hayden to be the chief librarian of the library of congress.e are so happy that her mother joined her today. i feel a close relationship with both of them. colleen is also a social worker. by the way, the maryland delegation is not trying to change the constitution. there only two senators elected at the moment. but senator sarbanes is also a very active member of the board and he is here with us today to show support and solidarity. as you look out in the audience, you see a unique group of people of all ages and diversity who are here to support dr. hayden as well. these are the people of the board and the executive advisory committee who on their own time and own dime worked to make the library one of the best and premier library systems in america. and the fact she has such broad support i think indicates what her leadership has been. she's been the ceo of the library for over 20 years. her nomination is bittersweet. it will be a great gain for the nation but a loss for baltimore. she once again will be a first, the first african american t

in the 113th congress. the budget apparently will cut $157 billion from the supplemental nutritional assistance program. over a 10-year period. the republican budget that came out of the committee would cut roughly $2 trillion from medicaid. when i was on the -- when i was on the committee, the number was $700 million. i thought that was out of control. $700 million. now we're at $2 trillion. over a 10-year period, apparently. then we've got cuts in higher education, the proposal is $185 billion over 10 years. you have to ask the question, why would anyone propose such da cronian cuts? -- such draconian cuts? and the answer is clear, this is not something that is often talked about, but the objective is to create a situation where you can dramatically lower the tax rates for the wealthiest amongst us. the top tax rate right now is 39.6%. but what the budget that has been put forth by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would do is it would create two tax rates. one at 10% and the other at 25%. so w

hayden to be the chief librarian of the library of congress.are happy that her mother, colleen, has joined her today. she is also a sister social worker and the maryland delegation is not trying to change the constitution. there are only two senators elected at the moment but senator's our veins is a very active member of the board and today to show support and solidarity. as you look out in the audience, you see a unique group of people of all ages and diversity who are here to support dr. hayden as well. of there the people board and executive advisory committee who on their own time and own dime work to make the library one of the west and premier librarian systems in america. the fact she has such broad support indicates what her leadership has been. she's been the ceo of the library over 20 years and her nomination is bittersweet. for the be a great game nation, but it will be a loss for baltimore. will be very proud if dr. hayden is confirmed because she will be a first -- the first african-american and the first the librarian of congress

the library of congress should continue to be a leader. i would be honored to be part of the legacy and a compliments of my predecessors in this position, to be part of a continuing movement to open the treasure chest that is the library of congress. this can be done without threatening the library's core responsibilities to support and advise congress, to serve users of the copyright office, and assist researchers who benefit from its exhaustive collection here if confirmed, it would be my privilege to join the dedicated staff and supporters of the library to ensure that andtreasures are secured treasured for years to come. thank you for your consideration and i look forward to answering your questions. you, we are going to start with a five-minute round of questions and there will be a time for a second round, so we will stay pretty close to five minutes on that first round and people can ask other questions later if they have time to state. you mentioned your predecessor, his 28 years in the library, saw lots of growth in the library, l

congress dhs could not do that? general keller: congress could. dhs does not have statutory authority right now, of carte blanche authority to grant lawful -- justice kagan: so this has nothing to do with the scope of this policy. this has nothing to do with, oh, how many millions of people are in this policy. you're saying even with respect to a much smaller policy of the kind that dhs or its predecessor agencies have done literally every year for the last three decades, that all of that was ultra vires. general keller: mr. chief justice, my time is up. justice roberts: please, you may answer the question. general keller: when we're talking about the scope of the program as opposed to bridging lawful status, the scope goes to, is this a question of deep economic significance? it also goes to when the 1987 work authorization was justified, the executive was telling everyone through the administrative process that this was for a minuscule number of people, and it wouldn't affect the labor market. and this also brings to light that here, the executi

but congress has excelled in one way: raising money.bers of congress raised more than $1 billion for their 2014 election. and they never stop. nearly every day, they spend hours on the phone asking supporters and even total strangers for campaign donations, hours spent away from the jobs they were elected to do. the pressure on candidates to raise money has ratcheted up since the supreme court's citizens united decision in 2010. that allowed unlimited spending by corporations, unions and individuals in elections. so our attention was caught by a proposal from a republican congressman that would stop members of congress from dialing for dollars. given what it costs to get elected today, it's either a courageous act, a campaign ploy or political suicide. >> david jolly: tonight is not about claiming victory. tonight is about committing to service. >> o'donnell: florida republican david jolly won a special election to congress in march 2014. facing a re-election bid that november, he was happy to get a lesson in fundraising from a member o

