[House Report 113-734]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
113th Congress } { Report
2d Session } HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES { 113-734
_____________________________________________________________________
Union Calendar No. 565
ACTIVITIES
of the
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND
GOVERNMENT REFORM
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
JANUARY 2, 2015
(Pursuant to House Rule XI, 1(d)(1))
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov
http://www.house.gov/reform
Janaury 2, 2015.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
49-006 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
DARRELL E. ISSA, California, Chairman
JOHN L. MICA, Florida ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland,
MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio Ranking Minority Member
JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York
PATRICK T. McHENRY, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of
JIM JORDAN, Ohio Columbia
JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts
TIM WALBERG, Michigan WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri
JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
JUSTIN AMASH, Michigan JIM COOPER, Tennessee
PAUL A. GOSAR, Arizona GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania JACKIE SPEIER, California
SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee MATTHEW A. CARTWRIGHT,
TREY GOWDY, South Carolina Pennsylvania
BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
DOC HASTINGS, Washington ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois
CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois
ROB WOODALL, Georgia PETER WELCH, Vermont
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky TONY CAARDENAS, California
DOUG COLLINS, Georgia STEVEN A. HORSFORD, Nevada
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM, New Mexico
KERRY L. BENTIVOLIO, Michigan
RON DeSANTIS, Florida
Lawrence J. Brady, Staff Director
John D. Cuaderes, Deputy Staff Director
Stephen Castor, General Counsel
Linda A. Good, Chief Clerk
David Rapallo, Minority Staff Director
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
----------
House of Representatives,
Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform,
Washington, DC, January 2, 2015.
Hon. John A. Boehner,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Speaker: In accordance with Rule XI(1)(d)(1) of
the Rules of the House of Representatives, I respectfully
submit the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's
activities report for the Second Session of the 113th Congress.
Sincerely,
Darrell Issa,
Chairman.
Union Calendar No. 565
113th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 113-734
======================================================================
ACTIVITIES OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
_______
Janaury 2, 2015.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Issa, from the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
During the 113th Congress, the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform continued the work it began in the 112th
Congress to conduct the meaningful oversight of the Executive
Branch, and offer substantive reform proposals to save taxpayer
money and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the
federal government.
In its efforts to highlight the federal government's waste,
fraud, mismanagement, and malfeasance, the Committee and its
Subcommittees held 163 hearings, conducted over 100 transcribed
interviews and depositions, sent nearly 1,000 letters to
federal agencies and recipients of federal funding requesting
documents and information, and reviewed several million
documents produced to the Committee in response to requests and
subpoenas.
Pursuant to House Rule XI, this report contains a detailed
list of legislative and oversight activities, as well as
summaries of actions taken with respect to the Committee's
adopted oversight plan, additional oversight and investigation
activities, and hearings held on items in the Government
Accountability Office's biannual High Risk list or the federal
government's financial statements.
I. Legislative Activities
BILLS ENACTED INTO LAW
H.R. 1171, FOR VETS Act of 2013. Introduced by Rep. Dan
Benishek on March 14, 2013; reported by the Committee on 6/25/
13 (H. Rept. 113-126); passed the House on 7/8/13 (under
suspension by a vote of 387-1); passed Senate on 8/1/13 (UC);
and became Public Law 113-26 on 8/9/13.
H.R. 1233, Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments
of 2013. Introduced by Rep. Elijah Cummings on 3/18/13.
History: Marked up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and reported
favorably, as amended, by voice vote; report filed in House on
6/25/13 (H. Rept. 113-127); report filed in Senate 7/23/14 (S.
Rept. 113-218); passed Senate by U.C. on 9/10/14; passed House
after resolving differences on 11/12/14 (voice vote); and
became Public Law 113-187 on 11/26/14.
H.R. 1246, District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer
Vacancy Act. Introduced by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton on 3/19/
2013; reported by the Committee on 4/12/13 (H. Rept. 113-37);
passed the House on 4/15/13 (voice vote); passed the Senate on
4/18/13 (UC); and became Public Law 113-8 on 5/1/13.
H.R. 2860, OPM IG Act. Introduced by Rep. Farenthold on 7/
30/13; reported by the Committee on 11/15/13 (H. Rept. 113-
268); passed House on 1/14/14 (under suspension by a vote of
418-0); and became Public Law 113-80 on 2/12/14.
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. Introduced by Rep. Norton on 10/28/13. History:
report filed by the Committee on 11/15/13 (H. Rept. 113-267);
passed House on 11/18/13 (voice vote); and became Public Law
113-71 on 12/26/13.
H.R. 4192, An Act to regulate the height of buildings in
the District of Columbia to clarify the rules of the District
of Columbia regarding human occupancy of penthouses above the
top story of the building upon which the penthouse is placed.
Introduced by Rep. Issa on 3/11/14. History: marked up by the
Committee on 3/12/14 and reported favorably to the House by
voice vote; report filed by the Committee on 4/28/14 (H. Rept.
113-418); passed House on 4/28/14 (under suspension--vote of
367-16); and became Public Law 113-103 on 5/16/14.
H.R. 4193, Smart Savings Act. Introduced by Rep. Issa on 3/
11/14. History: marked up by the Committee on 3/12/14 and
reported favorably to the House by voice vote; report filed on
6/30/14 (H. Rept. 113-507); passed House under suspension by
voice vote on 7/14/14. Passed Senate on 12/10/14 by UC, and was
signed by the President on 12/18/14.
H.R. 4194, Government Reports Elimination Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Issa on 3/11/14. History: marked up by the
Committee on 3/12/14 and reported favorably to the House by
voice vote; report filed in House 4/28/14 (H. Rept. 113-419);
passed House on 4/28/14 by voice vote; Senate filed report on
7/31/14 (S. Rept. 113-232); passed Senate by UC on 9/16/14;
resolved differences and passed House under suspension 11/12/14
(382-0); and became Public Law 113-188 on 11/26/14.
H.R. 4197, All Circuit Review Extension Act. Introduced by
Rep. Elijah Cummings on March 11, 2014. History: marked up by
the Committee on 3/12/14 and reported favorably to the House by
voice vote; report filed by the Committee on 7/14/14 (H. Rept.
113-519); passed House on 7/14/14 (voice vote); passed Senate
on 9/11/14 (UC); and became Public Law 113-170 on 9/26/14.
S. 231, Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal
Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2013. Introduced by Sen. Rob
Portman on 2/7/13. Became Public Law 113-165 on 9/19/14.
S. 1691, Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act of 2014.
Introduced by Sen. Jon Tester on 11/13/13. Passed Senate on 9/
18/14 by voice vote; passed House on 12/10/14 under suspension
of the rules; and was signed by the President on 12/18/14.
BILLS PASSED BY THE HOUSE
H.R. 24, Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Broun on 1/3/13. History: marked up by the
Committee on 7/24/14 and reported favorably to the House, as
amended, by voice vote; report filed 9/16/14 (H. Rept. 113-
602); passed House on 9/17/14 under suspension (333-92).
H.R. 273, to eliminate the 2013 statutory pay adjustment
for Federal employees. Introduced by Rep. Ron DeSantis on 1/15/
13. History: Was not acted on by the OGR Committee; passed
House on 2/15/13 by vote of 261-154.
H.R. 313, Government Spending Accountability Act of 2013.
Introduced by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson on 1/18/13 (Rep. Farenthold
later was added as the sponsor upon the retirement of Rep.
Emerson). History: Marked up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and
reported favorably, as amended, by voice vote; report filed in
House on 7/30/13 (H. Rept. 113-183); passed House on 7/31/13 by
a voice vote.
H.R. 850, Nuclear Iran Prevention Act of 2013. Introduced
by Rep. Edward Royce on 2/27/13. History: Was not acted on by
OGR Committee and on 7/30/13 OGR Committee discharged; passed
House on 7/31/13 by a vote of 400-20-1.
H.R. 882, Contracting and Tax Accountability Act of 2013.
Introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz on 2/28/13. History: Marked
up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and reported favorably, by voice
vote; report filed in House on 4/12/13 (H. Rept. 113-35);
passed House on 4/15/13 by a vote of 407-0.
H.R. 899, Unfunded Mandates Information and Transparency
Act of 2013. Introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx. History: Marked
up by the Committee on 7/24/13 and reported favorably, as
amended, by a recorded vote of 22 ayes to 17 noes; report filed
on 2/14/14 (H. Rept. 113-352); passed House on 2/28/14 by a
vote of 234-176.
H.R. 1162, Government Accountability Office Improvement
Act. Introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa on 3/14/13. History:
Marked up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and reported favorably,
by voice vote; report filed in House on 4/12/13 (H. Rept. 113-
36); passed House on 4/15/13 by a vote of 408-0.
H.R. 1163, Federal Information Security Amendments Act of
2013. Introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa on 3/14/13. History:
Marked up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and reported favorably,
by voice vote; report filed in House on 4/16/13 (H. Rept. 113-
40); passed House on 4/16/13 by a vote of 416-0.
H.R. 1211, FOIA Act. Introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa on 3/
15/13. History: Marked up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and
reported favorably, as amended, by voice vote; report filed in
House on 7/16/13 (H. Rept. 113-155); passed House on 2/25/14
under suspension by a vote of 410-0.
H.R. 1232, Federal Information Technology Acquisition
Reform Act. Introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa on 3/18/13.
History: Marked up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and reported
favorably, by voice vote; report filed on 2/25/14 (H. Rept.
113-359); passed House under suspension by voice vote; report
filed in Senate 9/18/14 (S. Rept. 113-262).
H.R. 1423, Taxpayers Right-to-Know Act. Introduced by Rep.
James Lankford on 4/9/13. History: Marked up by the Committee
on 7/24/13 and reported favorably, as amended, by voice vote;
report filed 2/21/14 (H. Rept. 113-355); passed House under
suspension by voice vote.
H.R. 1660, Government Customer Service Improvement Act of
2013. Introduced by Rep. Henry Cuellar on 4/19/13. History:
Marked up by the Committee on 7/24/13 and reported favorably,
as amended, by voice vote; passed House on 7/31/13 by a voice
vote.
H.R. 1771, North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Edward Royce on 4/26/13. History: Was not
acted on by OGR Committee and on 7/28/14 was agreed to in the
House by voice vote.
H.R. 1797, Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.
Introduced by Rep. Trent Franks on 4/26/13. History: Was not
acted on by OGR Committee and on 6/14/13 OGR Committee
discharged; passed House on 6/18/13 by a vote of 228-196.
H.R. 2061, Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of
2013. Introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa on 5/21/13. History:
Marked up by the Committee on 5/22/13 and reported favorably,
as amended, by voice vote; report filed in House on 11/18/13
(H. Rept. 113-270); passed House on 11/18/13 by a vote of 388-
1.
H.R. 2804, Achieving Less Excess in Regulation and
Requiring Transparency Act of 2014. Introduced by Rep. Holding
on 7/24/13. History: marked up by the Committee on 2/11/14 and
reported favorably to the House, as amended, by a vote of 19-
15; report filed on 2/21/14 (H. Rept. 113-354, Part I);
supplemental report filed on 2/25/14 (H. Rept. 113-354, Part
II); passed House on 2/27/14 by a vote of 236-179.
H.R. 2879, Stop Government Abuse Act. Introduced by Rep.
Lynn Jenkins on 7/31/13. History: Was not acted on by OGR
Committee; passed House on 8/1/13 by a vote of 239-176.
H.R. 3223, Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act.
Introduced by Rep. James Moran on 9/30/13. History: Was not
acted on by OGR Committee; passed House on 10/5/13 by a vote of
407-0.
H.R. 3308, Taxpayer Transparency Act of 2014. Introduced by
Rep. Billy Long on 10/22/13. History: marked up by Committee on
2/11/14 and passed by voice vote, amended; report filed on 2/
25/14 (H. Rept. 113-358); passed House under suspension by
voice vote on 2/26/14.
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. Introduced by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton on 10/28/13.
History: Marked up by the Committee on 10/29/13 and reported
favorably, by voice vote; report filed in House on 11/15/13 (H.
Rept. 113-267); passed House on 11/18/13 by voice vote.
H.R. 3635, Safe and Secure Federal Websites Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Bentivolio on 12/3/13. History: marked up by
the Committee on 3/12/14 and reported favorably to the House,
as amended, by voice vote; report filed on 7/28/14 (H. Rept.
113-562); passed House under suspension by voice vote on 7/28/
14.
H.R. 3696, National Cybersecurity and Critical
Infrastructure Protection Act of 2014. Introduced by Rep.
McCaul on 12/11/13. History: Was not acted on by the OGR
Committee; Passed House under suspension on 7/28/14 by voice
vote.
H.R. 4031, Department of Veterans Affairs Management
Accountability Act of 2014. Introduced by Rep. Miller-FL on 2/
11/14. History: Passed House on 5/21/14 under suspension of the
rules by a vote of 390-33.
H.R. 4185, District of Columbia Courts, Public Defender
Service, and Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency Act
of 2014. Introduced by Rep. Norton on 3/10/14. History: marked
up by the Committee on 3/12/14 and reported favorably to the
House by voice vote; report filed on 7/3/14 (H. Rept. 113-514);
passed House under suspension by voice vote on 7/14/14.
H.R. 4195, Federal Register Modernization Act. Introduced
by Rep. Issa on 3/11/14. History: marked up by the Committee on
3/12/14 and reported favorably to the House by voice vote;
report filed on 7/3/14 (H. Rept. 113-515); passed House under
suspension by a vote of 386-0.
H.R. 5169, Senior Executive Service Accountability Act.
Introduced by Rep. Walberg on 7/23/14. History: marked up by
the Committee on 7/24/14 and reported favorably to the House by
voice vote; report filed on 9/16/14 (H. Rept. 113-603); passed
House under suspension by voice vote on 9/16/14.
H.R. 5170, Federal Records Accountability Act. Introduced
by Rep. Meadows on 7/23/14. History: marked up by the Committee
on 7/24/14 and reported favorably to the House, as amended, by
voice vote; passed House under suspension by voice vote on 9/
16/14.
BILLS FAILED IN HOUSE
H.R. 249, Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2013.
Introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz on 1/15/2013. History: Marked
up by the Committee on 3/20/13, and reported favorably, by
voice vote; report filed in House on 4/12/13 (H. Rept. 113-38);
failed in House under suspension of the rules by a vote of 250-
159.
BILLS PASSED BY THE COMMITTEE
H.R. 328, the Excess Federal Building and Property Disposal
Act of 2013. Introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz on 1/22/13.
History: marked up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and reported
favorably, by voice vote.
H.R. 568, to amend title 5, United States Code, to require
that the Office of Personnel Management submit an annual report
to Congress relating to the use of official time by Federal
employees. Introduced by Rep. Dennis Ross on 2/6/13. History:
marked up by the Committee on 5/22/13 and reported favorably,
as amended, by voice vote. Report filed in House on 7/16/13 (H.
Rept. 113-154).
H.R. 1104, Federal Advisory Committee Reform Act.
Introduced by Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay on 3/13/13. Marked up by the
Committee on 3/20/13 and reported favorably, by voice vote.
H.R. 1133, Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of
2013. Introduced by Rep. John J. Duncan on 3/13/13. History:
marked up by the Committee on 3/20/13 and reported favorably,
by voice vote; report filed in House on 6/20/13 (H. Rept. 113-
118).
H.R. 1234, Electronic Message Preservation Act. Introduced
by Rep. Elijah Cummings on 3/18/13. History: marked up by the
Committee on 3/20/13 and reported favorably, as amended, by
voice vote; report filed in House on 6/25/13 (H. Rept. 113-
128).
H.R. 1380, Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act.
Introduced by Rep. Mike Quigley on 3/21/13. History: Marked up
by the Committee on 5/22/13 and reported favorably, as amended,
by voice vote.
H.R. 1541, Common Sense in Compensation Act. Introduced by
Rep. Mark Meadows on 4/12/13. History: marked up by the
Committee on 7/24/13 and reported favorably, as amended, by
voice vote. On 7/31/13, considered in House under suspension of
the rules, and on 8/1/13 was laid on the table.
H.R. 2067, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
Personnel Flexibilities Act. Introduced by Rep. Mark Meadows on
5/21/13. History: marked up by the Committee on 5/22/13 and
reported favorably, by voice vote; report filed in House on 7/
16/13 (H. Rept. 113-156).
H.R. 2579, Government Employee Accountability Act.
Introduced by Rep. Mike Kelly on 6/28/13. History: marked up by
the Committee on 7/24/13 and reported favorably, as amended, by
voice vote; report filed in House 7/31/13 (H. Rept. 113-186).
On 7/31/13, considered in House under suspension of the rules,
and on 8/1/13 was laid on the table.
H.R. 2711, Citizen Empowerment Act. Introduced by Rep. Lynn
Jenkins on 7/17/13. History: marked up by the Committee on 7/
24/13 and reported favorably, as amended, by voice vote; report
filed in House on 7/30/13 (H. Rept. 113-184). On 7/31/13,
considered in House under suspension of the rules, and on 8/1/
13 was laid on the table.
H.R. 2748, Postal Reform Act of 2013. Introduced by Rep.
Darrell Issa on 7/19/13. History: marked up by the Committee on
7/24/13 and reported favorably, as amended, by a vote of 22-17.
H.R. 2750, Design-Build Efficiency and Jobs Act of 2013.
Introduced by Rep. Graves on 7/19/13. History: marked up by the
Committee on 5/21/14 and reported favorably, as amended, by
voice vote.
H.R. 2793, District of Columbia Financial Efficiency Act of
2013. Introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa on 7/23/13. History:
marked up by the Committee on 7/24/13 and reported favorably,
by unanimous consent.
H.R. 3316, GRANT Act. Introduced by Rep. James Lankford on
10/23/13. History: marked up by the Committee on 10/29/13 and
reported favorably, as amended, by a vote of 19 ayes to 15
nays.
H.R. 3345, SUSPEND Act. Introduced by Rep. Darrell Issa on
10/28/13. History: marked up by the Committee on 10/29/13 and
reported favorably, by voice vote.
H.R. 4011, Alaska Bypass Fair Competition Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Issa on 2/6/14. History: marked up by the
Committee on 2/11/14 and was reported favorably to the House,
by voice vote.
H.R. 4174, Alaska Bypass Modernizaiton Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Issa on 3/6/14. History: marked up by the
Committee on 3/12/14 and reported favorably by voice vote.
H.R. 4670, Secure Delivery for America Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Issa on 5/19/14. History: marked up by the
Committee on 5/21/14 and reported favorably, as amended, by a
vote of 18-13.
H.R. 4671, Public Interest Declassification Board
Reauthorization Act of 2014. Introduced by Rep. Issa on 5/19/
14. History: marked up by the Committee on 5/21/14 and reported
favorably, as amended, by voice vote.
H.R. 4874, Searching for and Cutting Regulations that are
Unnecessarily Burdensome Act of 2014 (SCRUB Act). Introduced by
Rep. Smith of Missouri on 6/17/14. History: marked up by the
Committee on 7/24/14 and reported favorably to the House, as
amended, by a vote of 22-15.
H.R. 5229, Wounded Warriors Federal Leave Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Lynch on 7/29/14. History: marked up by the
Committee on 7/24/14 and reported to the House favorably, as
amended, by voice vote.
H.R. 5492, Inspector General Empowerment Act of 2014.
Introduced by Rep. Issa on 9/16/14. History: marked up by the
Committee on 9/17/14 and reported favorably to the House, as
amended, by voice vote.
POSTAL NAMING MEASURES
Enacted
H.R. 43 (Bachmann), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 14 Red River Avenue North in
Cold Spring, Minnesota, as the ``Officer Tommy Decker Memorial
Post Office;
H.R. 78 (Jackson Lee), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 4110 Almeda Road in
Houston, TX, as the ``George Thomas `Mickey' Leland Post Office
Building'';
H.R. 451 (Posey), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 500 North Brevard Avenue in
Cocoa Beach, Florida, as the ``Richard K. Salick Post Office;''
H.R. 606 (Reed), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 815 County Road 23 in Tyrone,
New York, as the ``Specialist Christopher Scott Post Office
Building;''
H.R. 1036 (Reichert), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 103 Center Street West
in Eatonville, Washington, as the ``National Park Ranger
Margaret Anderson Post Office'';
H.R. 1228 (Ribble), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 300 Packerland Drive in Green
Bay, Wisconsin, as the ``Corporal Justin D. Ross Post Office
Building;''
H.R. 1376 (Payne), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 369 Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the ``Judge Shirley A.
Tolentino Post Office Building;''
H.R. 1391 (Stivers), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 25 South Oak Street in
London, Ohio, as the ``Lance Corporal Joshua B. McDaniels and
Veterans Memorial Post Office Building;''
H.R. 1451 (Slaughter), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 14 Main Street in
Brockport, New York, as the ``Staff Sergeant Nicholas J. Reid
Post Office Building;''
H.R. 1671 (Swalwell), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 6937 Village Parkway in
Dublin, California, as the ``James `Jim' Kohnen Post Office;''
H.R. 1707 (Davis-IL), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 302 East Green Street
in Champaign, Illinois, as the ``James R. Burgess Jr. Post
Office Building;''
H.R. 1813 (Ryan-OH), to redesignate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 162 Northeast Avenue in
Tallmadge, Ohio, as the ``Lance Corporal Daniel Nathan Deyarmin
Post Office Building;''
H.R. 2112 (Maloney), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 787 State Route 17M in
Monroe, New York, as the ``National Clandestine Service of the
Central Intelligence Agency NCS Officer Gregg David Wenzel
Memorial Post Office;''
H.R. 2223 (Benishek), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 220 Elm Avenue in
Munising, Michigan, as the ``Elizabeth L. Kinnunen Post Office
Building;''
H.R. 2291 (Maloney-NY), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 450 Lexington Avenue in
New York, New York, as the ``Vincent R. Sombrotto Post
Office;''
H.R. 2391 (Wagner), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 5323 Highway N in Cottleville,
Missouri as the ``Lance Corporal Phillip Vinnedge Post
Office;''
H.R. 2678 (Garcia), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 10360 Southwest 186th Street
in Miami, Florida, as the ``Larcenia J. Bullard Post Office
Building;''
H.R. 3027 (Gosar), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 442 Miller Valley Road in
Prescott, Arizona, as the ``Barry M. Goldwater Post Office;''
H.R. 3060 (Williams), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 232 Southwest Johnson
Avenue in Burleson, Texas, as the ``Sergeant William Moody Post
Office Building;''
H.R. 3085 (Lipinski), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 3349 West 111th Street
in Chicago, Illinois, as the ``Captain Herbert Johnson Memorial
Post Office Building;''
H.R. 3472 (Collins-NY), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 13127 Broadway Street
in Alden, New York, as the ``Sergeant Brett E. Gornewicz
Memorial Post Office;''
H.R. 3534 (Walberg), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 113 West Michigan
Avenue in Jackson, Michigan, as the ``Officer James Bonneau
Memorial Post Office;''
H.R. 3765 (Reed), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 198 Baker Street in Corning,
New York, as the ``Specialist Ryan P. Jayne Post Office
Building;''
H.R. 3957 (Meeks), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in
Springfield Gardens, New York, as the ``Cynthia Jenkins Post
Office Building;''
H.R. 4030 (Wilson-FL), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 18640 NW 2nd Avenue in
Miami, Florida as the ``Father Richard Marquess-Barry Post
Office Building;''
H.R. 4189 (Stivers), to designate the facilities of the
United States Postal Service located at 4000 Leap Road,
Hilliard, Ohio as the ``Master Sergeant Shawn T. Hannon and
Master Sergeant Jeffrey J. Rieck and Veterans Memorial Post
Office;''
H.R. 4416 (Kirkpatrick), to redesignate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 161 Live Oak Street in
Miami, Arizona, as the ``Staff Sergeant Manuel V. Mendoza Post
Office Building;''
H.R. 4443 (Rangel), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 90 Vermilyea Avenue, in New
York, New York, as the ``Corporal Juan Mariel Alcantara Post
Office Building;''
H.R. 4651 (Stockman), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 601 West Baker Road in
Baytown, Texas, as the ``Specialist Keith Erin Grace Jr.
Memorial Post Office;''
H.R. 4919 (Tiberi), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 715 Shawan Falls Drive in
Dublin, Ohio, as the ``Lance Corporal Wesley G. Davids and
Captain Nicholas J. Rozanski Memorial Post Office;''
H.R. 4939 (McKeon), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 2551 Galena Avenue in Simi
Valley, California, as the ``Neil Havens Post Office;''
H.R. 5030 (Ros-Lehtinen), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 13500 SW 250 Street in
Princeton, Florida, as the ``Corporal Christian A. Guzman
Rivera Post Office Building;''
H.R. 5106 (Thompson-CA), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 100 Admiral Callaghan
Lane in Vallejo, California, as the ``Philmore Graham Post
Office Building;''
H.R. 5331 (Cook), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 73839 Gorgonio Drive in
Twentynine Palms, California, as the ``Colonel M.J. `Mac' Dube,
USMC Post Office Building;''
H.R. 5562 (Capps), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 801 West Ocean Avenue in
Lompoc, California, as the ``Federal Correctional Officer Scott
J. Williams Memorial Post Office Building;''
H.R. 5687 (Hahn), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 101 East Market Street in Long
Beach, California, as the ``Juanita Millender-McDonald Post
Office;''
S. 885 (Sanders), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 35 Park Street in Danville,
Vermont, as the ``Thaddeus Stevens Post Office;''
S. 1093 (Cochran), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 130 Caldwell Drive in
Hazelhurst, Mississippi, as the ``First Lieutenant Alvin
Chester Cockrell, Jr. Post Office Building;''
S. 1499 (Johanns), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 278 Main Street in Chadron,
Nebraska, as the ``Sergeant Cory Mracek Memorial Post Office;''
and
S. 1512 (Schumer), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 1335 Jefferson Road in
Rochester, New York, as the ``Specialist Theodore Matthew
Glende Post Office.''
Passed by the House
H.R. 1458 (Garrett), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 1 Walter Hammond Place
in Waldwick, New Jersey, as the ``Staff Sergeant Joseph
D'Augustine Post Office Building;''
H.R. 1865, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 35 Park Street in Danville, Vermont,
as the ``Thaddeus Stevens Post Office;''
H.R. 2802, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 418 Liberty Street in Covington,
Indiana, as the ``Fountain County Veterans Memorial Post
Office;''
H.R. 2819, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 275 Front Street in Marietta, Ohio,
as the ``Veterans Memorial Post Office Building;''
H.R. 4355, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 201 B Street in Perryville, Arkansas,
as the ``Harold George Bennett Post Office;''
H.R. 5019, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 1335 Jefferson Road in Rochester, New
York, as the ``Specialist Theodore Matthew Glende Post
Office;''
H.R. 5089, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 2000 Mulford Road in Mulberry,
Florida, as the ``Sergeant First Class Daniel M. Ferguson Post
Office;''
H.R. 5142, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 113 West Jackson Street in Rich
Square, North Carolina, as the ``Chief Joseph E. White, Jr.
Post Office Building;''
H.R. 5385, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 55 Grasso Plaza in St. Louis,
Missouri, as the ``Sgt. Amanda N. Pinson Post Office;''
H.R. 5386, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 11662 Gravois Road in St. Louis,
Missouri, as the ``Lt. Daniel P. Riordan Post Office.''
H.R. 5468, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 1103 in Camp Pendleton, California,
as the ``Camp Pendleton Medal of Honor Post Office;''
H.R. 5794, to designate the facility of the United States
Postal Service located at 16105 Swingley Ridge Road in
Chesterfield, Missouri, as the ``Sgt. Zachary M. Fisher Post
Office;''
Passed by the Committee:
H.R. 2062 (Johnson-OH), to designate the facility of the
United States Postal Service located at 275 Front Street in
Marietta, Ohio, as the ``Lance Corporal Joshua C. Taylor
Memorial Post Office Building;''
H.R. 3609 (Owens), to designate the facility of the United
States Postal Service located at 3260 Broad Street in Port
Henry, New York, as the ``Dain Taylor Venne Post Office
Building;''
II. Oversight Activities
COMMITTEE MEETINGS AND HEARINGS HELD
Full Committee Hearings Held
Jan. 22, 2013, 12:30 p.m.--Full Committee Organization
Meeting.
Jan. 22, 2013, 1:00 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Wasting Information Technology Dollars: How Can the Federal
Government Reform its IT Investment Strategy?'' Witnesses: The
Honorable Tom Davis, Former Member of Congress, and Chairman of
the Government Reform Committee; Mr. Steven VanRoekel, Federal
CIO, Office of Management and Budget; Mr. David Powner,
Director, Information Technology Management Issues, U.S.
Government Accountability Office; Douglas Bourgeois, Vice
President, Chief Executive, VMware, Inc.; Michael Klayko,
Advisor and CEO, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.; Chris
Niehaus, Director, Office of Civic Innovation, Microsoft
Corporation.
Feb. 5, 2013, 12:30 p.m.--Full Committee Business Meeting.
Feb. 5, 2013, 1:00 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Government Spending: How Can We Best Address the Billions of
Dollars Wasted Every Year?'' Witnesses: Mr. Thomas A. Schatz,
President, Citizens Against Government Waste; Mr. Ryan
Alexander, President, Taxpayers for Common Sense; The Honorable
Dan G. Blair, President, National Academy of Public
Administration; Mr. John M. Kamensky, Senior Fellow, IBM Center
for the Business of Government.
Feb. 14, 2013, 10:15 a.m.--Full Committee Business Meeting.
Feb. 14, 2013, 10:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Exploring GAO's High Risk List and Opportunities for
Reform.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller
General of the United States, U.S. Government Accountability
Office.
Feb. 27, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Time to Reform Information Technology Acquisition: The
Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act.'' Witnesses: Mr. Richard
Spires, Chief Information Officer, Department of Homeland
Security; Ms. Cristina Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and
Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office; The
Honorable Daniel Gordon, Associate Dean for Government
Procurement Law Studies, George Washington University Law
School, Former Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement
Policy, OMB; Mr. Stan Soloway, President and CEO, Professional
Services Council; Mr. Paul Misener, Vice President, Global
Public Policy, Amazon.com.
