denham, chairman denham, i'd just like to insert at this point in the record this comment and note for the record that mr. neeley has -- is not with us today. we had requested that he be with us. and he has taken i guess the fifth in another committee and is not appearing today against one of the requests that at least i made for him to be with us. i guess the only way we'll sigh him is on a video for the hot tub. but i want to make certain that it's noted in the record that he did not appear. >> mr. miller, deputy administrator, miss allison doone, gsa chief financial officer. mr. robert peck, former buildings -- former public buildings services commissioner. mr. neeley, as chairman mica already said, mr. neeley through his attorney refused to appear this morning. and miss lisa daniels, the event planner for public building service. if you'd join us at the table up front. i ask unanimous consent that our witnesses' full statement be included in the record without objection. so ordered. since your written testimony has been made part of the record, the subcommittee would request that y

denham will outline not just this conference. he's going to talk about trips to hawaii, atlanta, junkets to the south pacific, california, atlanta, hawaii, guam, saipan, all at taxpayer expense. but that's just the tip of the eyeingberg. the billions that are lost, again, by having the federal government's primary landlord agency out of control and not operating as it should and making these assets perform for the public is what's outrageous. you know, we smelled a rat, and we asked for data because if you look at the budget and the expenditures for the public buildings commissioner they went from $2.9 million in 2007 to $9 million. that's, what, 200%, 300% increase? so we started asking for data. we got stonewalled time and time again. mr. denham asked at almost every hearing, you heard him say we requested information and data. what we got instead, this is what we got instead, folks. just a few pages of the top numbers. anyone can see now why they didn't want to disclose what was going on. miss norton said, and i agree, we have

denham and i had a discussion last night. how many of you out there, if you have property, would turn it over to the federal government to manage it for you? i ask that question. not very many of you. if ec wasteful overhead and costs that takes place when you're on the taxpayers a dime. -- if you see the wasteful overhead and costs that take place when you're on the taxpayers' dime. >> indifference to the administration's request, at this time i would like to request that mrs. johnson, a pac, and daniels please rise -- peck, and daniels, please rise. do you swear the testimony you're about to provide to the committee is the truth, the old trick, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? we will have two panels today. the first, we invite back to the table the inspector general. >> chairman denham, i would just like to insert, for the record, this comment that mr. neely is not with us today. we requested that he be with us. he has taken the fit on another committee. -- the fifth on another committee. he is not appearing tod

. >> chairman denham and ranking members of the committee. on april 2, 2012 i resigned as administrator of the general services administration and left my career as a public servant. i stepped aside to allow a new team to rebuild gsa from the major missteps of the western region's conference in october 2010. i previously served gsa in the clinton administration leaving in 2001. at that time the leadership team was strong, the schedules design excellence and other programs producing much value for customers. when i returned to gsa in 2010, the agency was not the same. a quarter of the executive positions were empty, customers viewed our partnership askance, labor relations were acramonious, the leasing portfolio ballooned and more. nearly two years without a confirmed administrator. my confirmation was delayed nine months. by the time i was sworn in a sequence of four acting administrator had overseen the agency. i did not know there was yet another problem. the western region conference evolved into a raucous, extrav dwant self congratulatory

denham on the da side. it's always healthy in a democracy to be skeptical about government and large institutions, but it's this type of behavior that moves into cynicism. and cynicism is cancerous. the american public is cynical, if you look at some of the polling at rates never before seen. they don't trust large financial institutions. they watch wall street go broke, they watch their taxpayer dollars pay them out and watch bonuses paid to the very people who caused the problem in the first place. and then the very people they expect to see oversee things being done do the very same thing. mr. denham said this attack on trust is so frustrated at a time when, yes, we're all sbg asked to provide efficiencies and get things out of this. but i think to put this into perspective, to understand the choices that were made here, for you to understand the folks who made those choices, exactly what this means, i would like to just talk a little bit about what it means, the choices we have. we have an unprecedented

joining me now chairman jeff denham. thanks for joining us, again, we appreciate your time.the american public how this is just a systemic problem. this is a culture of corruption and fraud within an agency and this is the agency that is supposed to set the standard for all agencies in government. and, so, we laid it out that it wasn't just this las vegas vacation where they spent a million dollars. they had nine preplanning trips but, actually, went on and on, even when they had already been doing a report. >> but did you actually uncover anything new yesterday that surprised you? >> it surprised me how early the administration and the white house knew about this. certainly, you know, we knew that the senator obama had a person that he appointed within gsa that was the liaison to the white house. martha johnson who resigned the appointee of the president said how far she laid it out to the white house and how long it actually took before fired or resigned and how many trips went beyond when the white house knew. >> yesterday the whistleblower in this case testified, as well

