House Proceeding 03-31-09 on Mar 31st, 2009 :: 0:30:35 to 0:33:15
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0:30:32 to 0:30:52( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: don't need glasses either, i just neelonger arms. but i'd like to recognize the gentlelady from california, the chairwoman of the official conduct committee, ms. lofgren, for as much time as she may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. lofgren: thank you, mr. speaker, and chairman brady for yielding. as vice chair of the committee on house administration as well

0:30:35 to 0:33:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Zoe Lofgren

0:30:53 to 0:31:13( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: as chair of the committee on standards of official conduct, i found myself in kind of a unique position of dealing with this funding resolution both as a member of house administration where we heard the testimony of every chair and ranking member, read the budgets of every single committee, but also as chair of

0:31:14 to 0:31:35( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: the committee on standards, i, along with the ranking member, congressman bonner, gave testimony and made a budget request. so i am pleasedo note that the committee funding resolution today is not just about how much money a committee receives, it's about resources necessary to meet and

0:31:36 to 0:31:56( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: fulfill duties and obligations. now when it comes to the so-called ethics committee, obviously we know, and this is bipartisan, we have a very strong responsibility to ensure that the house adheres to and upholds the highest standards of ethics. to that end, the ethics committee annually produces

0:31:57 to 0:32:19( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: thousands of written advisory opinions and informal opinions, it educates members and staff and other employees of the house and reviews an jewel financial disclosure filings and when necessary conducts investigations into possible violations of the house rules. in the last congress, the house greatly expanded the duties and responsibles of the ethics committee.

0:32:20 to 0:32:40( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: it has required that the committee conduct mandatory annual ethics training for every officer and employee of the house. that means we must train roughly 10,000 employees each year. the house also required that the committee review all staff and member travel requests that are privatelfunded, which i can tell you is a voluminous task.

0:32:41 to 0:33:02( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: in addition, the house voted to establish e office of congressional ethics, which we expect will increase our workload. as you can see, the committee's mandate has grown significantly and the resolution before us does provide some additional funding for additional staff and for the adoption of new technologies to allow us to

0:33:03 to 0:33:16( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: fulfill our expanded mandates. i very much support the resolution, not only for the ethics committee, but for the other committees. this is a tight budget. it's not everything that everyone wanted, but these are tough times as well.