them todison's sold congress.e thought they would be worth money, congress did not think were worthorth -- money. friends of his in congress agreed to by the papers. they sent them to washington. for a long time, they were in the state department library. then, the state department moves them over to the library congress itself. eventually, they were in the big in epic volume. >> when were they first made public so the public could read them? >> not until 1840, after madison's death. they were share the way that madison prepared them. theanted them published in middle of the collection, including his letters to famous people. when the government first published them, they publish them in three volumes. to to bringentials to the whole project? was that part of the reason why the library eventually said, come in? >> i am a lawyer by profession and also have a phd in american history. i think one of the things that the library new is i had written about madison before, i had written about madison as a law student, an

and congress declined. now the executive comes before this court with the extraordinary claim it has had the power to achieve -- >> excuse me. was that part of the package for a pathway to citizenship? >> it was not a pathway to citizenship. it was a pathway to lawful presence in the country would have allowed individuals to have legal status to remain in this country and congress has not created a legal status for the category of individuals covered by dapa. >> that's correct. why do you think this is a legal status in the way that that bill imagines? >> it is a legal status because under the agency's own regulations it is a status that has consequences. and i would point you in particular to 8 cfr 1.3. this is the statute that defines the term, lawfully present. under that statute if you are in deferred action status, you are lawfully present and eligible for benefits. now that statute goes on to say, if you are just an individual, as to whom dhs has declined to pursue, removal proceedings you are not law

brian: where are the notes at the library of congress? >> they are in a big vault at the library of congress and you need special permission. most people don't need to go that far and you can see it on the website and the library has a wonderful website. or this weather.com, it was -- for this website, it was important to look at the notes. i could go down and see it. i kept my hand behind my back the entire time and only touched them. brian: why did it take two years? mary: they don't want a regular person to see it. they are considered a national treasure. and the library is very cautious about it. after a while, they decided that some of the questions i raised about the notes were worth investigating. but it took them a while. brian: what does the vault look like, and where is it in the library and where did you look at the notes? mary: that was the best part of the project. some of madison's letters, they hold in the reading room and if someone is explaining why, inside the inner section of the library, down the elevator, around the c

this is one of our most important roles in congress. and hold our agencies accountable and with that mission, i appreciate the gentleman for the opportunity to speak a few moments and i urge my colleagues to support this h.res. 494 to impeach the i.r.s. commissioner. i want to thank my good friend for leading this special order and i yield back. mr. desantis: i thank the gentleman and it's my pleasure to recknies my colleague from the great state of florida, who is really a stalwart in terms of bringing accountability to government, ted yoho. . yoho: i thank my colleague and i say good evening, mr. speaker. this is a great moment in time and i appreciate you bringing this up and this is an important issue and this is something that every american has a vested interest in. and the topic of tonight's discussion is important one. one that demands attention. my district and i have never been a fan of the i.r.s. it wreaks terror and in a perfect world we would eliminate it all together. when you consider their actions of targeting conservati

we have, the congress we have, not the country and congress we all wish we had. we live in an era of huge, complex financial markets and we have learned again and again and again that those markets fail, sometimes wiping out $13 trillion, the net worth in this country, in a month. somebody has to be looking at the whole system and looking to shore up its weaknesses. a broken an era of appropriations process. it is chaotic. today's congress is not madison's perfect vision. so regardless of the ideals of article 1 in the institution, the reality today is that moving an agency into a chaotic appropriation process is to subject that agency to that very same chaos, to uncertain funding, to the risk of shutdown, to the risk of shutdown and back room deals. so let's find a budget resolution, fix the appropriations process and then maybe, just maybe, maybe we can talk about moving agencies into the appropriations process. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. waters: i yield the gentleman an additional minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlem

