[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7874]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     THE GOP VERSUS PUBLIC SERVANTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Speier) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, I rise regretfully this morning and sadly 
this morning to discuss what I believe is a true transgression that 
took place in our House yesterday.
  I was appalled by the behavior displayed by the chairman of the 
Subcommittee on TARP and Financial Services. After repeatedly changing 
the time of yesterday's hearing with Professor Elizabeth Warren to 
discuss the Republican majority's efforts to terminate the Consumer 
Financial Protection Bureau just weeks before it was to be born, the 
chairman began the hearing with a petty partisan swipe alluding to 
whether the witness may or may not be running someday for the U.S. 
Senate. As if, Mr. Speaker, political ambition is taboo around here.
  While the overall tone of the hearing was contentious, that's to be 
expected. After all, the goal of the hearing was, for my colleagues on 
the Republican side, to paint the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
as something that is bad for consumers. Why? Because this new consumer 
bureau's mission is to make Wall Street play by the rules. What a novel 
idea. But, you see, Wall Street believes that it can take care of 
itself.
  As it turned out, the hearing was a wonderful opportunity for 
Americans to see not only how far the influence of financial 
institutions reaches into Congress, but also how competent, confident, 
and unflappable a public servant Professor Warren is.
  Were it up to me, the President would just appoint her to head the 
CFPB and let her get on with leveling the playing field for American 
consumers when they borrow or invest their hard-earned money.
  Mr. Speaker, Professor Warren answered every question posed to her 
for the entire hour for which she was asked to testify. When members 
were called to the floor for two votes, the chairman asked her to stay 
and wait, and Ms. Warren politely responded that she was told she'd be 
released at 2:15 and had another meeting at 2:30. What followed was a 
scene that, had it happened in a junior high student council meeting, 
would have been stopped by the faculty adviser. Unfortunately, though, 
our subcommittee is without any kind of adult supervision.
  The chairman repeatedly made the same request ad nauseam of Professor 
Warren, who answered the same each time. She explained that the 
majority staff had changed the meeting logistics several times, 
including a 9 o'clock call the previous night to move the hearing from 
1:30 to 1:15 to accommodate the congressional calendar. Professor 
Warren, through her staff, agreed to the change and was told that she 
would be done at 2:15. Pretty simple, right?
  This is when the chairman crossed the line and told Professor Warren, 
``You're making this up.'' That's right. He called her a liar. A 
witness at his committee who juggled her schedule to accommodate him, 
an adviser to the President of the United States, who was given an oath 
at the start of the hearing to tell the truth and nothing but the 
truth. He called her a liar.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask today that the chairman of the subcommittee, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) immediately and sincerely 
apologize to Professor Warren. I also believe he should apologize to 
the members of the subcommittee--both in the majority and the 
minority--for denigrating the proceedings of our body and pledge to 
never allow the political agenda to interfere with the common decency 
and respect that the rest of us understand is absolutely necessary in 
order to do the people's work.
  However, I won't hold my breath, because this is part of a much 
larger strategy by my colleagues on the Republican side to paint 
everyone in public service as liars, cheats, or otherwise as 
despicable.
  On the same day, the chairman of the Oversight Committee did 
virtually the exact same thing to Mr. Hayes, the Deputy Secretary of 
the Department of the Interior, advising him not to answer a question 
because he's under oath, implying that certainly anything the Deputy 
Secretary might say would be untrue.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to do better. Regardless of political 
affiliation, the American people demand it. Civility and common respect 
are not signs of weakness or capitulation. They are hallmarks of a 
functioning democracy.
  An apology probably won't be forthcoming, but civility must be 
restored to this House--or at least school monitors to prevent 
spitballs from being thrown around in committee hearings.

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