mica. mr. mica: thank you, mr. speaker. i believe the house is still not in order and we want to proceed on this bill. the chair: the committee will be in order. would everyone take their conversations off the floor? the gentleman is recognized. mr. mica: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mica: first of all, i ask unanimous consent that the exchange of letters between the committee on transportation and infrastructure and the ways and means committee be included in the congressional record. the chair: the request is covered by general leave. the chair: thank you, mr. speaker -- mr. mica: i'm sorry. i yield myself the balance of the time. mr. chairman and members of the house, today we bring up the surface transportation extension act of 2012. this is the second part of an extension that we passed previously just before the congress recessed and went into the easter work period and holiday. the house did pass a 90-day extension and that extension expires on j

chairman mica. >> thank you. first of all, miss doone, an expenditure that rises about 300% for the public buildings commissioner's expenditures from 2.9 million to 9 million, did that raise any -- does that raise any flags to you? a 300% increase. actually, it's in about two years. because it was about 3.2 in 2009. >> i'm sure -- i'm not sure what number you're referring to. >> the expenditures for the public building commissioner's operations is administrative and personnel costs. does that raise any flags? or are you aware of a request that i've had and our committee's had in? we sent it to david foley on december 7th, 2011, to give us a breakdown of administrative costs. >> i was not aware of that request, and i only became aware of it as the public building services came close to finalizing its response. >> we've been trying to get this information since last year. so you're the chief financial officer. and of course, in my opening statement i described what was sent to us. and we see why there wasn't much d

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 you limit your oral testimony to five minutes. and as far as this committee today, we will be going by the strict five-minute rule. we have a lot of questions. this is going to be a very long hearing. we want to make sure we have as many opportunities to go through members' requests as possible. mr. miller, you may proceed. >> good morning, chairman denham. chairman mica. ranking member norton. thank you for inviting me here this morning. to testify about our report. i think everyone is familiar with the facts of our report. okay. and so i would simply ask that my written statement and the report itself be

mica: at this time i have no additional speakers. i believe the gentleman on the minority side would have the right to close. the speaker pro tempore: that is correct. mr. mica: so what i will do, i yield myself the balance of our time and allow him to conclude. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mica: thank you, madam speaker, and my colleagues. we started out talking about how it's important for the legislative process tom properly be fulfilled under the terms of the constitution and separation of responsibilities in the legislative body. this motion, of course, would close all of that down, we'd accept what the senate has done without all the work many members o-- many members have put into this. i didn't go to webster springs but i went to beck lee, west virginia, where we held the first meeting to allow the other side of the aisle to present the very first of these deliberations, their viewpoint and their recommendations for trying to pass a long-term transportation bill, and we took many of those, as you

martha: we're going to ask congressman mica about that. he also tore into this man, jeffrey neely, who has become well-known to all of us. he is the one who planned that more than $800,000 event. he has repeatedly pleaded the fifth questioned about, even his name or if even worked there. he did not bother to show up to yesterday's hearing. >> mr. neely is not with us today. we had requested that he be with us and he has i guess taken the fifth in another committee and is not appearing today against the, one of the requests that, at least i made for him to be with us. i guess only way we'll get to see him is on a video in the hot tub. martha: a little attempt at humor there. he is referring of course to this picture, which shows mr. neely living it up, a couple of glasses of wine at his side in a vegas hot tub. we'll speak to congressman mica about this and we want to know how he backs up that statement that the white house knew about this and chose to do nothing. i will ask him that coming up. some harsh comments as well leveled against mi

he said mica needs to get a life. well, i want to tell him and others that i have a life and that's dedicate d to uncovering waste and inefficient in federal government and building business-type common sense practices to whether gsa or other federal agencies. so we were stonewalled. we were delayed. we were not given information. but the american people need to know that this is just the tip of the iceberg. and i'll hear much more about what's going on and what needs to be done to

mica is going to be there so when he asks the question, mr. pist pistol, take a long time answering it so you eat up his time. the problem is that, again, sometimes you think it's the gang that can't shoot straight but they shot e-mail to cq, i think that was the publication. to again reserving my time, if you would answer fairly briefly, not use the directive of that memo. one of my concerns of course is that transportation worker identification card. we spent over a half a billion dollars, is that correct, yes or no, mr. mclaughlin. >> i'll take that one. >> 511 million. >> to date on the program itself, we've expended basically $374 million. >> i have $511. >> you may be including grants in that. i'd have to check that. >> we wouldn't want to leave -- i mean, consider that as an expenditure, money spent. well, we'll say in the neighborhood of a half a billion. and the card is supposed to allow us to identify who goes into our ports. we passed the law setting that requirement up back after 2001, right? mr. sadler? >> that was i believe that

