mr. chaffetz: mr. speaker, i want to be clear about my motives and intentions, i find it curious when other members to i -- try to prescribe my feelings and my approach to this issue. it is my belief and support of this legislation is based on the constitution. it's that simple to me. article 1, section 8, clause 17 says, to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over such district, and it continues on. the district of columbia is more than just a local jurisdiction, it's more than just a local city. it is our nation's capital. and i think what the founders were intending to do was to understand and allow participation for members all over this country in the affairs of the city. that was the intention and that's what's in the constitution. don't be confused or misled or allow anybody else to prescribe my motives, my motivation, my belief in the district of columbia, because it's rooted first and foremost in the constitution. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: th

mr. chaffetz do you think mr. koskinen displayed misconduct over the last several months in trying to help us get to the bottom of the scandal? >> yes. >> it's a dereliction of duty when you wait four months to tell congress, his chief counsel knew in february of 2014 there were problems and a gap in lerner's e-mails he doesn't tell us until june. his chief of staff lawyer knew and he waits four months. the reason he told us he waited is because he was doing his due diligence to make sure that happened? part of that due diligence wasn't checking to see if there were backup tapes available. that's dereliction of duty. obviously, when you look at this -- here's the other thing. breach of public trust. oh, my goodness. we just heard the democrats talk about problems at the irs. they said the cyber security breach. we had gao tell us the tax gap is 385. $385 billion. their fundamental duty is to collect revenue. they can't do that. but they have time to target people and destroy back up tapes in the course of the inve

mr. chaffetz, and the gentlelady from the district of columbia, ms. norton, each will control 30 minutes this chair recognizes the gentleman from utah. mr. fay chets: i ask -- mr. chaffetz: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five ledge slative days to revise and extend -- legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 52 3. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. chaffetz: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chaffetz: i want to start by thanking the delegate from the district of columbia, ms. norton. she pour her heart and soul and passion into for this country. we disagree on this issue, we've agreed on some issues and disagree on others but i want to note how much i appreciate her passion and her commitment and her desire to represent her constituents as vigorously as she does. i also want to thank the gentleman from north carolina, mr. meadows, for introducing r. 52 p -- 5233, the clarifying congressional intent and his le

mr. chaffetz. no evidence was uncovered that any irs implicit been directed to destroy or hide information from congress, the doj or tigta. do you want to quarrel with that extensive investigation? >> i think you're conflating two different topics. what we are most concerned about is mr. koskinen's actions under this thing. that is not what, that is not what the fbi -- >> the premise of the actions are data with a hold of me of issues. i look at the 10 minute presentation. you at all but just at yes no. the premise of course is charges great about this committee conservative groups. are they not? >> the underlying concern and need for the investigation -- >> came to all of that, fine. so the basis of which attempted and doj investigation found no evidence to suggest any crime. in respect to the commissioner, then his answers cannot be part of a crime if they found no basis for such crime. entities answering to the best of his knowledge and then he cannot be, maybe bad behavior but he cannot be attr

mr. chairman, i yield back. jason chaffetz: and mr. russell, we thank you for your service and your sacrifice and your time serving this country, and we're better for it, and thank you. now recognize the gentlewoman from new mexico, ms. lujan grisham for five minutes. michelle lujan grisham: thank you, mr. chairman, and thanks for the opportunity to talk about what i think's really important in this agreement and issue, which is making sure that we're holding iran accountable, that we're clear about what those accountability issues and measures are, and not just how that's being communicated, but how that's being verified. and my only disappointment in the hearing today, mr. chairman is that we are having , conversations about what ifs, but we're not talking to the folks -- with no disrespect to the panel members -- about really who's -- who's enforcing, who's accountable, and certainly from my constituents and a number of individuals that i spoke to with expertise in this area, either as concerned citizens or organizations and the adm

mr. chaffetz and the ranking member, mr. cummings. d the entire committee for bringing h.r. 4877 to the house floor this afternoon. this bill names a post office a few miles from my home after lance corporal garrett gameable, united states marine corps. garrett died defending our freedom on march 11, 2010. in afghanistan. he was 20 years young. garrett died before i could meet him, but i'll never forget him because of the stories i was old after god called him home. his mother, shel, told me about a 10-year-old boy who got very angry when he saw those towers fall, the plane crash into the pentagon, the plane go down in rural pennsylvania, 9/11. never wanted to see his homeland attacked like that again. the drive to join the marine corps had started and that drive would never end. evil. wanted to destroy he knows that joining the marine corps was his calling. he saw heinous evil firsthand. garrett and some marines were on a foot patrol in a small afghan village. garrett must have flashed that big smile because a young afghan boy waved

