mr. cummings, and then mrs. norton. >> i will have to go to another meeting, but i want to thank you all for being here. very veryrovided some significant testimony. as i said earlier, we need to see the entire picture. a certainly cannot have situation where whistleblowers ,ven worry about retaliation let alone be the victims of it. i think you will get that concern from both sides of the aisle. and want to thank you all, we have got to find a way to cut out that layer you are talking about, those people who think, want to think things that go on in the way they have been going on and the way have been going on is not helping. it takes away from the morale of the agency, and it takes away from its effectiveness and efficiency. this whole idea, i know mrs. norton will refer to this, this whole idea of people being sent from one part of the country to another, and if that is about retaliation, let me tell you something. to me, that is criminal. because families are so important, and the individual who those famil

mr. cummings and connolly and mr. meadows for all their work. we've done a lot of work on the side to try to coordinate our efforts out here and i'm very pleased to see the same thing is hang down there. we have the post master general, along with the national ass association of letter carriers, the clerks, supervisors and then the prc as well as the mailing community and inspector generals, everybody on the same page. it troubles me that we can't move this ball forward. i do want to focus on one key aspect of this and that is the coordination of benefits between the fehbp.

mr. cummings. mr. cummings was my ranking member, we, together, led the effort from 98-2000. i remember going into baltimore with him and conducting hearings there when the people were dying on the streets in huge numbers. but mr. cummings, we are back, unfortunately backsliding and here we are today. out he did a great job going to say people in his community, and he is now the ranking member of our full committee. mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to thank you for holding a hearing on america's heroin and opioid epidemic. i want to take a moment before i start to extend our prayers to the people of brussels, belgiu belgium,. >> and i would join you. and i would ask everyone for just a moment of silence, if we could. >> thank you, mr. cummings. >> thank you, mr.chairman. today's hearing is about a national public health emergency, and we need to treat it like one. people are dying in baltimore, orlando, salt lake city, manchester, in cities all across our nation. we can no

mr. cummings. for myself, i have been a federal law enforcement officer my entire adult life and worked for the fbi, secret service and federal air marshall and in those agencies you have immediately report an arrest, and certainly a conviction whether you are carrying a gun or a civilian employee in those agencies. i was surprised when i came to the epa and learned the rank and file employees didn't have to do that. i accepted that as the rules. but i was curious as to why you would just for the sake of knowing, if you put trust and confidence in a particular employee, it may affect your judgment or decision making if you knew the person was convicted of theft or embezzlement in their private life. >> tell me this, we were just talking about a case where somebody received counseling. when you look at the counseling situation at epa, do you think it is helpful? do you think it is strong enough? do you think -- and maybe mr. meiburg can answer this, what triggers counseling? how do i determine wheth

mr. cumming. >> mr. chairman, i do thank you for holding today's hearing examining employee miskulkt at the environmental protection agency. this is the third hearing in our committee has held on this topic, this congress i'm enkoushlged by the epa's response, allegation of misconduct has vastly improved. i like you want to be effective and efficient. and do not want to constantly hold hearings and hear about these problems and at some point we should be able to get them resolved. serious employ -- employment, employee misconduct is easily rare. but as this committee is seen too often, agency and the inspector general responses in misconduct cases have takele far too long. the committee's hearing in april 2015, over a year ago, i asked the epa and the ig to work together to improve their coordination and employee misconduct matters and i did that, again, so that we can be effective and efficient to get things done as opposed to going around in a circle. also directed my staff to work directly with epa an

mr. cummings. sometimes he and i disagree. rarely, but his line of questioning, i'm not here to bust your chops, but his line of questioning was from the other side of the aisle. we heard great questions and the amounts of money used to pay and transfer people in retribution, and the other thing is i think you are a good guy to be sent in to clean up the mess. sometimes the leader is fed mushrooms and kept in the dark. mr. cummings described to you what we heard is going on. that you are being fed this information by these people who are protecting their rear ends. i am putting it in terms that can be transmitted on c-span, a family community. this is our concern. i helped create tsa and i will never forget we went out and i think we had a goal of 20 or 30 minutes from curb to the gate. it was under the transportation committee. we actually went out and did it and it can be done. we don't have to hassell 99% of the people. we are supposed to be looking at the ones getting through. again, you have an attrition ready, an average

mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. there have been few times that in my 20 years on this committee that i have felt so strongly about an individual. administrator nefenger is a person who i have phenomenal amount of respect for. when i was the chairman of the self committee on a coast guard in maritime matters, it was mr. nefenger, admirable nefenger who cleaned up a mess called "deep water horizon" when a coast guard would bind ships that didn't float. radar systems that were suppose to have surveillance of 360 degrees, with 180 degrees. radios that when they got wet, they didn't work. he cleaned up the mess and saved this country and the coast guard probably hundreds of millions of dollars. and, sir, no matter what happens in this hearing, i thank you, i really do. last month our committee heard testimony from three transportation security administration employees. they raised troubling allegations about personnel practices that stretched back several years, in some cases. employees who came forward deserve to have t

mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. hanna, you were dick cheney's top national security adviser, is that right? >> yes, sir, from 2005 to 2009. >> no, i don't think it is. as you said, we played an important role in making the first draft of secretary powell's speech to the united nations. that was certainly true, but we -- >> okay. but you were involved in making the first draft? >> that's correct. >> is this pretty much the draft he presented to the united nations? i know a first draft usually goes through many more drafts. >> sure. if you hear mr. powell's people now, they say it contained reports that couldn't be supported by the intelligence community and at the end of the day they threw out my draft and secretary powell spent four days with the high eest level of peoe at langley and he did a new draft. their claim was my draft did not actually form the foundation of what he presented to the united nations. >> i'm sure you having heard that, i'm sure you probably said, let me at least listen to what he did say. is

mr. cummings and connolly and mr. meadows for all their work. we've done a lot of work on the side to try to coordinate our efforts out here and i'm very pleased to see the same thing is hang down there. we have the post master general, along with the national ass association of letter carriers, the clerks, supervisors and then the prc as well as the mailing community and inspector generals, everybody on the same page. it troubles me that we can't move this ball forward. i do want to focus on one key aspect of this and that is the coordination of benefits between the fehbp. i hate these acronyms but the federal employee health benefit plan and medicare. so, post master general brennan, the situation we have right now, as noted by the chairman and the chairman deserves a lot of credit because he's really the one that's brought us all together and it has been completely bipartisan and really -- we do a lot of work up here and this effort has been really bipartisan. but the way this works right now, the postal service is the second largest contribu

mr. cummings. i've been a federal enforcement officer all my life. i work with the fbi and secret service. those agencies, you have to immediately report an arrest and certainly a conviction. i was a little bit surprised when it came to epa and i learned the epa rank-and-file employees did not have to do that. i accepted that that is the rule did i was curious as to why for the sick of knowing, it -- for the sake of knowing, if you put a trust into employee, it may ffect -- >> tell me this. we were just talking about a case where somebody received counseling. when you look at the counseling situation there at epa, d think it is helpful? do you think is strong enough -- do you think it is strong enough? what triggers counseling? how do i determine whether somebody should have counseling and that be a part of, say, keeping them on? i know you don't have a lot of the -- a lot to do with the final say. >> thank you, ranking member. the short answer is it depends on the case and the nature of the offense. -- each onese was of those cases has to be evaluat

mr. cummings, for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. let me try to understand, mr. sullivan. there are 14 open cases, is that right? >> that's not 100% accurate. mr. cummings, we have 14 cases pending at the agency in which we have already submitted the report of investigation. we have many, many more in the pipeline that we have not yet written a report of investigation. so we have approximately 90 pending misconduct cases right now. >> okay. and the reason why i ask that is because i said to myself, now, you talked about the agents that are available to investigate, and i was saying to myself, 14 cases, i know it takes a lot of manpower, but so you have about 90 cases you're actually involved in? >> yes, mr. cummings, but we also have in excess of 150 additional cases, 97 fraud cases, contracting grand fraud, plus a number of threat investigations, a number of theft investigations, some assault investigations. so it runs a spectrum. but for the misconduct, we have currently 90 pending cases. 14 of which have already been presented to the agency and we're awaiting