well, congressman john mica will show you. you probably department see this one coming.consin supreme court justice accused of choking another justice, that's weird, right? it just got so much weirder. the latest chapter in the most dysfunctional state supreme court, wisconsin state supreme court, wisconsin state supreme court, coming up. does your business have the financial control it needs? here's what you can expect from regions. a bank that provides you with real business expertise. check. a professional optimization of your cash flow with a regions cashcor analysis. check. cash management solutions and the smart lending options you need to grow your business. check. plus, it all comes with award-winning service to help you achieve more balance. interested? let's talk. looking good. (bike bell) >> greta: it took something outrageous like clown, mind readers and a guy in a hot tub to get the fft's attention. but the gsa is wasting monosomething else. it's costing you billions, yes billions. here's griff jenkins with congressman mica. >> reporter: with nearly 900,000

chairman mica. >> thank you. first of all, an expenditure rises about three and a% for the public buildings commissioner expenditure from $2.9 billion to $9 billion. does that raise any flags to you? a 3 to% increase? -- a 300% increase? >> i am not sure on what number you are referring to. >> the expenditures for the public building commissioners operations. the administrative and personnel costs. does that raise any flags or are you aware of the request that i have had in our committee. we sent it to david foley in december 7, 2011 to give us a breakdown of the minister of costs. >> i was not aware of that request. i only became aware of as the public building services came close to finalizing its response. >> we have been tried to get this information since last year. if you're the chief financial officer. of course, in my opening statement, i describe what was sent to us and we see why there's not much detail sent to us now. mr. miller, you asked that this conference to place in october of 2010 and november s

well, congressman john mica will show you. you probably department see this one coming.wisconsin supreme court justice accused of choking another justice, that's weird, right? it just got so much weirder. the latest chapter in the most dysfunctional state supreme court, wisconsin state supreme court, coming up. [ male announcer ] want your weeds to hit the road? hit 'em, with roundup extended control. one application kills weeds, and stops new ones for up to four months. roundup extended control. but not how we get there. because in this business, there are no straight lines. only the twists and turns of an unpredictable industry. so the eighty-thousand employees at delta... must anticipate the unexpected. and never let the rules overrule common sense. this is how we tame the unwieldiness of air travel, until it's not just lines you see... it's the world. >> greta: it took something outrageous like clown, mind readers and a guy in a hot tub to get the fft's attention. but the gsa is wasting monosomething else. it's costing you billions, yes billions. here's griff jenkins

he said mica needs to get a life. i have a life and that is dedicated to waste and inefficiency in the federal government and bringing the business type common sense practices to whether the gsa or other federal agencies. so, we were stonewalled and delayed, we were not given information, but the american people need to know that this is just the tip of the iceberg and we will hear much more about what is going on and what needs to be done to reform the agency to replace it. we had a discussion be it's time to look at a total replacement. how many of you out there if you had property would turn it over to the federal government to manage for you? i ask you that question. not very many of you. if you see the wasteful overhead and cost and what takes place when you are on the tax payers nine, it's even more offensive. with sefton i thank ms. martin for her cooperation, mr. dinham for his leadership and other members for being with us today. >> indifference to the administration's request we will swear in those that have

>>guest: well, chairman of the committee, john mica, i have a great respect how he views a hearing i was not in today but it is clear a close confidant of the president, chief of staff at g.s.a. was intimately familiar with this in may of last year and reported to the white house there was a problem and after it, only after, we pressed him to get the information, and after the hearing, he back pedaled and said it was a casual confirm and may not have been seen like that. he was a prior staffer who knew in plenty of time to have this dealt with long before we finally found out 11 months later, so, the beg question for our committee is, why are you saying quick and decisive? why do you imply this went on in previous administrations? own up to failure to control. own up to knowing and not acting. and let's get together and fix it. the ranking member and i are sending a letter to the president asking for an amoment of a permanent g.s.a. administrator to be put up to the senate and put up soon. there are a lot of then we can do on a ban -- bipartisan basis but not finger pointing. stewart