denham says: "...this s corruption, this is fraud. i meen, they are taking tax payer dollaas and spending them lavishly n all of these ddfferent vacations..." vacations....the other trip in question is a ribbon cutting event in hawaii... where five g-s-a emmloyees were paid for abouu a week to attend an pour-llng groundbreakinggon space leassd for the f-b-i.... all on our diie.ironically congressional panels will ..- begin hearings on this scandel fox44 morning news.liland, a somber remembrance today... as virginia governor bob mcdonnelllofficially recognizessapril 16th as virginia tech remembrance aa across the ssate.five years ago on this day... a student shot and killed 32 people before turning the gun on himself.this morning... therr wwll be a moment of silence at 9:43 a-m in he commonwealtt... followed by the ringing of a bell ffr each victim of the shooting. feeer people are signing up for susan . kommn for the cure races.and some say... it could be because of backlash from the organization's decision to stop funding planned ppr

3 3 viddos and still pictures 3 conferrce ii laa vegas have ignited a firestorm on capitol hill..denhamst morr than 8800thousand dollars...all tax payyr monies. 3 testimony nine other trips to & egas were outlined before the trii that sparred utrage. jeff neely... who pleaded his ifth amendment right not to answer quustions monday did not show for today's - queetioning.mica says: "guess the only way we will - gee to see him is on a vvdeo in a hottub." neely was 3 states for the gsa and is on leave aloog with at eest others.. he agency head and two deputies were firee including bob peck who was - grilled by lawmakers from both siies.denham says: "how caa you blame ll this on mr. aaproved it." hile it is a bipartisan ppnel it is an election yeer and blame could be key. the scandal republicans argue is aaglaring eeaaple of bigggovernment abuse at a time when tax increaaes are potentially on the genda. democrrts say it is not a reelection of the adminstration and s the pction of a few bad apples.. carney says: "the ppesident believes very strongly that we need to be careffl stewards of taxp

denham and i held a hearing in vacant building. vacant under gsa for five years. >> but what happened? you held a hearing but what happened? did anything happen? or just hold a hearing? >> we have also introduced legislation, because gsa doesn't make a decision. they stay on the assets that are valuable. they won't sell them or lease them or trade them. they won't make them have a return rather than loss to the taxpayers. so what we did is we introduced the brack type of legislation. someone to make a decision. >> greta: which means that -- >> that sitting over in the senate. we passed it in the house. we held hearings and we asked for accounting of the money. they stone walled us. month after month. this has gone on, i've been chairman for a year. and what a quarter. almost every month but the first month, we held a first hearing in february. over a year ago. they stonewalled us. now we see why they didn't want to give us details. because details are, the devil is in the details. now we're seeing details of that. that is just thei

. >> reporter: california congressman jeff denham says the days of slush funds and lavish trips are over. >> where crimes have been committed, people will go to jail. >> reporter: the hearings will continue on wednesday. danielle nottingham, cbs news, washington. >>> on the "cbs moneywatch," warren buffett announces he has cancer. can a shareholder revolt over bonuses at one of wall street's biggest banks. randall pinkston is here with that and more. >> good morning. billionaire investor warren buffett is trying to reassure shareholders in his firm berkshire hathaway that his cancer diagnosis is not life-threatening. in a letter to shareholders tuesday buffett says he'll begin two-month radiation treatment in july. they say his chance for survival is between 97% and 98%. in february buffett announced berkshire's board had already selected someone to succeed him as ceo, but their identity has not been revealed. buffett's announcement came after the markets closed. in after-hours trading, shares of berkshire's class "b" fell a little more than 1%. >>> tokyo's nikkei gained 2%. hong kong's

we are talking to jeff denham, chair of a house subcommittee leading hearings on gsa over spending?inutes past five. dry and wind yi weather fueling wildfires up and down the east coast. they're popping up as far north as new england and as far south as florida. the worst in florida. thousands of acres are burning, one of the warmest and driest springs on records continue. look at the pictures. oh, how awful. in new jersey, the pine lands are glowing. flames have burned about a thousand acre, threatened two dozen home, so far, only good news to come out of that, no evacuations have been ordered at lesion yet. >> rob marciano is in atlanta following wertather conditions. >> it's not only been dry but dry in the northeast and across the great lakes. this fire video out of milford, connecticut, also fires in long island, but milford seeing flames whip up because of the winds there, service was suspended across metro north there for a time as they had to put out these flames and businesses evacuated. at one point people asked to leave their homes and smoke could be seen as far away as b