mr. cummings. sometimes he and i disagree, but rarely, but his line of questioning, mr. neffenger, i'm not here just to bust your chops. but his line of questioning was from the other side of the aisle, and it -- what we heard raised great questions and it was documented by staff, the amounts of money that were used to pay to transfer people in retribution, it was -- it was -- and then the other thing too, sometimes -- i think -- i was telling the chairman, i think you're a good guy. i think you were a good guy to be sent in to clean up the mess. but sometimes the leader is fed mushrooms and kept in the dark. i'll put that as politely as we can. and mr. cummings described to you what we heard is going on that you're being fed this information by these people who are protecting their rear ends. i'm trying to put this in terms that can be transmitted on c-span, the family community. but, again, this is our concern. i help create tsa. i'll never forget mr. mineta and i went out and we, i think it was, like, we had a goal of 20 or 30 minutes from curb to the gate. that was o

mr. cummings s?ked him the question >> i can say whatever i wanted to say in my opening statement. >> just be fair about it. you can say what you want. >> i wanted to know if he was here. >> mr. rhodes is not here. i would also note that the democrats were free and usually almost always invited democratic witness but there is no democratic witness because you did not invite one. >> you know for fact that we got less than the notice is required in the rules and did not object and went on with the hearing. you know that. >> i disagree with the timing issue. >> you gave us the required time. >> yes. >> i disagree. >> we will sort that out. we have a good working relationship. >> parliamentary inquiry. does the executive privilege applied to media interviews or appearances before congress? >> i do not know the full answer but i believe they are free to talk to whoever they want to in the media but they did claim executive privilege. >> is that a yes or no, does that apply when you are being interviewed b

mr. cummings.epresentative cummings: today of threehe testimony employees from the transportation security administration who allege a series of abuses and improper practices within that agency. whistleblowers are essential to identifying ways based on the work conducted by this committee today protect employees who bring wrongdoing to light. i know chairman and i share a strong commitment to ensuring that federal employees who come before us are protected from retaliation and reprisal. equally important, we as members of the committee also have an obligation to run these allegations to the ground and determine if we can substantiate them. of course just as we want to protect whistle blowers from retaliation, i'm sure we all agree that we also want to protect federal employees from claim s that are not substantiated. all three of these men who have stepped forward today for their willingness to testify and for the information that they provided in the transcribed interviews with the committee staff

mr. cummings and mr. connolly and mr. meadows for other work. a lot of work on the site to coordinate efforts appear. i'm very pleased to see the same thing happening down there. we have postmaster general along with the national association of letter carriers, rural carriers, clerks, supervisors and then the prc as well as the mailing community and the gao, and vector generals, everybody on the same page. it troubles me that we can't move the ball forward. i want to focus on one key aspect and that is the coordination of benefits between between -- i hate these acronyms, but the better health plan and medicare. postmaster general brennan, the situation we have right now has notified the chairman and the chairman deserves a lot of credit because he has the one that has brought us all together with the ranking member and have us all together and has been completely and angrily we do a lot of work appeared in this effort has been really bipartisan. this is the way this works right now, the postal service is the second-largest contributor to medica

mr. cummings. elijah cummings: thank you very much, chairman. mr. hannah, you were dick cheney's top national security advisor, is that right? john hannah: yes, sir, from 2005 to 2009. elijah cummings: and your office was ground zero in the bush administration's marketing campaign to sell the iraq war to the american people, is that a fair statement? john hannah: no, i don't think it is. as you said, we played an important role in making the first draft of secretary powell's speech to the united nations. that was certainly true, but we... elijah cummings: ok, so you were -- you did -- you were involved in making the first draft, is that right? john hannah: yes, that's correct. elijah cummings: is this pretty much the draft that he presented to the united nations? i mean, i knowhe first draft usually goes through many more drafts, but... john hannah: sure, sure. it -- i thought there were some similarities in it. if you actually hear some of secretary powell's pele tell the story now, they say my draft was filled with inaccurate intelligence reports.

mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. hannah, you were dick cheney's top national security adviser, is that right? >> yes, sir. from 2005 to 2009. >> and your office was ground zero in the bush administration's marketing campaign to sell the iraq war to the american people, is that a fair statement? >> no, i don't think it is. as you said, we played an important role in making the first draft of secretary powell's speech to the united nations. that was certainly true. >> okay. so you were -- you were involved in making the first draft, is that right? >> yes, that's correct. >> is this pretty much the draft that he presented to the united nations? i know first draft usually goes through many more drafts. >> sure, sure. i thought there were some similarities in it. if you actually hear some of secretary powell's people tell the story now, they say my draft was filled with inaccurate intelligence reports, reports that couldn't be supported by the intelligence community, so at the end of the day, they threw out my draft. secr

mr. cummings. mr. cummings: thank you. forink all are witnesses being here today.very surprised and shocked that you would invite john hannah to testify before committee as an expert witness. on the subject of false white house narratives. mr. hanna was vice president dick cheney's top national security advisor in the white house. helped prepare colinary of state powell's infamous state -- speech to the u.n., a speech that secretary powell has called a permit blot on his record. mr. hanna was identified by the as hisational congress "principle point of contact" in the vice president's office. were provided reams of false information about weapons of mass destruction. heworked with scooter libb who was convicted after the bush administration leaked the identity of a covert cia agent valerie plame. her husband, ambassador joe wilson had publicly debunked the administration's false claims about the iraqi nuclear program. libbyas the same scooter who told the f

mr. cummings.life in southeast, paul wagner, fox5 locals. > tonight, questions remains about a deadly police chase mucc the instance kent happened atat winchester back in much ma. it's marked several protestors. he shot himself, but the familyi isn't buying story. a bullet was found just two feet from the body. today we spoke with the mother, jacqueline by phone.phon she's frustrated with the speed of the investigation.nve >> i don't know of anything of criminally was done, but i doas know that that d incident was nt investigating everything that is possible that could have happened. basically they didn't chec told to them and still came away with a different story two months later. his mother last saw her son about two weeks before he died. she said he did not show any signs of being suicidal.icid > one of the victims of the two day shooting spree was laid too rest today. they spread their goodbyes at the saint screwed. morales was shot and killed at a grocery store. eulalio tordil faces charges f

mr. cummings. sometimes he and i disagree, but his line of questions, i am not here just to buster jobs, but his line of questioning was from the other side of the aisle. what we heard raised great questions and was documented by staff. the amounts of money that were used to pay to transfer people in retribution, and then the other thing is, i was telling the chairman, i think you are good guy. you are good guide to be sent in to clean up the mess, but sometimes a leader is best as mushrooms, kept in the dark. what we heard is going on, you are being fed this information by these people who are protecting their rear ends. i'm trying to put this in terms that can be presented on c-span. again, this is our concern. i am not going to forget. we had a call of 20 or 30 minutes from curb to gate. that is when it was under the transportation committee, and we went out and did a thing. and it can be done. they do not have to hassle 95 percent of the people. we're supposed to be looking for the ones who are

mr. cummings -- i think mr. lynch -- let me yield to mr. lynch. >> very briefly. think there is a wonderful opportunity with the postal service and the census walking the streets already. there is a way to maximize the expertise the postal service has. i want to push back a little again. i cited the oxford report saying the united states postal service is the best in the world. one of my colleagues said we were the worst in the world. i think the best judge is the customer, the american citizens. the pew research center polled americans about their government. the people of the united states said the most trusted government employees in the united states today is the united states postal worker. that is a tribute to you, postmaster general, and also to the unions and the people who do the work every single day. i want to say that they rank you at 84%. you were the highest of any government employees. congress was also on that study. we were around 6%, between swine flu and the taliban. >> this committee competes with zika. >> amen to that. we are a member of a bod

mr. cummings. like for myself i've been a federal enforcement officer my entire adult life and i've worked for the f.b.i., secret service and federal air marshals. for those agencies you have to immediately report an arrest and certainly ab conviction whether you are carrying a gun or civilian employee. you have to report. so i was a little surprised when i came to e.p.a. and i learned that the e.p.a. rank and file did not have to do that. i've accepted that as that's the rules but i was a little curious as to why you just for the sake of knowing for a few if you put trust and confidence in a particular employee it may affect your judgment or your decision making if you knew the person was just convict of say theft or embezzlement in a private life. >> tell me this. the -- we were just talking about a case where somebody received counseling some kind of counseling. when you look at the counseling situation there at e.p.a., do you think it's helpful? i mean, do you think it's strong enough? do you t