mica was shocked at how much money they can waste. >> you don't want to know.ent two guys out they have a warehouse in texas and they brought hundreds of puffers that didn't work. >> remember these? they cost $150,000 each and were supposed to detect explosives but they didn't work. >> they sat in warehouses and they paid i think $600 apiece for dod to destroy them. >> the tsa wastes money, misses terrorists, infuriates passengers and creates long lines. isn't there a better way? oh, here is one. the lines are shorter at san francisco airport. they move quickly and passengers even say the screeners are nice. >> people here are friendly and willing to help. >> i think they are a little more understanding. >> everybody here is friendly. a lot more friendly than dallas. >> dallas and all the other big airports employ government screeners. san francisco is the one major airport that was allowed to hire screeners who work for a private company. not only are these screeners nicer they are bettered a at fining stuff. the tsa tested them and found they were twice as go

mica was shocked at how much money they can waste. >> you don't want to know.o guys out they have a warehouse in texas and they brought hundreds of puffers that didn't work. >> remember these? they cost $150,000 each and were supposed to detect explosives but they didn't work. >> they sat in warehouses and they paid i think $600 apiece for dod to destroy them. >> the tsa wastes money, misses terrorists, infuriates passengers and creates long lines. isn't there a better way? oh, here is one. the lines are shorter at san francisco airport. they move quickly and passengers even say the screeners are nice. >> people here are friendly and willing to help. >> i think they are a little more understanding. >> everybody here is friendly. a lot more friendly than dallas. >> dallas and all the other big airports employ government screeners. san francisco is the one major airport that was allowed to hire screeners who work for a private company. not only are these screeners nicer they are bettered a at fining stuff. the tsa tested them and found they were twice as good at

mica was shocked at how much money they can waste. >> you don't want to know.ent two guys out they have a warehouse in texas and they brought hundreds of puffers that didn't work. >> remember these? they cost $150,000 each and were supposed to detect explosives but they didn't work. >> they sat in warehouses and they paid i think $600 apiece for dod to destroy them. >> the tsa wastes money, misses terrorists, infuriates passengers and creates long lines. isn't there a better way? oh, here is one. the lines are shorter at san francisco airport. they move quickly and passengers even say the screeners are nice. >> people here are friendly and willing to help. >> i think they are a little more understanding. >> everybody here is friendly. a lot more friendly than dallas. >> dallas and all the other big airports employ government screeners. san francisco is the one major airport that was allowed to hire screeners who work for a private company. not only are these screeners nicer they are bettered a at fining stuff. the tsa tested them and found they were twice as go

mica was shocked at how much money they can waste. >> you don't want to know. out they have a warehouse in texas and they brought hundreds of puffers that didn't work. >> remember these? they cost $150,000 each and were supposed to detect explosives but they didn't work. >> they sat in warehouses and they paid i think $600 apiece for dod to destroy them. >> the tsa wastes money, misses terrorists, infuriates passengers and creates long lines. isn't there a better way? oh, here is one. the lines are shorter at san francisco airport. they move quickly and passengers even say the screeners are nice. >> people here are friendly and willing to help. >> i think they are a little more understanding. >> everybody here is friendly. a lot more friendly than dallas. >> dallas and all the other big airports employ government screeners. san francisco is the one major airport that was allowed to hire screeners who work for a private company. not only are these screeners nicer they are bettered a at fining stuff. the tsa tested them and found they were twice as good at findin

mica was shocked at how much money they can waste. >> you don't want to know.o guys out they have a warehouse in texas and they brought hundreds of puffers that didn't work. >> remember these? they cost $150,000 each and were supposed to detect explosives but they didn't work. >> they sat in warehouses and they paid i think $600 apiece for dod to destroy them. >> the tsa wastes money, misses terrorists, infuriates passengers and creates long lines. isn't there a better way? oh, here is one. the lines are shorter at san francisco airport. they move quickly and passengers even say the screeners are nice. >> people here are friendly and willing to help. >> i think they are a little more understanding. >> everybody here is friendly. a lot more friendly than dallas. >> dallas and all the other big airports employ government screeners. san francisco is the one major airport that was allowed to hire screeners who work for a private company. not only are these screeners nicer they are bettered a at fining stuff. the tsa tested them and found they were twice as good at