March 5, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Reducing Waste and Mismanagement: Implementing Agency
Watchdogs' Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers Billions''
Witnesses: The Honorable Anthony W. Miller, Deputy Secretary,
U.S. Department of Education; The Honorable Kathleen S. Tighe,
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Education; The Honorable
John D. Porcari, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of
Transportation; and The Honorable Calvin L. Scovel III,
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Transportation.
Mar. 13, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Addressing Transparency in the Federal Bureaucracy: Moving
Toward A More Open Government.'' Witnesses: Ms. Angela
Canterbury, Director of Public Policy, Project on Government
Oversight; Mr. Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy
Studies, Cato Institute; Mr. Daniel Schuman, Policy Counsel,
Director of the Advisory Committee on Transparency, The
Sunlight Foundation; Ms. Celia Viggo Wexler, Senior Washington
Representative, Center for Science and Democracy, Union of
Concerned Scientists.
Mar. 19, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``DOD and DHS: Implementing Agency Watchdogs' Recommendations
Could Save Taxpayers Billions.'' Witnesses: The Honorable
Robert Hale, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), U.S.
Department of Defense; Ms. Lynne Halbrooks, Principal Deputy
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense; The Honorable
Rafael Borras, Under Secretary for Management, U.S. Department
of Homeland Security; Mr. Charles Edwards, Deputy Inspector
General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Apr. 9, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing GAO's 2013 Report on
Duplicative Federal Programs.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Gene
L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, U.S.
Government Accountability Office.
Apr. 10, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``U.S. Foreign Assistance: What Oversight Mechanisms are in
Place to Ensure Accountability?'' Witnesses: The Honorable John
F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan
Reconstruction; The Honorable Harold W. Geisel, Deputy
Inspector General, U.S. Department of State; Mr. Michael G.
Carroll, Deputy Inspector General, U.S. Agency for
International Development; The Honorable Kenneth P. Moorefield,
Deputy Inspector General for Special Plans and Operations, U.S.
Department of Defense; Mr. Paul H. Cooksey, Deputy Special
Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
Apr. 16, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Open to Visitors? Assessing the Federal Effort to Minimize
the Sequester's Impact on Access to Our Nation's Capital and
National Treasures.'' Witnesses: The Honorable David Ferriero,
Archivist of the United States, National Archives and Records
Administration; The Honorable Jonathan Jarvis, Director,
National Park Service; G. Wayne Clough, Ph.D., Secretary,
Smithsonian Institution.
Apr. 17, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Options to Bring the Postal Service Back from Insolvency.''
Witnesses: The Honorable Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General, U.S.
Government Accountability Office; The Honorable Mickey Barnett,
Chairman, Board of Governors, United States Postal Service; The
Honorable Patrick Donahoe, Postmaster General and Chief
Executive Officer, United States Postal Service; Mr. Frederic
Rolando, President, National Association of Letter Carriers,
AFL-CIO.
Apr. 24, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Broken Promises: the Small Business Lending Fund's Backdoor
Bank Bailout.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Christy L. Romero,
Special Inspector General, Office of the Special Inspector
General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
May 8, 2013, 11:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Benghazi: Exposing Failure and Recognizing Courage.''
Witnesses: Mr. Mark Thompson, Deputy Coordinator for
Operations, Bureau of Counterterrorism and Leader, Foreign
Emergency Support Team, U.S. Department of State; Mr. Gregory
Hicks, Foreign Service Officer and former Deputy Chief of
Mission/Chargee d'Affairs in Libya, U.S. Department of State;
Mr. Eric Nordstrom, Diplomatic Security Officer and former
Regional Security Officer in Libya, U.S. Department of State.
May 15, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee Briefing by the
Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, on Fed Activities.
Closed Briefing only open to Committee Members.
May 22, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee business meeting.
May 22, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``The IRS: Targeting Americans for Their Political Beliefs.''
Witnesses: The Honorable J. Russell George, Inspector General,
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, The
Honorable Douglas Shulman, Former Commissioner, Internal
Revenue Service; Ms. Lois G. Lerner, Director, Exempt
Organizations, Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division,
Internal Revenue Service; The Honorable Neal S. Wolin, Deputy
Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
June 6, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Collected and Wasted: The IRS Spending Culture and Conference
Abuses.'' Witnesses: The Honorable J. Russell George, Inspector
General, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; Mr.
Gregory Kutz, Assistant Inspector General for Audit, Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration; Mr. Faris Fink,
Commissioner, Small Business and Self-Employed Division,
Internal Revenue Service; Mr. Danny Werfel, Acting
Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service.
June 12, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Protecting Taxpayer Dollars: Is the Government Using
Suspension and Debarment Effectively?'' Witnesses: Mr. John
Neumann, Acting Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management,
U.S. Government Accountability Office; The Honorable Angela B.
Styles, Partner, Crowell & Moring, Washington, D.C., (Former
Administrator, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, OMB); Mr.
Scott H. Amey, General Counsel, Project on Government
Oversight.
June 18, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Reinventing Government.'' Witnesses: The Honorable David M.
Walker, Government Transformation Initiative; The Honorable
Stephen Goldsmith, Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of
Government, Director, Innovations in Government Program, John
F. Kennedy School of Government; Ms. Elaine C. Kamarck, Ph.D.,
Director, Management and Leadership Institute, Senior Fellow,
Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution; Mr. Daniel J.
Chenok, Executive Director, IBM Center for the Business of
Government; Mr. J. David Cox, National President, American
Federation of Government Employees.
June 26, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``The IRS Contracts with Strong Castle, Inc.'' Witnesses: Ms.
Beth Tucker, Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support,
Internal Revenue Service; Mr. Michael Chodos, Associate
Administrator, Office of Entrepreneurial Development, U.S.
Small Business Administration; Mr. Brad Flohr, Senior Advisor
for Compensation Service, Veterans Benefit Administration, U.S.
Veterans Administration; Mr. Gregory Roseman, Deputy Director,
Enterprise Networks and Tier Systems Support, Internal Revenue
Service; Mr. William Sisk, Deputy Commissioner, Federal
Acquisition Service, General Services Administration; Mr.
Braulio Castillo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Strong
Castle, Inc.
June 28, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee business meeting.
July 10, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Unaccountable Government: GAO Reports Show Feds Struggling to
Track Money and Performance.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Gene L.
Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, U.S.
Government Accountability Office.
July 17, 2013, 1:30 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``A Path Forward on Postal Reform.'' Witnesses: The Honorable
Adrian Smith, Member of Congress; The Honorable Patrick
Donahoe, Postmaster General & CEO, United States Postal
Service; Mr. Joel Quadracci, Chairman, President & CEO, Quad
Graphics; Mr. Cliff Guffey, President, American Postal Workers
Union, AFL-CIO.
July 18, 2013, 11:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``The IRS's Systematic Delay and Scrutiny of Tea Party
Applications.'' Witnesses: Ms. Elizabeth Hofacre, Revenue
Agent, Exempt Organizations, Tax Exempt and Government Entities
Division, Internal Revenue Service; Mr. Carter Hull (Recently
Retired), Tax Law Specialist, Exempt Organizations, Tax Exempt
and Government Entities Division, Internal Revenue Service; The
Honorable J. Russell George, Inspector General, Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration; Mr. Michael McCarthy,
Chief Counsel, Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration; Mr. Gregory Kutz, Assistant Inspector General
for Management Services and Exempt Organizations, Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration.
July 24, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee business meeting.
August 1, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing
entitled, ``Department of Energy's Bonneville Power
Administration: Discriminating Against Veterans and Retaliating
Against Whistleblowers.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Gregory H.
Friedman, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Energy; The
Honorable Daniel B. Poneman, Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department
of Energy; Ms. Anita J. Decker, Bonneville Power
Administration.
Sept. 10, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Preventing Violations of Federal Transparency Laws.''
Witnesses: The Honorable Gary Gensler, Chairman, U.S.,
Commodity Futures Trading Commission; The Honorable Lisa P.
Jackson, Vice President of Environmental Initiatives, Apple
Inc. (Former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency); Mr. Jonathan Silver Visiting Distinguished Senior
Fellow, Third Way (Former Executive Director Loan Program
Office, U.S. Department of Energy); Mr. Andrew, McLaughlin,
Senior Vice President, Betaworks (Former Deputy Chief
Technology Officer, Executive Office of the President); The
Honorable David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States.
Sept. 19, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Reviews of the Benghazi Attack and Unanswered Questions.''
Witnesses: Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, Chairman, Benghazi
Accountability Review Board; Admiral Michael G. Mullen, USN
(Ret.), Vice-Chairman, Benghazi Accountability Review Board;
Mr. Mark J. Sullivan, Chairman, Independent Panel on Best
Practices, Former Director, United States Secret Service; Mr.
Todd Keil, Member, Independent Panel on Best Practices, Former
Asst. Secretary for Infrastructure Protection, U.S. Department
of Homeland Security; Ms. Patricia Smith, Mother of Sean Smith;
and Mr. Charles Woods, Father of Tyrone Woods.
Oct. 1, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Secret Agent Man? Oversight of EPA's IG Investigation of John
Beale.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Arthur A. Elkins, Jr.,
Inspector General, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Mr.
Patrick Sullivan, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Mr. Robert Brenner,
Former Director of Policy Analysis and Review, Office of Air
and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Mr. John
C. Beale, Former Senior Policy Advisor, U.S Environmental
Protection Agency; The Honorable Bob Perciasepe, Deputy
Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Oct. 9, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Examining the IRS's Role in Implementing and Enforcing
ObamaCare.'' Witnesses: Ms. Sarah Hall Ingram, Director,
Affordable Care Act Office, Internal Revenue Service.
Oct. 16, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee and the Committee
on Natural Resources joint hearing entitled, ``As Difficult As
Possible: The National Park Service's Implementation of the
Government Shutdown.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Greg Bryan,
Mayor, Town of Tusayan; Ms. Anna Eberly, Managing Director,
Claude Moore Colonial Farm; The Honorable Jonathan B. Jarvis,
Director, National Park Service; Ms. Lisa Simon, President,
National Tourism Association; Mr. Myron Ebell, Director, Center
for Energy and Environment, Competitive Enterprise Institute;
and Mr. Denis P. Galvin, Board Member, National Parks
Conservation Association.
October 29, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee business
meeting.
Oct. 30, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``A Culture of Mismanagement and Wasteful Conference Spending
at the Department of Veterans Affairs.'' Witnesses: The
Honorable Gina Farrisee, Assistant Secretary for Human
Resources and Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs; Mr. Edward Murray, Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Finance, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; The Honorable
John Sepuulveda, Former Assistant Secretary for Human Resources
and Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; The
Honorable Richard Griffin, Deputy Inspector General, U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs; Mr. Gary Abe, Deputy Assistant
Inspector General for Audits and Evaluations, U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs.
Nov. 13, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``ObamaCare Implementation: The Rollout of Healthcare.gov.''
Witnesses: Mr. David A. Powner, Director of IT Management
Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office; Mr. Henry Chao,
Deputy Chief Information Officer, Deputy Director of the Office
of Information Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services; Mr. Frank Baitman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services; Mr. Todd Park, Chief
Technology Officer of the United States, Office of Science and
Technology Policy; Mr. Steven VanRoekel, Chief Information
Officer of the United States, and Administrator, Office of
Electronic Government, Office of Management and Budget; Mr.
Richard A. Spires, Former Chief Information Officer, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security; and Ms. Karen Evans, Partner,
KE&T Partners, LLC.
Nov. 22, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee field hearing
entitled, ``ObamaCare Implementation: Sticker Shock of
Increased Premiums for Healthcare Coverage.'' Witnesses: Mr.
Dan Waters, President, Dan Waters & Associates; Mrs. Sherry
Overbey, Director, Belmont Crisis Pregnancy Center; Mr. Joel
Long, President, Gastonia Sheet Metal Services; Mr. Jason
Falls, Owner, Falls Insurance; and Mr. Tav Gauss, President,
The Action Group Human Resources Solutions.
Nov. 25, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee field hearing
entitled, ``ObamaCare Implementation: High Costs, Few Choices
for Rural America.'' Witnesses: Mr. Raymer M. Sale, Jr.,
President, E2E Benefits Services, Inc.; Jeff Charles Reinhardt,
Ph.D., President, The Longstreet Clinic, P.C.; Mr. Michael
Boyette, Owner, Owl Town Auto; and Mrs. Emma Lucille Collins,
Owner, Synergy Wellness.
Dec. 2, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Changes to The Heights Act: Shaping Washington, D.C., for the
Future, Part II.'' Witnesses: Ms. Harriet Tregoning, Director,
D.C. Office of Planning; and Mr. Marcel C. Acosta, Executive
Director, National Capital Planning Commission.
Dec. 4, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``The Roll out of HealthCare.gov: The Limitations of Big
Government.'' Witnesses: Veronique de Rug, Ph.D., Senior
Research Fellow, Mercator Center, George Mason University;
Clifford Winston, Searle Freedom Trust Senior Fellow, Economic
Studies Program, The Brookings Institution; Mark A. Calabria,
Ph.D., Director of Financial Regulation Studies, Cato
Institute; and Karen Kruse Thomas, Ph.D., Historian and
Communications Associate, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health.
Dec. 6, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee field hearing
entitled, ``ObamaCare Implementation: The Broken Promise: If
You Like Your Current Plan You Can Keep It.'' Witnesses: Mrs.
Julie Dalton, Arizona; Ms. Diana Robinson, Arizona; Mr. Steve
Montgomery, Arizona/California Border; and Mrs. Christie
Hamman, Arizona.
Dec. 12, 2013, 1:30 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``ObamaCare's Impact on Premiums and Provider Networks.''
Witnesses: Jeffrey English, M.D., Neurologist, The Multiple
Sclerosis Center of Atlanta; Patricia McLaughlin, M.D.,
Ophthalmologist, New York City; Eric N. Novack, M.D.,
Orthopedic Surgeon, OrthoArizona; Avik S. A. Roy, M.D., Senior
Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research; Judith Feder,
Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy, McCourt School of Public
Policy; Mr. Edmund F. Haislmaier, Senior Research Fellow,
Health Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation; Dr. John
Goodman, President, National Center for Policy Analysis.
Dec. 16, 2013, 1:30 p.m.--Full Committee field hearing
entitled, ``ObamaCare Implementation: Who are the Navigators?''
Witnesses: Mr. Kevin Brady, Deputy Chief of Staff, Texas
Department of Insurance; Dr. Randy Farris, Regional
Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Ms.
Carolyn L. Goodwin, CBC, SGS, Certified Consumer Directed
Health Plans, President-Elect, Texas Association of Health
Underwriters.
Jan. 9, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Waste in Government: What's Being Done?'' Witnesses: The
Honorable Tom Carper, United States Senator; The Honorable Tom
Coburn, United States Senator; Mr. Thomas A. Schatz, President,
Citizens Against Government Waste; Mr. Chris Edwards, Director
of Tax Policy Studies, Cato Institute; Mr. Brandon Arnold, Vice
President of Governmental Affairs, National Taxpayers Union;
and Ms. Jaimie Woo, Tax and Budget Associate, U.S. Public
Interest Research Group.
Jan. 15, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Empowering Agency Oversight: Views from the Inspectors
General Community.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Peggy E.
Gustafson, Inspector General Small Business Administration; The
Honorable Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General, U.S.
Department of Justice; and Ms. Kathy A. Buller, Inspector
General, Peace Corps.
January 16, 2014, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing
entitled, ``HHS' Own Security Concerns about HealthCare.gov.''
Witnesses: Kevin Charest, Ph.D., Chief Information Security
Officer, Department of Health and Human Services; and Ms.
Teresa Fryer, Chief Information Security Officer, Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Jan. 28, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``A Roadmap for Hackers?--Documents Detailing Healthcare.gov
Security Vulnerabilities.'' Witnesses: Mr. Milton Shomo,
Principal Information Systems Engineer, Cyber Operations, The
MITRE Corporation; Kevin Charest, Ph.D., Chief Information
Security Officer, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Feb. 5, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``ObamaCare: Why the Need for an Insurance Company Bailout?''
Witnesses: The Honorable Marco Rubio, United States Senator,
Florida; John C. Goodman, Ph.D., President and CEO, National
Center for Policy Analysis, Washington, D.C.; Mr. Doug Badger,
Former Senior White House Advisor for Health Policy to
President George W. Bush; Professor Timothy S. Jost, Washington
and Lee University; and the Honorable Charles E. Grassley, U.S.
Senate.
Feb. 11, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``D.C. Navy Yard Shooting: Fixing the Security Clearance
Process.'' Witnesses: Mr. Sterling Phillips, CEO, US
Investigations Services, LLC; The Honorable Katherine
Archuleta, Director, U.S. Office of Personnel and Management;
Mr. Stephen Lewis, Deputy Director for Personnel, Industrial
and Physical Security Policy, Counterintelligence and Security
Directorate, Office of Undersecretary of Defense for
Intelligence, U.S. Department of Defense; The Honorable Patrick
McFarland, Inspector General, U.S. Office of Personnel
Management; Ms. Susan A. Ordakowski, Vice President, Contracts
and Compliance, KeyPoint Government Solutions; Mr. Michael
Rhodes, Executive Vice President, Mission Systems and Services
Business Group, CACI International, Inc.
Feb. 11, 2014, 2 p.m.--Full Committee Business Meeting.
Feb. 26, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Limitless Surveillance at the FDA: Protecting the Rights of
Federal Whistleblowers.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Charles E.
Grassley, United State Senator, Iowa; Jeffrey Shuren, M.D.,
Director, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, U.S. Food
and Drug Administration; Ms. Ruth McKee, Associate Director for
Management, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food
and Drug Administration; Mr. Walter Harris, Chief Operating
Officer and Acting Chief Information Officer, U.S. Food and
Drug Administration; Ms. Angele Canterbury, Director for Public
Policy, Project on Government Oversight.
March 5, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--continuation of the Full
Committee hearing entitled, ``The IRS: Targeting Americans for
their Political Beliefs.'' Witness: Ms. Lois G. Lerner, Former
Director, Exempt Organizations, Tax Exempt and Government
Entities Division, Internal Revenue Service.
March 12, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee Business Meeting.
March 26, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Examining the IRS Response to the Targeting Scandal.''
Witness: The Honorable John Koskinen, Commissioner, Internal
Revenue Service.
April 2, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Undercover Storefront Operations: Continued Oversight of
ATF's Reckless Investigative Techniques.'' Witness: The
Honorable B. Todd Jones, Director, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms, and Explosives.
April 8, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee Hearing entitled,
``The President's Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Proposal for the
Postal Service.'' Witness: The Honorable Brian C. Deese, Deputy
Director, Office of Management and Budget.
April 8, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing GAO's 2014 Report on
Duplicative Federal Programs.'' Witness: The Honorable Gene L.
Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, U.S.
Government Accountability Office.
April 10, 2014, 9 a.m.--Full Committee Business Meeting.
May 1, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee Hearing entitled,
``Benghazi, Instability and a New Government: Successes and
Failures of U.S. Intervention in Libya.'' Witnesses: Brigadier
General Robert Lovell, U.S. Air Force (Retired), Former Deputy
Director for Intelligence and Knowledge Development Directorate
(J-2); Kori Schake, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Hoover Institution;
Frederic Wehrey, Ph.D., Senior Associate, Middle East Program,
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Daveed Gartenstein-
Ross, Ph.D, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of
Democracies.
May 7, 2014, 9 a.m.--Full Committee Hearing entitled, ``Is
EPA Leadership Obstructing Its Own Inspector General?''
Witnesses: The Honorable Bob Perciasepe, Deputy Administrator,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Mr. Patrick Sullivan,
Assistant Inspector General, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency; Mr. Alan Williams, Deputy Assistant Inspector General
for Investigations, Office of Inspector General, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency; Ms. Elizabeth Heller Drake,
Special Agent, Office of Investigations, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
May 21, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee Business Meeting.
June 10, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Social Security Administration Oversight: Examining the
Integrity of the Disability Determination Appeals Process.''
Witnesses: The Honorable Tom Coburn, M.D., Ranking Minority
Member, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, U.S. Senate; Mr. Charles Bridges, Administrative Law
Judge, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Office of Disability
Adjudication and Review, U.S. Social Security Administration;
Mr. James A. Burke, Administrative Law Judge, Albuquerque, New
Mexico, Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, U.S.
Social Security Administration; Mr. Gerald I. Krafsur,
Administrative Law Judge, Kingsport, Tennessee, Office of
Disability Adjudication and Review, U.S. Social Security
Administration; Mr. Harry C. Taylor II, Administrative Law
Judge, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Office of Disability
Adjudication and Review, U.S. Social Security Administration;
Mr. Gerald I. Krafsur, Administrative Law Judge, Charleston,
West Virginia, Office of Disability Adjudication and Review,
U.S. Social Security Administration.
June 11, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Social Security Administration Oversight: Examining the
Integrity of the Disability Determination Appeals Process, Part
II.'' Witness: The Honorable Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting
Commissioner, U.S. Social Security Administration.
June 19, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Whistleblower Reprisal and Management Failures at the U.S.
Chemical Safety Board.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Rafael Moure-
Eraso, Ph.D., Chairman, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board; The Honorable Beth Rosenberg, Ph.D.,
Former Board Member, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board; The Honorable Carolyn N. Lerner, Special
Counsel, U.S. Office of Special Counsel; The Honorable Arthur
A. Elkins, Jr., Inspector General, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency; Mr. Patrick Sullivan, Assistant Inspector
General for Investigations, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency; Mr. Mark Griffon, Board Member, U.S. Chemical Safety
and Hazard Investigation Board.
June 23, 2014, 7 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``IRS Obstruction: Lois Lerner's Missing Emails.'' Witness: The
Honorable John Koskinen, Commissioner, U.S. Internal Revenue
Service.
June 24, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee Hearing entitled,
``IRS Obstruction: Lois Lerner's Missing Emails, Part II.''
Witnesses: Ms. Jennifer O'Connor, Office of the White House
Counsel, The White House; The Honorable David S. Ferriero,
Archivist of the United States, U.S. National Archives and
Records Administration.
June 25, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Management Failures: Oversight of the EPA.'' Witnesses: The
Honorable David Vitter, United States Senator, Louisiana; the
Honorable Sheldon Whitehouse, United States Senator, Rhode
Island; the Honorable Gina McCarthy, Administrator, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
July 10, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee Hearing entitled,
``Examining New Embassy Construction: Are New Administration
Policies Putting Americans Overseas in Danger?'' Witnesses: Ms.
Lydia Muniz, Director, Bureau of Overseas Building Operations,
U.S. Department of State; Mr. Casey Jones, Deputy Director,
Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, U.S. Department of
State; The Honorable Grant S. Green, Jr., Former Undersecretary
for Management, U.S. Department of State.
July 16, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``White House Office of Political Affairs: Is Supporting
Candidates and Campaign Fund-Raising an Appropriate Use of a
Government Office?'' Witnesses: Mr. Scott Coffina, Partner,
Drinker, Biddle & Reath, LLP (did not testify); The Honorable
Carolyn Lerner, U.S. Office of Special Counsel (did not
testify); Mr. David Simas, Director, Office of Political
Strategy and Outreach, The White House (did not appear).
July 24, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``The Federal Trade Commission and Its Section 5 Authority:
Prosecutor, Judge, and Jury.'' Witnesses: Mr. Michael
Daugherty, Chief Executive Officer, LabMD, Inc.; Mr. David
Roesler, Executive Director, Open Door Clinic of Greater Elgin;
Mr. Gerard Stegmaier, Partner, Goodwin Procter; Mr. Woodrow
Hartzog, Associate Professor, Samford University.
July 24, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee Business Meeting.
July 25, 2014, 9 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``White House Office of Political Affairs: Is Supporting
Candidates and Campaign Fund-Raising an Appropriate Use of a
Government Office?''
July 25, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee Business Meeting.
July 30, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``IRS Abuses: Ensuring that Targeting Never Happens Again.''
Witnesses: Mr. David Keating, President, Center for Comparative
Politics; Ms. Cleta Mitchell, Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP; Mr.
James Sherk, Senior Policy Analyst in Labor Economics, The
Heritage Foundation; The Honorable Hans A. von Spakovsky,
Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior Legal
Fellow, The Heritage Foundation.
September 10, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing
entitled, ``Obstructing Oversight: Concerns from Inspectors
General.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Michael E. Horowitz,
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Justice; the Honorable
Arthur A. Elkins, Jr., Inspector General, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency; Ms. Kathy A. Buller, Inspector General,
Peace Corps.
September 17, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee Business
Meeting.
September 18, 2014, 11 a.m.--Full Committee hearing
entitled, ``Examining ObamaCare's Failures in Security,
Accountability, and Transparency.'' Witnesses: The Honorable
Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services; U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services; Mr. Greg Wilshusen, Director, Information Security
Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office; Ms. Ann Barron-
DiCamillo, Director, U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
September 30, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing
entitled, ``White House Perimeter Breach: New Concerns about
the Secret Service.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Julia Pierson,
Director, U.S. Secret Service; the Honorable W. Ralph Basham,
Partner, Command Consulting Group, LLC; Mr. Todd M. Keil,
Senior Advisor, TorchStone Page, Inc.
October 24, 2014, 9:30 p.m.--Full Committee hearing
entitled, ``The Ebola Crisis: Coordination of a Multi-Agency
Response.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Nicole Lurie, M.D.,
Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services; The Honorable Michael Lumpkin, Assistant Secretary of
Defense, U.S. Department of Defense; Major General James M.
Lariviere, Deputy Director, Political-Military Affairs
(Africa), U.S. Department of Defense; The Honorable John Roth,
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security;
Deborah Burger, RN, Co-President, National Nurses United; Me.
Rabih Torbay, Senior Vice President, International Operations,
International Medical Corps.
November 18, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Full Committee joint hearing
with the Committee on the Judiciary entitled, ``Abuse of
USPTO's Telework Program: Ensuring Oversight, Accountability
and Quality.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Frank R. Wolf, U.S.
House of Representatives; Ms. Margaret A. (Peggy) Focarino,
Commissioner for Patents, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; The
Honorable Todd J. Zinser, Inspector General, U.S. Department of
Commerce; Mr. Robert D. Budens, President, Patent Office
Professional Association; Ms. Esther Kepplinger, Chief Patent
Counselor, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; Mr. William F.
Smith, Of Counsel, BakerHostetler.
Dec. 3, 2014--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Transforming Federal Spending: Implementing the Digital
Accountability and Transparency Act.'' Witnesses: The Honorable
Mark Warner, United States Senator (D-VA); The Honorable Rob
Portman, United States Senator (R-OH); The Honorable Gene L.
Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, U.S.
Government Accountability Office; The Honorable David Mader,
Controller, Office of Federal Financial Management, White House
Office of Management and Budget; and Mr. David Lebryk, Fiscal
Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury.
December 9, 2014--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Examining ObamaCare Transparency Failures.'' Witnesses: The
Honorable Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator, Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services;
Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D., Professor, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology; Mr. Ari Goldmann.
SUBCOMMITTEE MEETINGS AND HEARINGS HELD
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs
Feb. 14, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled,
``Unintended Consequences: Is Government Effectively Addressing
the Unemployment Crisis?'' Witnesses: Casey B. Mulligan, Ph.D.,
Professor in Economics, The University of Chicago; Eugene
Steuerle, Ph.D., Institute Fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair,
The Urban Institute; Ms. Annie Carter, Owner and President,
Carter Machine Company; Chad Stone, Ph.D., Chief Economist,
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; The Honorable Stacey
Reece, Former Member of the Georgia State House, Franchise
Owner, Spherion.
Feb. 26, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled, ``Bailout
Rewards: The Treasury Department's Continued Approval of
Excessive Pay for Executives at Taxpayer-Funded Companies.''
Witnesses: The Honorable Christy Romero, Special Inspector
General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, U.S. Department
of the Treasury; Ms. Patricia Geoghegan, Acting Special Master
for TARP Executive Compensation, U.S. Department of the
Treasury.
Mar. 19, 2013, 1:30 p.m.--A Joint Hearing of the
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory
Affairs and the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal
Service and the Census entitled, ``Sequestration Oversight:
Understanding the Administration's Decision on Spending Cuts
and Furloughs.'' Witnesses: Mr. David Robbins, Managing
Director, Federal Communications Commission; Mr. Michael Young,
USDA Budget Director, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Mr. Hari
Sastry, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resource Management,
U.S. Department of Commerce.
Apr. 24, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth
entitled, ``Green Energy Oversight: Examining the Department of
Energy's Bad Bet on Fisker Automotive.'' Witnesses: Mr.
Nicholas Whitcombe, Supervisory Senior Investment Officer, LPO,
Department of Energy; Mr. Henrik Fisker, Former Executive
Chairman, Fisker Automotive; Mr. Bernhard Koehler, Chief
Operating Officer, Fisker Automotive; Mr. Nicolas Loris,
Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow, The Heritage Foundation; Ms.
Zoe Lipman, Independent Consultant.
May 7, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Joint hearing of the Subcommittee
on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs and the
Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Constitution and Civil
Justice entitled, ``DOJ's Quid Pro Quo with St. Paul: A
Whistleblower's Perspective.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Charles
E. Grassley, United States Senator from Iowa; The Honorable
Johnny Isakson, United States Senator from Georgia; Mr.
Fredrick Newell, Community Activist, St. Paul, Minnesota; Mr.
Thomas F. DeVincke, Attorney representing Mr. Newell in Newell
v. City of St. Paul; Ms. Shelley R. Slade, Partner, Vogel,
Slade & Goldstein, LLP.
May 21, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Joint Hearing of the Subcommittee
on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements and the
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory
Affairs entitled, ``Examining the Concerns About ObamaCare
Outreach Campaign.'' Witnesses: Mr. Gary Cohen, Deputy
Administrator and Director, Center for Consumer Information and
Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services.
July 18, 2013, 2:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled,
``Regulatory Burdens: The Impact of Dodd-Frank on Community
Banking.'' Witnesses: Mr. Eddie Creamer, President and CEO,
Prosperity Bank; Ms. Tanya Marsh, Assistant Professor of Law,
Wake Forest University School of Law; The Honorable R. Bradley
Miller, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress (Former
Member of Congress); Ms. Hester Peirce, Senior Research Fellow,
Mercatus Center, George Mason University.
