larsen. he is the counsel to the inspector general for the environmental protection agency. we also have mr. alfredo gomez who serves the natural resources and environment for the government accountability office. thank you for being here today and providing testimony. we look forward to the opportunity to discuss recommendations made to the epa. you're aware we're holding a hear and have the practice of taking testimony under oath. do you have any objection to taking testimony under oath? seeing none the chair advises you under the rules of the house, rules of the committee you're entitled to be advised by counsel. do either of you desire to be advised by counsel today? neither one has asked. in that case, please rise, raise your right han. i'll swear you in. do you swear the testimony you are about to give is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. both have answered in the a t m affirmative. i ask each of you to give a five minute summary of your written statement. we'll begin

let me turn to judge larsen, if i may. justice larsen, excuse me. you were a deputy at the office of legal counsel during the bush administration. while you were there, the office issued several opinions that relied on sweeping theories of executive power. to justify the use of torture and other enhanced interrogation techniques. during many of those so-called torture memos were later discredited and withdrawn. did you have any role in drafting, reviewing, or otherwise contributing to the torture memos? >> no, i did not, senator. i did not even know that they were being produced in our office. national security matters in the justice department are a close hold, for good reason. and the first i learned of the torture memos or even that that was a question in our office was when it hit the newspapers and at that time i was back in michigan as a private citizen. >> well, if i recall correctly, that was approximately 2006 when -- >> that -- >> now those of us that served on this committee. >> that might be right. >> -- had asked to see these opinions a

larsen. how are current and expected budget limitations impacting staffing levels and the ability of epa's office of inspector general specifically, how are they impacting our ability to conduct audits and investigations if you will. >> thank you for that question. it's a serious challenge to us. we have had to cut our work force year by year by year and we are down from 360 or so down to 270. and we anticipate having to go fewer than that based on the most likely budget scenarios. if the original president's budget proposal were to be adopted by congress, we'd have to cut very substantially the amount of work we did. as you know, we gave you a fairly detailed explanation of where those cuts would occur, which offices, what kind of projects. what we do is on an annual basis plan for the work that we would hope to do based on how much value the project would bring in terms of cost savings or changes in how epa does business. we will have to do many fewer such projects in any given year based o

the witnesses are alan larsen and alfredo gomez with the government accountability office. they testify on efficiency recommendations and how the epa has responded. this is an hour and a half. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to our hearing oversight and investigations subcommittee in energy and commerce. we convene today to examine recommendations by the inspector general and gla. -- gao. this mission is never more important than during times of natural disasters, like the one in the gulf coast we are experiencing now in hurricane harvey with another hurricane about to hit the florida coast. i want to express my sincere sorrow to everyone impacted by the storm. hurricane harvey is one of the worst natural disasters the united states has ever faced, and still too early to tell the devastation that has displaced thousands of people. members on both side of the aisle present in sichuan's who have experienced loss as they begin to rebuild their lives from this national tragedy. during the storm and in the aftermath, epa plays a critical role in the federal response to hurric

larsen. mr. gomez, you're recognized for five minutes, please. >> thank you. chairman murphy, congresswoman castor, members of the subcommittee, good morning, and i'm pleased to be here today to talk to you about the status of recommendations gao has a made to the environmental protection agency. as you know, the mission of epa is to protect human health and the environment. we have conducted reviews focused on variouses aspects of epa's operations such as managing grants, work force planning and its programs, and through these reviews we have made numerous recommendations to improve epa's performance and the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations and programs. my statement today will focus on two main areas. first, the status of epa's implementation of gao's recommendations since fiscal year 2007 and how these recommendations relate to epa's operations and programs. and, two, examples of benefits realized by epa and others based on our work. as part of our process, we follow up on recommendations and report on their status to congress. agency also hav

. >> obviously i am not eric larsen that the book that they thought might the light is a hurry casein galveston texas when there was a meteorologist at the time so there's no way i will write to the eric larsen booktv near as successful but by mentioning it to became clear to me what kind of book he was talking about perot so with that natural disaster and the science. i also want to talk about two things. in this is anchorage. almost like there is an elevator there. the part of the st. dropped about 10 feet. >> i didn't know much about it. and then to say there was an earthquake to way science colleagues i would say this story that happened where? alaska. and they say when? ice day 1964 because then what do you talk about? but nobody knew much about it. been to iran is more the thing had ever experienced before. so parts of me was just learning about the earthquake and talking into the people who live through. i don't know if there are any other authors to write this. >> i found talking to survivors they are not as strong but particularly in a place like alaska so it in littletons --

donna larsen, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news.— the exhibition taking a close up look at every us president. in all russia's turmoil, it has never come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world. but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. israel's right—winger ariel sharon visited the religious compound and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the spanish government has defended its decision to send thousands of extra police officers to the region of catalonia — to try and stop sunday's

north korea over its nuclear weapons program and is probing the country's willingness to talk to larsen made the remarks in beijing where he was meeting president using paying and other officials he also called for calm the u.s. used china as crucial to attempts to stop yang developing nuclear weapons china has strong economic ties with north korea accounting for about ninety percent of its foreign trade earlier i spoke to stephen barr awake our correspondent in seoul south korea i began by asking him how important china's role is in developing channels of communication between the u.s. and north korea. if u.s. and north korea are in some kind of direct contact and presumably that's a diplomatic process that's going ahead without china's direct involvement and whether or not that you site sit down to talk will depend on a variety of factors particularly the preconditions that they place on any kind of talks north korea has historically resisted talks that were predicated upon its taking steps towards the nuclear as asian that being said china is of course very important to any sort of a