meets faahion at mica's ""obot fest." fest."teorolooist emily morniig's hometown hotspot. potspot. 3 & dinn áwithá rabbits. rabbits.bunnies aree multiplying innseveral cafes... find out why some & restaurants are lltting them roam. proam. 3 you'reewatching fox 3 woull you like a bbnny with that? that?in japan, cafes offering custommrs the chance to snuggle with a rabbii are multippying like....rabbits. 3 annmals are stress reeievees - for residents who don't have space for a pet of their own. about a dozen rabbit cafes have popped up in theeccuntry since last year's earthquake and sunami.one cafe says the bunnies help heal woundd ttat -hhuannscan't. & 33 3 3 3 3 3 burn fft fast. fass.our perronal trainer is here to show us how to take a season.pluu... if you have a question ... get the ansser 4545 right now. you're watching fox 45 good day 3 p(break 3)) man: we need a good night's sleep. woman: which means a little heat to keep us warm. and a good dose of support for my back. some over-the-top comfort couldn't hurt. and our perf

mica said, we have a pretty good record of gaining entry. getting back to your question, the complaint comes in and gets routed to the pop -- to the proper division. if no one is home, they are expected to reschedule or go back out. we have a little paper that you can stick on the door, saying -- i was here. please call the following number. the second time did you go out and you do not gain entry, you send a letter. with action you stop and investigate. once we issue a notice of violation, it is all time specified. the building permit will go to planning. often it is structural damages. having those plans reviewed by staff, some of these can take a long time. if we do not feel that the property owner -- and it is always the property owner, not the contractor, is not taking enough, this is where changes. housing is more like a case management. they do like a landlord tenant. a long time ago it was decided that it was destined that the housing inspectors take that case from the complaint to the order of abatement. on the third floor of inspec

mica was shocked at how much money they can waste. >> you don't want to know.o guys out they have a warehouse in texas and they brought hundreds of puffers that didn't work. >> remember these? they cost $150,000 each and were supposed to detect explosives but they didn't work. >> they sat in warehouses and they paid i think $600 apiece for dod to destroy them. >> the tsa wastes money, misses terrorists, infuriates passengers andlines. isn't there a better way? oh, here is one. the lines are shorter at san francisco airport. they move quickly and passengers even say the screeners are nice. >> people here are friendly and willing to help. >> i think they are a little more understanding. >> everybody here is friendly. a lot more friendly than dallas. >> dallas and all the other big airports employ government screeners. san francisco is the one major airport that was allowed to hire screeners who work for a private company. not only are these screeners nicer they are bettered a at fining stuff. the tsa tested them and found they were twice as good at finding contra

i want to push back on what congressman mica said about the inspector general. people need to realize the inspector generals are independent. they work as an independent auditor in the agency. this inspector general did good work here, good independent work. >> greta: it takes a long time. if you make, if you come forward and you become public and have the media put heat or congress put heat it can move faster to eliminate some of it. you have to bring finding and get response before making it final. final. >> greta: i call up neely and say you have a clown in las vegas. >> i'm not here to defend activities, i'm here to say tin speckor general behaved under the government auditing standards, took too long but should not have gone public until the audit was completed. >> that is another thing to make us angry. is there some way to speed up and empower inspector general to move faster? they're the police officer. >> sometimes they drag feet on the response and you make a decision. do i pop the audit without the response from the auditee, knowing maybe there is a r

but it was micas who went to police to file a complaint leading to kelly's arrest.saying that you assaulted him. >> he's saying that i assaulted him. >> reporter: did you do that to him? >> no, absolutely not. >> reporter: abc news was unable to reach micas for comment. now, out on a $50,000 bail, kelly is opening up for the first time about her fall from a popular sitcom. >> i married fez so he can stay in the country. >> reporter: to addiction, that she says all stemmed from a devastating loss. what happened? >> i had lost a baby. as a result of that, i lost everything, and i was abusing alcohol, which i no longer do. >> reporter: now, despite all she faces -- >> all right. i'll do anything for ten bucks. >> reporter: -- in true hollywood fashion, kelly is vowing to make a comeback. >> with "the '70s show" i was guilty of the drinking problem and i ran. and i am not running from this. and i have paid my dues. and if i can make it through this, i can make it through anything. >> reporter: lisa tells us she's been sober now for about three months and says she's exci

russian city of sochi progress for the twenty fourteen winter olympics the entire resort is enjoying a mica vos construction if it is mostly about the future is also a nurse something unique from the past tense battles can weren't on the ground hearty. the discovery that would make indiana jones eyes light up the ruins of the ninth century byzantine turnbull emerging from the ground as a future olympic park takes shape i'm now entering one of the hidden underground tombs. inside the grief of the parishioners monks and priests some of them are believed to have been martyrs for their fate until last year these ancient ruins were hidden layer of rubbish only when this location was picked as a future olympic venue for the sochi winter games in two thousand and fourteen was every corner carefully surveyed and examples all the wide once again and in surprisingly pristine condition for centuries these plugging stones kept the ceiling from collapsing what of all the metrics we assume it contains organic materials like egg white to give it extra strength but this is the most prized discovery plead w