Sept. 18, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic
Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs and the
Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements
Joint hearing entitled, ``Federal Implementation of ObamaCare:
Concerns of State Governments.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Jeff
Colyer, M.D., Lieutenant Governor, State of Kansas; The
Honorable C. Bradley Hutto, State Senator, State of South
Carolina; The Honorable Alan Wilson, Attorney General, State of
South Carolina; The Honorable Katrina R. Jackson, State
Representative, State of Louisiana; Ms. Kathy Kliebert,
Secretary, Department of Health and Hospitals, State of
Louisiana; The Honorable Eleanor Sobel, State Senator, State of
Florida, The Honorable Matthew Hudson, State Representative,
State of Florida.
Feb. 5, 2014, 2 p.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job
Creation and Regulatory Affairs & Subcommittee on Energy
Policy, Health Care and Entitlements joint hearing entitled,
``Co-ops: Examining ObamaCare's $2 Billion Loan Gamble.''
Witnesses: Devon Herrick, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, National Center
for Policy Analysis; Roger Stark, M.D., Health Care Policy
Analyst, Washington Policy Center; Ms. Sarah Horowitz,
Executive Director & CEO, Freelancers Union; Mr. Avik Roy,
Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute; Jan VanRiper, Ph.D.,
Executive Director, National Alliance of State Health Co-Ops.
Feb. 6, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled, ``The IRS
Targeting Investigation: What is the Administration Doing?''
Witnesses: Ms. Barbara Kay Bosserman (invited), Civil Rights
Division, United States Department of Justice; Ms. Catherine
Engelbrecht, Founder, King Street Patriots; Ms. Cleta Mitchell,
Partner, Foley & Lardner LLP; Ms. Becky Gerritson, Founder and
President Wetumpka TEA Party, Inc.; Mr. Jay Sekulow, Chief
Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice.
Feb. 26, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled, ``Is the
Obama Administration Conducting a Serious Investigation of IRS
Targeting? Witnesses: The Honorable George J. Terwilliger III,
Partner, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; The Honorable Hans A. von
Spakovsky, Manager, Election Law Reform Initiative and Senior
Legal Fellow, Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial
Studies, The Heritage Foundation; Mr. Glen F. Ivey, Partner,
Leftwich and Ludaway LLC; Mr. Richard W. Painter, S. Waler
Richey Professor of Corporate Law, University of Minnesota Law
School; and the Honorable Eileen J. O'Connor, Former Assistant
Attorney General (2001-2007), Tax Division, U.S. Department of
Justice.
Feb. 27, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled, ``The
Administration's Proposed Restriction on Political Speech:
Doubling Down on IRS Targeting.'' Witnesses: Ms. Jenny Beth
Martin, President and Co-Founder, Tea Party Patriots; Mr.
Gabriel Rottman, Legislative Counsel/Policy Advisor, American
Civil Liberties Union; The Honorable Wayne Allard, Vice
President, Government Relations, American Motorcyclist
Association (Former United States Senator from Colorado); Ms.
Diana Aviv, President and CEO, Independent Sector; Mr. James R.
Mason, III, Senior Counsel, Home School Legal Defense
Association; Mr. Allen Dickerson, Legal Director, Center for
Comparative Politics.
April 3, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs and Energy Policy, Health
Care and Entitlement joint hearing entitled, ``Examining
ObamaCare's Problem-Filled State Exchanges.'' Witnesses: Mr.
Tom Matsuda, Interim Director, Hawaii Health Insurance
Exchange; Mr. Joshua Sharfstein, M.D., Chairman, Maryland
Health Benefit Exchange Board, Maryland Health Insurance
Exchange; Ms. Jean Young, Executive Director, Massachusetts
Health Insurance Exchange; Mr. Scott Leitz, Interim Chief
Executive Officer, Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange; Mr.
Greg Van Pelt, Advisor to the Governor, Oregon Health Insurance
Exchange; Mr. Peter Lee, Executive Director, California Health
Insurance Exchange.
June 18, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee hearing
entitled, ``Poised to Profit: How ObamaCare Helps Insurance
Companies Even If It Fails Patients.'' Witnesses: The Honorable
Jeff Sessions, U.S. Senator, Alaska; Mandy Cohen, M.D., Acting
Deputy Administrator and Director, Center for Consumer
Information and Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services; Mr. Seth J. Chandler, Foundation Professor
of Law, University of Houston Law Center; Mr. John R. Graham,
Senior Fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis; Mr. Edmund
F. Haislmaier, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Health Policy
Studies, The Heritage Foundation; Ms. Cori E. Uccello, Senior
Health Fellow, American Academy of Actuaries.
July 17, 2014, 9 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job
Creation and Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled, ``Examining
the Justice Department's Solution to the IRS Targeting
Scandal.'' Witnesses: The Honorable James M. Cole, Deputy
Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice.
July 23, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled, ``An
Update on the IRS Response to Its Targeting Scandal.''
Witnesses: The Honorable John Koskinen, Commissioner, U.S.
Internal Revenue Service.
July 29, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and the Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled,
``Examining Allegations of Corruption at the Export-Import
Bank.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and
President, Export-Import Bank of the United States; Mr. Johnny
Gutierrez, Former Employee, Short Term Trade, Finance Division,
Export-Import Bank of the United States; Ms. Diane Katz,
Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy, the Heritage Foundation.
September 17, 2014 2 p.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and the Regulatory Affairs hearing entitled, ``The
IRS Targeting Scandal: Changing Stories of Missing E-mails.''
Witnesses: The Honorable John Koskinen, Commissioner, U.S.
Internal Revenue Service.
Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements
Feb. 14, 2013, 1:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``The Effects of
Rising Energy Costs on American Families and Employers.''
Witnesses: Mr. George Hand, General Manager, Canadian Valley
Electric Cooperative; Ms. Paula Carmody, President, National
Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates; Mr. Eugene M.
Trisko, Attorney at Law and Energy Economist; Mr. Daniel Weiss,
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Action Fund; Mr.
Daniel R. Simmons, Director of Regulatory and State Affairs,
Institute for Energy Research.
Mar. 19, 2013, 3:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements entitled, ``The Department of
Energy's Strategy for Exporting Liquefied Natural Gas.''
Witnesses: Mr. Chris Smith, Acting Assistant Secretary for
Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy; Mr. Tom Choi,
National Practice Leader--Gas, Deloitte MarketPoint LLC; Mr.
Paul N. Cicio, President, Industrial Energy Consumers of
America; Charles K. Ebinger, Ph.D, Director, Foreign Policy,
Energy Security Initiative, Brookings Institute.
Apr. 25, 2013, 10:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Examining the
Lack of Transparency and Consumer Driven Market Forces in U.S.
Health Care.'' Witnesses: Marty Makary M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S.,
Surgeon, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Health Policy Professor, Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; John Goodman, Ph.D.,
President and Chief Executive Officer, National Center for
Policy Analysis; Ms. Lynn Quincy, Senior Health Policy Analyst,
Consumers Union.
May 16, 2013, 10:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Opportunities
Lost: Constraints on Oil and Gas Production on Federal Lands
and Waters.'' Witnesses: Mr. Tommy P. Beaudreau, Acting
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management, U.S.
Department of the Interior; Mr. Frank Rusco, Director, Natural
Resources and Environment, U.S. Government Accountability
Office.
May 21, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Joint Hearing of the Subcommittee
on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements and the
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory
Affairs entitled, ``Examining the Concerns About ObamaCare
Outreach Campaign.'' Witnesses: Mr. Gary Cohen, Deputy
Administrator and Director, Center for Consumer Information and
Insurance Oversight, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services.
June 5, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Up Against the
Blend Wall: Examining EPA's Role in the Renewable Fuel
Standard.'' Witnesses: Mr. Christopher Grundler, Director,
Office of Transportation & Air Quality, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency; Mr. Jack Gerard, President and CEO, American
Petroleum Institute; Mr. Lucian Pugliaresi, President, Energy
Policy Research Foundation Inc.; Mr. Joel Brandenberger,
President, National Turkey Federation; Jeremy I. Martin, Ph.D.,
Senior Scientist, Clean Vehicles Program, Union of Concerned
Scientists.
June 27, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Oversight of
Rising Social Security Disability Claims and the Role of
Administrative Law Judges.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Tom
Coburn, M.D. (R-Oklahoma), Ranking Minority Member, Committee
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States
Senate; Glenn E. Sklar, Deputy Commissioner, Disability
Adjudication and Review, Social Security Administration; The
Honorable Larry J. Butler, Administrative Law Judge, Miami
Office of Disability Adjudication Review, Social Security
Administration; The Honorable Thomas W. Snook, Administrative
Law Judge, Miami Office of Disability Adjudication Review,
Social Security Administration; The Honorable J.E. Sullivan,
Administrative Law Judge, Pittsburgh Office of Administrative
Law Judges, U.S. Department of Labor; The Honorable Drew A.
Swank, Administrative Law Judge, Pittsburgh Office of
Administrative Law Judges, U.S Department of Labor; Thomas D.
Sutton, Board of Directors, National Organization of Social
Security Claimants' Representatives.
July 17, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements and Committee on Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and
Security Technologies joint hearing entitled, ``Evaluating
Privacy, Security, and Fraud Concerns with ObamaCare's
Information Sharing Apparatus.'' Witnesses: Mr. Alan R. Duncan,
Assistant Inspector General for Security and Information
Technology Services, Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration; Mr. Terence V. Milholland, Chief Technology
Officer, Internal Revenue Service; The Honorable Danny Werfel,
Principal Deputy Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service; The
Honorable Marilyn B. Tavenner, Administrator, Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services; Mr. Henry Chao, Deputy Chief Information
Officer, Deputy Director of the Office of Information Services,
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services; Mr. John Dicken, Director, Health
Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office.
July 18, 2013, 2:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Examining the
Obama Administration's Social Cost of Carbon Estimates.''
Witnesses: The Honorable Howard Shelanski, Administrator,
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget.
July 31, 2013, 10:15 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Oversight of
IRS's Legal Basis for Expanding ObamaCare's Taxes and
Subsidies.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Scott Pruitt, Attorney
General, State of Oklahoma; Charles Willey, M.D., CEO, Innovare
Health Advocates Inc.; Mr. Simon Lazarus, Senior Counsel,
Constitutional Accountability Center; Mr. Jonathan Adler,
Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University; Ms. Emily
McMahon, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, U.S.
Department of the Treasury.
Oct. 2, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Oversight of
the Wind Energy Production Tax Credit.'' Witnesses: Mr. Curtis
G. Wilson, Associate Chief Counsel, Passthroughs and Special
Industries, Internal Revenue Service; Mr. Rob Gramlich, Senior
Vice-President for Public Policy, American Wind Energy
Association; Mr. Dan W. Reicher, Executive Director, Steyer-
Taylor Center for Energy Policy & Finance at Stanford
University; Robert J. Michaels, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Institute
for Energy Research, Professor of Economics, California State
University, Fullerton.
Nov. 19, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Continuing
Oversight of the Social Security Administration's Mismanagement
of Federal Disability Programs.'' Witnesses: The Honorable
Patrick O'Carroll, Inspector General, Social Security
Administration; Mr. Glenn E. Sklar, Deputy Commissioner,
Disability Adjudication and Review, Social Security
Administration; and Mr. Jasper J. Bede, Regional Chief
Administrative Law Judge, Region 3 Office of Disability
Adjudication and Review, Social Security Administration.
Feb. 5, 2014, 2 p.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job
Creation and Regulatory Affairs & Subcommittee on Energy
Policy, Health Care and Entitlements joint hearing entitled,
``Co-ops: Examining ObamaCare's $2 Billion Loan Gamble.''
Witnesses: Devon Herrick, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, National Center
for Policy Analysis; Roger Stark, M.D., Health Care Policy
Analyst, Washington Policy Center; Ms. Sarah Horowitz,
Executive Director & CEO, Freelancers' Union; Mr. Avik Roy,
Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute; Jan VanRiper, Ph.D.,
Executive Director, National Alliance of State Health Co-Ops.
Feb. 27, 2014, 2 p.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care, and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Examining the
Endangered Species Act.'' Witnesses: Mr. Samuel Rauch, Deputy
Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service, U.S.
Department of Commerce; Mr. Michael Bean, Counselor, Fish and
Wildlife and Parks, U.S. Department of the Interior.
April 3, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation, and Regulatory Affairs and Energy Policy, Health
Care and Entitlement joint hearing entitled, ``Examining
ObamaCare's Problem-Filled State Exchanges.'' Witnesses: Mr.
Tom Matsuda, Interim Director, Hawaii Health Insurance
Exchange; Mr. Joshua Sharfstein, M.D., Chairman, Maryland
Health Benefit Exchange Board, Maryland Health Insurance
Exchange; Ms. Jean Young, Executive Director, Massachusetts
Health Insurance Exchange; Mr. Scott Leitz, Interim Chief
Executive Officer, Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange; Mr.
Greg Van Pelt, Advisor to the Governor, Oregon Health Insurance
Exchange; Mr. Peter Lee, Executive Director, California Health
Insurance Exchange.
April 9, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Examining Ways
the Social Security Administration Can Improve the Disability
Review Process.'' Witnesses: Mr. Daniel Bertoni, Director,
Education, Workforce and Income Security, U.S. Government and
Accountability Office; Ms. Jennifer Nottingham, President,
National Association of Disability Examiners; Ms. Mariana
LaCanfora, Acting Deputy Commissioner, Retirement and
Disability Policy, Social Security Administration; Ms. Jennifer
Shaw Lockhart, State Director, Sooner SUCCESS, The University
of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center; The Honorable Patrick
O'Carroll, Inspector General, Social Security Administration.
April 30, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements Hearing entitled, ``Examining the
Effect of Liquefied Natural Gas Exports on U.S. Foreign
Policy.'' Witnesses: Mr. Christopher A. Smith, Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of
Energy; Mr. Amos J. Hochstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Energy Diplomacy, Bureau of Energy Resources, U.S. Department
of State.
May 20, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Medicare
Mismanagement: Oversight of the Federal Government Effort to
Recapture Misspent Funds.'' Witnesses: Shantanu Agrawal, M.D.,
Deputy Administrator and Director, Center for Program
Integrity, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services; Ms. Kathleen King,
Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office;
Mr. Brian P. Ritchie, Assistant Inspector General for Audit
Services, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
July 10, 2014, 2 p.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Medicare
Mismanagement Part II: Exploring Medicare Appeals Reform.''
Witness: Ms. Nancy J. Griswold, Chief Administrative Law Judge,
Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.
July 29, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Examining the
Federal Government's Failure to Curb Wasteful State Medicaid
Financing Schemes.'' Witnesses: Ms. Katherine Iritani,
Director, Health Care, U.S. Government Accountability Office;
Mr. John Haag, Director of Medical Audits, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services; Ms. Cindy Mann, Deputy Administrator
and Director, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
December 10, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy
Policy, Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled,
``Examining EPA's Management of the Renewable Fuel Standard
Program.'' Witnesses:
Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census
Feb. 27, 2013, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``The Road Less Traveled: Reducing Federal Travel & Conference
Spending.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Rush Holt, Representative
for the 12th Congressional District of New Jersey; The
Honorable Danny Werfel, Controller, U.S. Office of Management
and Budget; Ms. Cynthia Metzler, Chief Administrative Services
Officer, U.S. General Services Administration.
Mar. 19, 2013, 1:30 p.m.--A Joint Hearing of the
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory
Affairs and the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal
Service and the Census entitled, ``Sequestration Oversight:
Understanding the Administration's Decision on Spending Cuts
and Furloughs.'' Witnesses: Mr. David Robbins, Managing
Director, Federal Communications Commission; Mr. Michael Young,
USDA Budget Director, U.S. Department of Agriculture; Mr. Hari
Sastry, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resource Management,
U.S. Department of Commerce.
Apr. 10, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census entitled, ``Ahead
of Postal Reform: Hearing from USPS Business Partners.''
Witnesses: Mr. Steven Brandt, President and Publisher,
Greenville News; Ms. Joy Franckowiak, Director, Postal Affairs
and Distribution, Valpak; Ms. Meta Brophy, Director,
Procurement Operations, Consumer Reports; Mr. Carl Janssens, VP
Pharmacy Operations, CVS Caremark; Mr. Ken Garner, President &
CEO, Association of Marketing Service Providers; and Mr. Jerry
Cerasale, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Direct
Marketing Association.
Apr. 11, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``The Federal Employees Health Benefit Program: Is it a Good
Value for Federal Employees?'' Witnesses: Mr. Jonathan Foley,
Director, Planning and Policy Analysis, U.S. Office of
Personnel Management; Mr. William A. Breskin, Vice President of
Government Programs, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association;
Mr. Thomas C. Choate, Chief Growth Officer, UnitedHealthcare;
Mr. Mark Merritt, President and CEO, Pharmaceutical Care
Management Association; Ms. Jacqueline Simon, Public Policy
Director, American Federation of Government Employees.
May 9, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal Workforce,
Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled, ``Is OPM
Processing Federal Worker Pension Claims on Time?'' Witnesses:
Mr. Patrick McFarland, Inspector General, U.S. Office of
Personnel Management; Mr. Kenneth Zawodny, Associate Director,
Retirement Services, U.S. Office of Personnel Management; Ms.
Valerie C. Melvin, Director, Information Management &
Technology Resource Issues, U.S. Government Accountability
Office; Dr. George Kettner, President, Economic Systems, Inc.;
Mr. Joseph A. Beaudoin, President, National Active and Retired
Federal Employees Assoc. (NARFE).
June 5, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal Workforce,
U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled, ``OPM's
Revolving Fund: A Cycle of Government Waste?'' Witnesses: The
Honorable Patrick E. McFarland, Inspector General, U.S. Office
of Personnel Management; Charles D. Grimes, III, Chief
Operating Officer, U.S. Office of Personnel Management; Linda
E. Brooks Rix, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Avue Technologies
Corporation.
July 10, 2013, 1:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``The Combined Federal Campaign: Making Every Dollar Count.''
Witnesses: The Honorable David G. Reichert (WA-08), U.S. House
of Representatives; Mr. Mark Lambert, Associate Director for
Merit System Accountability and Compliance, U.S. Office of
Personnel Management, Ms. Ju'Coby Pittman, President and CEO,
Clara White Mission; Mr. Kalman Stein, President and CEO,
EarthShare; Ms. Debby Hampton, President and CEO, United Way of
Central Oklahoma; Mr. Ken Berger, President and CEO, Charity
Navigator.
Sept. 11, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Ensuring an Accurate and Affordable 2020 Census.'' Witnesses:
The Honorable John Thompson, Director, U.S. Census Bureau; Mr.
Robert Goldenkoff, Director, Strategic Issues, U.S. Government
Accountability Office; Ms. Carol Cha, Director, Information
Technology, U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Dec. 3, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Assessing Government's Use of Design-Build Contracts.''
Witnesses: Mr. James Dalton, Chief of the Engineering and
Construction Division, Directorate of Civil Works, United
States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); Mr. Charles Dalluge,
Executive Vice President, Leo A Daly Company, On behalf of the
American Institute of Architects; and Mr. Randall Gibson,
President, Whitesell-Green, Inc., On behalf of the Associated
General Contractors of America.
March 4, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, US Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Alaska Bypass: A Broken System.'' Witnesses: The Honorable
Mark Begich, United States Senator, Alaska; The Honorable Don
Young, United States Representative, Alaska (At-Large); Mr.
Ronald S. Haberman, Alaska District Manager, United States
Postal Service; Ms. Tammy Whitcomb, Deputy Inspector General,
Office of Inspector General, United States Postal Service; Mr.
Dennis Devany, Deputy Director, Office of Aviation Analysis,
Office of Aviation and International Affairs, United States
Department of Transportation; Mr. Steve Deaton, Senior Vice
President, Alaska Central Express (ACE) Air Cargo, Inc.; Mr.
Jeff Butler, Vice President, Airport Operations and Customer
Service, Alaska Airlines.
March 13, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on the Federal
Workforce, US Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``At a Crossroads: the Postal Service's $100 Billion in
Unfunded Liabilities.'' Witnesses: Mr. Frank Todisco, Chief
Actuary, U.S. Government Accountability Office; Mr. Jeffrey
Williamson, Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice
President, U.S. Postal Service; Mr. Robert Moss, Chief, Budget
and Resource Management, Defense Health Agency; Mr. Joel
Sitrin, Chief Actuary, U.S. Department of Defense.
May 22, 2014, 9 a.m.--Subcommittee on the Federal
Workforce, US Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Examining Innovative Postal Products for the 21st Century.''
Witnesses: Mr. James P. Cochrane, Chief Information Officer and
Executive Vice President, U.S. Postal Service; Mr. David C.
Williams, Inspector General, U.S. Postal Service Office of
Inspector General; Mr. Will Davis, Chief Executive Officer,
Outbox, Inc.; Mr. Seth Weisberg, Chief Legal Officer,
Stamps.com; Mr. Patrick Eidemiller, Director of Engineering and
Technology, M-pack Systems; Mr. Todd Everett, Chief Operating
Officer, Newgistics, Inc.
July 11, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, US Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Oversight of the Federal Workforce: The Viability of the
Senior Executive Service.'' Witnesses: Mr. Samuel Retherford,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Human Resources
and Administration, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Mr.
Stephen Shih, Deputy Associate Director, Executive Resources
and Employee Development, U.S. Office of Personnel Management;
Ms. Carol A. Bonosaro, President, Senior Executives
Association.
July 15, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal Workforce,
US Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled, ``Is the
Federal Government's General Schedule (GS) a Viable System for
the Future?'' Witnesses: The Honorable Katherine Archuleta,
Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management; The Honorable
Donald J. Devine, Senior Scholar, The Fund for American
Studies; Mr. Robert Goldenkoff, Director, Strategic Issues,
U.S. Government Accountability Office; Ms. Patricia J. Niehaus,
National President, Federal Managers Association; Mr. J. David
Cox, National President, American Federation of Government
Employees.
September 9, 2014, 2 p.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Examining the Administration's Treatment of Whistleblowers.''
Witnesses: The Honorable Carolyn Lerner, Special Counsel, U.S.
Office of Special Counsel; The Honorable Susan Tsui Grundmann,
Chair, U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board; Mr. Robert MacLean,
Former Federal Air Marshal, Transportation Security
Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Robert
Van Boven, M.D., D.D.S., Former Director, Brain Imaging and
Recovery Laboratory, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System,
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Mr. Tom Devine, Legal
Director, Government Accountability Project.
September 18, 2014, 2 p.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``U.S. Census Bureau: Addressing Data Collection
Vulnerabilities.'' Witnesses: The Honorable John H. Thompson,
Director, U.S. Census Bureau; Director, U.S. Census Bureau; The
Honorable Todd Zinser, Inspector General, U.S. Department of
Commerce.
November 19, 2014, 10:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Examining Data Security at the United States Postal
Service.'' Witnesses: Mr. Guy Cottrell, Chief Postal Inspector,
United States Postal Service Inspection Service; Mr. Randy
Miskanic, Vice President of Secure Digital Solutions, United
States Postal Service; Ms. Tammy Whitcomb, Deputy Inspector
General, United States Postal Service Office of Inspector
General; Mr. Tim Edgar, Visiting Fellow, Watson Institute for
International Studies, Brown University; and Mr. Charles E.
Hamby II, Captain, Narcotics Enforcement Division, Prince
Georges County Police Department.
December 10, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Addressing the Backlog in the Federal Employee Retirement
Process.'' Witnesses:
Subcommittee on Government Operations
Feb. 27, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Failures in Managing Federal
Real Property: Billions in Losses.'' Witnesses: Dorothy Robyn,
Ph.D., Commissioner, Public Buildings Service, U.S. General
Services Administration; Mr. David Wise, Director, Physical
Infrastructure Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office; Mr.
Leonard Gilroy, Director of Government Reform, Reason
Foundation.
Apr. 25, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Government Operations Oversight:
Addressing Unused and Vacant Federal Property.'' Off-site
hearing located at: 49 L Street S.E. in Washington, D.C.
Witnesses: Mr. Michael Gelber, Deputy Commissioner, Public
Buildings Service, General Services Administration; Mr. David
Wise, Director, Physical Infrastructure Team, U.S. Government
Accountability Office; The Honorable Tommy Wells, D.C.
Councilmember, Ward 6; Mr. Ed Kaminski, Commissioner,
Washington D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
May 9, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Federal Government Approaches to
Issuing Biometric IDs.'' Witnesses: Mr. Stephen Sadler,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Intelligence and Analysis,
Transportation Security Administration; Mr. Stephen A. Lord,
Director, Forensic Audits and Investigations, U.S. Government
Accountability Office.
May 14, 2013, 2:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations Field Hearing entitled, ``Data Centers and the
Cloud: Is the Government Optimizing New Information
Technologies Opportunities to Save Taxpayers Money?'' Held in
the Meese Conference Room in Mason Hall at George Mason
University, Fairfax, VA. Witnesses: Mr. David A. Powner,
Director, Information Technology Management Issues, U.S.
Government Accountability Office; Mr. Bernard Mazer, Chief
Information Officer, Department of the Interior; Mr. Steve
O'Keeffe, Founder, MeriTalk; Ms. Teresa H. Carlson, Vice
President, World Wide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services; Mr.
Kenyon Wells, Vice President of U.S. Federal, CGI Federal.
June 10, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations Field Hearing entitled, ``The Delphi Pension
Bailout: Unequal Treatment of Retirees.'' Held at the Sinclair
Community College in Dayton, Ohio. Witnesses: Mr. Bruce Gump,
Delphi Salaried Retirees Association; Ms. Mary Miller, Delphi
Salaried Retirees Association; Mr. Tom Rose, Delphi Salaried
Retirees Association; Mr. Paul Dobosz, Delphi Salaried Retirees
Association; Mr. James Sherk, Senior Policy Analyst in Labor
Economics, The Heritage Foundation.
June 19, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Federal Government Approaches to
Issuing Biometric IDs: Part II.'' Witnesses: Mr. Charles H.
Romine, Director of the Information Technology Laboratory,
National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department
of Commerce; Mr. Steven Martinez, Executive Assistant Director
of the Science and Technology Branch, Federal Bureau of
Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice; Mr. John Allen,
Director of the Flight Standards Service, Federal Aviation
Administration; Ms. Colleen Manaher, Executive Director of
Planning, Program Analysis, and Evaluation, Office of Field
Operations, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of
Homeland Security; Ms. Brenda Sprague, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Passport Services, U.S. Department of State.
June 21, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations Field Hearing entitled, ``Building a Better
Partnership: Exploring the Mine Safety and Health
Administration's Regulation of Southern Appalachian Mining.''
Held at the Mitchell County Historic Courthouse in Bakersville,
North Carolina. Witnesses: Mr. Marvin Lichtenfels, Deputy
Administrator for Metal/Non-Metal, Mine Safety and Health
Administration; Mr. Sam Bratton, President, North Carolina
Aggregates Association; Mr. Jeff Stoll, Safety and Health
Manager, The Quartz Corporation; Mr. Mack McNeely, Vice
President, LBM Industries and Nantahala Talc Limestone.
July 25, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Data Centers and the Cloud, Part
II: The Federal Government's Take on Optimizing New Information
Technologies Opportunities to Save Taxpayers Money.''
Witnesses: Mr. David Powner, Director, Information Technology
Management Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office; The
Honorable Steven VanRoekel, Acting Deputy Director for
Management, Federal Chief Information Officer, Administrator
for E-Government and Information Technology, Office of
Management and Budget; Dr. David L. McClure, Associate
Administrator, Office of Citizen Services and Innovative
Technologies, U.S. General Services Administration.
August 2, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Examining the Skyrocketing
Problem of Identity Theft Related Tax Fraud at the IRS.''
Witnesses: The Honorable Daniel Werfel, Principal Deputy
Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service; Ms. Nina E. Olson,
National Taxpayer Advocate, Office of the Taxpayer Advocate;
Mr. Michael McKenney, Acting Deputy Inspector General for
Audit, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; Mr.
Douglas J. MacGinnitie, State Revenue Commissioner, Department
of Revenue.
Sept. 11, 2013, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Oversight of the SIGTARP Report
on Treasury's Role in the Delphi Pension Bailout.'' Witnesses:
The Honorable Christy L. Romero, Special Inspector General for
the Troubled Asset Relief Program; Mr. Matthew A. Feldman,
Partner, Wilkie Farr & Gallagher, LLP; Mr. Steven Rattner,
Chairman, Willett Advisors, LLC; Mr. Harry J. Wilson, Chairman,
CEO and founder, The MAEVA Group, LLC; Mr. Harvey R. Miller,
Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP; Ms. Barbara D. Bovbjerg,
Managing Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security
Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office; Ms. A. Nicole
Clowers, Director, Financial Markets and Community Investment,
U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Nov. 14, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Reviewing Alternatives to
Amtrak's Annual Losses in Food and Beverage Service.''
Witnesses: Mr. Tom Hall, Chief of Customer Services, Amtrak,
Mr. Ted Alves, Inspector General, Amtrak Office of the
Inspector General; Mr. Dwayne Bateman, Vice General Chairman,
Unite-Here Local 43; and Mr. Ed Howell, Senior Vice President
of Retail, Smithsonian Enterprises, Smithsonian Institution.
Dec. 3, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations field hearing entitled, ``Federal Trade Commission
and General Services Administration Thwart Cost Saving
Consolidation.'' Witnesses: Mr. David Robbins, Executive
Director, Federal Trade Commission; and Mr. Chris Wisner,
Assistant Commissioner, Office of Leasing, Public Buildings
Service, General Services Administration.
Jan. 14, 2014, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``TSA Oversight: Examining the
Screening Partnership Program.'' Witnesses: Mr. Kelly C.
Hoggan, Assistant Administrator for Security Operations,
Transportation Security Administration; Mr. Mark Bell, Acting
Deputy Inspector General for Audits, U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General; Ms.
Jennifer Grover, Acting Director, Homeland Security and
Justice, Government Accountability Office.