cummings, the -- as to the detailed questions that chairman denham mentioned about personnel employment and those kinds of things, i believe that we submitted that -- that we first got a request in that detail from the committee, to my memory, my memory, last december and i believe we submitted it in late february or early march. and it had to go through -- we had to dig out the information, get it reviewed and approved and sent it up here. i believe that was delivered. >> no uh, let me go back to the questions that i was asking you a few minutes ago with regard to your supervisory role over mr. neely. i think you said that you had heard some complaints about him, is that right? >> yes, sir. >> and tell me what the nature of those complaints were again? >> well, it was general and not specific. but i had heard that mr. neely in his headquarters at least was regarded as someone who you didn't -- you didn't -- he didn't take well if people debated with him on his decisions. >> and did that concern you? >> yes, sir. and i discussed it with mr. neely on more than one occasion. >> so you did

congressman denham, thank you very much for being with us.been investigating the gsa for over a year. what more have you uncovered? >> well this is a systemic problem. we're going to lay out today the whole timeline, the last year-and-a-half, how all of these trips have gone. how they have ignored the administration and the president on his directives. and we're going to show the bigger, the bigger root problem this is a whole culture, not only within gsa but within government all together. before we can restore trust in government, we've got to be able to show how big of a problem this is and we're prepared to do that today. gregg: on could man i read the -- congressman, i read the inspector general's report, it says the gsa did not follow federal procurement laws. that is arguably a crime. there is evidence of bribes and kickbacks. jeff neely's wife may have impersonated federal employee. neely invited friends to the conference and had taxpayers pick up the dime for that. here is an e-mail. quote, i know i am bad, as deb and i say often, wh

denham says: "...this is corruption, this is fraud. i mean, they are taking tax ppyer dollaas and sppnding them lavishly on all of these different vacations..." vacations..."the other trip in question is a ribbon cutting g-s-a employees were paid for about a week to attend an hour-long groundbreaking on space leased for the f-b-i.... all on yourrdime.ironically the agency's sole purpose is to expooe government wwste. againn the first of four congressional panels will begin hearingsson this scandel fox45 morning news. 3 &p carroll county residents need your to stop a rash of burglaries in their neighborhoo. neighborhood.in the past two peeks... in the usualll quiee counny... there have been ssven break-ins.investigators say tte burglars are getting in througg unlocked doors and opened windows.so far the thieves have stolen 40- thousand dollars worth of it's the loss of trust... that is also hard on residents. (("we're truuting people up here, we an leave our oors unlocked our cars unlocked, not everyone thhnks twice about it but now the

./ mess denham says: "we certainly want to call in all of the individuals who have already been firedast year doing a trip to ...find out.../ how.../ g-s-a... workerss.../ apparently... got áyouá.../ to... pay for meals.../ meals.../áácominggá up... toniiht on the late edition... at 11 joinn.. our waste waach. ááifáá... you see government waste../ áácalláá... our hotline.. 3 410--62-1456. ááorááá.. go to fox-baltimore dot com. its.../ the... of the nation's.../ largest... hospital.../ construction projects..../.. projects..../.. the entrance to the 1.6 million square foot facility. is the size of a football field........ field......... karen parks baltimore.....who tells us today's ceremony....marks another landmark in history for johns hopkins hospital..... hospital..... the ceremony lasted for about 2 hours.......showcasing the art medical complex.. of - complex.. (nats)its mmre than bricks and beds........(19:16)the new children's center will makk it a lot better for kids and theii families.....its the unveiling.....of the john's hopkins hospital's 1.1 billion dollar state of the a

republican congressman jeff denham out of california is hot about this.to you, and welcome to "america's newsroom." you say this government is using taxpayer dollars in a slush fund? explain that. >> it is a slush fund and it's an outrage. people across the nation should be outraged at this. it's over a million dollars that they have had this lavish party. they have given out gifts to employees and now recently we just found out that the director of the region got a bonus. he wasn't supposed to get a bonus. they had denied him the bonus. then the director came in and said you're going to get 10% plus bonus this year. so --. bill: is this why americans have such a hard time trusting government? because what it begs, it begs the question how much more of this is being spent that we don't know just yet? >> absolutely. the fact that they're bragging about not having an investigation and then we have an investigation and find this out, you know, it's, it's amazing there is this kind of waste out there and even more amazing they're out there bragging about it.