your job, new member of congress is to raise $18,000 a day.sponsibility to make sure you hit $18,000 a day. >> your first responsibility as a congressman? >> as a sitting member of congress. >> reporter: how are you supposed to raise $18,000 a day? >> by calling people. cold calling a list that fundraisers put in front of you. presented with their biography. please call john, married to sale. his daughter emma graduated from high school. they gave $18,000 last year to different candidates. they can give you $1,000 too if you ask them to. they put you on the phone. it is a script. >> reporter: there are actually scripts for calls. and we got our hand on one distributed by the national republican congressional committee to help invite donors to attend their annual fund-raising dinner in march. it has the this useful diagram. if the donor answers the phone, the caller should plug the, unique opportunity to come together with house republican leadership. if they get turned down, they should remind the donor that the nrcc did a great deal to help m

congress needs to act. there's no excuse for the republicans in congress, not at least holding a hearing and gathering facts, perhaps facts they might find inconvenient as they continue to cling to policy that is based on hate, that is based on prejudiced, big on thed. it is completely unacceptable and un-american and seen in north carolina and mississippi, laws introduced that continue to double down on hate and on discrimation. hatred is wrong. discrimation is wrong. bigotry is wrong. prejudice is wrong no matter used onvoluted logic is masked as principle to justify it. as a people, as americans we have to act. congress is charged with that responsibility. congress should do its job, hold hearings and bring this legislation to the floor and be the america we say we are. and now we talk to janice hahn from california. thank you. ms. hahn: thank you. and i first would like to thank my wonderful friend and colleague, congressman cicilline for being a champion of so many issues but particularly of this equal

pelosi: it's the congress of the united states. the congress of the united states, each one of us has a responsibility to weigh in on our doing our job. and wherever the buck stops, the fact is congress is not doing its job. and these are emergencies. these are emergencies, zika, flint and others, so i'm not getting into what goes on in the republican conference. you'll have to ask them about it. reporter: but at the end of the day that's the issue, they were unable to move major bills under speaker boehner. he's responsible now and do you fault him in some way as being the person at the top? ms. pelosi: i'm saying it's a dysfunctional republican congress. they have been obstructionists in terms of congress acting and doing its job. they've been obstructionists to the president's initiatives and now they want to make the third branch of government, the judiciary, and incomplete body and not being able to function fully. so this is the attitude that exists in their caucus. as you saw, only 30-some members who are able to threaten to

we do that every year for the congress. because in some cases, it may make sense to have that and in other cases not. but in no case should it be an excess of what the needs are. >> right. and i just use that as a generalization. not in specific. i think you would have to look at each agency individually. but the point is, it's not sound fiscal management. >> that is correct. that's why we focus on it. >> mr. dalrymple, i want to direct some questions to you about the tax gap. and the inspector general for the tax administration, the treasury inspector general, issued a report and in his report he said that there needs to be more timely and more accurate estimates of the tax gap. currently, the irs reports this about every five years. has the irs acted on the inspector general's recommendations? >> we intend to have the new tax gap out -- report out later this month, as a matter of fact. we're acting on it as we speak. >> can you tell me how much the irs collected, what was the revenue total collected for the last fiscal ye

congress fixed that. in the last year. and now irs will be getting the w-2 information at the end of january. so it's put them in a better position to identify this area. we think also congress ought to lower the threshold for electronic filing of employers, from 250, to 5 to 10, to give more data. now the issue is, can irs change its processes and systems to now take advantage of this electronic information that's available? and also, irs needs to do a better job of authenticating people before they're using their systems. and the approach. so there are ways and techniques to do this. so if managed properly, i.t. can be a big help here. even though it's causing the problem to occur. >> well, i hope at some point we have a chance to talk more in-depth about this. and mr. chairman we've talked about it collaboratively. but so much of the i.t. at irs is legacy systems, antiquated systems. multiple systems incompatible with each other and often not suitable for encryption. no wonder we have a growing problem. thank you very m

which is a congress that is doing nothing. so he called it the do-nothing congress.ective message. >> he turned the tables. he had very much been on the political defensive domestically, anyway. so that was a very forceful way to take command. >> truman's tactics have damaged republicans in congress. but governor dewey is unaffected. >> dewey's team make a campaign film to be shown in movie theaters around the country. >> he's the product of a small town in the middle west. having been born over a general store in owasso, michigan in 1902. >> scheduled for an october release, it's a real hollywood production with thomas dewey as the lead. >> if you were going to cast someone in a movie, as a presidential candidate, he's the guy. >> tom dewey likes to take whatever time can he from his busy public life to spend with his two boys, tom junior and john. >> dewey is promising america a >> dewey is promising america a fresh start. >> they took a poll of the 50 most respected journalists that wrote about politics in america and asked them about who was going to win, dewey o