Feb. 4, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Government Operations Subcommittee
hearing entitled, ``Mixed Signals: The Administration's Policy
on Marijuana.'' Witnesses: Mr. Michael P. Botticelli, Deputy
Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Feb. 10, 2014, 9 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations field hearing entitled, ``Assessing NASA's
Underutilized Real Property Assets at the Kennedy Space
Center.'' Witnesses: Mr. Robert D. Cabana, Director, John F.
Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space
Administration; Brigadier General Nina M. Armagno, Commander,
24th Space Wing, Director, Eastern Range, Patrick Air Force
Base, Florida, United States Air Force; John E.B. Smith,
Regional Commissioner, Public Building Service, Southeast
Sunbelt Region, U.S. General Services Administration; Mr. Jim
Kuzma, Chief Operating Officer, Space Florida; Mr. Charles Lee,
Director of Advocacy, Central Florida Policy Office, Audubon
Society; Mr. John Walsh, Chief Executive Officer, Cape
Canaveral Port Authority.
March 4, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Mixed Signals: The
Administration's Stance on Marijuana, Part Two.'' Witness: The
Honorable Thomas M. Harrigan, Deputy Administrator, U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration; the Honorable John F. Walsh,
Attorney, Colorado, Department of Justice.
May 6, 2014, 9:00 a.m.--Plymouth Township Hall--
Subcommittee on Government Operations Hearing titled, ``Field
Hearing: Impediments to Job Creation in Michigan.'' Witnesses:
Mr. Chris Fisher, President & CEO, Associated Builders and
Contractors; Ms. Janet Kaboth, President & CEO, Whitacrew Greer
Company; Mr. Richard Kligman, President, Superb Custom Homes;
Mr. Michael Lenahan, President, Resource Recovery Corporation
of West Michigan.
May 9, 2014, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Mixed Signals: The
Administration's Policy on Marijuana, Part Three.'' Witnesses:
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delegate for the District
of Colombia, U.S. House of Representatives; Mr. Peter Newsham,
Assistant Chief, Metropolitan Police Department; Mr. Robert D.
MacLean, Acting Chief, U.S. Park Police; Mr. David A. O'Neil,
Acting Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S.
Department of Justice; Ms. Seema Sadanandan, Program Director,
American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation's Capital.
May 20, 2014, 9:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Examining the Federal Response
to Autism Spectrum Disorders.'' Witnesses: Mr. Thomas R. Insel,
M.D., Director, National Institute of Mental Health, Chair,
Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee; Mr. Michael K.
Yudin, Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education
and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education;
Marcia Crosse, Ph.D., Director, Health Care, U.S. Government
Accountability Office.
May 22, 2014, 9 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government Operations
hearing entitled, ``Evaluating Public Housing in the U.S.:
Reining in Waste, Fraud, Abuse and Mismanagement at Public
Housing Authorities.'' Witnesses: Mr. Cecil House, General
Manager, New York City Housing Authority; Mr. Kelvin Jeremiah,
President & CEO, Philadelphia Housing Authority; the Honorable
David Montoya, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development.
May 29, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Pseudo Classification of
Executive Branch Documents: Problems with the Transportation
Security Administration's Use of the Sensitive Security
Information Designation.'' Witnesses: Ms. Annmarie Lontz,
Division Director, Office of Security Services and Assessments,
Transportation Security Administration; Mr. John Fitzpatrick,
Director, Information Security Oversight Office, National
Archives and Records Administration; Ms. Patrice McDermott,
Executive Director, OpenTheGovernment.org Coalition.
June 20, 2014, 9 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Mixed Signals: the
Administration's Policy on Marijuana, Part Four--the Health
Effects and Science.'' Witnesses: Doug Throckmorton, M.D.,
Deputy Director for Regulatory Programs, Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration;
Nora Volkow, M.D., Director, National Institute of Drug Abuse;
Carl Hart, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology & Co-
Director of the Institute for Research in African American
Studies, Columbia University.
July 9, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Examining Solutions to Close the
$106 Billion Improper Payments Gap.'' Witnesses: The Honorable
John Koskinen, Commissioner, U.S. Internal Revenue Service; Ms.
Beth Cobert, Deputy Director for Management, U.S. Office of
Management and Budget; Ms. Beryl H. Davis, Director, Financial
Management and Assurance, U.S. Government Accountability
Office; Dr. Shantanu Agrawal, M.D., Deputy Administrator and
Director, Center for Program Integrity Center for Medicare and
Medicaid Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services;
Mr. Mark Easton, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, U.S.
Department of Defense.
July 29, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Federal Real Property:
Eliminating Waste and Mismanagement of Real Property Assets.''
Witnesses: The Honorable David Mader, Controller, Office of
Federal Financial Management, U.S. Office of Management and
Budget; Mr. Michael Gelber, Deputy Commissioner, Public
Buildings Services, U.S. General Services Administration; Mr.
David J. Wise, Director, Physical Infrastructure Team, U.S.
Government Accountability Office; Mr. James M. Sullivan,
Director, Office of Enterprise Management, U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs.
July 31, 2014, 9 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Planes, Trains and Automobiles:
Operating While Stoned.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Christopher
A. Hart, Acting Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board;
Mr. Jeffrey P. Michael, Ph.D., Associate Administrator for
Research and Program Development, National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation; Ms.
Patrice M. Kelly, Acting Director, Office of Drug and Alcohol
Policy and Compliance, U.S. Department of Transportation; Mr.
Ronald Flegel, Director, Division of Workplace Programs, Center
for Substance Abuse Prevention, Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
October 14, 2014 1 p.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Gym Memberships, Gift Cards, and
Hair Salons: Examining the Misuse of Government-Supplied Credit
Cards.'' Witnesses: Ms. Anne Richards, Assistant Inspector
General for Audits, Office of Inspector General, U.S.
Department of Homeland Security; Ms. Janet Kasper, Director,
Contracts and Assistance Agreement Audits, Office of Inspector
General, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Mr. Elliot
Lewis, Assistant Inspector General for Audits, Office of
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor; Mr. John Lyle,
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary (Contracting), U.S. Air
Force; Mr. H.L. Larry, Deputy Director of Air Force Services,
U.S. Air Force.
Subcommittee on National Security
Feb. 13, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security hearing entitled, ``U.S. Direct Assistance in
Afghanistan: Ensuring Transparency and Accountability.''
Witnesses: Mr. John F. Sopko, Special Inspector General for
Afghanistan Reconstruction.
Apr. 17, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on National Security
hearing entitled, ``Contracting to Feed U.S. Troops in
Afghanistan: How did the Defense Department end up in a Multi-
Billion Dollar Billing Dispute?'' Witnesses: Mr. Michael
Schuster, Managing Director Logistics Division, Supreme Group
B.V.; Mr. Daniel Blair, Deputy Inspector General for Auditing,
U.S. Department of Defense; Mr. Matthew Beebe, Deputy Senior
Acquisition Executive, Defense Logistics Agency; Mr. William
Kenny, Acquisition Executive, Troop Support, Defense Logistics
Agency; Mr. Gary Shifton, Chief, OCONUS Division, Defense
Logistics Agency.
Apr. 18, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on National Security
hearing entitled, ``Sequestration Oversight: Prioritizing
Security over Administrative Costs at TSA.'' Witnesses: Mr.
John W. Halinski, Deputy Administrator, Transportation Security
Administration.
Apr. 25, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security and Subcommittee on Economic Growth joint hearing
entitled, ``Oversight of the Federal Government's Procurement
of Ammunition.'' Witnesses: Nick Nayak, Ph.D., Chief
Procurement Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Mr.
Humberto Medina, Assistant Director, National Firearms and
Tactical Training Unit, U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, (Also Chair
of the DHS Weapons and Ammunition Commodity Council); The
Honorable Patrick P. O'Carroll, Jr., Inspector General, Office
of the Inspector General, Social Security Administration; Mr.
Jon Adler, National President, National Law Enforcement
Officers Association.
June 13, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security hearing entitled, ``Examining the Government's Record
on Implementing the International Religious Freedom Act.''
Witnesses: The Honorable Suzan Johnson Cook, Ambassador-at-
Large for International Religious Freedom, U.S. Department of
State; Katrina Lantos Swett, Ph.D., Chair, U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom; Thomas F. Farr, Ph.D.,
Director of the Religious Freedom Project, Berkley Center for
Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University; Ms.
Tina Ramirez, President, Hardwired, Inc.; Mr. Amjad Mahmood
Khan, National Director of Public Affairs, Ahmadiyya Muslim
Community USA; Chris Seiple, Ph.D., President, Institute for
Global Engagement.
June 27, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National Security
hearing entitled, ``Border Security Oversight: Identifying and
Responding to Current Threats.'' Witnesses: Mr. Michael Fisher,
Chief, U.S. Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection; Mr.
David J. Murphy, Assisting Acting Commissioner, Customs and
Border Protection; Mr. Thomas Homan, Executive Associate
Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Immigration
and Custom Enforcement; Ms. Rebecca Gambler, Director, Homeland
Security and Justice, U.S. Government Accountability Office.
July 17, 2013, 10:15 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security hearing entitled, ``Border Security Oversight, Part
II: Examining Asylum Requests.'' Witnesses: Mr. Joseph E.
Langlois, Associate Director, Refugee, Asylum, and
International Operations Directorate, U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services.
August 2, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security and Committee on Natural Resources' Public Lands and
Environmental Regulation Subcommittee joint hearing entitled,
``Missing Weapons at the National Park Service: Mismanagement
and Lack of Accountability.'' Witnesses: Mr. Robert A. Knox,
Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Office of
Inspector General, U.S. Department of Interior; Ms. Kim A.
Thorsen, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Public Safety, Resource
Protection and Emergency Services, U.S. Department of Interior;
The Honorable Jonathan B. Jarvis, Director, National Park
Service, U.S. Department of the Interior; Ms. Teresa Chambers,
Chief of the United States Park Police Force, National Park
Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Nov. 14, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security hearing entitled, ``Border Security Oversight, Part
III: Border Crossing Cards and B1/B2 Visas.'' Witnesses: Mr.
John Wagner, Acting Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Office of
Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Mr. John
P. Woods, Assistant Director, National Security Investigations
Division, Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, Mr. Edward J. Ramotowski, Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Visa Services, Bureau of Consular
Affairs, U.S. Department of State; and Mr. Juan Osuna,
Director, Executive Office for Immigration Review, U.S.
Department of Justice.
Nov. 20, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security hearing entitled, ``Abuse of Overtime at DHS: Padding
Paychecks and Pensions at Taxpayer Expense.'' Witnesses: Mr.
John Florence, Branch Chief, Use of Force Policy Division,
Field Operations Academy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection;
The Honorable Carolyn N. Lerner, Special Counsel, U.S. Office
of Special Counsel; Ms. Catherine V. Emerson, Chief Human
Capital Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Mr.
Ronald Vitiello, Deputy Chief, Office of Border Patrol, U.S.
Customs and Border Protection; and Mr. Brandon Judd, President,
National Border Patrol Council, American Federation of
Government Employees.
Feb. 27, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on National Security
hearing entitled, ``Afghanistan: Honoring the Heroes of
Extortion 17.'' Witnesses: Mr. Gary Reid, Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense, Special Operations and Low
Intensity Conflict, U.S. Department of Defense; Ms. Deborah
Skillman, Director, Casualty and Mortuary Affairs, U.S.
Department of Defense; Colonel John M. Devillier, Commander,
Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations, Dover Air Force Base,
Delaware, United States Air Force, Department of Defense;
Colonel Kerk B. Brown, Director, Army Casualty and Mortuary
Affairs Operations Center, United States Army, U.S. Department
of Defense; Commander Aaron Brodsky, Director, Navy Casualty
Services, United States Navy, U.S. Department of Defense.
March 13, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security hearing entitled, ``Status of U.S. Foreign Assistance
to Afghanistan in Anticipation of the U.S. Troop Withdrawal.''
Witnesses: Mr. Donald L. Sampler, Jr., Assistant to the
Administrator, Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs, U.S.
Agency for International Development; Mr. Charles M. Johnson,
Director, International Affairs and Trade, U.S. Government
Accountability Office.
April 3, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on National Security
hearing entitled, ``Afghanistan: Identifying and Addressing
Wasteful U.S. Government Spending.'' Witnesses: Mr. Donald
Sampler, Assistant to the Administrator, Office of Afghanistan
and Pakistan Affairs, U.S. Agency for International
Development; Mr. John Sopko, Inspector General, Special
Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
April 3, 2014, 2:30 p.m.--Joint hearing of the Subcommittee
on National Security and the Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Immigration and border Security hearing
entitled, ``Overturning 30 Years of Precedent: Is the
Administration Ignoring the Dangers of Training Libyan Pilots
and Nuclear Scientists?'' Witnesses: Mr. Alan Bersin, Assistant
Secretary of International Affairs and Chief Diplomatic
Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Ms. Janice
Kephart, CEO, Secure Identity Biometrics Association, Former
Counsel to the 9/11 Commission; Mr. James M. Chaparro,
Executive Vice President for Strategy Strategic Enterprise
Solutions (SE Solutions); Mr. Frederic Wehrey, Ph.D., Senior
Associate, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace.
September 18, 2014 2 p.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security hearing entitled, ``Protecting International Religious
Freedom.'' Witnesses: The Honorable Sarah Sewall,
Undersecretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human
Rights, U.S. Department of State; Katrina Lantos Swett, Ph.D.,
Chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom;
Thomas Farr, Ph.D., Director, Religious Freedom Project,
Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs,
Georgetown University; Mr. Robert Smith, Managing Director and
Regional Advisor for the United States International Center for
Law and Religion Studies, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham
Young University; Mr. Emmanuel Ogebe, Special Counsel, Justice
for Jos Project, Jubilee Campaign; Mr. Tad Stahnke, Vice
President, Research and Analysis; Human Rights First.
FULL COMMITTEE BUSINESS MEETINGS HELD
January 22, 2013--Full Committee Organization Meeting
Summary:
(1) Adopted Committee Rules for the 113th Congress; and
(2) Approved Subcommittee Membership.
February 5, 2013--Full Committee Business Meeting
Summary:
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Oversight Plan
for the 113th Congress. The Oversight Plan was approved by
voice vote.
** Subcommittee assignments approved for Democrat Members
recently named to the Committee.
February 14, 2013--Full Committee Business Meeting
Summary:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met in
open session to consider:
Committee Report entitled, ``Billions of Federal Tax
Dollars Misspent on New York's Medicaid Program.''
Mr. Issa offered an amendment in the nature of a
substitute. The amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
The report, as amended, was reported to the House
favorably, by voice vote.
March 20, 2013--Full Committee Business Meeting
Summary:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met in
open session to consider:
1. H.R. 249 (Chaffetz), the Federal Employee Tax
Accountability Act of 2013.
Rep. Speier offered an amendment to change the definition
of ``seriously delinquent tax debt.'' She later withdrew the
amendment.
H.R. 249 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
2. H.R. 882 (Chaffetz), the Contracting and Tax
Accountability Act of 2013.
H.R. 882 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
3. H.R. 313 (Emerson/Farenthold), the Government Spending
Accountability Act of 2013.
Rep. Farenthold offered an amendment in the nature of a
substitute (ANS).
Rep. Clay offered an amendment to the Farenthold ANS
expanding on the international conference rule to allow the
head of an agency to grant a waiver in some circumstances. The
amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
Rep. Clay offered an amendment to the Farenthold ANS
exempting the public disclosure requirements for materials used
at a conference, as well as providing a detailed breakdown of
expenses unless the total cost in either instance exceeded more
than $50,000. Ch. Issa asked unanimous consent to strike any
exemption for producing materials, and to change ``$50,000'' to
``$10,000.'' There was no objection.
The Clay amendment (as modified by the Issa U.C.) was
agreed to by voice vote.
Rep. Pocan offered an amendment to the Farenthold ANS to
modify the language regarding annual travel expense limits. He
later withdrew the amendment.
The Farenthold ANS, as amended, was agreed to by voice
vote.
H.R. 313, as amended, was reported favorably to the House,
a quorum being present, by voice vote.
4. H.R. 328 (Chaffetz), the Excess Federal Building and
Property Disposal Act of 2013.
H.R. 328 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
5. H.R. 1163 (Issa), the Federal Information Security
Amendments Act of 2013.
H.R. 1163 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
6. H.R. 1232 (Issa), the Federal Information Technology
Acquisition Reform Act.
H.R. 1232 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
7. H.R. 1211 (Issa), the FOIA Oversight and Implementation
Act of 2013.
Rep. Turner offered an amendment to add a section at the
end of the bill--``Sec. 4. Applicability of FOIA.'' He later
withdrew the amendment.
Rep. Duckworth offered an amendment which added language
regarding duplication fees. The amendment was agreed to by
voice vote.
Rep. Turner offered an amendment which expanded on the
requirements of the Government Accountability Office with
regard to section 552 of title 5 of the U.S. Code. The
amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
Rep. Mica offered an amendment to add a section to the end
of the bill to require each agency's Office of Inspector
General to review FOIA compliance--``Sec. 4. Inspector General
Review; Adverse Actions.'' The amendment was agreed to by voice
vote.
H.R. 1211, as amended, was reported favorably to the House,
a quorum being present, by voice vote.
8. H.R. 1162 (Issa), the Government Accountability Office
Improvement Act.
H.R. 1162 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
9. H.R. 1133 (Duncan), the Presidential Library Donation
Reform Act.
H.R. 1133 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
10. H.R. 1104 (Clay), the Federal Advisory Committee Reform
Act.
H.R. 1104 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
11. H.R. 1246 (Norton), the D.C. CFO Vacancy Act.
H.R. 1246 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
12. H.R. 1233 (Cummings), Presidential and Federal Records
Act Amendments of 2013.
Ch. Issa offered an amendment which added language
regarding disclosure requirements for personal e-mail use
regarding government business. The amendment was agreed to by
voice vote.
H.R. 1233, as amended, was reported favorably to the House,
a quorum being present, by voice vote.
13. H.R. 1234 (Cummings), the Electronic Message
Preservation Act.
Ch. Issa offered an amendment which added language
regarding disclosure requirements for personal e-mail use
regarding government business. The amendment was agreed to by
voice vote.
H.R. 1234, as amended, was reported favorably to the House,
a quorum being present, by voice vote.
May 22, 2013--Full Committee Business Meeting
Summary:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met in
open session to consider:
1. H.R. 2061 (Issa), the ``Digital Accountability and
Transparency Act of 2013.''
Chairman Issa offered an amendment in the nature of a
substitute (ANS). The amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
H.R. 2061 was reported favorably to the House, as amended,
a quorum being present, by voice vote.
2. H.R. 568 (Ross), to amend title 5, United States Code,
to require that the Office of Personnel Management submit an
annual report to Congress relating to the use of official time
by Federal employees.
Chairman Issa offered an amendment in the nature of a
substitute (ANS). The amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
H.R. 568 was reported favorably to the House, as amended, a
quorum being present, by voice vote.
3. H.R. 1380 (Quigley), the ``Access to Congressionally
Mandated Reports Act.''
Chairman Issa offered an amendment in the nature of a
substitute (ANS). The amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
H.R. 1380 was reported favorably to the House, as amended,
a quorum being present, by voice vote.
4. H.R. 2067 (Meadows), the ``Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and
Trade Bureau Personnel Flexibilities Act.''
H.R. 2067 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
5. H.R. 1171 (Benishek), the ``FOR VETS Act of 2013.''
H.R. 1171 was reported favorably to the House, a quorum
being present, by voice vote.
June 28, 2013--Full Committee Business Meeting
Summary:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met in
open session to consider:
A resolution concerning whether Lois Lerner, the Director
of Exempt Organizations at the Internal Revenue Service, waived
her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when
she made a statement at the Committee hearing on May 22, 2013.
Rep. Norton offered an amendment in the nature of a
substitute. The amendment was defeated by a recorded vote of 16
Ayes to 20 Noes.
Voting Aye: Cummings, Norton, Tierney, Clay, Lynch, Cooper,
Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth, Kelly, Davis,
Welch, Caardenas, and Horsford.
Voting No: Issa, Mica, Turner, Duncan, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy, Hastings,
Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins, Meadows, Bentivolio, and
DeSantis.
The Chairman moved that the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform approve the resolution finding that Lois
Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment privilege on May 22, 2013.
The motion was approved by a recorded vote of 22 Ayes to 17
Noes.
Voting Aye: Issa, Mica, Turner, Duncan, McHenry, Jordan,
Chaffetz, Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais,
Gowdy, Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Massie, Collins, Meadows,
Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
Voting No: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay, Lynch,
Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth, Kelly,
Davis, Welch, Horsford, and Lujan Grisham.
July 24, 2013--Full Committee Business Meeting
Summary:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met in
open session to consider:
H.R. 2748, the Postal Reform Act of 2013--reported
favorably, as amended, by a vote of 22-17.
Voting yes: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
Voting no: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay, Lynch,
Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth, Kelly,
Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Amendments:
(1) Cummings ANS--defeated by a vote of 17-22.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth,
Kelly, Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
(2) Woodall--limits the size of non-cash compensation to
very senior postal executives until the financial crisis is
resolved--agreed to by voice vote.
(3) Tierney--strikes Sec. 306 (Postal Service workers'
compensation reform)--defeated by a vote of 17-22.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth,
Kelly, Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
(4) Farenthold--adds new Sec. 703--ensures that the USPS
adheres to generally accepted accounting principles in
developing plans to return the USPS to solvency--agreed to by
voice vote.
(5) Lynch--strikes Sec. 102 (Delivery-point
modernization)--defeated by a vote of 17-22.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth,
Kelly, Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
(6) Meehan--to ensure that local communities have specific
input into the delivery point modernization process--agreed to
by voice vote.
(7) Lynch--strikes Sec. 301 (Applicability of reduction-in-
force procedures)--defeated by a vote of 17-22.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth,
Kelly, Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
(8) Lynch--strikes Sec. 501 (Treatment of Postal Service
post-employment benefit funding projected surpluses)--defeated
by a vote of 17-22.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth,
Kelly, Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
(9) Turner en bloc (2 parts)--encourages the increased use
of innovative mailpiece design as a way to spur the increased
use of mail--agreed to by voice vote.
(10) Pocan--regarding pre-fund requirement--WITHDRAWN
(11) Davis--regarding air carriers of packages--WITHDRAWN
(12) Meehan--adds Sec. 107 (Sense of Congress with respect
to delivery points)--WITHDRAWN
(13) Mica--``amends the Obama healthcare bill''--WITHDRAWN
H.R. 2793, the District of Columbia Financial Efficiency
Act of 2013--reported favorably, without amendment, by
unanimous consent.
H.R. 1541, the Common Sense in Compensation Act--reported
favorably, as amended, by voice vote.
Amendments:
(1) Meadows ANS--agreed to by voice vote (as amended by
Lynch 2)
(2) Lynch (to Meadows ANS)--waiver on 5% cap--agreed to by
voice vote (as amended by Issa 3)
(3) Issa (to Lynch)--agreed to by voice vote
H.R. 2579, the Government Employee Accountability Act--
reported favorably, as amended, by voice vote
Amendments:
(1) Issa ANS (for Farenthold)--agreed to by voice vote, as
amended.
(2) Lynch (to Issa ANS)--regarding due process--defeated by
a vote of 17-22.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth,
Kelly, Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
(3) Connolly (to Issa ANS)--prohibits an agency from using
the expedited termination procedure to retaliate against a
Senior Executive Service whistleblower or to bring expedited
termination against an SES employee who has a pending claim of
whistleblower retaliation--agreed to by voice vote.
(4) Cummings (to Issa ANS)--prohibits an agency from using
the expedited termination procedure to discriminate against a
Senior Executive Service employee or to bring expedited
termination against an SES employee who has a pending claim of
discrimination--agreed to by voice vote.
(5) Speier (to Issa ANS)--The Speier amendment makes
several changes to the standard for immediate termination,
allowing an agency to terminate an Senior Executive Service
(SES) employee for ``serious'' neglect of duty,
misappropriation of funds, or malfeasance if the agency
determines the SES employee acted in a manner that
``knowingly'' endangers the interest of the agency mission--
agreed to by voice vote.
(6) Lynch (to Issa ANS)--prevents an agency head from
terminating a Senior Executive Service employee without an
administrative waiting period (essentially gutting half of the
bill). The effect of the amendment is to grant SES employees a
minimum 30 days advance notice of the termination, a minimum of
7 days to respond to the notice of termination, and the
potential for an internal hearing (the procedures agencies
currently follow when taking disciplinary action against an SES
employee)--agreed to by voice vote.
H.R. 899, the Unfunded Mandates Information and
Transparency Act of 2013--reported favorably by a vote of 22-
17.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth,
Kelly, Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
Amendments:
(1) Lynch--regarding sequestration--defeated by voice vote.
(2) Connolly--to apply early stakeholder consultation
requirement to ``any interested individual''--defeated by a
vote of 17-22.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Cooper, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth,
Kelly, Davis, Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy,
Farenthold, Hastings, Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins,
Meadows, Bentivolio, and DeSantis.
H.R. 1423, the Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act--reported
favorably, as amended, by voice vote.
Amendments:
(1) Speier--regarding duplication of funds and overlaps--
agreed to by voice vote.
H.R. 2711, the Citizen Empowerment Act--reported favorably,
as amended, by voice vote.
Amendments:
(1) Issa ANS--agreed to by voice vote.
(2) Cummings (to Issa ANS)--inserting a new subsection
``Coordination Provision''--defeated by vote of 14-18.
Voting yes: Cummings, Maloney, Tierney, Clay, Lynch,
Cooper, Connolly, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth, Davis, Welch,
Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting no: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Walberg, Lankford,
Amash, Gosar, Meehan, DesJarlais, Gowdy, Farenthold, Hastings,
Lummis, Woodall, Massie, Collins, and Bentivolio.
H.R. 1660, the Government Customer Service Improvement Act
of 2013--reported favorably, as amended, by voice vote.
Amendments:
(1) Issa ANS--agreed to by voice vote.
October 29, 2013--Full Committee Business Meeting
Summary:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform met in
open session to consider:
H.R. 2860 (Farenthold), the OPM IG Act--reported favorably,
by voice vote.
H.R. 3343 (Norton), 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--reported favorably, by voice vote.
H.R. 3316 (Lankford), the Grant Reform and New Transparency
Act of 2013 (or the ``GRANT Act'').
Ms. Speier offered an amendment to allow agencies to reduce
the pre-grant financial management evaluation process only for
grantees that have received more than $10 million in federal
grants in the past 3 years. The amendment was agreed to by
voice vote.
Mr. Connolly offered an amendment to substitute posting
only grant application abstracts for the posting of full
successful grant applications. The amendment failed by a
recorded vote of 15-19.
Voting Aye: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay,
Lynch, Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth, Kelly,
Welch, Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
Voting No: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, DesJarlais, Gowdy, Farenthold,
Hastings, Woodall, Massie, Collins, Meadows, Bentivolio, and
DeSantis.
Mr. Pocan offered an amendment and then withdrew the
amendment.
The bill, H.R. 3316, was reported favorably, as amended, by
a vote of 19-15.
Voting Aye: Issa, Mica, Turner, McHenry, Jordan, Chaffetz,
Walberg, Lankford, Amash, DesJarlais, Gowdy, Farenthold,
Hastings, Woodall, Massie, Collins, Meadows, Bentivolio, and
DeSantis.
Voting No: Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Clay, Lynch,
Connolly, Speier, Cartwright, Pocan, Duckworth, Kelly, Welch,
Caardenas, and Lujan Grisham.
H.R. 3345 (Issa), the Stop Unworthy Spending Act (or the
``SUSPEND Act'').
Mr. Chaffetz (with Ms. Speier and Mr. Tierney) offered an
amendment to further strengthen the SUSPEND Act by requiring
timely referral and consideration of suspension and debarment
cases. Specifically, the amendment provides a 30-day time limit
for the referred cases to be either accepted or rejected by the
suspension and debarment official. It also requires all S&D
cases to be resolved within 6 months from the initial referral
date. The amendment further requires that the annual report to
Congress include the number and summary of any instances where
the agency head made determinations to allow a suspended or
debarred entity to receive new contracts or grants. The
amendment was agreed to by voice vote.
The bill, H.R. 3345, was reported favorably, as amended, by
voice vote.
III. Summary of Committee Oversight Plan
Pursuant to Rule X, Clause 2(d) of the Rules of the House,
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for the 113th
Congress adopted the following plan to guide the work of its
subcommittees and the full committee. Because of the
Committee's role as the principal oversight body of the federal
government and its mandate to investigate ``any matter at any
time,'' this plan did not preclude oversight and investigation
of other matters of importance to the American people.
The Committee's adopted plan indicates oversight in several
sectors, including:
Waste, Fraud, Abuse, and Mismanagement.
Financial Sector Regulation--including the
implementation of Dodd-Frank, reviewing the FCIC, the creation
of the CFPB, the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the
recommendations of the Special Inspector General, including the
failure of the Home Affordable Mortgage Program, and the
Federal Housing Finance Agency's oversight of Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac.
Consumer Protection--including abuses by the
mortgage industry which, coupled with high unemployment and a
stagnant economy, have contributed to the foreclosure crisis.
Government Accountability Office--including the
effectiveness of federal government inspectors general and
their freedom from political interference, and ensuring the
independence and integrity of the GAO, and the federal
government's actions on the recommendations in their biannual
High Risk Series and their new annual list of duplicative,
overlapping, and fractured federal programs.
Federal Financial Management--including the record
$125 billion in improper payments made in 2010, growth in non-
tax debt owed to the Federal Government, the persistent
inability of many federal agencies to achieve a clean audit,
and a comprehensive detailed review of financial management
systems in place in the Federal Government.
Federal Real Property Disposal--including the
proposal for a pilot program at GSA to reduce the federal
deficit by disposing of excess property.
Government Contracting--including information
technology acquisition and suspension and debarment.
Open Government and Transparency--including
federal spending data accuracy, grant reform, the
implementation of the Government Performance and Review Act and
Performance.gov, compliance with the Presidential Records Act
and the Federal Records Act and the need to update those acts
to keep up with technology, political travel and the Hatch Act,
allegations of political interference with the Freedom of
Information Act, and a government-wide review of FOIA backlogs
and agency efforts to eliminate them.
Technology Policy--including the Committee's
ongoing oversight of the Federal Information Security
Management Act, and the emergence of a federal cybersecurity
policy.