congressman jeff denham chairinging one of the gsa hearings.ave you seen all these videos. >> i have. it is pretty disturbing. in my district where unemployment is twice the national average people are outraged that that abuse, fraud and corruption can be going on. jenna: talk a little bit about where this happened. first of all, give us an overview because a lot of us didn't know a lot about the gsa before the scandal broke. what does the gsa do besides playing guitar in the office as we're seeing on our screen now? >> gsa is in charge of all of our public buildings. they're in charge of all of government's vehicles. most importantly they set the standard for all of government. before a government can go spend money, before they can plan a retreat it gets authorized through gsa. gsa is the top agency supposed to be creating these efficiencies and they have their own private slush fund. boy, you can see what they have been doing wit it. jenna: there are different regions for the gsa as well. when we talk about the vegas trip the hawaii, trip, t

>> i've had a meeting with chairman denham who heads a subcommittee and we're looking at that. we're going to bring in people and see what we should do. would you or people listening give their property to the federal government to manage? i don't think so. here we have, as you said in the opening, the largest landlord in the world, the nation's landlord, and they're sitting on assets that are worth incredible amounts of money, wasting billions of dollars. we had the hearing a year ago february in a empty vacant building two blocks from the washington that's been vacant 15 years. then a couple weeks before the -- before the revelation on this scandal we did another hearing in the cotton annex next to the mall. a huge property, vacant for five years. the waste has to stop. >> you've suggested because the white house was informed 11 months ago about the spending, officials tried to hide details of the spending spree. are you saying the white house is directly tied to a coverup? if so, what evidence do you have to back that up? >> well, again, the whistleblower is a former staffer

in this case the republican perspective is brought by jeff denham. >> it's got to stop. it's wasteful taxpayer dollars. >> here is the democratic take on it. >> they disregarded one of the most basic tenants of government service. it's not your money. it's the taxpayers money. >> elijah giving the democrats point. we agree it's bad. let us condemn it as bad. let's fix it. yeah. here is another bad thing. today is equal payday which sounds good but is bad. it's a slightly different date every year. it's the mathematical calculation that women have to work to earn the same money men make. based on the fact that a woman gets 77 cents for every dollar a man gets now in 2012. a woman would have to work all of last year plus january, february, march and april up to today, april 17th of this year just to make what a similarly situated manmade last year alone. today's equal payday not in a good way. the idea of pay equality for women is what everybody sounds like they are in agreement about. everybody says the same thing. here is the democratic perspective. >> women can't wait f

i'm joined now by republican congressman jeff denham.u chair the subcommittee that oversees the gsa. you know, it seems to be a culture of lavish spending by the gsa. so you're going to hold these hearings, you're going to question people, probably embarrass them. but how do you change the culture? >> well, i mean, you just saw in these videos, it is embarrassing. and it is a culture. this is the agency that's supposed to be in charge of setting the efficiency for the rest of government. and for them to be not only out there spending like this, but bragging about it, i mean, people in my district are outraged. we've got twice the -- we're double what the national unemployment is and people in my district are saying how can this happen? so, yeah, we're going to embarrass some people. we want to make sure that we hold some accountability, that we get that money paid back where we can and that where the law has been broken, somebody's going to serve some time. >> well, i was just going to ask you that. because a gsa employee by the name of

next week, congress will hold three hearings on the gsa mess, with one led by congressman jeff denhamcall in individuals who have been fired and are on administrative leave. and see those who approved the various expenses. >> the gsa came to light following $840,000 western region conference in las vegas in october 2010. today, it was revealed gsa employees created a fake awards ceremony so they could receive a meal paid for by the taxpayers. they offered president obama's reaction to the growing controversy. >> he was outraged by what he heard with disregard to taxpayer dollars and called for all of those responsible, held fully accountable. >> former gsa administrator under president bush says the free spending points to a complete and utter systemic failure. >> there is absolutely no way that the senior leaders did not know or were aware of the excesses, because they would have had to sign off on waivers or permission to exceed the established rules and regulations currently in place. >> there is also the matter of moving an employee from denver to hawaii at cost of $330,000. who q

