House Proceeding 03-31-09 on Mar 31st, 2009 :: 0:24:45 to 0:30:10
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0:24:42 to 0:25:02( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: inflationary increases needed coming year. thank you, mr. speaker, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i

0:24:45 to 0:30:10( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Zoe Lofgren

0:25:03 to 0:25:23( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: rise in support of house resolution 279. it does provide funding for committees for the 111th congress so that we might do the work that we're constitutional required to do. i'd like to begin by thanking chairman brady and his staff for truly engaging in a collaborative process as we work toward our common goal of

0:25:24 to 0:25:46( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: providing adequate funding for committees. it's my belief that the legislation before us today lows the congress, the house to carry out both its legislative and oversight functions while balancing those needs with the responsibility placed on us by the american people to spend their tax dollars wisely. during these difficult economic times, we have a shared interest in making sure we're

0:25:47 to 0:26:08( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: frugal and wise stewards of the taxpayers' dollars. however, this decision to tighten our fiscal belts cannot come at the expense of providing oversight over the federal coffers. if there's one complaint i had about the congress when i served here before two decades ago and while i was gone and when i first returned is i think there was not the

0:26:09 to 0:26:31( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: commitment to oversight nest on both sides of the congress and both sides of the aisle. i think there are many who have always do better. as we have seen recently with the reports of questionable uses of tarp funds, the potential for waste, fraud, and abuse is real, making those of

0:26:32 to 0:26:55( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: us here in congress, making us -- requiring us to be ever vigilant in performing effective oversight and making sure that's done in a timely fashion. just as these committees have a responsibility to conduct effective oversight in the matters under their jurisdiction, the house administration committee must

0:26:56 to 0:27:17( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: ensure that they're prevents waste, fraud, and abuse as well. i was pleased the committee adopted the majority amendment -- adopted the amendment to have all ranking members to provide an update regarding this operations of each committee. one thing we should understand is that the rules we've adopd

0:27:18 to 0:27:39( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: for the operation of the house in this congress require that all authorizing committees take the responsibility to provide the vital oversight for those operations of the executive branch under their jurisdiction. i believe that we have made progress on that. the majority has worked with us to move toward the goal of making monthly committee

0:27:40 to 0:28:00( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: reports available online. these reports are already required, but we will get them in a timely fashion, we'll establish a template so those committees will report and then we'll move to make those available online so we can in fact in the house of representatives move further to transparency as we're requiring transparency in the executive branch.

0:28:01 to 0:28:22( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: so the public can take a look at our work, it's all out there for home to see they can see the work we're doing, they can see the oversight we're providing, they can see, most importantly, how their dollars are being spent in this, their house of representatives. in addition to determining appropriate funding levels and ensuring that transparency in

0:28:23 to 0:28:45( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: committee operations, one of my chief concerns in the committee funding process was that the precedent of allocating 1/3 of each committee's resources to the nority was upheld. when the republicans were in power we started the tradition

0:28:46 to 0:29:06( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: of ensuring the minority was able to get one thd of the resources. i'm therefore pleased, mr. speaker that chairman brady has not only honored this commitment but made very strong statements in the committee on the record that he will diligent to address any complaints raised by ranking minority members in this regard.

0:29:07 to 0:29:28( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: for that, i thank him and i think this sets an excellent precedent for the future for all of us. i believe both sides have worked well to improve the committee funding process. as the chairman has said with just a couple of exceptions, there was -- with just a couple of exception, we did not grant the requests made by the chairmen and ranking members

0:29:29 to 0:29:49( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: for the increases as they came forward. we did give increases, but not in the numbers they talked about. when i looked over the numbers, it looks to me like we cut in half the requests for increases that was asked for and i happen to think that is a good here. we could go through the

0:29:50 to 0:30:11( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: committees one by one. luckily my staff has printed it large enough can read it now. when i was here 25 years ago, i did not need this large print so i was able to use smaller notes but that just shows the progress we've made, mr. speaker. i would thank the chairman for working with me to advance this funding process.