Federal Regulation and the Regulatory Process--
including updating and strengthening the Unfunded Mandates
Review Act of 1995, reviewing the role of the White House
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in rulemaking, and
initiating a government-wide and economy-wide review of
regulatory impediments to job creation, and soliciting input
from the private sector.
Energy--including actions taken by the Federal
Government that have impeded the development of domestic energy
resources, including actions taken to discourage the use of new
and newly deployed technologies.
Environment--including oversight of the management
of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Healthcare and Entitlements--including the
Affordable Care Act and federal disability programs.
District of Columbia--including D.C. fiscal
management, and general oversight of the D.C. government.
Census--including ensuring the accuracy of the
2020 census.
National Archives and Federal Records--including
improving transparency of presidential and federal records.
Government Management and the Federal Workforce--
including pay and benefits, the use of ``official time'' to
conduct union activities, and the administration of the Office
of Personnel Management.
United States Postal Service--focusing on policies
that will address the actual long-term fiscal sustainability of
USPS and avoid a taxpayer bailout.
National Security and Foreign Operations--
including the growing delays in the transition process from DOD
to Veterans Affairs health care systems for wounded warriors,
contracting in Afghanistan, and the failures that led to the
Benghazi attack.
Homeland Security--border security operations and
decision-making at the Department of Homeland Security, and
policies regarding privacy and security at airports and the
effectiveness of the Transportation Security Administration.
IV. Summary of Actions Taken and Recommendations Made With Respect to
the Oversight Plan
Waste, Fraud, Abuse and Mismanagement
The Committee held numerous hearings in 2013 focused on
waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement throughout the federal
government. On February 5th, the Committee held a hearing
entitled, ``Government Spending: How Can We Best Address the
Billions of Dollars Wasted Every Year?'' The Committee heard
from Citizens Against Government Waste alongside Taxpayers for
Common Sense. Dan Blair, a Bush administration OMB official,
testified on behalf of National Academy of Public
Administration, and John Kamensky, a former staffer for Vice
President Gore, represented the IBM Center for the Business of
Government.
In February, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job
Creation and Regulatory Affairs convened a hearing to coincide
with the fourth anniversary of the passage of the stimulus in
2009. The witnesses were experts on government spending and
unemployment insurance, including Casey Mulligan, a University
of Chicago economist who spoke about the impact that increased
unemployment insurance has on the jobless rate and
beneficiaries' likeliness to seek full-time employment.
On April 16th, 2013, the Committee held a hearing to
examine how the National Archives and Records Administration,
the National Park Service, and the Smithsonian planned to
implement spending adjustments related to sequestration.
Archives and the Smithsonian appeared to have started planning
for the possibility of sequestration as far back as late 2011
and therefore did not anticipate significant impacts to the
public. Witnesses included David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the
United States, National Archives and Records Administration;
Jonathan B. Jarvis, Director, National Park Service; and Dr. G.
Wayne Clough, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution.
Continuing the Committee's multi-year oversight of the
DOE's Loan Program Office, on April 24th, 2013, Mr. Jordan's
subcommittee held a hearing on loan given to Fisker Automotive.
The hearing explored the circumstances leading to the DOE
offering taxpayer support for Fisker and its ill prospects for
repayment. Witnesses at the hearing included Henrik Fisker,
Former Executive Chairman, Fisker Automotive; Tony Posawatz,
CEO, Fisker Automotive; Bernhard Koehler, Chief Operating
Officer, Fisker Automotive.
On June 6, 2013, the Committee held a hearing to examine
the IRS's wasteful spending culture and excessive agency
conference spending. This abuse of taxpayer funds was also the
subject of an audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration. Witnesses included J. Russell George, Inspector
General, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration;
Gregory Kutz, Assistant Inspector General for Audit, Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration; Faris Fink,
Commissioner, Small Business and Self-Employed Division,
Internal Revenue Service; and Danny Werfel, Acting
Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service.
On October 1, 2013 the Committee held a hearing to examine
the recent EPA Inspector General investigation into former EPA
employee John Beale, who pleaded guilty to defrauding the EPA
and receiving approximately $900,000 in pay for work not
performed. Mr. Beale also allegedly impersonated a CIA agent.
Witnesses included: the Honorable Arthur A. Elkins, Jr.,
Inspector General, EPA; Patrick Sullivan, Deputy Inspector
General for Investigations, EPA; John C. Beale, Former Senior
Policy Advisor, EPA; Robert Brenner, Former Director of Policy
Analysis and Review, Office of Air and Radiation, EPA; and the
Honorable Bob Perciasepe, Deputy Administrator, EPA.
On October 16, 2013 the Committee held a joint hearing with
the Committee on Natural Resources to examine the National Park
Service's closure decisions. Chairman Issa issued a subpoena to
secure the testimony of Jonathan B. Jarvis, Director, National
Park Service. Other witnesses included Kevin Gardner, a legal
expert on private concessionaires; Anna Eberly, Managing
Director, Claude Moore Colonial Farm; and Mark Hoffman,
Chairman, National Tourism Association.
Inspectors General
On January 15, 2014, the Committee held a hearing on the
critical role Inspectors General play in reducing waste and
improving efficiency at federal agencies. The hearing provided
an opportunity for Members of the Committee to learn about
important issues the IG community faces and legislative
initiatives that the Council of the Inspectors General on
Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) supports. The hearing focused
on whether IGs have adequate tools to thoroughly investigate
allegations of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement,
including whether they would benefit from having the authority
to issue subpoenas to compel testimony from non-government
witnesses. Witnesses described challenges that IGs face with
respect to access to documents and witnesses, and they
suggested amendments to the Inspector General Act that would
allow the federal IGs to conduct more robust and nimble
investigations.
On August 5, 2014, 47 Inspectors General sent a letter to
Congress describing ``serious limitations on access to records
that have recently impeded the work of Inspectors General.''
The letter identified three IGs whose work has been
obstructed--Department of Justice Inspector General Michael
Horowitz, Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General
Arthur Elkins, and Peace Corps Inspector General Kathy Buller.
On September 10, 2014, the Committee held a hearing where
Members heard directly from those three IGs.
Horowitz testified that the Inspector General Act should be
amended so he can investigate misconduct by Justice Department
attorneys. Currently, those investigations are handled by the
Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility.
Horowitz was not able to investigate the New Black Panther
Party for voter intimidation, prosecutorial misconduct with
respect to the prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens, and the
Justice Department's internal review of the conduct of the
drafters of a memorandum that advised the Bush White House on
torture, among other things. Horowitz also requested that an
amendment to a section of the IG Act that denies him access to
certain categories of documents--such as Grand Jury documents
and national security-related documents.
Elkins gave the Committee an update on his effort to obtain
attorney-client privileged documents from the Chemical Safety
Board (CSB). On September 5, 2013, Elkins sent a ``seven-day
letter'' to Congress regarding CSB's refusal to cooperate with
his investigation of a leak of a whistleblower's identity.
Section 5(d) of the Inspector General Act, as amended, requires
IGs to report immediately to the agency head whenever the IG
becomes aware of ``particularly serious or flagrant problems,
abuses, or deficiencies relating to the administration of
programs or operations.''\1\ Reports made pursuant to Section
5(d) of the IG Act are commonly referred to as ``seven-day
letters.''\2\ Because IGs typically reserve the use of a seven-
day letter for only the most urgent matters, the Committee
takes these matters very seriously. On June 19, 2014, the
Committee held a hearing addressing both the seven-day letter
and gross mismanagement and dysfunction at the Chemical Safety
Board.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, Pub. L. 110-409
[hereinafter IG Act].
\2\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buller testified that the Peace Corps refused to provide
the Office of Inspector General access to certain information
related to sexual assaults on Peace Corps volunteers. Buller
testified that this prevented her from tracking sexual assaults
pursuant to requirements in the Kate Puzey Volunteer Protection
Act of 2011. In a summary of its legal position, the Peace
Corps claims that the Kate Puzey Act overrides the IG Act's
requirement that an agency provide its IG all requested
documents and information. On June 24, 2014, Committee staff
conducted a deposition of the Peace Corps General Counsel.
Shortly before the deposition, the Peace Corps and the IG
reached a memorandum of understanding that allowed the IG to
access restricted reporting information. During the hearing,
Buller testified about her concerns that the IG was forced to
enter into such an agreement to obtain what she is legally
entitled to by the IG Act.
On September 17, 2014, the Committee unanimously passed
H.R. 5492, a bill to amend the Inspector General Act of 1978 to
strengthen the independence of the Inspectors General. The bill
was based in part on input from the IGs who testified at the
Committee's January 15 and September 10, 2014 hearings.
Financial Sector
On April 24, 2013, the Committee held an oversight hearing
on the Small Business Lending Fund. Created in 2010, the goal
of the SBLF was to increase the availability of credit to small
businesses, allowing them to expand and hire. The program
permitted the Department of the Treasury to invest up to $30
billion in small banks. However, the Special Inspector General
for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) found that
banks used the SBLF funds to exit TARP, rather than make loans
to small businesses. The Special Inspector General testified
that TARP banks participating in SBLF did not effectively
increase lending to small business, and offered specific
recommendations to improve the program. The Treasury Department
was unavailable to participate in the hearing on that date.
On July 18, 2013, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job
Creation and Regulatory Affairs held an oversight hearing
examining the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on community banks.
It is widely acknowledged that community banks in no way
contributed to the 2008 financial crisis. Nonetheless, Dodd-
Frank imposes onerous regulatory burdens on community banks.
Because small banks are the least able to absorb the
tremendous compliance costs, the end result has been growing
trend of bank closures and consolidation. Ironically, this only
contributed to the ``too big to fail'' phenomenon that left
taxpayers on the hook for poor business decisions. The
Subcommittee received testimony from the President of a
community bank in St. Augustine, Florida, a former Member of
Congress, and two academics who have studied Dodd-Frank's
impact on community banking.
The Committee is overseeing the Securities and Exchange
Commission's consideration of whether to recommend issuing a
proposed rule mandating that public companies disclose their
political expenditures. Documents produced to the Committee
demonstrate that the SEC's professional staff strongly opposed
such a rulemaking. Staff argued that a corporate political
disclosure rule is well-outside the Commission's mandate,
unnecessary in light of existing shareholder proxy statement
rules, and inappropriate given outstanding mandatory rules in
the Dodd-Frank Act and JOBS Act. Notwithstanding these
objections, the Commission elected to place the rulemaking on
the Office of Management and Budget's Unified Regulatory
Agenda. Documents produced to the Committee indicate this
decision was the product of intense political pressure from
external parties. SEC has notified the Committee that staff is
not working on a rule proposal, and neither the staff nor the
Commission has reached any conclusion as to whether there
should be a proposed rulemaking in this area.
The Majority staff released a memo detailing the objections
by the professional staff, and establishing that consideration
of the rule was the product of inappropriate political pressure
on the Democrat Commissioners. Following release of the memo,
the Commission suspended further consideration of the rule.
The Committee is conducting oversight of the Financial
Stability Oversight Council. Created by Title I of the Dodd-
Frank Act, FSOC is constituted of a broad swath of federal
financial regulators. The Committee is concerned that FSOC's
operations may be infringing on the independence and core
competence of the Council's constituent regulatory bodies. This
infringement is particularly troubling in the cases where the
regulatory agency is headed by an independent, bipartisan
commission and not a single political appointee. The Committee
is particularly concerned with the Council's authority under
Section 120 of the Dodd-Frank Act to issue formal
recommendations for regulatory action.
In July 2013, the Committee requested documents and
communications from member-agencies of the Financial Stability
Oversight Council, regarding their participation in Council
activities. The Securities and Exchange Commission provided
documents regarding efforts to designate asset management
companies as ``systemically important financial institutions''
(SIFIs) subject to enhanced regulatory scrutiny. On April 7,
2014, the Committee wrote to Treasury Secretary Lew, presenting
these concerns and requesting documents related to the OFR
study. In response to the Committee's oversight of this matter,
FSOC pulled back from its plan to pursue SIFI designation of
large asset management companies, focusing instead on risky
practices within the industry.
The Committee is continuing its oversight of the Export-
Import Bank of the United States. On July 29, 2014, the
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory
Affairs held an oversight hearing examining allegations of
corruption at the Bank. At this hearing, Johnny Gutierrez, a
senior official in the Trade Finance, invoked his right against
self-incrimination in response to allegations of corruption and
bribery. The Bank's Office of Inspector General informed the
Committee that it is currently investigating over forty
allegations of fraud within or against the Bank, but the IG has
not developed evidence of widespread employee misconduct or
systemic employee involvement in fraud schemes at the Bank.
In November 2014, the Committee partnered with the
Committee on Financial Services to secure unredacted
transcripts of meetings of the Bank's Board of Directors. The
Committee on Financial Services requested this information in
the course of its obligation to consider legislation
reauthorizing the Bank. The Bank refused to provide this
information, and on November 6, 2014, Chairman Issa authorized
a subpoena to secure its procurement.
The Committee is conducting oversight of the Department of
Justice's litigation policy with respect to allegations of
mortgage-backed securities fraud by major U.S. banks. The
Department's litigation policy is to purse pre-suit settlement
agreements, rather than take cases to trial. This strategy
calls into question the competence of the evidence against the
banks. Furthermore, by concluding a settlement agreement rather
than securing a civil judgment, the Department is able to
``shift'' money penalties that would be paid to the U.S.
Treasury, to bank-administered ``consumer relief.'' In effect,
the Department is leaving taxpayer money on the table, in an
effort to pursue its political goals. On July 24, 2014, the
Committee requested information from DOJ explaining its
residential mortgage-backed security fraud litigation and
settlement policy.
The Committee is continuing its investigation of a multi-
agency initiative forcing banks to terminate relationships with
businesses and merchants disfavored by the Administration,
known as ``Operation Choke Point.'' In response to a document
request of January 9, 2014, the Department of Justice provided
over 853 pages of internal memoranda, presentations, and
communications. In light of this information, on June 9, 2014,
the Committee expanded its investigation to the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation; the agency is continuing to cooperate
with the Committee. In November 2014, the Committee made
similar requests of the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The
Committee's investigation of Operation Choke Point is ongoing.
Consumer Protection
On January 4, 2013, Chairman Issa and Ranking Member
Cummings jointly wrote the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System (Fed) and the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency (OCC) to learn more about discussions both agencies
had to amend consent orders they had made in April 2011 with
several mortgage servicing companies regarding loan servicing
and foreclosure processing. In May 2013, Chairman Issa and
Ranking Member Cummings also wrote the FRB and the OCC to
request information regarding the amended consent orders the
agencies ultimately entered into with these companies on
January 7, 2013.
Committee staff reviewed responsive documents at the OCC on
June 25, 2013, and reviewed responsive documents at the FRB on
November 1, 2013. On March 4, 2014, Chairman Issa and Ranking
Member Cummings sent a letter requesting that both the Fed and
the OCC produce a small subset of documents from among those
reviewed by the Committee staff in camera and both the OCC and
the Fed eventually produced the requested documents. The
documents produced by the OCC show that there were no reliable
data on error rates at the time the Independent Foreclosure
Review (IFR) was terminated, but preliminary data were
available showing double-digit error rates in some error
categories at some servicers. Further analysis to identify the
full extent of harm could not be completed because the IFR was
terminated.
The Government Accountability Office
On February 14, 2013, the Committee held a hearing on the
Government Accountability Office's (GAO) high risk list
entitled ``Exploring GAO's High Risk List and Opportunities for
Reform.'' The hearing reviewed GAO's biannual high risk list,
which identified 30 areas of government that are most
susceptible to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.
Comptroller General Gene Dodaro testified about the high risk
areas, including climate change, federal contract management,
modernizing insurance and benefit programs, and transforming
the Department of Defense's program management.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Exploring GAO's High Risk List and
Opportunities for Reform,'' February 14, 2013. Available at: http://
oversight.house.gov/hearing/exploring-gaos-high-risk-list-and-
opportunities-for-reform-2/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On April 9, 2013, the Committee held a hearing on the GAO's
third annual report on duplication, overlap, fragmentation, and
opportunities for cost saving in government. The hearing was
entitled, ``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing GAO's 2013
Report on Duplicative Federal Programs,'' and Comptroller
General Dodaro testified. The report identified 31 new areas,
including 17 instances of fragmentation, duplication, and
overlap, and 14 areas of potential cost savings. Comptroller
General Dodaro testified that many of the nearly 300
recommendations GAO had made in past reports remained
unaddressed.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing
GAO's 2013 Report on Duplicative Federal Programs,'' April 9, 2013.
Available at: http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/reducing-waste-in-
government-addressing-gaos-2013-report-on-duplicative-federal-programs/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On July 10, 2013, the Committee held a hearing entitled,
``Unaccountable Government: GAO Reports Show Feds Struggling to
Track Money and Performance.'' Comptroller General Dodaro
testified about GAO's work on the Government Performance and
Results Modernization Act (GPRAMA) and the 2012 Financial
Report of the U.S. Government. According to two reports
released by GAO on June 26, 2013, the federal government has
not fully implemented the program performance measurements
established under GPRAMA, and the measures that have been
implemented are not always useful to government program
managers or Congress. GAO also found that only 37 percent of
managers had conducted an evaluation for any program,
operation, or project in the last five years.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Unaccountable Government: GAO Reports
Show Feds Struggling to Track Money and Performance,'' July 10, 2013.
Available at: http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/unaccountable-
government-gao-reports-show-feds-struggling-to-track-money-and-
performance/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On April 8, 2014, the Committee held a hearing on GAO's
fourth annual report on duplication, overlap and fragmentation
in government programs. The hearing, entitled ``Reducing Waste
in Government: Addressing GAO's 2014 Report on Duplicative
Federal Programs,'' allowed Members to question GAO Comptroller
General Gene Dodaro on opportunities for cost savings in
government. Comptroller General Dodaro testified that the
report identified 11 areas where agencies may be able to
achieve greater efficiency or effectiveness and opportunities
to avoid costs or enhance federal revenue in 15 areas.\6\ In
order to address these issues, GAO identified 64 new actions
that Congress or the executive branch could take to reduce
waste caused by duplication.\7\ Comptroller General Dodaro also
testified that of the 370 actions recommended in the previous
reports, only 123 have been fully addressed.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing
GAO's 2014 Report on Duplicative Federal Programs,'' April 8, 2014.
Available at: http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/reducing-waste-
government-addressing-gaos-2014-report-duplicative-federal-programs/.
\7\ U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing
GAO's 2014 Report on Duplicative Federal Programs,'' April 8, 2014.
Available at: http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/reducing-waste-
government-addressing-gaos-2014-report-duplicative-federal-programs/.
\8\ U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing
GAO's 2014 Report on Duplicative Federal Programs,'' April 8, 2014.
Available at: http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/reducing-waste-
government-addressing-gaos-2014-report-duplicative-federal-programs/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAO has consistently reported to the Committee that a lack
of data hinders its ability to conduct thorough and
comprehensive audits. GAO's work is complicated by the
agencies' inability, unwillingness, or delay in providing
accurate data. This, in turn, delays the transmission of
information to Congress, thus inhibiting Congress' ability to
provide the highest service to its constituents, the
taxpayers.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Testimony of Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United
States. ``Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government
Programs Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue.'' (April 8, 2014)
Available at http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/GAO-
statement.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAO cannot provide more specific estimates because most
agencies cannot provide program specific spending information.
Many agencies could not sufficiently respond to questions about
internal management of programs, funds, and/or documentation.
The DATA Act, which became law this year, requires agencies to
develop program activity spending data. At the Committee's 2014
hearing, Comptroller General Dodaro noted that the
implementation of the DATA Act will address this problem.\10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Full Committee Hearing. ``Reducing Waste in Government:
Addressing GAO's 2014 Report on Duplicative Federal Programs.'' U.S.
House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
(April 8, 2014) available at http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/
uploads/2014/06/4-8-14-TRANSCRIPT-Reducing-Waster-in-Government-
Addressing-GAOs-2014-Report-on-Duplicative-Fed.-Programs.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Real Property Disposal
On January 22, 2013, Subcommittee Chairman Jason Chaffetz
reintroduced the ``Excess Federal Building and Property
Disposal Act of 2013.'' This bill, H.R. 328, directs the
Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) to
conduct a pilot program, in consultation with the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for the expedited
disposal of real property that is no longer meeting the needs
of the Federal Government. The bill establishes a grant program
under which homeless-serving organizations use a portion of
property sale proceeds under the pilot to provide permanent
housing for the homeless. H.R. 328 also makes permanent changes
to the Federal property disposal process and incentivizes
agencies to appropriately manage and efficiently dispose of
their real property assets. The bill was unanimously agreed to
by voice vote at a Committee mark up on March 20, 2013.
The Government Operations Subcommittee, led by Chairman
John Mica, held several hearings highlighting excess and
underutilized federal buildings. On February 27, 2013, Chairman
Mica held a hearing entitled, ``Failures in Managing Federal
Real Property: Billions in Losses.'' David Wise, director of
the Physical Infrastructure Team at the Government
Accountability Office (GAO), Dorothy Robyn, Commissioner of
Public Building Services at GSA, and Leonard Gilroy, Director
of the Government Reform Reason Foundation, served as hearing
witnesses. The hearing brought to light the facts that
nationally, the federal government owns 77,000 structures that
have been deemed vacant or underutilized--14,000 have been
deemed excess, and the government spends $1.67 billion per year
to maintain and operate these properties. David Wise testified
that poor communication between agencies and out-of-date or
unreliable data on the condition of federal properties has
exacerbated this problem.
On March 8, 2013, the Subcommittee held a field hearing
entitled, ``Addressing Unused and Vacant Federal Courthouses: A
Case Study in Miami-Dade, Florida'' at the David W. Dyer
Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Miami, Florida. This
particular courthouse has been vacant for approximately five
years. GSA has struggled to reposition it, and, unfortunately,
it costs the taxpayers $1.2 million annually to maintain.
On April 25, 2013, the Subcommittee held a field hearing
entitled, ``Government Operations Oversight: Addressing Unused
and Vacant Federal Property,'' in GSA's vacant L Street
Warehouse in Washington, D.C. The hearing examined the cost to
the taxpayers of underperforming or vacant assets and, in
particular, the status of the vacant GSA L Street Warehouse,
which costs GSA approximately $70,000 per year to operate and
maintain. In addition, the hearing also highlighted the
continued problems with the collection and accuracy of data
contained in the Federal Real Property Profile, a database
owned by OMB.
On February 10, 2014, Chairman Mica held a hearing
entitled, ``Assessing NASA's Real Property Assets at the
Kennedy Space Center'' at the Kennedy Space Center near Cocoa
Beach, Florida. The hearing explored NASA's plan for the
operations, maintenance, and use by private interests of the
unneeded launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center, as well as
the U.S. Air Force's plans for the 600,000+ of underutilized
space located at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS).
Since December of 2011, Chairman Issa and Government
Operations Subcommittee Chairman Mica have been requesting data
pertaining to all federal real property from the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB), including those properties which
OMB may consider to be ``high value assets'' (those with an
appraisal value greater than $50 million). This database is
known as the Federal Real Property Profile (FRPP). On March 24,
2014, the Committee wrote to OMB requesting access to the FRPP
data, again to no avail. Thus, on May 23, 2014, the Committee
subpoenaed OMB for all underutilized and excess properties
listed in the FRPP, including those assets valued at greater
than $50 million. On May 27, 2014, almost three years after the
original request, OMB provided documents and information to the
Committee.
In response, on July 29, 2014, the Government Operations
Subcommittee held a hearing entitled, ``Federal Real Property:
Eliminating Waste and Mismanagement of Real Property Assets,''
to examine the management of excess and underutilized real
property listed in the FRPP. Committee staff analysis and
witness testimony from OMB, GSA and the Department of Veterans
Affairs confirmed what GAO reports: the thoroughness and
accuracy of the FRPP is in a woeful state, and the federal
government continues to hold expensive assets that it does not
need. As of fall 2014, the 4,209 properties classified as
``underutilized properties'' in the database account for over
24 million square feet of property, cost approximately $95.7
million per year to operate and have a total replacement value
of over $8 billion. Of these properties listed in the FRPP
data, 156 of these properties cannot be disposed of for various
reasons, such as security concerns, but 1,411 properties sit
inactive or underutilized. The 3,293 properties that have been
declared excess account for approximately 15.3 million square
feet, cost $37.2 million per year in operating costs and have a
replacement value totaling nearly $6.5 billion. 1,114
properties have been classified as unable to be disposed, while
1,563 (just under half) properties are slated to be disposed.
The remaining 616 properties are divided as such: 357 have been
reported excess, and 259 have had reports of excess submitted,
but not yet accepted by GSA. The agencies with the largest
number of underutilized properties are the Departments of
Interior (1,542 properties), Agriculture (749), and Energy
(723). These same three agencies have the highest number of
excess properties: 1,075, 956 and 593, respectively.
Government Contracting
Suspension and Debarment
In June 2013, the Committee held a hearing entitled:
``Protecting Taxpayer Dollars: Is the Government Using
Suspension and Debarment Effectively?'' GAO had identified
serious weaknesses in the suspension & debarment programs of
numerous agencies, which were supposed to keep the over $1
trillion taxpayer dollars awarded annually in contracts and
grants out of the hands of individuals and companies who should
not get them. Witnesses from a nonpartisan public interest
group and a law firm with extensive practice in the field of
suspension and debarment pointed out persistent problems with
procedural inconsistencies among various agency policies and
practice and the lack of transparency and timeliness in
handling cases. These fractured practices, in turn, led to the
government-wide excluded parties database used by all
contracting and grant officers remaining incomplete and
unreliable. The Committee, in response, introduced and advanced
a bipartisan legislation that reforms suspension and debarment
procedures and overhauls the organizational management of
suspension and debarment activity across the government.
Government Contracting and Information Technology
Acquisition
From the beginning of the 113th Congress, mismanagement of
federal information technology (IT) investments and the
weakness in overall acquisition practices have been a priority
of the Committee, and the Committee held a series of hearings
on the subject. In January, the Committee held a hearing
entitled, ``Wasting Information Technology Dollars: How Can the
Federal Government Reform its IT Investment Strategy?'' This
hearing confirmed that despite spending more than $600 billion
over the past decade, federal IT investments, too often, run
over budget, behind schedule, or never deliver on the promised
solution or functionality. Industry experts have estimated that
as much as 25 percent of the annual $80 billion spent on IT is
attributable to mismanaged or duplicative IT investments.
In February 2013, the Committee held a follow-up hearing
entitled, ``Time to Reform IT Acquisition: The Federal IT
Acquisition Reform Act'' during which the Committee heard from
a variety of industry experts, academia, and government IT
leaders regarding the ways to reform IT acquisition as proposed
in the draft Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act.
In May 2013, the Subcommittee on Government Operations held
a field hearing in Fairfax, Virginia entitled, ``Data Centers
and the Cloud: Is the Government Optimizing New Information
Technologies Opportunities to Save Taxpayers Money?'' In July,
the Subcommittee held a follow-up hearing entitled ``Data
Centers and the Cloud Part II: The Federal Government's Take on
Optimizing New Information Technologies Opportunities to Save
Taxpayers Money.'' The two hearings revealed serious weaknesses
in the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), an
OMB-driven program to reduce waste and duplication in
government IT infrastructure. Weaknesses included the lack of
complete inventory of data centers to be closed or
consolidated, the lack of consistent method for tracking cost
savings, and the lack of adequate management oversight over the
governance of the FDCCI program. GAO witness also provided the
current list of 17 troubled IT investments with the total value
of $102 billion, highlighting the significance of the need for
a reform.
Taking into consideration various findings and
recommendations from the above hearings and extensive
stakeholder feedback, the Committee advanced the bipartisan IT
acquisition reform legislation as an amendment to the House
version of Fiscal Year 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.
With respect to oversight of general acquisition practices,
in April, the Subcommittee on National Security held a hearing
entitled, ``Contracting to Feed U.S. Troops in Afghanistan: How
did the Defense Department end up in a Multi-Billion Dollar
Billing Dispute?'' This hearing examined problems associated
with the Defense Department's subsistence prime vendor contract
in Afghanistan with Supreme Foodservice GmbH (Supreme) a
privately held foreign company based in Amsterdam. Witnesses
from the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and the prime
contractor confirmed that while the scope of the contract
dramatically expanded to meet the needs of the military
operations within Afghanistan, the parties never finalized or
definitized the contract terms and prices, resulting in ongoing
legal dispute and overpayments. On December 8, 2014, the
company pleaded guilty to defrauding the U.S. Government of
millions of dollars.
In June 2013, the Committee held a hearing entitled, ``The
IRS Contracts with Strong Castle, Inc.'' examining contracting
improprieties and mismanagement at the Internal Revenue
Service. This was the result of the Committee's 4-month long
investigation after learning that during 2012, the IRS awarded
contracts with a potential value of more than $500 million to
Strong Castle, Inc., which had no federal contracts prior to
2012. The Committee's investigation has raised serious
questions about the integrity of the acquisition process at the
IRS and how the agency is using the taxpayer money it collects.
From the beginning of the 113th Congress, mismanagement of
federal information technology (IT) investments and the
weakness in overall acquisition practices have been a priority
of the Committee. We were disappointed when last year the
committee-reported the Federal Information Technology
Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) legislation that was pushed
through the House and incorporated in the FY 2014 House-passed
NDAA was stripped out of the final law. On February 25, H.R.
1232 was passed out of the Committee by voice vote and sent to
the floor where it passed under suspension.
In addition, in May, 2014, the Issa/Connolly FITARA
amendment to NDAA was approved by voice vote as part of an en
bloc floor amendment to the FY 2015 NDAA. The House version of
the FY 2015 NDAA, H.R. 4435, was passed by the House on May 22,
2014, and FITARA is therefore germane to the final FY 2015
NDAA.
