, their assistance was indispensable last month 
as the Congress, with bipartisan help from the Senate, agreed for the 
first time to remove the threat of a D.C. government shutdown by 
permitting the city to spend its local funds, its own locally raised 
taxpayer funds, for the entire fiscal year 2014.
  While Federal agencies' spending authority expires on January 15, the 
CR that Congress approved matches the city's responsibility to raise 
local funds with its right to, therefore, spend these funds, consistent 
with budget autonomy for the District, which Majority Leader Cantor, 
Chairman Issa, and Ranking Member Cummings have all supported.
  Again, I want to offer not only my own but also the gratitude of the 
city. The District has chosen a CFO; but, unfortunately, that matter is 
still pending because it has to lay over here in the Congress. The city 
is faced with the issue of two sovereigns that must approve a piece of 
legislation. Whenever I have had anything approaching that kind of 
emergency, the chairman has gone out of his way to see to it that we 
proceeded and that the city was not inconvenienced or, dare I say, 
embarrassed. I very much appreciate the way in which he expedited this 
bill and got it on a markup--and there have not been a lot of markups--
but he made sure this got on the most recent markup. I particularly 
appreciate his innovation in devising a formula that would, in fact, be 
approved as I believe and hope it will today by this House.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, 
and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ISSA. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  In closing, to my colleague from the District of Columbia, Eleanor, 
thank you. Thank you for the work you do for the District. It is our 
committee's jurisdiction to oversee the Federal city, and it is an 
honor; but it wouldn't be possible if not for the engagement of 
Delegate Norton, if it wasn't for the cooperation we have had with the 
Mayor and members of the council and with the outgoing CFO.
  So we don't often get an opportunity on the House floor to talk 
about, candidly, the fact that we are hosted by a city here. We have 
jurisdiction over it; but, ultimately, the day-to-day operation is not 
a burden to Congress but, rather, a benefit to Congress that we have by 
having this unique relationship.
  So as I urge all Members to vote for this important change, I want to 
thank the majority leader and all those who have brought this bill in a 
timely fashion to the floor so that we could make a decision and go to 
hiring a new CFO so we would never be without a person to oversee the 
finances and to report to Congress in a timely fashion so that we can 
have confidence that the people who so kindly host us, in fact, will 
remain fiscally responsible and solvent throughout anything that may 
come their way.
  So, again, to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. 
Norton), I thank her. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for this bill, and 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. Issa) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 3343.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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