the next librarian of congress. the nominee and the 14th librarian of congress. her successor served for they worked and dr. hayden was the first to be a pointed for a term of ten years. there was no reason to believe they couldn't be reappointed and that's the first time to get lots of things done. she met with members of the senate and i know you are supported by your mother. it's always good to have your mother with you. they are sitting right there behind her and they have other places in the middle of the country. we certainly are glad to be joined by our two colleagues and if you would like to start, i would like you to be the first person to interview them to the committee. >> thank you very much. and we know senator schumer, you as well. we nominated them to be the chief librarian of the library of congress. we are so happy that her mother joined her today. i feel a close relationship with both of them. colleen is also a social worker. by the way, the maryland delegation is not trying to change the constitution. there only two senators elected at the mome

those are the programs that continue to grow and grow and grow unless congress and the president, congresshe administration, are able to reach an agreement about how to reform them. that might not be all bad if it weren't for the fact that the majority of those programs are going broke. medicare, social security, other mandatory programs, unsustainable. at home i get this all the time. people say, aren't those programs unsustainable? i says yes. think about what you just said? that means they will not be sustained. means they're not going to continue. and so we believe that it's irresponsible and reckless not to address these unsustainable programs. so we believe it's important to lay out a path for saving and strengthening and securing met compare and medicaid and social security. but the budget itself doesn't -- isn't able to touch those. that's on the mandatory side of the budget. the number -- the only thing that is able to be enforced on the budget side is that 302a, that discretionary number. what bet the unauthorized programs? we have a process right now would the majority of nondef

if were left with a framework that depends on congress acting then we have a problem in congress has a problem. it is never going to be the -- be able to act as quickly or as clearly as the president, especially in times of emergency. >> as we're getting toward the end of the program, i want to tell you about some upcoming cases. we will be with us until the mid-december. it will read air on c-span and -- it will re-air on c-span and available to watch on her website. if you been watching, you know that we have published a book, collection of pieces that are backgrounds to these cases written by tony mauro who was been covering the court for 30 years. it is a book called "landmark cases" and available for $8.95. it is available on her website, www.c-span.org. you will find a how to order. we will get a free quickly for the rest of the series and you can see the background of earlier cases we have done. let's hear from larry in colorado. you are on. >> good evening. what a wonderful episode. i wondered if these perennial battles between congress, legislative judicial and executive bra

i just want to mention two, one is, kang a congress really bind congresses way into the future as to what should be spent on, say, medicare or social security or other programs? well, not in a constitutional sense. the constitution does not allow a congress to do that, to require nor to put in supermajorities to force constitutionally the future congresses to stay on track. it can produce rules, however, and say that unless congress were to change these rules this will be the rule in the future. the only these rules can be sustained is for there really to be a broad consensus that they make sense system of part of the reason for including revenue as well as entitlement spending is that both sides of the aisle have a good incentive to see some control, some sense of what these are going to look like way in the future. the second thing to maybe consider is, can you really have triggers? can you in fact effectively keep a budget on track over this many years? i think you can, though it's not absolutely clear what the best way is to do this. some people argue there should be automatic ch

that teach a sense of the temper of congress in those days. a perfect uproar like babel worst forth every two or three minutes as mr. a was as bold surgery would smite his cleaver into the very bones. at least half of the slaveholding members of the house left their seats and gathered in a quarter of the hall where \mr.{-|}\mister a stood. whenever any of them broke, mr. a would say i see where the shoe pinches, mr. speaker. nipple pinch more yet. they will fight hard to digest. if i get through every slaveholder, slave trader and slave breeder on this floor, will not get mentors for bitter reflection it shall be no fault of mine. on monday the 23rd, adams picked up where he left off, i've been reading one anti-slavery petition after another. this time the speaker ordered him to his chair adams refused, kept on his feet hours on end. his fear allies, putting the anti-slavery champion joshua giddings of ohio gather protectively by his side. the leaders of the slave factions got up from their seats to hover nearby less they miss the work of the