mr. chairman chaffetz. i thank you for holding the hearing examining employee misconduct at the environmental protection agencies. this is the third meeting that has been held on this topic and i am encouraged the epa's response to allegations of employer misconduct has vastly improved. like you, i want to be effective and efficient. i don't want to constantly hold hearings and hear about these problems and at some point we should be able to get them resolved. serious employee misconduct is indeed rare. but as this committee has seen too often agency and the inspector general misconduct cases have taken far too long. at the committee's hearing in april of 2015, a little over a year ago, i asked the epa and the ig to work together to improve their coordination in employee misconduct matters and i did that again so that we could be effective and efficient; to get things done. as opposed to going around in a circle. i directed myself to work directly with the epa and ig to help develop new protocols to improve

mr. chaffetz. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. chaffetz: thank you and i stand in whole support of what chairman thornberry's amendment is proposing. section 101 of the national security act says the function of the council shall be to advise the president. you want the president to get the best advice possible but historically the national security act designated, they've had between 50 and 60 people between the 1960's and d 0e's but now it's clone -- 1990's but now it's close to 400. we have an n.s.c. that's not necessarily accountable. i'd like to see the senate confirmation if it moves above 100. what we see is the n.s.c. not only engaging on direction on the field but also engaging in public relations battles and doing things well outside i think the scope that was originally put forward. today, mr. chairman, we had a hearing. we had called ben rhodes to testify at this hearing but then claimed executive privilege. the general counsel said this person could not come. they -- ben rhodes goes and talks to the media, he'll do pub

mr. chaffetz, do you think mr. koskinen had gross misconduct over the several months trying to help us get to the bottom? >> yes. >> do you think a duration of duty. his chief counsel new in february of 2014 there were problems and a gap in lerner's e-mail and he didn't tell us until june. the reason he told us he waited four months is because he was doing his due diligence to make sure it happened. part of that wasn't checking to see if there were backup tapes available. i think that is duration of duty. and breach of public trust, oh, my, goodness. we heard the democrats talk about problems at the irs. they talked about the security breach. 385 billion and their duty is to collect revenue but they cannot fulfill that but have time to target people and destroy tapes? this is breach of public trust and negligence in gross form. i want to thank you for the first hearing and look forward to the second one where we will have experts come in to talk about the standards that must be done to get rid of someone with the c

chaffetz: the gentlewoman's time is expired. governor snyder: thank you, mr. chairman. rep. chaffetz: the gentlewoman -- [speaking simultaneously] rep. chaffetz: the gentlewoman will suspend. we now recognize the gentleman from north carolina, mr. meadows, for five minutes. rep. meadows: to both of you, i am troubled today because of the testimony had a couple of days ago which will indicate that even though there is enough blame to go around, there were a number of times people acted like it was not their fault. governor, your emergency management testimony from the witness year, is troubling because he acted like, i did not know, and so -- governor, do you believe there were people who made mistakes within your agency at multiple levels in terms of addressing the health and welfare of the people of flint? governor snyder: yes. rep. meadows: administrator mccarthy, i am going to ask you the same question, because the witness that resigned indicated that there was nothing they could have done differently, and the rest note fault on her part -- there was no fault on her part o

mr. chaffetz, do you think -- do you think mr.kinen exhibited some gross negligence in his conduct over the last several months in trying to help us get to the bottom of this scandal? >> absolutely. >> do you think there was a dereliction of duty? >> yes. >> it seems to me dereliction of duty when you wait four months to tell congress, right? his chief counsel knew in february of 2014 that there were problems and gap in lerner's emails, and he doesn't tell us until june? his chief lawyer knew? and he waits four months? the reason he told us he waited four months is he was doing his due diligence to make sure that actually happened and part of that due diligence wasn't checking to make sure if there were backup tapes available? i think that's dereliction of duty. when you look at this and here's the other thing. breach of public trust. oh, my goodness. we just heard the democrats talk about problems at the i.r.s. they said the cyber security breach. we had g.a.o. say the tax gap at i.r.s.'s $385 billion and fundamental duty is to c