Momentum for FITARA grew through the course of the summer
in the Senate, when Sen. Tom Udall, the Subcommittee Chairman
of the Senate FSGG Appropriations Subcommittee, was joined by
two other Senators on the subcommittee in introducing S. 1843,
the Federal Information Technology Savings, Accountability and
Transparency Act of 2013--a subset of FITARA, including the CIO
reforms. Senate momentum on FITARA culminated on September 18,
2014 when HSGAC voted out a version of FITARA with some
significant changes. The Senate version maintained provisions
to enhance CIO authority, as well as several contracting
transparency provisions. Since then, the Committee, in close
collaboration with HSGAC, the intelligence, and the armed
services committees of both chambers, was able to work out the
differences and come up with a compromise language.
On December 4, 2014, the House passed FY 2015 NDAA, which
included, in Title VIII, Subtitle D, a consensus version of
FITARA. FITARA, co-sponsored by Representatives Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Senators Tom Coburn
(R-Okla.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.), would improve how the
federal government acquires, implements and manages its
information technology investments by giving agency Chief
Information Officers (CIOs) more authority over the budget,
governance, and personnel processes for agency IT investments,
and by improving transparency and review processes of agency IT
programs.
Specifically, FITARA will:
CIO Authority Enhancements--Give civilian agency
CIOs more authority over the budget, governance and personnel
processes for agency IT investments. One central CIO in each
agency shall approve the appointment of any other component-
level CIOs within the agency. This, along with the
corresponding empowerment of the CIO in the Department of
Defense, would significantly enhance CIO's role throughout the
government.
Transparency & Risk Management--Make agency IT
investments more transparent to the public and require agencies
to review troubled investments.
Portfolio Review--Require agencies to annually
review all of their IT investments to eliminate duplication and
waste. For example, in fiscal year 2011 budget submissions,
agencies reported 622 separate investments totaling $2.4
billion in human resource management systems, and 580
investments totaling $2.7 billion in financial management
systems.
Data Center Consolidation--Require more than 9,000
federal data centers to be consolidated and optimized to
achieve greatest usage, efficiency and cost savings as
recommended by GAO.
Acquisition Workforce--Develop an IT acquisition
cadre, including highly-skilled program and project managers.
Strategic Sourcing--Require proper consideration
of the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI) by
contracting personnel to encourage the government to purchase
through enterprise-wide contracts that leverage the purchasing
power of the entire federal government.
Government-wide Software Purchasing--Require
development of an enhanced government-wide software purchasing
program that agencies may use to lower acquisition and
management costs.
Open Government and Technology
On March 13, 2013, the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform held a Committee hearing on open government
and transparency in government entitled, ``Addressing
Transparency in the Federal Bureaucracy: Moving Toward A More
Open Government.'' The Committee heard testimony from
representatives of transparency watchdog groups, including Ms.
Angela Canterbury, Director of Public Policy, Project on
Government Oversight; Mr. Jim Harper, Director of Information
Policy Studies, Cato Institute; Mr. Daniel Schuman, Policy
Counsel, The Sunlight Foundation; and Ms. Celia Wexler, Senior
Washington Representative, Center for Science and Democracy,
Union of Concerned Scientists. The witnesses suggested areas of
reform needed in the Freedom of Information Act and other open
government laws.\11\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Transparency in the Federal Bureaucracy:
Moving Toward A More Open Government,'' March 13, 2013. Available at:
http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/addressing-transparency-in-the-
federal-bureaucracy-moving-toward-a-more-open-government/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On September 10, 2013, the Committee held a Committee
hearing entitled, ``Preventing Violations of Federal
Transparency Laws.'' Witnesses included the Honorable Gary
Gensler, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading
Commission, The Honorable Lisa Jackson, former Administrator of
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Jonathan Silver,
former Executive Director of the Loan Program Office at the
U.S. Department of Energy, Mr. Andrew McLaughlin, former Deputy
Chief Technology Officer at the Executive Office of the
President, and the Honorable David Ferriero, Archivist of the
United States. The hearing reviewed the government's policy on
email use, particularly using unofficial email to conduct
official work. Witnesses testified that the government does not
adequately train staff on how to use unofficial emails or store
their emails to comply with federal records laws.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Policy
On April 16 2013, on a vote of 416-0, the Federal
Information Security Amendments Act of 2013 (H.R. 1163) was
approved by the House of Representatives. During the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee Markup on March 20,
2013, the bill was also approved on a unanimous bipartisan
voice vote. H.R. 1163 enhances the Federal Information Security
Management Act (FISMA) of 2002 by improving the framework for
securing federal computer information technology systems. It
also establishes a mechanism for stronger oversight of
information technology systems by focusing on automated and
continuous monitoring of cybersecurity threats and regular
``threat assessments.''
Since its enactment, FISMA has become a compliance
activity, where all too often `check-the-box' compliance has
taken precedence over security enhancement. To ensure that
FISMA focuses on `real-time' threats and incorporates
technological developments occurring in the decade since its
enactment, H.R. 1163 was introduced. To address the increasing
security breaches highlighted by the aforementioned GAO study,
H.R. 1163 requires automated and continuous monitoring, when
possible, and regular threat assessments.
Under H.R. 1163, each agency is directed to develop,
document, and implement an agency-wide information security
program that includes a system that involves automated and
continuous monitoring. Each agency is also directed to conduct
vulnerability assessments and penetration tests commensurate
with the risk posed to agency information systems.
Moreover, the legislation highlights the need for a
stronger public/private relationship, by emphasizing the
importance of commercially developed information security
products to national security. The bill has received strong
support from cybersecurity experts and industry.
The Committee is continuing its oversight of cybersecurity
policy from the previous Congress, where the National Security,
Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations Subcommittee held
several hearings, including, ``Cybersecurity: Assessing the
Immediate Threat to the United States'' to examine
cybersecurity. Several private sector witnesses testified, as
well as Sean McGurk from the National Cyber Security Division
of the Department of Homeland Security, who informed the
Subcommittee that ``The United States confronts a combination
of known and unknown vulnerabilities, strong and rapidly
expanding adversary capabilities, and a lack of comprehensive
threat and vulnerability awareness.''
Federal Regulation and the Regulatory Process
The Committee's federal regulation and regulatory process
activities in the 113th Congress included passing regulatory
reform legislation out of Committee, sending letters of inquiry
and recommendation to agencies, and holding hearings on
specific regulatory action. In July 2013, the Unfunded Mandates
Reform Act was reported by the Committee. In the spring, the
Committee inquired with the Office of Budget and Management
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) about the
status of the Unified Agenda. Earlier in the year, the
Committee sent a joint letter with the Judiciary Committee and
the Senate Committee on Homeland and Government Affairs
Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight to OIRA
encouraging the implementation of the Government Accountability
Office's recommendations in the ``Federal Rulemaking: Agencies
Could Take Additional Steps to Respond to Public Comments''
report.
On June 21, 2013, the Subcommittee on Government Operations
held a field hearing in Bakersville North Carolina entitled
``Building a Better Partnership: Exploring the Mine Safety and
Health Administration's Regulation of Southern Appalachian
Mining. The hearing examined the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) and its role in regulating metal/non-
metal mining in Southern Appalachia. Witnesses included Mr.
Marvin Lichtenfels, MSHA Deputy Administrator, Mr. Sam Bratton,
President of North Carolina Aggregates Association, Mr. Jeff
Stoll, Safety and Health Manager at the Quartz Corporation, and
Mr. Mack McNeely, Vice President at LBM Industries.
On July 18, 2013, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job
Creation and Regulatory Affairs held a hearing entitled
``Regulatory Burdens: The Impact of Dodd-Frank on Community
Banking.'' Witnesses included the Honorable R. Bradley Miller,
former Member of Congress and Senior Fellow at the Center for
American Progress, Ms. Hester Peirce, Senior Research Fellow at
the Mercatus Center, Ms. Tanya Marsh, Assistant Professor of
Law at Wake Forest University School of Law, and Mr. Eddie
Creamer, President and CEO of Prosperity Bank in St. Augustine
Florida. The hearing examined how federal regulations impact
community banks.
Also on July 18, 2013, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements held a hearing entitled
``Examining the Obama Administration's Social Cost of Carbon
Estimates.'' The hearing examined the decision to recalculate
the economic cost of carbon emissions for rulemaking. OIRA
Administrator Howard Shelanski testified before the
Subcommittee as to how an interagency working group revised
previously issued guidance on the economic cost of carbon
emission and how that guidance is used in agency rulemaking.
On July 21, 2013, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health
Care and Entitlements held a hearing entitled ``Oversight of
IRS's Legal Basis for Expanding ObamaCare's Taxes and
Subsidies.'' Witnesses included Mr. Jonathan Adler, Professor
of Law at Case Western Reserve University, the Honorable Scott
Pruitt, Oklahoma Attorney General, Mr. Charles Willey, M.D.,
CEO of Innovare Health Advocates Inc., and Ms. Emily McMahon,
Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the U.S. Department of
Treasury. The hearing examined the legal basis for the joint
IRS and Treasury rule that extended ObamaCare's subsidies to
individuals in federal exchanges and the impact on individuals,
employers, and states.
On February 4, 2014, the Committee sent a letter to the
Commissioner Koskinen regarding the IRS's proposed rulemaking
entitled ``Guidance for Tax-Exempt Social Welfare Organizations
on Candidate Related Political Activities.'' The letter
requested documents related to the development of the proposed
rule and urged the IRS to rescind the rulemaking which would
drastically expand the definition of political activity and
result in significant restrictions on political speech. On
February 25, 2014 the Committee submitted the letter to the
rulemaking docket. Hearing no response from the IRS, the
Committee sent a follow up letter on February 26 urging a
response and explaining concerns with the development of the
proposed rule as revealed through transcribed interviews with
former senior officials at the IRS.
On February 27, 2014, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs held a hearing entitled,
``The Administration's Proposed Restrictions on Political
Speech: Doubling Down on IRS Targeting.'' The hearing examined
the anticipated impact of the Internal Revenue Service's
proposed regulation, ``Guidance for Tax-Exempt Social Welfare
Organizations on Candidate Related Political Activities,'' on
tax-exempt organizations' constitutionally protected speech.
Witnesses included Gabriel Rottman, Legislative Counsel and
Policy Advisor of the American Civil Liberties Union, James R.
Mason, Senior Counsel for the Home School Legal Defense
Association, the Honorable Wayne Allard, Vice President of
Government Relations for the American Motorcyclist Association,
Jenny Beth Martin, President and Co-Founder of the Tea Party
Patriots, and Allen Dickerson, Legal Director for the Center
for Competitive Politics. Each witness testified to how the
proposed rule would hinder their ability to maintain tax exempt
status by engaging in nonpartisan political education or issue
advocacy.
On February 5, 2014, the Committee, along with the
Committee on Ways and Means, published a joint staff report
entitled ``Administration Conducted Inadequate Review of Key
Issues Prior to Expanding Health Law's Taxes and Subsidies.''
The report focused on the findings of the Committees' oversight
of the issue, specifically that the administration failed to
conduct a thorough analysis of the issue prior to the
promulgation of the final rule.
On May 6, 2014, the Subcommittee on Government Operations
held a field hearing in Plymouth Michigan that examined federal
government regulations that continue to impede job creation and
economic growth in Michigan, entitled ``Regulatory Impediments
to Job Creation in Michigan.'' Witnesses included Chris Fisher,
President and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors of
Michigan, Janet Kaboth, President and CEO of Whitacre Greer
Company, Michael Lenahan, President of Resource Recovery
Corporation of West Michigan, and Richard Kligman, President of
Superb Custom Homes. They testified about numerous regulations
that directly impact their businesses and the businesses they
represent, including OSHA, EPA, and NLRB regulations.
Energy
In February 2013, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health
Care and Entitlements kicked off its energy hearings in the
113th Congress with a hearing entitled, ``The Effects of Rising
Energy Costs on American Families and Employers.'' This hearing
set the agenda for energy oversight performed by the
Subcommittee by looking at how much increasing energy costs
affect American families and how the Administration's policies
and regulations increase energy costs.
In March 2013, the Subcommittee called the U.S. Department
of Energy to testify at a hearing about the permitting of
facilities to export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), entitled,
``The Department of Energy's Strategy for Exporting Liquefied
Natural Gas.'' At this hearing, the Subcommittee heard
testimony from both Deloitte and the Brookings Institute about
the net positive benefits to the American economy of approving
permits for LNG export to non-free trade agreement countries.
Moreover, the Subcommittee asked Acting Assistant Secretary for
Fossil Energy, Christopher Smith, about the necessity to
expedite the LNG export permitting process in order for the
U.S. economy to capitalize on the country's abundance of
natural gas resources.
On May 16, 2013 at 10:30 a.m., the Subcommittee on Energy
Policy held a hearing entitled ``Opportunities Lost:
Constraints on Oil and Gas Production on Federal Lands and
Waters.'' The hearing examined Department of the Interior
policies governing oil and gas production on federal lands and
waters. Testimony was received from the Acting Assistant
Secretary for Land and Minerals Management and an analyst from
the Government Accountability Office. Specific topics addressed
at the hearing included a proposed rule governing hydraulic
fracturing on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land
Management, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's
policies with respect to offshore oil and gas exploration.
On June 5, 2013, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health
Care and Entitlements held a hearing entitled, ``Up Against the
Blend Wall: Examining EPA's Role in the Renewable Fuel
Standard.'' The hearing examined the Renewable Fuel Standard
(RFS) including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
management of the program. The RFS determines the specific
amount of renewable fuel, most commonly corn-derived ethanol,
that must be contained within transportation fuel sold in the
United States. However, the high amount of renewable fuel
called for by the law is having profound negative consequences
for consumers. The Subcommittee heard from a variety of
affected parties, ranging from turkey farmer representatives to
gasoline producers about the negative effects of the RFS. The
Subcommittee also heard testimony from EPA about the waiver
authority afforded it by law and urged the agency to use it to
ameliorate the situation.
On July 18, 2013, the Subcommittee held a hearing entitled,
``Examining the Obama Administration's Social Cost of Carbon
Estimates.'' The hearing examined the Obama Administration's
decision to recalculate how it determines the economic cost of
carbon emissions for rulemaking. Testimony was provided by
Howard Shelanski, the Administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs at the White House. The
Subcommittee was concerned about the lack of transparency about
this process and pressed Mr. Shelanski to conduct these
analyses in a more open and transparent manner.
On October 2, 2013, at 9:30 a.m., the Subcommittee on
Energy Policy held a hearing entitled ``Oversight of the Wind
Energy Production Tax Credit.'' The American Taxpayer Relief
Act of 2013, also known as the ``fiscal cliff deal,'' included
a 1-year extension of the Internal Revenue Code Sec. 45 tax
credit for electricity produced from wind sources. The hearing
considered the arguments for and against another extension of
the credit. A revenue estimate from the Joint Committee on
Taxation, prepared at the request of Subcommittee Chairman
James Lankford, found that a 1-year extension would cost
taxpayers $6.2 billion, while a 5-year extension would cost
$18.5 billion. The hearing also examined how the Internal
Revenue Service intends to enforce the ``beginning of
construction'' requirement of the current law, and featured
testimony from the IRS Associate Counsel for Passthroughs and
Special Industries.
In April 2014, the Subcommittee called the U.S. Department
of Energy to testify at a hearing about the permitting of
facilities to export Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), entitled,
``Examining the Effects of Liquefied Natural Gas Exports on
U.S. Foreign Policy.'' At this hearing, the Subcommittee heard
testimony from Christopher A. Smith, Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy and
Amos J. Hochstein, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy
Diplomacy at the Bureau of Energy Resources in the Department
of State. The focus of the hearing was the role that American
LNG exports can play in furthering U.S. foreign policy goals
and strengthening national security and what the Administration
is doing to take advantage of these opportunities.
In February 2014, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health
Care and Entitlements held a hearing titled, ``Examining the
Endangered Species Act.'' During this hearing, testimony was
delivered by Michael Bean, Counselor for Fish and Wildlife and
Parks at the Department of the Interior and Samuel Rauch,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs at the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries
Service within the Department of Commerce. The hearing
acknowledged the Endangered Species Act's 40th anniversary and
examined the Department of Interior and Department of
Commerce's administration of the Act, including processes used
to determine whether species are listed as endangered or
threatened. Specifically, the hearing looked at the effect of
the Act on energy production in the United States.
Environment
The Committee held a hearing in October 2013, about fraud
committed by an employee of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. The hearing entitled, ``Secret Agent Man: Oversight of
the EPA IG's Investigation of John Beale,'' brought to light
many of the facts surrounding the fraudulent actions of John
Beale, an EPA employee who claimed that he was a CIA agent
while working at the EPA. The Committee found that Beale was
never a CIA agent and that he instead used that as cover to go
on expensive trips and take time off from work at the same time
receiving a salary above the legal limit for federal employees.
The Committee continues to investigate the actions of EPA and
Mr. Beale in determining the extent to which fraud was
committed with taxpayer money.
The Committee continues to pursue an investigation into
EPA's conduct regarding the Pebble Mine project in Bristol Bay,
Alaska. EPA has been considering the use of an unprecedented
preemptive veto under the Clean Water Act of a mining permit
that has yet to be applied for. The agency has also undertaken
a study of the Bristol Bay watershed based on a hypothetical
mine plan that does not actually exist as part of its review of
this project. The Committee has requested email communications
and transcribed interviews with present and former EPA
officials in order to learn more and continues to investigate
the matter.
The Committee continues to pursue an investigation into the
use of alias email accounts at EPA as well as the implications
these accounts have for producing documents through the Freedom
of Information Act and in response to Congressional inquiries.
In April 2013, in conjunction with Ranking Member David Vitter
of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works,
Chairman Issa sent a letter to EPA requesting email
communications from Administrator Gina McCarthy as well as
former Administrator Lisa Jackson's alias email account that
were produced in a heavily redacted form pursuant to a FOIA
request. The Committee continues to investigate this matter.
The Committee held a hearing on May 7, 2014 about issues
regarding a dispute between the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Office of Inspector General (OIG) and the EPA Office of
Homeland Security (OHS). The hearing entitled, ``Is EPA
Leadership Obstructing Its Own Inspector General?,'' examined
an alleged assault of an EPA OIG agent after questioning an
employee within OHS. The Committee also heard testimony about
the inability of the EPA OIG to gain exposure into
investigations conducted by the EPA OHS, as required by the
Inspector General Act. After the hearing the Committee
continued to work with the EPA OIG to resolve the issues it had
with the OHS and the Agency.
On June 25, 2014, the Committee convened a hearing
regarding management issues at the EPA, including numerous
instances of employee misconduct as well as the ongoing dispute
between the EPA OIG and OHS. The Committee heard testimony from
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and was entitled ``Management
Failures: Oversight of the EPA.'' At the hearing, the Committee
pressed the Administrator to swiftly resolve the issues between
the OIG and OHS and allow the OIG to perform its statutorily
mandated investigatory duties. The Committee also questioned
Administrator McCarthy regarding many instances of egregious
employee misconduct and the steps the agency was taking to
prevent these actions in the future. The Committee continues to
perform oversight regarding the dispute between the EPA OIG and
OHS.
The Committee continues to pursue an investigation into
EPA's conduct regarding the Pebble Mine project in Bristol Bay,
Alaska. In July 2014, EPA issued an official Proposed
Determination that the Pebble Mine would adversely impact the
Bristol Bay Watershed and is considering severely limiting the
scope of the project before it has even applied for a permit.
The Committee subpoenaed documents and communications relating
to EPA's decision to pursue the pre-emptive veto of the Pebble
Project.
The Committee is also investigating the involvement of the
Natural Resources Defense Council in drafting EPA's proposed
regulations for limiting greenhouse gas emissions from existing
power plants. According to press reports, the NRDC had a role
in advocating for its position in the crafting of these rules.
EPA released its proposed rule for regulating carbon emissions
from existing power sources on June 2, 2014. The Committee
requested documents and communications from both EPA and NRDC
regarding the role that NRDC played in creating these
regulations.
Health Care and Entitlements
In March of 2013, the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform in its relentless pledge to the American people of
continuing to watch out for tax-payers dollars released a
report entitled ``Billions of Federal Tax Dollars Misspent on
New York's Medicaid Program.'' The report focused on New York
because New York State's Medicaid program is the largest in the
country. In fiscal year 2010, New York's $2,700 per resident
Medicaid spending exceeded per capita Medicaid spending in the
rest of the country by more than $1,500. Poor program oversight
by both the State and federal Government has contributed to
these problems. The report discussed past findings of the
Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS), investigative reporters, whistle-
blowers and this Committee of waste, fraud, and abuse within
New York's Medicaid program. It also explicitly recognized the
positive and significant reform efforts of New York Governor
Andrew Cuomo, highlighted continuing concerns and offered
several recommendations aimed at protecting future tax dollars.
In April, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care
and Entitlements held a hearing entitled, ``Examining the Lack
of Transparency and Consumer-Driven Market Forces in U.S.
Health Care.'' The hearing examined serious problems within the
U.S. health care system, including adverse health care events
experienced by patients resulting from poor care and
overtreatment and the burden on families and taxpayers
resulting from rising health care spending. The hearing also
looked into the causes and consequences of medical mistakes and
the lack of publicly available information about provider
performance. The Subcommittee heard testimony from two
witnesses, Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. John Goodman, both of whom
have studied the problems that exist in the U.S. health care
system.
In May, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and
Entitlements in a joint effort with the Subcommittee on
Economic Growth, Job Creation and Regulatory Affairs held a
joint hearing entitled, ``Examining the Concerns About
ObamaCare Outreach Campaign.'' The Subcommittees heard
testimony from Mr. Gary Cohen, an official from the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), regarding the funding,
selection, training and oversight of Navigators and in-person
assisters (Assisters), who are responsible for education and
outreach efforts to individuals covered by the new health
insurance exchanges set up by the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act. The hearing closely examined ObamaCare's
outreach program in an effort to better understand how these
multi-faceted and wide-reaching programs are being implemented.
This hearing enabled the Subcommittees to seek further
clarification on the issues and better understand HHS's vision
for the Navigators and Assisters in the program.
On July 17th, a joint hearing effort took place between the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Subcommittee on
Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements, and the Committee
on Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Cybersecurity,
Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies when a
hearing entitled, ``Evaluating Privacy, Security, and Fraud
Concerns with ObamaCare's Information Sharing Apparatus'' was
held. The Subcommittees examined the development of the federal
data hub established by ObamaCare, the Department of Health and
Human Services' plans for protecting the personal data of
individuals who purchase coverage through the new state health
insurance exchanges and the new federally-facilitated health
insurance exchanges. This hearing also focused on how the data
that will be gathered through these sources will be used to
verify applicant's eligibility for tax credits. The hearing
also placed focus on how the data hub will transmit personally
identifiable information, such as social security numbers,
dates of birth, marital status, number of dependents, household
income and citizenship status. It was important to understand
how the department plans to implement and operate this system
as it will hold very delicate information from citizens signing
up for Obamacare, as well as for determining any credits that
individuals receive.
The same month on July 31st, the Subcommittee on Energy
Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements held a hearing entitled,
``Oversight of IRS's Legal Basis for Expanding ObamaCare's
Taxes and Subsidies.'' There is an ongoing legal dispute as to
whether ObamaCare made health insurance subsidies available in
states that did not established their own health insurance
exchanges. The IRS and Treasury department issued a rule that
provided those subsidies to individuals in both states with
their own health insurance exchanges as well as states that
decided not to establish their own health insurance exchanges.
The Subcommittee examined the legal basis for the joint IRS and
Treasury rule that extended ObamaCare's subsidies to
individuals in federal exchanges as well as the rule's impact
on individuals, employers and states. The subcommittee invited
and took testimony from stakeholders and experts on the
legality of IRS and Treasury's rule, the process used to form
the rule, and the effects of the rule on the general public.
This investigation is still on-going.
In September 28th, Majority staff released a preliminary
report entitled ``Risks of Fraud and Misinformation with
ObamaCare Outreach Campaign: How Navigator and Assister Program
Mismanagement Endangers Consumers.'' ObamaCare requires states
to establish ``Navigators'' to conduct outreach about the law,
provide fair and impartial information to consumers, and
facilitate enrollment in new health insurance exchanges and
state Medicaid programs. However, ObamaCare explicitly
prohibited states from using federal exchange establishment
grants to fund Navigator organizations; instead ObamaCare
required that Navigators receive funding from a state
exchange's operational funds. When several states objected to
financing Navigators with state revenue, the Administration
created a twin program called In-Person Assisters (Assisters)
in states with state-based exchanges. This year alone, the
Administration will provide several hundred million dollars of
taxpayer funds to Assister organizations. The committee has and
will continue to further look into this matter to make sure
that all statutes are followed and that tax-payer funds are not
victims of waste, fraud or abuse.
On October 9, the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform held a hearing entitled, ``Examining the IRS's Role in
Implementing and Enforcing ObamaCare.'' The Committee examined
the operational challenges that the IRS faces in implementing
ObamaCare, including the new taxes that IRS will implement as
well as the determination, payment, and reconciliation of the
advanced tax credits. Sarah Hall Ingram, of the IRS's
Affordable Care Act Office and Former Commissioner for Tax
Exempt and Government Entities was invited to testify at this
hearing. Additionally, the committee touched upon on the IRS's
role in enforcing ObamaCare's taxes and implementing its
subsidies and its central role in the data-sharing network
created by the Department of Health and Human Services to
conduct eligibility determinations and calculations for
advanced health insurance tax credits.
On November 13th, the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform held a hearing entitled, ``ObamaCare Implementation: The
Rollout of HealthCare.gov.'' The Committee examined the
Administration's development and rollout of Healthcare.gov,
including whether the Administration followed industry best
practices in the development of ObamaCare's information
technology systems. The launch of Healthcare.gov which was to
go live on October 1, 2013 in accordance to industry standards
was anything but a success. The website given the user volume
experienced could not handle the amount of traffic, leading to
its service interruptions/glitches which led the Committee to
contact and call for documentation from twelve different
vendors involved in its construction and eight tech giants to
see whether they had involvement on the IT project.
The Committee received thousands of pages in document
productions by these vendors and entities. The hearing examined
the operational challenges at the root of the trouble website
launch, and compared them to best practices in the industry.
Invited to testify were Mr. Steven VanRoekel, CIO of the United
States, Mr. Todd Park, CIO Office of Science and Technology
Policy, Mr. Henry Chao, Deputy CIO for Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services, Mr. Frank Baitman, CIO of HHS, Mr. David
Powner, Director of IT Management Issues with the GAO, Mr.
Richard Spires, former CIO of Homeland Security and lastly Ms.
Karen Evans, Partner at KE&T Partners, LLC. While the
investigation is still on-going, given the testimony and
evidence presented at the hearing and received productions, it
is clear that there were problems with the implementation,
development, and testing of HealthCare.gov. This investigation
is still on-going.
The Committee held four field hearings to examine the
impact of Obamacare on individuals and employers across the
nation. On November 22, the first hearing entitled ``ObamaCare
Implementation: Sticker Shock of Increased Premiums for
Healthcare Coverage'' took place in Gastonia, NC and examined
the impacts of ObamaCare on the citizens of that State. The
second hearing ``ObamaCare Implementations: High Costs, Few
Choices for Rural America'' took place on November 25th in
Gainesville, GA and this hearing focused on ObamaCare's impact
on health insurance coverage and premiums in Georgia as well as
its effects on the local economy.
In December the committee traveled to the states of Arizona
and Texas to further examine Obamacare's regulations and its
effect on the U.S. general public. These two hearings entitled
``Obamacare Implementation, The Broken Promise: If You Like
Your Current Plan You Can Keep It'' and ``ObamaCare
Implementation: Who Are The Navigators?'' further examined the
ObamaCare implementation issues including the controversy of
who the Navigators are, and what are the requirements necessary
to become one. In preparation for questions/inquiries for these
hearings the committee performed two transcribed interviews
pertaining to the Navigators program, as well as a transcribed
interview with Mr. Henry Chao, Deputy CIO for Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, and seven other additional
interviews related to Healthcare.gov and its launch.
In addition to the hearings, staff reports, and witnesses
invited to testify in front of the Oversight and Government
Reform committee and Subcommittees, in 2013 we have sent over
17 letters addressed to Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius ranging in topic and depth in regards to
HHS's role on the implementation, development and rollout of
ObamaCare. The level of response has varied from the department
and we will continue to address letters as needed in the future
as we see fit to seek clarification to the committee's
inquiries and on-going investigations.
In 2014, the Committee continued its oversight of
Obamacare. The Committee's oversight focused primarily on the
troubled launch of the law's web portal, HealthCare.gov,
including concerns over the security of the website as well as
the reinsurance, risk corridors, and risk adjustment provisions
of the law.
HealthCare.gov launched on October 1, 2013, with numerous
problems. The Committee learned that in the weeks prior to the
launch of HealthCare.gov, the Chief Information Security
Officer (CISO) at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS) communicated to several of her superiors, including the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) CISO, her serious
concerns about the adequacy of the security testing of
HealthCare.gov as well as her recommendation to deny the
authority to operate for the website, a key certification to
allow the site to launch.
On January 16th, the Committee held a hearing entitled,
``HHS' Own Security Concerns about HealthCare.gov.'' The
Committee questioned top HHS officials about the adequacy of
the security testing of HealthCare.gov, including concerns that
HHS and CMS information security experts had prior to the
site's launch on October 1, 2013. The Committee heard testimony
from three witnesses: Mr. Kevin Charest, Chief Information
Security Officer for HHS; Ms. Teresa Fryer, Chief Information
Security Officer for CMS; and Mr. Frank Baitman, Chief
Information Officer for HHS.
The Committee continued its oversight of the security of
Healthcare.gov with a hearing on January 28th, entitled, ``A
Roadmap for Hackers?--Documents Detailing HealthCare.gov
Security Vulnerabilities.'' The Committee examined concerns
over the adequacy of security testing on HealthCare.gov. The
hearing was closed to the public due to concerns HHS raised
regarding the sensitive nature of Security Control Assessments
(SCAs) conducted by contractors assessing the security of the
system. Mr. Milton Shomo, the Principal Information Systems
Engineer for The MITRE Corporation, testified before the
Committee, along with Mr. Kevin Charest, Chief Information
Security Officer at HHS. The MITRE Corporation conducted
independent security assessments of Healthcare.gov, including
one that occurred weeks before it launched. MITRE's SCA report
identified multiple concerns over the adequacy of CMS's
security testing of the federal marketplace. However,
notwithstanding the report's negative results, HHS officials
decided to launch Healthcare.gov.