congress needs to do its job. as somebody who has spent a career in this field and has spent the last five years digging on the intel side, it's extraordinarily complex. i'm not sure if there's enough technical expertise in congress when you've got apple taking an absolutist position and the fbi taking an absolutist position. we have seen that both of those did not necessarily come to pass because there was a different way around this problem. i mentioned the police chief in san bernardino has endorsed the commission as well. if it does not get legislated very shortly it loses its ability to get to a solution. >> senator, i know you are at sxsw last month. i was there to cover president obama giving a speech. this issue came up. one of the comments he made that i think people were struck by was -- you cannot have an absolutist view. and if we end up adopting the position of apple and some of your colleagues in the senate that we maintain strong encryption and have no back doors for government to access -- the way

speaker, when we began this congress, we were told that it ould be the most open congress that we had in our great nation. the general public does not quite grasp, at least i believe, the significance of rules being closed or rules being open. when there is an open rule of whatever the subject matter is, then every member of the house of representatives would have an opportunity, if he or she chose, to make potential amendments to the subject matter that is before the house. my colleagues on the other side have chosen a different tact, and i might add at other times in my opinion wrongly, democrats have done the same thing. and that is to have closed rules and shut out the rest of the people who may have interesting and necessary proposals with reference to whatever the subject matter is. in this particular instance, we are now numbering with these we have 55 times that come here to the floor with closed rules. and i bring that to the attention of the general public with an eye toward hoping that there will be some pressure as it was when i came here on the majority body to begin to o

i hope congress will consider the bill this year. gao also recommended that congress lower the threshold requiring employers to be electronically filing w-2s to help the irs detect fraudulent claims. gao 2016 report also recognizes improvements by federal agencies and includes recommendations for those going forward. for example, gao highlighted a number of successful stories at the centers for medicare and medicaid services including eliminating duplicative contracts and processes for identifying improper payments. through improvements to medicaid integrity program there would be the recovery of $657 million of improper medicaid payments in 2015 according to gao. on the flip side the department of defense still has 79 major weapons systems programs for a total acquisition cost of over $14 trillion dollars. dod spends $100 billion each year on the systems but has failed to strategically manage the investments resulting in inefficiency and waste. taxpayers and the troops deserve better than that. i want to thank our witnesses today. p

another congress can't act on a matter. and indeed, i'm not sure we had any more urgent -- i'm not sure we have any more urgent matter in the house financial services committee than to save community banking. it is urgent. almost bordering on a crisis, mr. speaker. the loss of these banks, small business lines of credit have been hampered, small business, the job engine of america, fueling our entrepreneurs, fueling new businesses. fueling the american dream. so i was happy that we passed a number of bipartisan regulatory relief provisions in this congress. now, regrettably, many of them were opposed by the ranking member. so i hear the rhetoric in helping community banks, and yet she opposed h.r. 766, financial institution customer protection act supported by community banks. h.r. 1210, portfolio lending and access act, supported by community banks. h.r. 1266, financial product safety commission act of 2016, support bid commun banks. h.r. 200 , the mortgage capital requirements act supported by community banks. and the lis

price mentioned, i am reporter at "the washington post," i cover a budget and fiscal policy here in congress. mr. posner: thank you for all being here. i think there's one thing that we all can agree on, which is the budget process in some way shape or form is broken. we wouldn't be here if we didn't really believe that. i start off all of my lectures with my students on the federal budget saying, unlike social security, health care or food aid, the budget is the one thing that politicians have to do every year. well, apparently not every year. so, there's an exception right there. showing everything about the budget is the exception to the rule. but i think we can tick off a list of things that don't seem to work, the disproportionate attention paid to discretionary spending, even though it's a declining share of the total resources, the fact that the targets for spending are largely symbolic and don't seem to be adhered to by the rest of the congress. the fact that for the most part, most of the budget is off limits, there are walls around mandatory tax expenditures and the like and there'

congress dhs could not do that? general keller: congress could. dhs does not have statutory authority right now, of carte blanche authority to grant lawful -- justice kagan: so this has nothing to do with the scope of this policy. this has nothing to do with, oh, how many millions of people are in this policy. you're saying even with respect to a much smaller policy of the kind that dhs or its predecessor agencies have done literally every year for the last three decades, that all of that was ultra vires. general keller: mr. chief justice, my time is up. justice roberts: please, you may answer the question. general keller: when we're talking about the scope of the program as opposed to bridging lawful status, the scope goes to, is this a question of deep economic significance? it also goes to when the 1987 work authorization was justified, the executive was telling everyone through the administrative process that this was for a minuscule number of people, and it wouldn't affect the labor market. and this also brings to light that here, the executi