mr. chaffetz. this bipartisan legislation incorporates critical provisions crafted by both committees to address decades-old problems related to federal real property. h.r. 4465, as amended, establishing a pilot program that includes an independent review of the federal real property inventory and development of recommendations for the best disposition of vacant and underutilized properties. we have had hearings highlighting federal buildings sitting vacant, costing the taxpayer through maintenance cost and unrealized sale proceeds. these buildings are often eyesores and local communities can provide no local tax benefits. agencies have been slow in getting rid of unneeded properties. for example, the old georgetown heating plant in one of the most expensive areas of d.c. sat vacant for 11 years and was only sold after our committee held a hearing spotlighting the vacant property. the pilot included in this legislation will result in an independent look across agencies at opportunities to sell, red

mr. chaffetz's staff and they're taking an effort to reach out to the entire ig community using the epa as a model to educate the rest of the ig community that maybe there's a way to get these cases moved faster governmentwide. >> i think that that would alleviate this committee maybe having to have as many hearings as they have to these other agencies, and we can get on with the actual work of congress if we were to do that. but would you support efforts to encourage, then, governmentwide adoption of this? and your office would be willing to work with this committee to do that? >> we certainly do support that and we have worked with the committee. but one caveat. the epa, we're somewhat unique in that we don't have any subcomponents. there's just one epa and there's one ig. if you take dhs or the department of justice, they have multiple subcomponents, and the model that we have in epa probably wouldn't work in a department that has multiple subcomponents, just to put that out. >> and have you thought about what would work in agencies like that? >> no, ma'am, i really haven't given that m

mr. chairman, i will yield back. rep. chaffetz: we'll now recognize our witnesses. please welcome mr.ay brainard. federal security director for the state of kansas in the office of security operations at the transportation security administration. mr. mark livingston is the program manager in the office of the chief risk officer at the transportation security administration and mr. andrew rhoades, assistant federal security director for mission support at the minneapolis-st. paul international airport in the office of security operations at the t.s.a.. we welcome you and thank you for being here. if you will please rise and raise your right hand, do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. thank you. you may be seated. let the record reflect that all witnesses answered in the affirmative. in order to allow time for discussion, we would appreciate if you would limit your verbal comment to five minutes. your entire written statement will be entered into the record. we will start with mr. brainard.

mr. chaffetz: the gentleman from tennessee. mr. duncan. mr. duncan: i have an article that talks about the $336,000 that tsa paid for producing an app. it says, when an app is not much more than he read them number generator, it is hard to imagine how it could cost that much, but it is typical of government spending. i understand from the staff that you once recommended an analysis that another employee refers -- refused to do and ended up spending $12 million on a project that should have cost $3 million. will you tell us about that. and any other examples of a huge waste that you have seen on your watch. mr. brainard: yes, sir. when i came on, we did a transformation. and in that, we had allocated $3.5 million to do this transformation. and because there is no alternative of analysis completed, it was not managed properly. there was a 60-90 day signature completed and it was not done properly. the wrong equipment was ordered, it did not work. we had to do it over and it cost three times the amount. even today, if you look at the board, there

mr. doran. sorry, microphone there, please. >> thanks. chairman chaffetz, ranking member cummings -- >> if you can move the microphone up close and comfortable. >> -- thank you for inviting me to address the problems in "the new york times" article of ben rhodes. mr. rhodes admitted to "the new york times" that he created a war room of some two dozen detailees from around the executive branch who came from the white house and monitored all public communications about the iran deal, communications coming out of the capitol hill, the think tank world, on social media and in the traditional media. he also created what he called an echo chamber a network of sympathetic ngos, think tanks and compliant members of the press to whom he ceded false narratives i would say about the iran deal and then he directed the reporters to these ngos and think tanks to give seemingly independent verification to the narratives that he put out. in my view the creation of the echo chamber and the war room does constitute a deception of the american people and of their representat

mr. burbank's response to chairman chaffetz about deporting drunk drivers. and frankly, that didn't go over well with me. i'm going to ask you, do you think we have enough legal citizens who drive drunk without adding illegal immigrant drunk drivers to that number? >> yes, sir. >> do you think it makes sense when we know that they have a record of drunk driving, and i would like for you to answer that again. you didn't have your microphone on. i asked if you think we have enough without adding illegal drunk drivers to that? >> yes, sir, we have enough. >> do you think it makes sense when they're picked up for drunk driving since they're here illegally regardless of race, national origin, sex, gender, does it matter? or since they're here illegally and breaking our laws, does it make sense for them to stay here? >> no, sir, it does not. i viewed the vehicle just as i would a pistol. >> mm-hmm. and in this case, sarah root's case, it was just as deadly as a pistol, wasn't it? >> yes, sir. >> mr. burbank, in your last comments, you seemed to imply that the amer