>> thank you, ranking member larsen. thisnk everyone sitting at table would agree that the earlier we can get an evidentiary recordnd application process, the quicker decisions we can make. we would recommend that the ssa maybe take a little bit longer at the initial decision, to more fully developed a record. many claims are unrepresented and as judge shaw said, they are not helpful, there aren dire medical streets often, when they are going through the process of application. denials,e reviews of less than 3% of denials are currently reviewed -- to ensure that the decision is correct, would assist in that. i think one thi that does not help is creating arbitrary deadlines prior to hearing for the submission of evidence. if there are a few bad actors who are not getting e evidence in, social security has a lot of tools at their disposal to take care of those particular representatives. what we should not be doing is passing arbitrarily excluding roles based on a timeline, which hits the claimant over the head instead of

. >> we have new tools, tactics and strategies implemented by the police force based on important larsen -- lessons learned by the milo yiannopoulos speak that occurred last year. we will abide by the clear statement from the chester that we will not tolerate violence or unlawful activity. in many ways it is regrettable that the center of the campus had to be closed. while most of the academic facilities are distant from the perimeter, certainly this is a disruption for the camp should -- campus and those going through the campus, but we cannot turn a blind eye to the reality, and to what we have learned from these recent events on the campus. this is in the city and around the country, and we have two commitments. we have the commitment to the safety and well-being of the campus community and our guests. we have a commitment to the first amendment and free speech. those two commitments are not mutually exclusive. what we are doing this evening is designed to support those commitments. the chief will have a few words before we open this up to questions. >> thank you. my name is margo ben

larsen are actively working with treasury secretary mnuchin for this purpose. yield the balance of my time. >> i thank my colleague for being stellar in this and leading the fight. and joining the connecticut general assembly in that effort. i thank congressman courtney for his diligence in this effort. i thank the chairman as well. the chair: the gentleman from illinois reserves. the gentleman from georgia. mr. graves: i'd like to recognize the gentleman from tennessee who has been leading against opioid and drug abuse. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. must cussoff: i rise today -- mr. custoff: i rise today in support of this en bloc package. after many conversation was law enforcement throughout my district, it is crystal clear scourge is one of the top concerns right now if not the top concern. mr. chairman, i know my colleagues are having similar discussions in their districts so they understand just how serious the issue's becoming for the american people. our drug task force in the eighth congressional district of tennessee desperat

todd larsen is a resident of college park who campaigned in support, he joined us tonight.hanks for coming on. we try to get a lot of people involved in the crafting of this law, it was hard to get anyone so we are glad that you are here to represent the side of it. this is one of the stories that seems remarkable to a lot of people.se also seems like the beginning of something new. i think a lot of people suspect that all the publicity around protecting illegal immigrants if leading to this.us letting them vote. let me ask you the obvious question. if noncitizens can votean what's the point of being a citizen? >> a lot of reasons people want to be citizens in the united states and a lot of people in college park who are currently not u.s.ey citizens are striving to be. they are getting green cards, becoming citizens to vote and democracy, which includes voting in federal elections. what college park is done is to allow them to vote in local elections. it's just for the mayor and thet city council about issues like trash collection, all the thingy that we all share together

the witnesses are alan larsen and alfredo gomez with the government accountability office.hey testify on efficiency recommendations and how the epa has responded. this is an hour and a half. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to our hearing oversight and investigations subcommittee in energy and commerce.

larry scott larsen john adam larson natalie janis lasden gary edward lasko nicholas craig lassman paulephen james lauria maria lavache denis francis lavelle jeannine mary laverde anna a. laverty steven lawn robert lawrence nathaniel lawson >> and my father noburto hernandez, we love you, we miss you, we always think of you. may god bless america and may god always bless our first responders. >> and to my brother brandon lang and my aunt roseanne lang, i stand before you a proud american, a brother and nephew to two incredible people tragally and finally taken from us. they left an incredible mark on their too short of time here, and they will eternally be remembered. bumble and aunt ro, we miss you terrib terribly. god bless those men and women in the military and the police force and all of those who fight for our freedoms and our peace of mind that we so much enjoy. thank you. david w.laczek eugen gabriel lazar james patrick leahy joseph gerard leavey neil joseph leavy robert g. leblanc alan j. lederman kenneth charles ledee alexis leduc elena f. ledesma david s. lee daniel john lee.