On February 5th, the Committee held a hearing titled,
``ObamaCare: Why the Need for an Insurance Company Bailout?''
ObamaCare included several provisions that provide transfer
payments to insurance companies who face higher than expected
costs for providing care, collectively referred to as the 3Rs
(Reinsurance, Risk Adjustment, and Risk Corridors). The hearing
focused on the aspects of ObamaCare that have increased health
insurance premiums for some, particularly the young and
healthy, adverse selection concerns, and 3R provisions included
in the law.
On June 18, 2014, the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job
Creation, and Regulatory Affairs held a followup hearing
entitled ``Poised to Profit: How ObamaCare Helps Insurance
Companies Even If It Fails Patients.'' On July 28, 2014, the
Committee released a staff report entitled ``ObamaCare's
Taxpayer Bailout of Health Insurers and the White House's
Involvement to Increase Bailout Size,'' which summarized the
Committee's findings on the 3R program.
Following the Administration's announcement that
Healthcare.gov had suffered a malicious attack by hackers, on
September 18th, the Committee held a hearing entitled,
``Examining ObamaCare's Failures in Security, Accountability
and Transparency.'' This hearing coincided with the release of
a report by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office,
which stated that while CMS has taken steps to protect the
security and privacy of data maintained by the systems that
support Healthcare.gov, weaknesses and unnecessary risks remain
that could threaten the safety of personally identifiable
information. The hearing examined not only concerns about the
security of Healthcare.gov, but also the Administration's
failure to be transparent about the problems with the law's
implementation including the lack of accountability for errors
made during implementation. The Committee heard testimony from
CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, who was significantly
involved in implementing ObamaCare.
Also, on September 18th, the Committee released a report in
coordination with the hearing, entitled ``Behind the Curtain of
the Healthcare.gov Rollout.'' The report detailed multiple
troubling instances where ineffective government agencies, such
as CMS and HHS, concealed information about their problems
implementing ObamaCare not only from their own colleagues, but
also from the news media, state partners, Congress, and the
American people.
In addition to hearings and staff reports, in 2014 the
Committee has sent eight letters to the Department of Health
and Human Services requesting documents and briefings on HHS's
role in implementing various provisions of ObamaCare.
MEDICARE AND MEDICAID
In addition to the Committee's oversight of ObamaCare, the
Committee has focused on protecting taxpayer dollars from waste
and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
On May 20th, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care
and Entitlements held a hearing titled, ``Medicare
Mismanagement: Oversight of the Federal Government Effort to
Recapture Misspent Funds.'' Subcommittee members heard
testimony from the Director of the Center for Program Integrity
within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as well
as representatives from the U.S. Government Accountability
Office and the Office of Inspector General at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services about how CMS, its
contractors and HHS can improve Medicare program oversight and
actively prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. Members discussed
possible actions to reduce improper payments, improve fraud
prevention efforts and contractor oversight and make the
Medicare appeals process more efficient, effective and fair.
On July 19th, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health
Care and Entitlements held a follow up hearing, entitled,
``Medicare Mismanagement Part II: Exploring Medicare Appeals
Reform.'' This hearing focused specifically on the serious
challenges facing the Medicare appeals process, including the
backlog of over 750,000 claims waiting to be heard by
Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), which is the third level of
the Medicare appeals process. Due to this backlog, HHS reported
that the appeals process could take up to 28 months despite a
statutory requirement that appeals by ALJs be completed within
90 days. Subcommittee members heard testimony from Judge Nancy
Griswold, the Chief Administrative Law Judge at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Medicare
Hearings and Appeals, about the challenges facing the Medicare
appeals process and what steps the agency had taken to address
these challenges.
On July 29th, the Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health
Care and Entitlements held a hearing titled, ``Examining the
Federal Government's Failure to Curb Wasteful State Medicaid
Financing Schemes.'' Because of its enormous size and
complexity, Medicaid (which cost American taxpayers $432
billion in 2012) is susceptible to substantial amounts of
waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse. The Government
Accountability Office (GAO) has designated Medicaid as a high-
risk program and has expressed concerns over the adequacy of
Medicaid program oversight. Additionally, reports show that
states are increasingly using nontransparent and inappropriate
financing schemes to shift Medicaid costs to the federal
government. Subcommittee members heard testimony from the GAO
and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of
Inspector General (HHS OIG) about recent reports on
inappropriate state Medicaid financing techniques and wasteful
Medicaid spending in work requested by the Committee. Cindy
Mann, a Deputy Director at the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS), testified about the Administration's
response to the GAO and OIG findings and recommendations.
FEDERAL DISABILITY PROGRAMS (SSDI/SSI)
In March, 2013, the Committee began a major oversight
effort to examine the Social Security Administration's
management of the federal disability programs including the
pressure the agency applied on administrative law judges (ALJs)
to decide an increasing number of cases and the failure to
guarantee program integrity by completing continuing disability
reviews (CDRs) in a timely manner to ensure that beneficiaries
are still eligible for the programs.
To date, the Committee has written four letters to SSA
requesting documents and information and engaged in a series of
briefings with SSA on various issues relating to the oversight
including the agency's decision to establish production goals
for ALJs. SSA's own data shows that from 2005-2013, over
930,000 individuals were added to the program by ALJs who
approved over 80 percent of their cases. Many of these
individuals have never been reviewed to determine whether or
not they were added to the program appropriately.
In addition, the Committee wrote the Inspector General
(OIG) about unimplemented recommendations for SSA and engaged
in a series of briefings regarding OIG's investigation of a
criminal conspiracy to defraud the federal disability programs
in Puerto Rico.
On June 27th, the Energy Policy, Health Care, and
Entitlements subcommittee held a hearing entitled ``Oversight
of Rising Social Security Disability Claims and the Role of
Administrative Law Judges'' where four current or former SSA
ALJs testified about fundamental problems with the disability
adjudication process. Former SSA ALJ J.E. Sullivan testified
that ``the SSA management's high volume and speedy production
goal agenda results in management pressuring judges to stop all
meaningful adjudication work'' and results ``in production of a
large number of disability decisions that have not been
properly reviewed, analyzed, or decided.'' The SSA official
responsible for managing the disability adjudication and review
process also testified about current SSA initiatives to improve
the adjudication process.
The Committee also was contacted by over a dozen current or
former SSA ALJs who echoed their concerns about SSA's emphasis
of quantity over quality as well as other problems including
attorney misconduct and outdated SSA policies that impacted the
ability of ALJs to make fair and timely decisions.
The Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements
subcommittee held a follow up hearing on November 19th entitled
``Continuing Oversight of the Social Security Administration's
Mismanagement of Federal Disability Program.'' Three SSA
officials and the Inspector General testified about various
program integrity initiatives and timetables for reform.
The committee has also conducted three transcribed
interviews of SSA officials to assist with the oversight. The
three witnesses testified that while SSA introduced a 500-700
production goal for ALJs in 2007, some ALJs decided thousands
of cases per year until the agency started limiting case
assignments in 2011. The witnesses also testified that it is
possible that ALJs who decide more than 700 cases per year may
be sacrificing quality yet the agency currently still allows
ALJs to be assigned 860 cases per year. The Committee also
learned that there are inconsistencies among ALJs regarding
methods for case review and application of rules and
regulations.
The Committee also wrote to the U.S. Government
Accountability Office (GAO) requesting that it review the role
of private consultants and organizations in increasing the
number of individuals enrolled in federal disability programs.
GAO accepted this project and will complete the review in 2014.
The Administrative Conference of the United States also
briefed the Committee, Chairman Lankford, and Ranking Member
Speier on its recommendations for how SSA can improve the
programs.
In 2014, the Committee continued its oversight of the
Social Security Administration's management of the federal
disability programs including the pressure the agency applied
on administrative law judges (ALJs) to decide an increasing
number of cases, and the failure to guarantee program integrity
by completing continuing disability reviews (CDRs) in a timely
manner to ensure that beneficiaries are still eligible for the
programs.
The Committee sent nine letters to SSA requesting documents
and information and engaged in a series of briefings with SSA,
SSA OIG, GAO, and other stakeholders on various issues relating
to the oversight including the agency's decision to establish
production goals for ALJs in order to pay down the backlog of
claims. SSA's own data shows that from 2005-2013, over 930,000
individuals were added to disability programs by ALJs who
approved over 80 percent of their cases. Many of these
individuals have never been reviewed to determine whether or
not they were added to the program appropriately since the
agency has a 1.3 million backlog of continuing disability
reviews.
In January, Chairman Issa and Subcommittee Chairman
Lankford requested that the SSA OIG identify and review a
sample of red-flag ALJs to assess whether the cases were
processed in a manner consistent with SSA's policies and
procedures. This review was completed and the IG's findings
were set forth in a report released on November 14, 2014.
The Committee also continued to engage regularly with the
SSA OIG and SSA officials regarding the ongoing investigation
into improper practices and inappropriate collusive efforts
involving an SSA Administrative Law Judge and a claimant
representative in Huntington, West Virginia as well as other
allegations of criminal conspiracies to defraud the federal
disability programs.
On April 8th, Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements
Subcommittee Chairman Lankford and Ranking Member Speier wrote
a joint letter to SSA, with eleven recommendations urging the
agency to overcome bureaucratic inertia and to initiate the
necessary administrative actions to significantly improve the
integrity of the disability programs on its recommendations for
how SSA can improve the programs. The Lankford-Speier
recommendations stemmed from briefings from the Administrative
Conference of the United States, as well as academic
literature, oversight hearings, and empirical analysis.
On April 9th, the Energy Policy, Health Care, and
Entitlements subcommittee held a hearing entitled ``Examining
Ways the Social Security Administration Can Improve the
Disability Review Process.'' Witnesses from the National
Association of Disability Examiners as well as GAO and OIG,
testified about how a backlog of over 1.3 million reviews
resulted in many individuals who are able to work and who do
not meet program eligibility criteria continuing to receive
benefits. Additionally, the agency's criteria for conducting
the reviews is flawed as it does not allow beneficiaries who
were wrongfully awarded benefits to be removed from the program
following a CDR since the examiner must find medical
improvement to cease benefits.
In the spring of 2014, the committee conducted two
additional transcribed interviews of SSA officials--the current
and former chief ALJs--to assist with the oversight. The
witnesses provided additional insight about the development and
application of the arbitrary production goals for ALJs and the
agency's internal process for reviewing a limited number of
ALJs since 2011 to determine their level of policy compliance.
Following these interviews, as well as a thorough review of
documents provided to the Committee by SSA, on June 10th, the
Committee published a staff report entitled ``Systemic Waste
and Abuse at the Social Security Administration: How Rubber-
Stamping Disability Judges Cost Hundreds of Billions of
Taxpayer Dollars.'' Among the findings: between 2005 and 2013,
over 1.3 million people were placed on the program by ALJs with
an annual allowance rate in excess of 75 percent and over
650,000 people were placed on the program by an ALJ with an
annual allowance rate in excess of 85 percent. Overall, there
were 191 ALJs who had a total allowance rate in excess of 85
percent during this time period. These 191 ALJs awarded more
than $150 billion in lifetime benefits between 2005 and 2013.
Additionally, the agency failed to assess the quality of the
decisions of ALJs with high disposition totals in spite of
widespread recognition with the agency that ALJs cannot
properly evaluate the evidence if they are deciding too many
cases.
On June 10th and June 11th, the Committee held two hearings
entitled, ``Social Security Administration Oversight: Examining
the Integrity of the Disability Determination Appeals Process''
and ``Social Security Administration Oversight: Examining the
Integrity of the Disability Determination Appeals Process, Part
II.'' During the first hearing, the Committee heard testimony
from four current ALJs with allowance rates in excess of 75 or
80 percent with more than 700 annual dispositions. These ALJs
routinely disposed of a large number of cases, many without
holding a hearing, and approved virtually every claimant who
came before them for benefits. Internal reviews showed
continued policy non-compliance yet the ALJs continued to
decide full caseloads and were often praised by their
supervisors and other agency officials because they met or
exceeded agency production goals and therefore helped reduce
the hearings backlog. At the second hearing, there was
discussion of the substantial problem created when ALJs
essentially approve every claimant before them, regardless of
whether they are disabled or unable to work, and that the
agency lacks commitment to fundamental program reform.
In July, the Committee wrote a letter to the Acting
Commissioner expressing concerns about the agency's expenditure
of nearly $300 million on the Disability Case Processing
System, a project that to date does not work. The agency
contracted McKinsey & Company, Inc. for analysis of how to
reset the project. The Committee requested documents and
information about the failure of this project and whether or
not officials within the agency attempted to hide the wasteful
spending from Congress.
District of Columbia
During the 113th Congress, legislation and oversight
relating to the District of Columbia is being handled by the
full Committee, rather than by a subcommittee.
The Committee continues to monitor and oversee the
implementation of the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which
was reauthorized in 2011. The program has seen modest growth
since that time and the Committee continues to work with the
city and the Department of Education to strengthen the program
and boost enrollment.
Following up on the D.C. Subcommittee's 2012 work on the
law that governs the city's building heights, the Chairman
asked the National Capital Planning Commission and the city to
jointly study how modifying the city's height restrictions
might impact both the federal and local constituencies inside
the District. The Committee is reviewing both NCPC and the
city's findings on building heights. The Committee subsequently
shepherded legislation (H.R. 4192) through Congress, which was
signed by the President on May 16, 2014 (P.L. 113-103)
The Committee also is committed to granting D.C. autonomy
over its locally-generated budget. The federal government
shutdown in October 2013 illustrated how important it is for
the city to have authority to spend its own dollars outside of
the federal appropriations process. Unfortunately, a bipartisan
compromise could not be reached in order to grant the city this
flexibility. However, since that shutdown, Congress has allowed
D.C. to spend locally raised dollars in the event of another
shutdown. This authority, however, is not permanent.
The Census
On September 11, 2013, the Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service, and the Census held a hearing
entitled: ``Ensuring an Accurate and Affordable 2020 Census.''
The hearing examined the status of a number of cost saving
reforms the Census Bureau is considering implementing for the
2020 decennial census. These potential reforms include offering
an internet census response option, the use of electronic
devices for enumerators, improved IT infrastructure, and an
expanded use of administrative records. Discussion at the
hearing focused, in particular, on shifting to a more flexible
``bring your own device'' model for enumerators and the
potential disadvantages of building an internal proprietary IT
infrastructure. Witnesses at the hearing included Census Bureau
Director John Thompson, as well as two representatives from the
Government Accountability Office.
On September 18, 2014, the Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service, and the Census held a hearing
entitled: ``U.S. Census Bureau: Addressing Data Collection
Vulnerabilities.'' The hearing discussed the findings of the
Committee's investigation into allegations of directed data
falsification at the Census Bureau. While the Committee did not
identify conclusive evidence of directed falsification, the
Committee did identify a number of significant vulnerabilities
in current data collection procedures. Specifically, current
quality control methods create a conflict of interest as data
reviewers have an incentive structure that discourages the
identification of falsification. Further, many of the processes
relied on in quality control are outdated, including the use of
carbon paper forms to track falsification cases, as opposed to
a digital system. At the hearing, the Census Director agreed
with many of the report's findings and that the agency had
begun to adopt many of the recommendations included in the
Committee's report, as well as a similar report issued by the
Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General. Witnesses
at the hearing included Census Bureau Director John Thompson
and the Department of Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser.
National Archives and Federal Records
On March 20, 2013, the Committee considered two pieces of
legislation designed to help modernize and improve the
transparency of presidential and federal records. H.R. 1233,
the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2013,
was introduced by Ranking Member Cummings and approved by the
Committee on a voice vote. H.R. 1234, the Electronic Message
Preservation Act, was introduced by Ranking Member Cummings and
also was approved by the Committee on a voice vote. Both bills
were reported from the Committee as H.R. 3071 during the 112th
Congress. Additionally, this Congress identical text was added
to both pieces of legislation in order to create a framework
for the use of personal electronic messaging accounts to
conduct official business. On July 24, 2014, the Committee
considered H.R. 5170, the Federal Records Accountability Act,
introduced my Representative Mark Meadows. H.R. 5170 was
designed to update the Federal Records Act to ensure the
capture of digital records and putting in place clear, first of
their kind, measures to hold federal employees accountable if
they deliberately withhold, destroy, or alter federal records.
During consideration, a number of bipartisan amendments were
adopted further strengthening the legislation and it was
ultimately favorably reported by voice vote. Subsequently, on
September 16, 2014 H.R. 5170 was passed by voice vote of the
full House of Representatives and has been referred to Senate
for further consideration.
Additionally, on January 14, 2014, the House of
Representatives also approved H.R. 1233, the Presidential and
Federal Records Act Amendments by voice vote. On September 10,
2014, the Senate approved a version of H.R. 1233 that included
a number technical amendments and the legislation was returned
to the House. On November 12, 2014 the amended version of H.R.
1233 was approved by the House of Representatives and on
November 26, 2014, the President signed the bill into law.
Government Management and the Federal Workforce
The Committee held five hearings to examine key issues
impacting government management and the federal civilian
workforce.
On April 11, 2013, the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce,
U.S. Postal Service, and the Census held a hearing entitled,
``The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Is it a Good
Value for Federal Employees?''. The hearing, which reviewed the
Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) administration of the
Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program, followed the
Committee's oversight and legislative work during the 112th
Congress on federal employee compensation. Committee members
examined the Administration's proposed legislative changes
designed to improve the program, including policies to allow
additional health plan types, establish a third enrollment
category, and tier premiums to participation in wellness
initiatives. Chairman Issa introduced legislation, H.R. 3319,
to allow non-federal workers access to the FEHB Program.
During the May 9, 2013, hearing entitled, ``Is OPM
Processing Federal Worker Pension Claims on Time?'' the
Subcommittee challenged OPM to identify and implement effective
solutions to improve the retirement claims process and better
manage costs so that federal employees may receive their earned
benefits in a timely manner. The Subcommittee assessed OPM's
efforts to reduce the backlog for processing claims, leverage
information technology to modernize the process, and decrease
improper payments of retirement benefits. The hearing followed
the Subcommittee's November 15, 2011 hearing which examined the
extent to which OPM is meeting its core mission. OPM failed to
meet its July 2013 goal to eliminate the backlog of retirement
claims and process 90 percent of retirement claims received
within 30 days.
On June 5, 2013, the Subcommittee held a hearing entitled,
``OPM's Revolving Fund: A Cycle of Government Waste.'' The
hearing examined OPM's revolving fund programs, including the
quality of services provided and internal controls. Committee
members reviewed the Administration's legislative proposal to
provide OPM Inspector General resources to more adequately
audit and investigative revolving fund activity. The hearing
led to the introduction of H.R. 2860, the OPM IG Act, that will
enhance the OPM Inspector General's oversight of the more than
$2 billion in revolving fund activity.
On June 18, 2013, the Committee held a hearing entitled,
``Reinventing Government.'' The hearing focused on improving
government efficiency and performance as a means to control
government spending. Committee members debated establishing a
Government Transformation Committee as way to consolidate and
reorganize government to more effectively deliver core
government services. Legislation establishing a government
transformation commission, H.R. 2675, was introduced by
Representative Bustos on July 11, 2013, and referred to the
Committee.
During the July 10, 2013 Subcommittee hearing entitled,
``The Combined Federal Campaign: Making Every Dollar Count,''
the Subcommittee sought to better understand the impact of
OPM's proposed regulatory changes to the Combined Federal
Campaign (CFC), with an eye toward reaching consensus on
sensible changes to better support federal workers who choose
to donate. The Subcommittee continues to monitor OPM's efforts
to work with participating charities and donors to strengthen
the integrity, streamline operations, and increase the
effectiveness of the CFC.
In 2014, the Committee held three hearings to examine key
issues impacting government management and the federal civilian
workforce.
At the Committee's request, GAO examined OPM's management
of the General Schedule. GAO found that OPM's implementation of
the system falls short of achieving some of the key attributes
needed in a modern job classification system, including
transparency, internal equity, simplicity, flexibility, and
adaptability. On July 15, 2014, the Subcommittee [on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service, and the Census held a hearing
entitled, ``Is the Federal Government's General Schedule (GS) a
Viable Personnel System for the Future?'' to examine the
management of the federal workforce, including the
classification, evaluation, and compensation of employees hired
the GS classification system.
The Subcommittee also held a hearing on July 11, 2014,
entitled, ``Oversight of the Federal Workforce: The Viability
of the Senior Executive Service.'' The Subcommittee examined
the Senior Executive Service (SES), including the extent to
which the SES is improving the executive management of the
federal government and SES workers are held accountable for
individual and organizational performance. The hearing examined
the need for reform to better ensure the federal government
hires, compensates and manages the executive workforce needed
to meet its taxpayer-funded mission.
On September 14, 2014, the Subcommittee held a hearing
entitled, ``Examining the Administration's Treatment of
Whistleblowers,'' which examined how whistleblower protection
laws are often ignored or manipulated. Committee members agreed
that Congress must continue to address actions taken by both
the executive and judicial branches that undermine current
whistleblower protection laws.
Following the tragedy at the Navy Yard, Committee started
an investigation into the federal security clearance process,
which led to a full Committee hearing on February 7, 2014. The
hearing examined proposed legislation aimed at addressing
shortcomings found during the investigation. Invited witnesses
include: The Honorable Katherine Archuleta, Director, U.S.
Office of Personnel and Management; The Honorable Patrick
McFarland, Inspector General, U.S. Office of Personnel
Management; Mr. Stephen Lewis, Director for Personnel,
Industrial and Physical Security Policy, Department of Defense;
Mr. Sterling Phillips, CEO, U.S. Investigative Services, Inc.;
Mr. Michael Rhodes, Executive Vice President, Mission Systems
and Services Business Group, CACI International Inc.; Mr. Jeff
Schlanger, President and CEO, KeyPoint Government Solutions.
The Committee remains interested in enacting legislative
improvements to the clearance process.
The United States Postal Service
The Committee and the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce,
U.S. Postal Service, and the Census conducted significant
oversight of the United States Postal Service and its
deteriorating financial condition. In its work, the Committee
placed a particular focus on the impacts of the Postal
Service's deterioration in the mailing industry, as well as on
the discussion of potential legislative reforms.
On April 10, 2013 the Federal Workforce Subcommittee held a
hearing entitled, ``Ahead of Postal Reform: Hearing from USPS
Business Partners.'' The hearing presented committee members
with testimony from broad segments of the mailing community,
including advertising mailers, a magazine publisher, a
newspaper publisher, and a mail-order pharmacy, all of whom
shared their thoughts on the future of the Postal Service and
the impacts that proposed reforms could have on their business.
On April 17, 2013, the Committee expanded on the work on the
Subcommittee's hearing with a second hearing entitled,
``Options to Bring the Postal Service Back from Insolvency.''
At this hearing, members heard testimony from Mickey Barnett,
the Chairman of the Postal Service's Board of Governors;
Patrick Donahoe, the Postmaster General; Gene Dodaro, the
Comptroller General of the United States; and Frederick
Rolando, the President of the National Association of Letter
Carriers. At this hearing, specific reform proposals were
discussed at length and the Postal Service's financial
condition was characterized in its own words.
By the time of these two hearings, the Postal Service was
already in default to the federal government for $11.1 billion
to prefund its already accrued retiree health care liability
and the Postal Service had lost a record $15.6 billion in
fiscal year 2012. While partial year returns showed slightly
better than expected finances for fiscal year 2013, due in part
to revenue generated by the 2012 presidential election, the
Postal Service was still operating at a loss and was projected
to default on a further $5.6 billion payment for retiree health
care liability on September 30, 2013, a default that did
ultimately occur.
Given the Postal Service's tenuous position, on July 19,
2013, Chairman Issa, along with Federal Workforce Subcommittee
Chairman Blake Farenthold and his predecessor as Subcommittee
Chairman, Dennis Ross, introduced H.R. 2748, the Postal Reform
Act of 2013. H.R. 2748 was modeled after H.R. 2309 from the
112th Congress, which had been ordered reported by the
Oversight Committee on October 13, 2011. However, in addition
to many of the provision from H.R. 2309, H.R. 2748 also
included a number of provisions from H.R. 2690, the Innovate to
Deliver Act of 2013, introduced by Ranking Member Elijah
Cummings, including a provision to create a Chief Innovation
Officer within the Postal Service. On July 24, 2013, the
Committee held a markup to consider H.R. 2748. A total of 5
amendments were adopted and the legislation was subsequently
ordered to be reported to the House of Representatives by a
vote of 22-17.
In 2014 the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal
Service, and the Census held four hearings on the Postal
Service. On March 4, 2014, the first of Subcommittee hearings
examined the issue of Alaska Bypass mail delivery. At the
hearing Federal Workforce Subcommittee members were able to
hear testimony from a number of individuals, including from a
representative with the Postal Service Office of Inspector
General who highlighted potential abuses of the program. The
second Subcommittee hearing, on March 13, 2014 examined USPS's
unfunded liabilities. Subcommittee members heard from the GAO,
the Postal Service, as well as the Department of Defense, a
branch of government that is also required to prefund retiree
health care costs in a similar manner to the Postal Service.
The third hearing, on May 22, 2014, served as a forum to
discuss potential new postal products. At the hearing,
witnesses discussed innovative medicine packaging, new postage
software, digital mail solutions, and other potential revenue
streams for the Postal Service. The fourth Subcommittee hearing
occurred on November 19, 2014 to examine the Postal Service's
``mail cover'' program. At the hearing, witnesses and members
discussed whether proper privacy protections were in place for
the program, as well as information regarding a large data
breach of employee information that was announced by the Postal
Service earlier in November 2014.
In addition to subcommittee hearings, the full Oversight
Committee held a hearing on April 8, 2014 to discuss the postal
reform proposal included in President Obama's fiscal year 2015
budget. At the hearing, members heard testimony from Deputy
Director Brian Deese of the Office of Management and Budget
outlining President Obama's support for a number of major
postal reforms including authorizing the Postal Service to move
to a 5-day per week delivery schedule.
During 2014, the Oversight Committee considered two bills
related to the Alaska bypass mail program, H.R. 4011 and H.R.
4174, both introduced by Chairman Issa. H.R. 4011, the Alaska
Bypass Fair Competition Act, made a technical change to current
law to end a permanent preference for certain air carriers that
were engaged in bypass mail delivery on January 1, 2001. H.R.
4011 was favorably reported by the Committee on February 11,
2014 by voice vote. The second bill, H.R. 4174, was introduced
on February 6, 2014, shortly after the Federal Workforce
Subcommittee's hearing on the Alaska bypass program. Using
input from the hearing, H.R. 4174 made more substantial reforms
to the Alaska bypass program with the goal of improving the
program's cost-efficiency. H.R. 4174 was favorably reported by
the Committee on March 12, 2014 by voice vote.
Finally, on May 19, 2014, Chairman Issa and Subcommittee
Chairman Farenthold introduced H.R. 4670, the Secure Delivery
for America Act. H.R. 4670 is a modified stand-alone version of
a provision included in H.R. 2748, the Committee's
comprehensive postal reform legislation approved in 2013. H.R
4670 would require the Postal Service to convert 15 million
addresses over the next ten years to more cost-effective forms
of delivery. Exceptions were made in the legislation for
addresses where conversion would pose a physical hardship and
the delivery changes would alter less than one percent of
nationwide addresses during each year of the 10 year period.
The Secure Delivery for America Act was approved by the
Committee on May 21, 2014 by a vote of 18-13.
National Security and Foreign Operations
In February 2013, the Subcommittee on National Security
continued a series of hearing on issues regarding taxpayer
expenditures in Afghanistan. The Subcommittee heard testimony
from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan
Reconstruction, who conducted an audit of the Afghanistan
National Army's logistics capability for petroleum, oil, and
lubricants provided via U.S. resources. In April, the
Subcommittee also held a hearing titled, ``Contracting to Feed
U.S. Troops in Afghanistan: How did the Defense Department end
up in a Multi-Billion Dollar Billing Dispute?'' to examine
concerns with a major Defense Department subsistence contract
in Afghanistan. Officials from the Defense Logistics Agency,
the Defense Department's Inspector General, and an executive
from the contracting company testified before the Subcommittee.
In April 2013, the Subcommittee conducted a joint hearing
with the Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation, and
Regulatory Affairs to examine the federal government's
procurement processes and storage logistics regarding
ammunition. Members heard testimony from the Homeland Security
Department's Chief Procurement Officer, the Inspector General
of the Social Security Administration, as well as the President
of the National Law Enforcement Officers Association. In
August, the Subcommittee held its second hearing examining
federal government weapons management. The Subcommittee focused
on an inspector general report highlighting a lack of
accountabiliby over weapons at the National Park Service.
In May 2013, the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform held a hearing entitled, ``Benghazi: Exposing Failure
and Recognizing Courage.'' The Committee received testimony
from three State Department officials with knowledge of the
facts and circumstances of the September 11, 2012, terrorist
attack in Benghazi, Libya. Gregory Hicks, Deputy Chief of
Mission at Embassy Tripoli on the night of the terrorist
attacks, and Mark Thompson, Deputy Coordinator for Operations
in the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism offered
new testimony that provided additional insight into events in
Libya and at the State Department on the night of the September
11, 2012 terrorist attacks. Eric Nordstrom, the former Regional
Security Officer at Embassy Tripoli, provided context about
security procedures and resourcing at U.S. diplomatic
facilities in Libya.
In September 2013, the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform held a hearing entitled, ``Reviews of the
Benghazi Attack and Unanswered Questions.'' The Committee
received testimony from two panels of witnesses. On the first
panel, Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Admiral Michael Mullen,
USN (Ret.), Chair and Vice-Chair respectively of the State
Department's Accountability Review Board, convened to review
the facts and circumstances of the September 11, 2012 terrorist
attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya.
Joining them were Mark Sullivan, a former Director of the
Secret Service and Todd Keil, a former Assistant Secretary of
Homeland Security, who served on an Independent Panel on Best
Practices, convened by the State Department to review the
diplomatic security function of the Department. On the second
panel, the Committee heard from Patricia Smith and Charles
Woods, parents of two of the victims of the Benghazi attack--
Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods.