mr. meiburg, you're now recognized for five minutes. >> chairman chaffetz, ranking member cummings and millersut of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today before you about the environmental protection agency's efforts to address i am proemisconduct. -- employee misact conduct. i'm stand meiburg, i have been privileged to work at the epa for 40 years. holding positions at washington, d.c., regional offices in atlanta, dallas and in north carolina. for 18 years i served as region 4 deputy administrator before retiring early 2014 since returning to the agency in october 2014, i have been honored to serve as acting deputy ad american straight tore discharging the duties of chief operating officer for the agency. each day i am reminded of the excellent work epa employees do on a before of the american people. from our engineers and scientists in the field to our technical experts and our lawyers here in headquarters. i'm proud to be a part of the agency and its mission to protect human health and the environment. in all work places there are employees who engage in misconduct

chaffetz said rose should appear. >> how it was sold, the misinformation or my opinion. mr. rhodes obviously disagrees with that.you have these types of hearings. based on this article in "the new york times" magazine, if you're in the media, the congress or public, he basically confirms. nicole: chaffetz plans to convene a hearing today. lauren: turn into the massive wildfire in alberta. firefighter shift their focus to protecting the major oil facilities. alberta premier rachel not possess workers at oil camps are being evacuated. >> a mandatory evacuation has been put in place for several small camps along astro road and it amounts to about 500 to 600 people being evacuated north to suncor insane brute. meanwhile, there is a precautionary, just a precautionary evacuation in place at this time. lauren: more evacuations for the fire forced 90,000 people to leave two weeks ago. train to the probable cause of last year's deadly train crash in philadelphia is expected to be announced today. federal safety investigators supported a state engineer brien posthumus distracted by radio transmission moments before the c

mr. earnest: not that i'm aware of. reporter: last question on him and following up on the earlier questions. i take it from your comments in saying that you're reviewing the letter from congressman chaffetz, that the white house is not reflexively asserting an executive privilege claim with respect to this request. mr. earnest: that's right. reporter: last subject. both you and the president have , for a long time now, months now, jettisoned the standard posture of white house officials and the white house press briefing with respect to the opposing party's nominating process. normally, it's been my experience in washington, the white house waits until there's a number nominee for the other party, doesn't weigh into the process, doesn't comment on specific candidates or what they have to say. and says typically the time will come for that. that posture has been jettisoned here for months now with respect to donald trump. long before he cleared the field in his party. one of the sets of comments by the president and others here has been to the effect that mr. trump's candidacy is already creating a great deal of consternation amongst foreign leaders. and allies of the united states. w.h.o

mr. root, you're now recognized for five minutes. >> chairman chaffetz, ranking member cummings and respected members, my name is scott root. i thank you for the voice of my murdered data, by a drunk driver and illegal immigrant. less than 24 houses she walked with a 4.0 grade point average, a bachelor's in criminal investigation. i would also like to take this opportunity to thank officer bose, rizzo, adam and turnbulls and swanson from the police department. we would also like to thank congressman and state of steve king, also senators ernst, fisher, grassley sessions, and the doctors and nurses at the university of nebraska medical center. as a 30-year member of the steamfitters local 464, it's ironic that i thank an republican -- my ex-wife were not contacted by any democrats or i.c.e. until april 22nd after i learned i would testify, and the days and 82 days after my data was murdered. they were told i.c.e. and a victims unit would be reaching out. i am an army veteran, served with the 1st cav. my father was a recipient of the purple heart, and silver star. i don't want to talk this abou

mr. trent takes. we now recognize ms. rectanus. they may good morning. chairman chaffetz, members of chaffetz, member subcommittee, i'm pleased to be here to discuss the postal service financial challenges to the postal service is a critical part of the communication system that is financial situation is dire. replace the postal service, high-risk list in 2009 where it remains today. today i will discuss the factors affecting the postal service deteriorating financial condition, status of unfunded liabilities and choices congress faces to address these financial challenges. the postal service financial struggles are well documented beginning in 2007 comics that this began consistently outgrowing revenues that cost over $56 then. the situation is right merrily caused by declining mail volume, particularly a a profitable first-class commensurate with an increased expense largely because of salary increases. increased benefits alone will add over 1 billion in additional costs in fiscal year 2016 big the gap between revenue and cost continues to fight the significant efficien