chairman mica. >> i thank you. first of all, ms. doone, an expenditure that rises about 300% for the public buildings commissioners' expenditures from 2.9 million to 9 million, did that raise any, does that raise any flags to you, a 300% increase? actually, it's in about two years because it was about 3.2 in 2009? >> i'm sure -- i'm not sure what number you're referring to. >> the expenditures for the public building commissioners' operations. says administrative and personnel costs. does that raise any flags? are you aware of a request that i've had in and our committee's had in, we sent it to david foley on december 7, 2011, to give us a breakdown of administrative costs? >> i was not aware of that request, and i only became aware of it as the public building services came close to finalizing its response. >> we've been trying to get this information since last year, so you're the chief financial officer and, of course, in if my opening statement -- in my opening statement i describe what was sent to us, and we see why there wasn'

this is john mica's committee. this hearing starts at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. go to our website, c-span.org, to find out when this will air and who's testifying and other details on our website, c-span.org. so what happens next then with g.s.a.? i mean, specifically they need something coming forward. guest: you may something come forward from mica's transportation committee but it will all be substantiated from the testimony we gain from the forthcoming hearings. why was this gentleman given a $9,000 raise in december of 2011 when he knew for well over a year what he did was wrong? why didn't ms. johnson, when she was notified in may of 2011 by the inspector general that this report was being forthcoming, that there were terrible improprieties, why didn't she take proactive then? it wasn't until the report was released april 2 she decided to resign that other actions were taken by employees. i think you'll see fallout based on the testimony. i think mr. foley testified they wanted to make sure they can preserve themselves that will probably be more open to dis

. >> reporter: instead, the actress claims she was the one roughed up by her ex, john micas.t was micas, that led to a complaint, leading her her arrest. he said you assaulted him. did you do that to him? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: now, out on a $50,000 bail, kelly is opening up for the first time about her fall from a popular sitcom. >> i married fez so he can stay in the country. >> reporter: to adirection. and she says all stemmed from a devastating loss. what happened? >> i have lost a baby. as a result of that, i lost everything. and i was abusing alcohol, which i no longer do. >> reporter: now, despite all she 235iss. >> all right. i'll do anything for ten bucks. >> reporter: in good fashion, kelly was making a comeback. >> i was guilty of the drinking problem. and i ran. and i am not running from this. and i have paid my dues. and if i can make it through this, i can make it through anything. >> reporter: lisa tells us she's been sober now for about three months. and she's excited to be starring in a new movie called, "it sucks to be me." katie? >> okay. thanks, a

congressman mica is holding a heary.e says this may explain why the administration has been stonewalling the travel budget request. this agency may have been hoping that everything that happened in vegas stayed in vegas. martha: the clowns we showed are just clowns. they are not the clowns from the actual event. there are other abuse, however, this committee will be looking into. >> reporter: he says this agency is sitting on vacant properties that are underutilized costing taxpayers millions of dollars in operational costs. it will soon be turned over to donald trump for a hotel. another building in t.c., the cotton exchange. one of the many buildings he claims the gsa is mismanaging. martha: thank you very much. bill: a new round of severe weather threatening a region already reeling from devastating storms. this is live above lancaster. we'll show you the radar and what we can best predict at the moment. martha: a comment by president obama has set off a firestorm over checks and balances in the united states governme

joinings, republican john mica of florida. who is responsible for getting to the bottom of what happened here? >> well, i serve on the government reform and oversight committee, and they have very broad just distinction -- jurisdiction. i'm probably the most senior member right now but we have our committee fully investigating all aspects of this, and i was briefed by them this morning and there are some interesting new twists and turns, unfortunately. jon: is this the kind of investigation where the congress and the administration will be working hand in hand? >> well, they do theirs, we'll do ours. we have separate branches of government. we have to conduct oversight but it looks like it's broadened a bit. first it was secret service, now it looks like there may be some activity by white house staff and then unfortunately, it looks like there may be some military involved, too. but the committee on government reform and oversight has very, very broad jurisdiction. it was set up for this purpose. -- in 1808 and that's how we