next week congress will hold at least three hearings on the gsa mess with 1 led by congressman jeff denhamy want to call in all the individuals that have been fired or are on administrative leave and we want to have the cfo that approved these expenses. >> reporter: from the gsa came to life from the $840,000 western region conference in las vegas in october, 2010 and today it was reveals gsa employees created a fake award ceremony so they could receive a meal paid for by the taxpayers. the white house press secretary offered president obama's reaction to the growing controversy. >> he was outraged by what he heard, the disregard of taxpayer dollars, and he called for all of those responsible to be held fully accountable. >> reporter: a former gsa administrator under president bush says the free spending point to a complete and utter systemic failure. >> there's absolutely no way that the senior leaders did not know or were aware of these excesses because they would have had to sign off on waivers or permission to exceed all of the established rules and regulations that are currently in pl

jeff denham has been critical and called the arrogance of over spending. join us live at 10:04. >>> as i mentioned before the president will talk about women and the economy in his remarks later this morning. of course, there is a reason for that. women will play a critical role in the upcoming election and at the moment democrats have them. in the past few months women voters have ditched republicans and the presumptive republican presidential nominee mitt romney. cnn wolf blitzer talked about that with south carolina's republican governor nikki hailey. >> i think women are more thoughtful than that. i think they look at those issues as well as other issues and i think they need the ability to ask him those questions and i think he needs to look them in the eyes and give them the answers because that's what this is about. you don't go and talk to the people that you already have support. you go and talk to the people that have questions and if there are women that are questioning him they should ask him those questions. that's the power of the people. >>

. >> congressman jeff denham, talking about the gsa rogue agency.t romney will put the knife to it. >>> up next, tax-mageddon, we're facing a tax hike on january 1, 2013. and if congress doesn't extend the cuts, we're doomed. stay with us, this is too important to miss. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. sadly, no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to

denham, my chair of the government building subcommittee.t up a brack-type commission, which is kind of like we have done with excess military property or, again, as we change operations with the military, doing away with some of theirs, because the military can make decisions what have to do with the property. >> reporter: you are trying to streamline the process? >> absolutely. have you to do that. so it's two-fold. there are some things we can get the bureaucrats to move. but also congress may have to act to -- to make everything move. >> reporter: now this, building, known as the cotton annex, 90,000 square feet, a block from the international mall. >> this is 90,000 square feet. but it's on one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in the united states. it goes almost to the mall in the nation's capitol and it's under utilized. it's been vacant for years. >> reporter: why isn't it being used? >> people making decisions, sometimes congress gets in the mix. but this is repeated over and over. and it has to stop. when we have $17 tril

. >> california congressman jeff denham also says he wants to see the gsa returned money to taxpayers. >>> doctors are treating a man who nearly lost his life at a mulch plant in laurel, maryland. the victim became trapped in a machine. a heavy metal beam crushed his legs. after first fearing they would have to do an on site amputation, rescuers brought in a certified registered nurse anesthetist to sedate the man and then free him. he's in critical condition at a baltimore hospital but is expected to survive. >>> metro has pulled almost 100 buses out of service and an orion sixth bus caught fire for the second time in a week. no passengers were on board at the time. last week another bus caught fire on i-66 in fairfax. again only the driver was on board. the orion six buses are 12 years old and run on diesel fuel. >>> five minutes after 5:00. time now for some good news in your money report. >> jessica doyle is here with today's headlines. a booming day yesterday. >> absolutely. stocks are rallying around the world this morning. green is the color and we like it. wall street had its

he will be before and his issues will be before the sub committee tomorrow with jeff denham. i have to tell you. there is a lot more that has to be fixed at gsament we only had so much time. this is only the first of what will be many hearings. >> greta: are you going to make a call to the justice department to open a criminal investigation? >> we expect the i.g. referral to be acted on. i will tell you -- >> greta: the referral has been made to justice. >> the referral has been made. i.g. will follow up on it. so will we. we expect to have the criminal indictment. the i.g. has done a good job to make a case for number of items that go beyond the repayment. remember, the important thing is change. these individuals if we're lucky in a relatively short period of time will be dismissed. under the current law they will be dismissed for 30 years worth of retirement and go on to something else. how do we change this at 24 agencies? i wrote 23 additional letters to other agencies asking that they give us a breakdown similar to the gsa on their conferences. because this is one of ma