Homeland Security
The Subcommittee on National Security held a hearing in
April on the impact of sequestration on the Transportation
Security Administration. The Subcommittee received testimony
from Mr. John Halinski, the Deputy Administrator of TSA. Also
in April, the Subcommittee on National Security, along with the
Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Regulatory
Affairs, jointly held a hearing entitled, ``Oversight of the
Federal Government's Procurement of Ammunition'' to examine the
procurement and use of ammunition by Federal Government
agencies. Members heard testimony from: Dr. Nick Nayak, the
Department of Homeland Security Chief Procurement Officer; Mr.
Humberto Medina, the Assistant Director for Immigration and
Customs Enforcement's National Firearms and Tactical Training
Unit, and also the Chair of the DHS Weapons and Ammunition
Commodity Council; and The Honorable Patrick P. O'Carroll, Jr.,
the Social Security Administration Inspector General, and Mr.
Jon Adler, the National President of the Federal Law
Enforcement Officers Association..
In May 2013, the Subcommittee on Government Operations held
a hearing examining government-issued identification card
programs administered by the Transportation Security
Administration. The hearing focused on agencies' efforts to
incorporate secure biometric technologies into their
identification card programs using TSA's Transportation Worker
Identification Credential (TWIC) program as a case study. The
hearing also featured testimony from the Government
Accountability Office concerning a report regarding the use of
biometric and other advanced technologies for the TWIC program.
In June, the Subcommittee on Government Operations held a
hearing entitled: ``Federal Government Approaches to Issuing
Biometric IDs: Part II.'' The hearing examined the status,
costs, and management of various federal identification cards.
The hearing also focused on agencies' efforts to incorporate
secure biometric technologies into their identification card
programs.
In June 2013, the Subcommittee on National Security held a
hearing on border security entitled, Border Security Oversight:
Identifying and Responding to Current Threats.'' Accordingly,
the hearing examined various risks at the southwest border and
discussed government responses to each threat, ranging from
technological solutions to strategic placement of border patrol
agents. Members received testimony from Customs and Border
Protection (CBP), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
and the Government Accountability Office.
In July 2013, the Subcommittee heard testimony from senior
government witnesses about challenges in the asylum process at
the border. The hearing assessed U.S. border security efforts
and challenges to obtaining operational control of the
southwest border, including the process and procedures relating
to asylum requests.
The Committee has been conducting extensive oversight of
TSA's policies and programs since the agency's inception. The
Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001, P.L. 107-71,
requires TSA to provide for the screening of individuals
boarding commercial aircraft. To comply with this requirement,
TSA has primarily relied upon technology to screen passengers
at airport checkpoints. In response to the Christmas Day
Bomber, however, TSA procured and deployed Advanced Imaging
Technology (``AIT'' also known as ``Whole Body Imaging'')
machines.
Since the previous Congress, the Committee has been
investigating alternative options for passenger screening that
may be more effective than Advanced Imaging Technology.
Accordingly, at the request of the Committee, GAO conducted
tests examining other potential screening mechanisms, including
the utility of an increased canine presence at airports.
The Committee has conducted oversight and investigations of
a broad range of other TSA policies and programs. To that end,
it continues to examine aviation security matters including
information sharing, federal workforce issues in managing
airport security, and the training and supervision of airport
screeners, and storage of equipment.
The Committee has continued conducting oversight of U.S.
Border Patrol and Customs operations, intended to secure the
Southwest border. Since the Committee's July 9, 2009, hearing,
drug cartel-related violence in Mexico has continued to
escalate in both frequency and intensity. According to reports,
``2,826 people were killed in 2007; more than twice that
number, 6,837, in 2008; an additional forty per cent [sic],
9,614, in 2009; and almost sixty per cent [sic] more, 15,273,
last year [in 2010].'' Since December 2006, the total number of
deaths in Mexico has risen above 50,000. Most of these crimes
occurred within a short distance of the U.S. border, raising
concerns about the security of U.S. citizens. Meanwhile, the
Committee continues to conduct oversight in order to answer
questions about whether the U.S. Southwest border is adequately
secured.
The Committee has been conducting oversight of
cybersecurity policy. In July 2011, the Oversight and
Government Reform Committee held a hearing, ``Cybersecurity:
Assessing the Nation's Ability to Address the Growing Cyber
Threat'' to further examine cybersecurity threats and
challenges. The Committee has been continuing its effort to
update FISMA.
Financial Management
On July 10, 2013, the Committee held a hearing entitled,
``Unaccountable Government: GAO Reports Show Feds Struggling to
Track Money and Performance.'' Comptroller General Dodaro
testified about GAO's work on the Government Performance and
Results Modernization Act (GPRAMA) and the 2012 Financial
Report of the U.S. Government. The Comptroller General reported
that the government failed to pass an audit of its financial
statements. To date, the government has never passed an audit.
As a result, GAO could not verify the accuracy or reliability
of the government's spending. The Comptroller General noted
that unless policy changes are made, the federal government
faces an unsustainable fiscal path. The hearing also revealed
that the government cannot track spending information.
Comptroller General Dodaro testified that legislation to create
unique identifiers and standardize spending information would
help.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Unaccountable Government: GAO Reports
Show Feds Struggling to Track Money and Performance,'' July 10, 2013.
Available at: http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/unaccountable-
government-gao-reports-show-feds-struggling-to-track-money-and-
performance/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On August 2, 2013, the Subcommittee on Government
Operations held a hearing entitled, ``Examining the
Skyrocketing Problem of Identity Theft Related Tax Fraud at the
IRS.'' Witnesses included the Honorable Daniel Werfel, Acting
Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Mr. Michael
McKenney, Deputy Inspector General for Audit at the Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), Ms. Nina
Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate at the Taxpayer Advocate
Service at IRS, and Mr. Douglas MacGinnitie, State Revenue
Commissioner at the Department of Revenue for the State of
Georgia. The National Taxpayer Advocate reported that she has
seen a 78 percent increase in identity theft cases at the IRS
from FY 2011 to FY 2012. Over the last five years, the number
of cases has increased by 413 percent. TIGTA testified that the
IRS could pay out over $5 billion in potentially fraudulent
returns in 2013. Mr. MacGinnitie testified that the State of
Georgia was working with third party data providers to detect
fraud on a state level and stop fraudulent payments before they
are issued. Acting Commissioner Werfel acknowledged that it was
a serious problem, and the IRS's work to combat identity theft
related tax fraud will continue to grow.\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Hearing, ``Examining the Skyrocketing Problem of
Identity Theft Related Tax Fraud at the IRS,'' August 2, 2013.
Available at: http://oversight.house.gov/hearing/examining-the-
skyrocketing-problem-of-identity-theft-related-tax-fraud-at-the-irs/.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. Summary of Additional Oversight Activities Undertaken, and
Recommendations Made and Actions Taken Thereon
IRS Targeting
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has
conducted a comprehensive investigation into the IRS's
inappropriate review of certain applicants for tax-exempt
status. During the course of its investigation, the Committee
reviewed more than 1.5 million pages of documents produced by
the IRS, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration,
the Department of Treasury, the Department of Justice, the IRS
Oversight Board, the Federal Election Commission, former and
current IRS employees and other sources. Committee staff has
conducted 44 transcribed interviews of current and former IRS
officials; six transcribed interviews with current and former
Treasury Department officials; and two transcribed interviews
with attorneys from the Department of Justice. In addition to
holding numerous hearings examining the allegations and the
responsive actions of current and former officials at IRS, the
Treasury Department and the Department of Justice, the majority
staff of the Committee documented its investigation and
findings in six staff reports (the latest is still
forthcoming). The Committee's investigation found clear
evidence that the IRS used inappropriate criteria to identify
certain applications for tax-exempt status for review; however,
several items of material interest subpoenaed by the Committee
remain outstanding. In its forthcoming staff report, the
majority Committee staff suggests a number of reforms.
Fast and Furious
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has
continued to investigate the decision-making behind Operation
Fast and Furious, a misguided ``gunwalking'' operation where
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
failed to track illegal firearms purchases, creating a danger
to public safety on both sides of the border. On December 14,
2010, Customs and Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in
Arizona; two weapons found at the scene were traced to
Operation Fast and Furious. The Committee's comprehensive
investigation has exposed serious management and operational
failures.
On June 28, 2012, by a margin of 258-95, the House of
Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in
contempt of Congress. This vote authorized the Oversight and
Government Reform Committee to seek redress in federal court in
order to compel the Attorney General to produce documents
pursuant to a duly authorized subpoena issued by the Committee.
On August 13, 2012, the Committee filed a civil complaint
against the Attorney General in U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia.
In 2013, Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied the Department of
Justice's Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Interlocutory Appeal
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1292(b). Both the Committee and the
Department of Justice subsequently filed Motions for Summary
Judgment, and Judge Jackson denied them both on August 20,
2014. Pursuant to Judge Jackson's order, the Department of
Justice produced 64,280 pages of documents to the Committee on
November 4, 2014. Those documents had been previously withheld,
along with thousands of others, under a claim of Executive
Privilege. The litigation is ongoing.
Wasteful Conference Spending
During 2013, the Committee continued to build on its prior
work on the now-infamous General Services Administration (GSA)
conference in Las Vegas. Two conferences in particular, one
held by the IRS and one held by the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA), deserved scrutiny for the excessive and wasteful
spending that occurred at each.
In June 2013, the Committee held a hearing to examine
excessive spending that occurred at an IRS conference in
Anaheim, California. An Inspector General audit revealed that
the IRS employees who planned the conference approved excessive
expenditures and engaged in questionable contracting practices.
According to TIGTA, the IRS held 225 conferences at a total
cost of over $50 million between 2010 and 2012. In particular,
the Anaheim conference cost more than $4 million. It was a
conference for IRS managers with approximately 2,700 attendees.
Like the GSA conference planners, the IRS conference planners
hired expensive speakers, held private receptions, produced
expensive videos for entertainment, and occupied executive
level suites at several hotels in Anaheim.
With regard to the VA conference, the Committee learned in
August 2012 about two conferences held in July 2011 and August
2011 in Orlando, Florida. These two conferences, purportedly
organized to train human resources professionals, cost
taxpayers approximately $6.1 million. Financial mismanagement
and ineffective oversight were widespread throughout the
conference planning process. On October 1, 2012, the VA Office
of Inspector General released a report focusing on the
Department's wasteful expenditures associated with the
conferences. The Committee requested documents from the
Department in August 2012. After several follow-up document
requests, the Committee issued a subpoena on July 9, 2013. On
October 30, 2012, the full Committee held a hearing, which
examined the Department's response to the waste and misconduct
that occurred in relation to the planning and execution of the
conferences. The Committee also released a Majority staff
report detailing how conference expenditures skyrocketed due to
failed oversight and financial irresponsibility. The report can
be found on the Committee's website: http://
oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/VA-Conferences-
Majority-Staff-Report-10-30-2013-OGR-Committee.pdf.
The Committee plans to continue to monitor the Department's
progress in implementing the Inspector General's
recommendations for improving policies and procedures within VA
and making the necessary changes to prevent future waste of
taxpayer dollars.
Affordable Care Act Implementation
Building on its work in the 112th Congress, when the
Committee conducted oversight of the implementation of the
Affordable Care Act (ACA), potential negative economic effects,
and its impact on individuals and businesses, the Committee in
2013 has continued to devote significant resources to the laws
effect on the insurance industry. In particular, the Committee
has focused on several specific areas of ACA implementation,
described below:
Healthcare.gov--The Committee is investigating the causes
of problems with the launch of the Healthcare.gov website, a
critical feature of the President's health care law. The
Committee sent several letters to the Department of Health and
Human Services and the Executive Office of the President
requesting documents and information related to the launch.
After the Department failed to immediately provide the
requested information, the Chairman issued a subpoena to
Secretary Sebelius demanding unredacted documents containing
information about HealthCare.gov's technical problems and other
issues related to testing, design, and software.
The Committee also requested information from top
contractors involved with creation of the website. One of the
main contractors, QSSI Inc., also refused to provide the
requested information and was served with a subpoena issued by
the Chairman. The Committee has received and is in the process
of reviewing well in excess of one million documents received
in response to the Committee's letters and subpoenas.
The Committee has held three hearings on the
Administration's failed website launch, and plans to hold three
additional hearings by the end of December; four of the
hearings are taking place outside of Washington (North
Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Texas) to highlight the impact
of the Affordable Care Act on individuals across the country.
The Chairman issued a subpoena to the White House Office of
Management and Budget Chief Technology Officer, Todd Park, to
appear before the Committee. Finally, the Committee is
currently conducting multiple transcribed interviews of federal
employees who were involved with building or testing
HealthCare.gov.
Navigators/Assisters--The Affordable Care Act requires
states to establish ``Navigators'' to conduct outreach about
the law, provide fair and impartial information to consumers,
and facilitate enrollment in new health insurance exchanges and
state Medicaid programs. When several states objected to
financing Navigators with state revenue, the Administration
created a twin program called In-Person Assisters (Assisters)
in states with state-based exchanges. This year alone, the
Administration will provide several hundred million dollars of
taxpayer funds to Assister organizations. There is significant
risk for fraud and abuse in these programs; top HHS officials
expressed concerns about the risk of scam artists and identity
thieves.
In September, the Majority staff released a report with
preliminary findings showing that the Navigators and Assisters
pose security risks to consumers. The report can be found on
the Committee's website: http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/
uploads/2013/09/Republican-Staff-Report-on-Navigators.pdf. The
Committee held a hearing on the Navigators and Assisters
programs in May 2013; the topic has also been highlighted in
several other Committee hearings throughout the year.
Additionally, the Committee is currently receiving and
reviewing information in response to document requests to the
Department of Health and Human Services and 17 state based
exchanges.
Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan--The Consumer Operated
and Oriented Plan (CO-OP) program used taxpayer money to loan
$2 billion to companies establishing non-profit health
insurance issuers. However, the Office of Management and Budget
estimated the taxpayer losses for the loans at 43.2 percent.
Moreover, several companies have experienced legal or financial
troubles. For instance, the Vermont Health CO-OP, which
received a $34 million taxpayer-backed loan, was in May 2013
denied an insurance license by the state of Vermont. In letters
to the Administration, the Committee expressed concern that the
process used to select loan recipients was flawed and lacked
transparency.
The Committee initially requested information on the CO-OP
program in October 2012 and again in March 2013. After these
requests were ignored by the Department of Health and Human
Services, the Chairman issued a subpoena for documents related
to the CO-OP loan program in June 2013. The subpoena requires
HHS to produce all documents related to the reviews which
assessed each CO-OP applicant's financial viability, as well as
communication between HHS employees, contractors and Executive
Office employees discussing the applicants' financial viability
or ability to repay the CO-OP loan. The Committee continues to
receive and review documents from HHS in response to the
Chairman's subpoena.
Benghazi
In the wake of the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack on
U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya which claimed the
lives of four Americans, the Committee launched an
investigation into the Administration's actions before, during
and after the attack. To date, the Committee has sent more than
45 letters, conducted approximately 26 witness interviews
totaling 80+ hours and 3000+ pages of transcripts, reviewed
more than 25,000 pages of documents, and issued nine subpoenas
for documents and testimony. Several subpoenas for testimony
were withdrawn after witnesses agreed to appear voluntarily.
In addition, the Committee has held four hearings. The
first hearing occurred on October 10, 2012 and included
testimony from State Department and DOD personnel responsible
for security in Libya prior to the attack. The second hearing
took place on May 8, 2013 and the Committee received testimony
from State Department personnel involved in the events before,
during and after the attack. The hearing featured the first
public testimony from an individual who was on the ground in
Libya on the night of the attack. On September 19, 2013, the
Committee held a third hearing to examine the work of the
Accountability Review Board (ARB) and the findings of the
Independent Panel on Best Practices, convened by the State
Department at the ARB's recommendation to review the diplomatic
security function of the Department. In advance of the
September 19, 2013 hearing, the Majority released a 99-page
interim staff report on ARB's process and conclusions,
especially regarding accountability of State Department
personnel. Additionally, the Minority released an 80-page staff
report on the attacks, response, and the subsequent
investigations. On May 1, 2014, the Committee held a fourth
hearing on Benghazi and heard testimony from a witness who
formerly worked for the Defense Department as well as witnesses
testifying on U.S. policy toward Libya.
Sequester Oversight
The Committee thoroughly analyzed the federal government's
response to budget changes in 2013. On April 16, 2013, the Full
Committee held a hearing featuring three agencies--the National
Archives, the Smithsonian, and the National Park Service--to
evaluate how each had coped with funding reductions under
sequestration. The Smithsonian and the National Archives both
handled sequestration with judicious planning.
The Committee revisited this issue in October, when it held
a joint hearing with the Natural Resources Committee to examine
the Park Service's response to the government shutdown. At this
hearing, Chairman Issa issued a subpoena to the Park Service
for documents not produced in response to the Committee's
sequestration investigation and which were the subject of a
March 3, 2013, letter, which was followed by two letters in
October seeking information about sequestration.
Since the subpoena has been issued, the Committee has been
in discussions with the Park Service about the production of
responsive documents. So far, the Park Service has produced the
sequestration plans implemented by each park, but the Committee
still seeks drafts of these reports and the correspondence
relating to chosen cuts. The Committee plans to continue its
investigation into the Park Service's handling of sequestration
and monitor its responses to future budget adjustments.
IRS Contracting Abuse
In February 2013, the Committee learned of allegations
concerning a series of contracts, potentially worth more than
$500 million, awarded by the Internal Revenue Service over a
six-month period to Strong Castle, Inc., an information
technology contractor. Witnesses who contacted the Committee
alleged that Strong Castle engaged in fraud to win the IRS
contracts. Strong Castle obtained contracts with the IRS
largely based on the company's access to contracting set-asides
for small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans
(SDVOSB) and connections to economically disadvantaged
neighborhoods (HUBZone).
The Committee's investigation involved reviewing more than
25,000 pages of documents produced by the IRS, Strong Castle,
the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and the
Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA). Committee staff conducted
16 transcribed interviews of IRS procurement officials, Strong
Castle employees, and other relevant witnesses. Chairman Issa
sent nine letters about the investigation to SBA, VA, IRS, and
Strong Castle. SBA, VA, and IRS provided multiple briefings.
A Majority staff report released on June 25, 2013, detailed
the findings and recommendations of the investigation in
anticipation of a full Committee hearing held June 26, 2013.
The report is available on the Committee's website: http://
oversight.house.gov/report/staff-report-questionable-
acquisitions-problematic-it-contracting-at-the-irs/. A video
clip of Congresswoman Duckworth questioning Strong Castle's CEO
about his service disability has been viewed over two million
times on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPOKm20wP4s.
As a result of the Committee's investigation, the SBA
decertified Strong Castle as a HUBZone firm, observing that the
company provided inaccurate, unreliable, and misleading
information. In addition, the IRS pledged to suspend orders for
IT products and services from Strong Castle and on December 5,
2013, executed a bilateral contract action to discontinue the
contract arrangement with Strong Castle under a blanket
purchase agreement in support of the IBM Software Relationship
Offering (SRO), worth an estimated total dollar value of $300
million over five years. Moreover, on the legislative front,
Chairman Issa and Congresswoman Duckworth have introduced the
SERV Act (H.R. 3469), which would ensure that only individuals
who have actually served in the military can qualify to receive
government contracting preferences and other related benefits.
The Committee's findings regarding Strong Castle should
serve as a deterrent for other current and prospective
government contractors who may be considering ways to abuse
set-aside programs established to benefit disadvantaged
populations and underutilized communities. While the Committee
was able to stop the abuses of one contractor, the Committee
learned that these problems are widespread and require
government-wide solutions. The Committee continues to monitor
Strong Castle and other similarly-situated contractors to
prevent similar abuses in the future.
New York State Medicaid Abuse
The Committee is investigating waste, fraud, abuse, and
mismanagement in New York State's Medicaid program. A March
Committee Report from the House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee described the findings discovered and uncovered by
the Committee. In response to the Committee's oversight of
overpayments received by State-operated institutions in New
York, the Department of Health and Human Services sharply
reduced some Medicaid overpayments to the State of New York in
April, saving taxpayers an estimated $1.2 billion over 18
months. New York State's Medicaid program is the largest in the
country.
According to the Committee report, in fiscal year 2010, New
York's $2,700 per resident Medicaid spending exceeded per
capita Medicaid spending in the rest of the country by more
than $1,500. When problems with the State's program have been
identified, the cost associated has often been large as well.
The bipartisan Committee report found that poor program
oversight by both the State and federalGovernment has
contributed to these problems.
A September 2012 staff report estimated that over the past
two decades the federal government had made roughly $15 billion
in overpayments to the State of New York since 1990 for the
developmental centers alone. By 2011, Medicaid's daily
reimbursement rate exceeded $5,100 for each patient residing in
a developmental center.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board Investigation
of 2014
The CSB is an independent agency charged with investigating
chemical accidents. In the fall of 2012, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Inspector General (EPA IG), who has
authority over the CSB, began investigating allegations that
the CSB General Counsel learned the identities of several CSB
whistleblowers who filed complaints with the U.S. Office of
Special Counsel (OSC). Federal law requires OSC to protect the
identities of complainants.
The EPA IG discovered that CSB leadership used personal e-
mail accounts to conduct official business to avoid scrutiny
from investigators. CSB's application of attorney-client
privilege to documents caused the IG to eventually bring the
matter to the attention of Congress.
On September 5, 2013, EPA Inspector General Arthur A.
Elkins, Jr. sent a ``seven-day letter'' to Congress regarding
CSB's refusal to cooperate with his leak investigation. Section
5(d) of the Inspector General Act, as amended, requires IGs to
report immediately to the agency head whenever the IG becomes
aware of ``particularly serious or flagrant problems, abuses,
or deficiencies relating to the administration of programs or
operations.''}[1] Reports made pursuant to Section
5(d) of the IG Act are commonly referred to as ``seven-day
letters.''}[2] Because IGs typically reserve the use
of a seven-day letter for only the most urgent matters,
Congress--and the House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform specifically--takes these matters very seriously.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\[1]\Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, Pub. L. 110-409
[hereinafter IG Act].
\[2]\Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In response to the seven-day letter, the Committee on
Oversight and the House Committee on Science and Technology
sought more information regarding CSB's unwillingness to
cooperate with the EPA IG's leak investigation. The seven-day
letter was a red flag that CSB was suffering from
mismanagement. Once the Committee began its investigation of
the seven-day letter allegations with assistance from the
Science Committee, it became clear there were in fact serious
management deficiencies at the CSB.
The Committee conducted ten transcribed interviews of
current and former CSB employees, received several briefings,
and reviewed several hundred documents produced by the EPA OIG,
the OSC, and the CSB. To date, it is unclear whether CSB has
provided the Committee with a complete production of relevant
documents, given its lack of full cooperation with the
Committee's investigation. The deficiencies uncovered during
the course of the investigation led the Committee to conclude
that CSB is failing to fulfill its mission under Chairman
Moure-Eraso's leadership.
Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso was nominated to the CSB by
President Obama in March 2010 and confirmed by the Senate in
June 2010. Chairman Moure-Eraso's term will expire in 2015 as
CSB Board Members serve fixed terms of five years. Since Dr.
Moure-Eraso took over as Chairman in June 2010, at least nine
employees--investigators and attorneys--have left the agency,
which has approximately 40 employees in total. Current and
former CSB employees informed the Committee that under Chairman
Moure-Eraso's ``bullying'' and ``abusive'' leadership, the
current work environment is ``toxic.'' Some employees fear
retaliation for any action perceived as questioning the
chairman or assisting other Board Members. Some employees
believe they have faced retaliation, including being stripped
of their responsibilities.
As in the NRC investigation, the Committee uncovered a lack
of collegiality among the Board members. Dr. Beth Rosenberg
resigned from the Board on May 31, 2014, after serving just
over a year. Upon her departure, Dr. Rosenberg told Bloomberg
BNA:
I feel I can do more good from outside the agency
than within it . . . [a]s a board member, I expected
the opportunities to influence the workings and
priorities of the agency to be greater than they were.
The ill-defined role of board members in relation to
the chair, as well as in relation to the staff, made it
difficult to have any meaningful influence. . . . I'm
looking forward to going back to an academic
environment where open debate is valued.[3]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\[3]\Robert Iafolla, CSB Member Resigns in Frustration: Chair
Expects Vacancies To Be Filled Soon, Bloomberg BNA, (May 27, 2014).
The mission of CSB is to investigate chemical accidents,
make recommendations to prevent future accidents, and ensure
that its recommendations are implemented. Chairman Moure-
Eraso's leadership style has detracted from this mission.
On June 19, 2014, the Oversight Committee, along with the
Science Committee released a staff report and held a full
Committee hearing entitled ``Whistleblower Reprisal and
Management Failures at the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.''
Chairman Moure-Eraso, former Board Member Beth Rosenberg, and
EPA IG Elkins were among the witnesses. Based on the staff
report and hearing testimony, there were bipartisan calls for
Chairman Moure-Eraso's resignation during the hearing. On July
7, 2014, Chairman Issa, Chairman Lamar Smith, and four other
Members of Congress wrote President Obama requesting that he
consider whether Chairman Moure-Eraso was fit to continue
leading the CSB. To date, the President has not responded and
Moure-Eraso continues to lead the beleaguered agency.
VI. Delineation of Hearings Held Pursuant to Clauses 2 (n), (o), and
(p) of House Rule 11.
Hearings Held Pursuant to Clause 2(n)
Jan. 22, 2013, 1:00 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Wasting Information Technology Dollars: How Can the Federal
Government Reform its IT Investment Strategy?''
Feb. 5, 2013, 1:00 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Government Spending: How Can We Best Address the Billions of
Dollars Wasted Every Year?''.
Feb. 27, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Time to Reform Information Technology Acquisition: The
Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act.''
Feb. 27, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Failures in Managing Federal
Real Property: Billions in Losses.''
March 5, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Reducing Waste and Mismanagement: Implementing Agency
Watchdogs' Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers Billions''
Mar. 19, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``DOD and DHS: Implementing Agency Watchdogs' Recommendations
Could Save Taxpayers Billions.''
Apr. 17, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Options to Bring the Postal Service Back from Insolvency.''
Apr. 17, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on National Security
hearing entitled, ``Contracting to Feed U.S. Troops in
Afghanistan: How did the Defense Department end up in a Multi-
Billion Dollar Billing Dispute?''
Apr. 25, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Government Operations Oversight:
Addressing Unused and Vacant Federal Property.''
Apr. 25, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security and Subcommittee on Economic Growth joint hearing
entitled, ``Oversight of the Federal Government's Procurement
of Ammunition.''
June 5, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal Workforce,
U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled, ``OPM's
Revolving Fund: A Cycle of Government Waste?''
June 12, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Protecting Taxpayer Dollars: Is the Government Using
Suspension and Debarment Effectively?''
June 26, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``The IRS Contracts with Strong Castle, Inc.''
July 10, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Unaccountable Government: GAO Reports Show Feds Struggling to
Track Money and Performance.''
July 25, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Data Centers and the Cloud, Part
II: The Federal Government's Take on Optimizing New Information
Technologies Opportunities to Save Taxpayers Money.''
Sept. 11, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Ensuring an Accurate and Affordable 2020 Census.''
Nov. 20, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on National
Security hearing entitled, ``Abuse of Overtime at DHS: Padding
Paychecks and Pensions at Taxpayer Expense.''
Dec. 3, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations field hearing entitled, ``Federal Trade Commission
and General Services Administration Thwart Cost Saving
Consolidation.''
Jan. 9, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Waste in Government: What's Being Done?''
November 18, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Full Committee joint hearing
with the Committee on the Judiciary entitled, ``Abuse of
USPTO's Telework Program: Ensuring Oversight, Accountability
and Quality.''
March 4, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, US Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Alaska Bypass: A Broken System.''
July 29, 2014, 10 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Federal Real Property:
Eliminating Waste and Mismanagement of Real Property Assets.''
Hearing Held Pursuant to Clause 2(o)
July 10, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Unaccountable Government: GAO Reports Show Feds Struggling to
Track Money and Performance.''
April 8, 2014, 10 a.m.--Full Committee Hearing entitled,
``The President's Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Proposal for the
Postal Service.''
Hearings Held Pursuant to Clause 2(p)
Feb. 14, 2013, 10:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Exploring GAO's High Risk List and Opportunities for
Reform.''
Feb. 27, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Time to Reform Information Technology Acquisition: The
Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act.''
Feb. 27, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Failures in Managing Federal
Real Property: Billions in Losses.''
Apr. 9, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing GAO's 2013 Report on
Duplicative Federal Programs.''
Apr. 10, 2013, 1:30 p.m.--Subcommittee on Federal
Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and the Census hearing entitled,
``Ahead of Postal Reform: Hearing from USPS Business
Partners.''
Apr. 17, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Options to Bring the Postal Service Back from Insolvency.''
Apr. 17, 2013, 2:00 p.m.--Subcommittee on National Security
hearing entitled, ``Contracting to Feed U.S. Troops in
Afghanistan: How did the Defense Department end up in a Multi-
Billion Dollar Billing Dispute?''
Apr. 24, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Broken Promises: the Small Business Lending Fund's Backdoor
Bank Bailout.''
May 9, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Federal Government Approaches to
Issuing Biometric IDs.''
May 16, 2013, 10:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Opportunities
Lost: Constraints on Oil and Gas Production on Federal Lands
and Waters.''
June 27, 2013, 9:30 a.m.--Subcommittee on Energy Policy,
Health Care and Entitlements hearing entitled, ``Oversight of
Rising Social Security Disability Claims and the Role of
Administrative Law Judges.''
August 2, 2013, 9:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations hearing entitled, ``Examining the Skyrocketing
Problem of Identity Theft Related Tax Fraud at the IRS.''
Dec. 3, 2013, 10:00 a.m.--Subcommittee on Government
Operations field hearing entitled, ``Federal Trade Commission
and General Services Administration Thwart Cost Saving
Consolidation.''
April 8, 2014, 1:30 p.m.--Full Committee hearing entitled,
``Reducing Waste in Government: Addressing GAO's 2014 Report on
Duplicative Federal Programs.'' Witness: The Honorable Gene L.
Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, U.S.
Government Accountability Office.