congress needs to act. there's no excuse for the republicans in congress, not at least holding a hearing and gathering facts, perhaps facts they might find inconvenient as they continue to cling to policy that is based on hate, that is based on prejudiced, big on biggoted. it is completely unacceptable and un-american and seen in north carolina and mississippi, laws introduced that continue to double down on hate and on discrimination. hatred is wrong. discrimination is wrong. bigotry is wrong. prejudice is wrong no matter what convoluted logic is used masked as principle to justify it. as a people, as americans we have to act. congress is charged with that responsibility. congress should do its job, hold hearings and bring this legislation to the floor and be the america we say we are. and now we talk to janice hahn from california. thank you. ms. hahn: thank you. and i first would like to thank my wonderful friend and colleague, congressman cicilline for being a champion of so many issues but particularly

and that democrats and the congress talk about every single day and republicans in congress talk about every single day and yet nobody offers solutions to those problems. and it doesn't just come from congress. it comes from the president as well and the president is supposed to be our leader and the one thing -- you know, i certainly have admiration for the president. i think he's a smart guy. he's charismatic. one of the primary quality he lacks is leadership. i think he's failed in that miserably. so when the president gets up every other day and talks about need for tax reform, i absolutely agree with him. we need to do tax reform to make this country competitive. every day that we don't do it, we hurt our children and our grandchildren coming up through the system because more and more american companies and jobs leave our shores every other day and that's less opportunity for our kids. we need to do something like that. the president says it every other day. it.y congressmen says and yet that proposals have -- what proposals have we seen? the president has not made any proposals

the bill bill congress passed yesterday doesn't include funding. so that's not going to do anything to help local communities across the country that carry this virus or fight the mosquitoes that carry the virus. it's not going to expand access to diagnostic test that would allow people to more easily get tested and get a prompt result from that test, of whether not have the zika virus. all of these are steps critical to ensuring we are protecting the pregnant women and their unborn children from a virus that we know has a devastating impact. so, no i'm not appear to give congress credit for that legislation. it is a positive step, it is a far cry from what our public health experts tell us is necessary to prepare for the situation. >> developing a zika vaccine is one thing the administration wants to happen. >> again, am not criticizing the legislation that they passed. there's farmer significant significant steps they could take, even as it relates to expediting the production of a vaccine. one of the things we know the private sector does is mak

one is can a congress really bind congresses way into the future as to what should be spent on, say,icare or social security or other programs? not in a constitutional sense. the constitution does not allow a congress to do that, to require or to put in supermajorities and to force constitutionally the future congresses to stay on track. it could produce rules, however, and say that unless congress were to change these rules, this will be the rule in the future. the only way such rules can be sustained is for there really to be a broad consensus that they make sense. so part of the reason for including revenue as well as entitlement spending is that both sides of the aisle have a good incentive to see some control, some sense of what these are going to look like way in the future. the second thing to maybe consider, is can you really have triggers, can you in fact effectively keep a budget on track over this many years? well, i think you can, although it's not absolutely clear what the best way is to do this. some people argue that there should be automatic changes in programs, and i

they have been submitted to congress. mr. speaker, d.h.s. headquarters operations currently are dispersed around the national capital region and -- in facilities that are in many cases inadequate, as the case with the nebraska avenue complex. to support the government's effective stewardship of public resources and to deliver a headquarters that d.h.s. desperately needs, i ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. duncan: mr. speaker, i have no other speakers, and if the gentlelady from new jersey has no other speakers, i'm prepared to close should the gentlelady do so. mrs. watson coleman: having no other speakers, mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. watson coleman: thank you, mr. speaker. 16 -- s. 1638 is virtually identical to the house-passed legislation that my subcommittee advanc