congressman chaffetz will appear before the house judiciary committee to urge the impeachment of mr. koskinen. you can see this hearing live, 10 a.m. eastern, on c-span3. >>> this sunday night on "q&a," u.s. senate historian betty coed talks about the work her office does. >> i came in june of 1998 as a newly-minted senate historian. my colleagues, dick baker and ron ritchie, said to me, oh, it's going to be nice and quiet. you'll have lots of time to settle in and read and get comfortable in your job. and within a few weeks the house had decided to impeach bill clinton, and we got very busy very quickly and had to do a good deal of research on impeachment trials. we had not had a presidential impeachment since 1868, and the senate, the senate leaders at that time, trent lott and tom daschle, really wanted to follow historical precedent as much as they could. >> sunday night at 8 eastern and pacific on c-span's "q and a." >> for the past three years, the agriculture economy has weakened due to improving crop yields and lower global demand. next, the farm credit administration chair t

mr. neffenger, administrator neffenger, you're now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. good morning, chairman chaffetz, ranking member cummings, and distinguished members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. i sincerely appreciate the committee's oversight of the management practices at tsa. this issue has been of great concern to me as well. i commit to you and the american people that under my leadership tsa has established high standards of performance and

chaffetz. hogan has been removed. he has not left the agency yet. mr.ever injure has says -- has said he wants to find a different place where his talents. hogan personally do anything wrong, but not injure want to different -- but nothing are -- r hasjure -- neffinge4r said he once a different strategy. host: david, go ahead. caller: good morning. i've got a question for you, if you can maybe just give me your insight on whether you think this would be a worthy strategy. to help me fly next week, we're flying to las vegas for a wedding. we were thinking -- rather than taking luggage, we could decide to ship ups or fedex and it would arrive the day after. give me your thoughts on that. guest: anything that reduces the amount of luggage will reduce the amount of screening and the hassle you might encounter at the screening checkpoint at your airport. it would maybe be unrealistic and costly for everyone to mail their luggage ahead of time to her ever they were traveling. the more important thing is to make sure that if you pack more into checked baggage,

mr. neffenger, administrator neffenger, you're now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. good morning, chairman chaffetz, ranking member cummings, and distinguished members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. i sincerely appreciate the committee's oversight of the management practices at tsa. this issue has been of great concern to me as well. i commit to you and the american people that under my leadership tsa has established high standards of performance and accountability. i also want to thank inspector general roth for his support. i greatly value the oversight that his office provides to improve our agency and i have been working closely with him during my tenure. my leadership perspective is shaped by more than three decades of national service in crisis leadership. throughout my career i have emphasized professional integrity and duty to mission as foundational elements of service for myself and for the dedicated civil servants and military members i have been entrusted to lead. since taking the oath of office on july 4th of last year i have traveled throug

mr. koskinen still stands by all those statements i showed you. .hat is the difference host: in exchange yesterday chaffetzasson testifying. postumn in the washington says -- also up on capitol hill today, tsa administrator set to testify at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. we will have coverage of that on c-span3. the tsa administrator saying action will be taken to fix the crisis. the head of the tsa said the agency will post up to the minute wait times by mid june nnd will test an automated bi removing system to get travelers through checkpoints faster. the volume of carry-on bags has quadrupled over the last three years. it is the number one thing that slows the checkpoint. c-span3 at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. , it is the 30th anniversary of c-span's gavel to gavel coverage of the senate. /senate30.c-span.org years. you can watch all of our current senate coverage on c-span2 and online at www.c-span.org. speaking of senate coverage and the national defense authorization bill is being voted on this week. rand paul would like to tie the release of the 9/11 documents to the defense bill. the release of those 28 pa

mr. sullivan, and you quote, i believe the this can be a best-practice model to the government. is that correct? >> yes, ma'am. i spoke with chairman chaffetz and ranking member cummings and they are reaching out to use the epa as a model to show maybe there is a way to get the cases to move faster government wide. >> i think that the alleviate this committee having to have as many hearings as we have with other agencies and week get on with the actual work of congress if we were to do that. would you support efforts to encourage government-wide adoption of this and your office would be willing to work with this committee to do that? >> we certainly do support that and we have worked with the committee. but one caveat, the epa is somewhat unique in that we don't have subcomponents. there is one epa and one ig. dhs, for example, has multiple subcomponents and that model wouldn't work with agencies like that. >> have you thought about what would work in agencies like that? >> no, ma'am, i have not. >> we have to get you thinking about that. it seems the epa and ig showed better communication can help agencies take more action quickly in the m