>> i think it's hard to generalize about the effects on congress an owl of this because congress sr. on all of this because congress is 535 people, and there are different statutes and different areas where they do this. i think what happens often times in congress is there is disagreement about something, and they can't resolve it, and they, the compromise sometimes is to punt the issue to the agency. and if they do that through broad, capacious terms, you know, our job is to the to interfere with that decision. sometimes, however, the compromise in congress is to draw maybe a line in between the two positions, and then the agency wants to go beyond the compromise. and that's where the court's role is to step in, i believe, and police that line for the, to protect the congress and to perform our role in the separation of powers. i want to make clear, it's a balance always for the courts. we can't be unduly interfering with the proper operation of congress and the executive branch, but at the same time, what i think has happened is perhaps undue abdication in some of these agency cas

and congress decides on it.gress from hawaii and utah get to decide whether or not the city of d.c. gets its budget or if it should be changed. that's annoying enough when d.c. has to wade through the interference and wait for the federal budget the pass through the country before this one city gets to spend its own money. d.c. ends up being in limbo forever through new fault of their own. d.c., as a city, is doing pretty great. they are doing so well they are adding a thousands people to their population every month. so many people are moving into the district. they are forced to put everything they want to do as a city, even with their own money, through this totally dysfunctional and incompetent congress. at least they have been until now. this year, d.c. has decided to celebrate emancipation day, this awesome holiday that buys us extra three days to do our taxes, they decided to celebrate by not sending congress its budget and proceeding on its terms to spend their money as they see fit. the mayor and city c

can congress do that? >> justice alito, they could do that and many other things as well. >> we couldalso -- >> why don't we just assume that if they are part of the -- if the majority are part of the religion that they're not going to buy contraceptives. that's their religious tenet. so why are we worried about this case at all? >> your honor because -- >> we're worried because there are some women who don't adhere to that particular religious tenet and have, we perceive, the government has determined, have a real need for contraceptives. >> justice sotomayor, that goes to the larger problem with the government case here, the utter absence of evidence. assume for the sake of argument -- >> what is the utter absence? there's plenty of evidence that was relied upon to show when contraceptives are provided to women in a seamless way, that the number of unintended pregnancies dramatically falls, as does the number of abortions. and so that that health risk to women who want contraceptives and can't get it is

our recommendations that congress can.is the approach. >>. >> the chair recognizes my good friend. >> just picking up on your last point i don't want you to miss the opportunity but every dollar we invest as a return of that $134 but this one has a return. >> and i joined that gentleman and is the notion we need to invest. >> for god's sake. [laughter] by the way for this committee in the past has had some awful hearings for the issue of improper payments the largest single chunk of which medicare fraud. the second is money left on the table that is not collected but owed. so theoretically to zero is in the trillions of dollars because that is the low hanging fruit to make the irs more efficient but also has a return is right now we need that. >> thank you for your thoughtful work. is about identity theft the version of refunds especially is almost epidemic eight or 10 years ago is a part of your portfolio of concern? >> primarily ted years ago -- 10 years ago to refund fraud. and don't have estimates how many people at th

congress." and he said, "what for?" i said, "because i want to federally regulate the auto companies so they have to meet safety standards." i thought he was going to let me out on the road right then and there. [scattered chuckling] but, you see, i never exaggerated the power of these ccorporations because, if you exaggerate their power--and they are powerful a and they know exactly what they want. they want to control the environment of their business activitieies so that they c cane more money and get more bonuses and, perhrhaps, give more didividends to their shareholde, and they do that in a very strategic way to this day. they strategically want to control the environment that they operate in. if the government's part of the environment, theyey want to put their officials in high positions in government. they want to contribute campaign money to members of congress. and if consumers are a potential drag, then they want to have more exciting, emotional advertisements and try to get them to

it elected representatives to congress. in february of 1865, congress decides not to seek those representatives and lincoln is disappointed. he thought that the key representatives would be critical to the process of restoring the union that would bring louisiana back in. in other ways, he is not that troubled. congress is about to go into recess. they are not coming back until december. on an 11th, what does he do? he takes a case directly to the people. so you be this last speech and he is going on and on about louisiana and asking the people in a common sense kind of way, should we abandon the progress that has been made? would it be better to take the experiment they had made and proceed with it rather than to a band it and crush it. he uses a metaphor, we should preserve it as the egg to the fowl. better off hatching the egg than smashing it. i traced the responses to this metaphor. people say, what if it is a rotten egg, and maybe some eggs should be smashed, and that's ok. lincoln is prepared, with congress out of se