mr. cummings. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. cummings: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. chairman, i strongly oppose this bill which would repeal the district of columbia's local budget autonomy act, and prohibit d.c. from passing such laws in the future. i do not believe there is a member of congress who would stand for the federal government dictating the local budget of a city in his or her district and d.c. should be treated no differently. granting d.c. local budget autonomy is not only the right thing to do, it would also have significant financial benefits for the district, such as lowering borrowing costs. it would also mean an end to the threat of a cutoff of d.c. municipal services in the event of a federal government shutdown. i also want to express my disappointment that some members have threatened jail for d.c. employees who implement the autonomy act. the threat is backwards. the only court ruling in effect district w upheld all employees to implement it. house republicans have taken a regrettable turn in th

mr. cummin cummings. and as we wrap up, i think mr. lynch, did you have -- let me yield to mr. lynch. >> very briefly. and i think there's a wonderful opportunity there with the postal service and the census. we're walking those streets already. so there's a way to, i think, maximize the skills and the expertise that the postal service has. i do want to push back a little bit again. you know, i cited the oxford report that said the united states postal service was the best in the world. and one of my colleagues indicated his belief that i haven't seen the study, but that we were the worst in the world. i think that the best -- the best judge of this is actually the customer is the american citizens. you know, the pew research center polled americans about their government. and i think mr. boyle brought this up. but the people of the united states in that poll said that the most trusted government employees in the united states today is the united states postal worker. and that's a tribute to you, postmaster general, and also to the unions and to the people who do that work ever

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 at garrett. garrett waved back and held up a small mint for the boy to have. the

mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. there have been a few times that in my 20 years on this committee i have felt so strongly about an individual. administrator neffenger is a person who i have a phenomenal amount of respect for. when i was the when i was the chairman of the subcommittee on the coast guard and maritime matters, it was mr. neffenger, admiral neffenger, who cleaned up a mess called deepwater horizon. where the coast guard was buying ships that didn't float, radar systems that were supposed to have surveillance of 360 degrees with 180 degrees, radios that when they got wet they didn't work. he cleaned up the mess. and saved this country and the coast guard probably hundreds of millions of dollars and sir, no matter what happens in this hearing, i if ythank you. i really do. last month our committee heard testimony from three transportation security administration employees. they raised troubling allegations about personnel practices that stretched back several years in some cases. the employees who came fo

mr. cummings, setting forth the ieg -- >> it has been submitted into the record and mr. courtney, i appreciate your commitment on this issue. the director has agreed within a week's time to give us all of the letters and correspondence she has had making the request because the statute is clear, once the secretary receives that. it says the secretary shall, and i think another hearing would be most appropriate and hope you can join us for that. >> thank you. >> gentleman's time is expired. director, we thank you for your being with us here today. the committee will stand in recess until 12:30 and then we'll convene the second panel. we stand in recess. thank you. >>> ohio governor kasich plans to suspend his campaign, making donald trump the presumptive nominee. three campaign who spoke to associated press says he plans to announce his decision in ohio. c-span plans to have live coverage at 5:00 eastern, a day after ted cruz dropped hi presidential bid. >>> we return to the how overside hearing on immigration and crime. parents of two young women who were killed call for

mr. cummings ask him the questions? he will have a chance to ask mr. hannah whatever he wants to ask him. we don't have a chance to ask mr. rhodes the questions we want to ask because he didn't bother to show up. mr. hannah did. >> while the chairman yield? >> yes. >> i can say whatever i want to say in my opening statement yes you can. of the just be fair. that is my point. deirdre: there are investigations into the white house's message and question of the administration misleading the american public about the iran nuclear deal. welcome to "risk & reward." i'm deirdre bolton. we'll bring you more details on that in just a minute. first a broad-based market selloff. the dow fell to more than a seven-week low. it closed off the lows, still down triple digits. fox business's lori rothman with me from the floor of the new york stock exchange. lori, you saw a lot of action this afternoon. reporter: yeah a lot of trouble. on the 224th birthday of the new york stock exchange building as a matter of fact. what was the gift? a sharp selloff. there is the dow

mr. cummings, for his opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. let me, first of all, start off by expressing how very sorry i am for the families of casey chadwick, sarah root and marilyn ferris. the crimes that were committed against them were brutal and bar bieric, and they -- barbaric, and their lives were stolen away from them all so soon. their lives were stolen away from them, their parents, their friends and relatives. and so to mr. root, mr. hartling, i want to thank you for being with us today. i thank you for something else though. i thank you for taking your grief and turning it into a passion to make sure that it does not happen to anybody else. i really appreciate that. thank you. i know how painful it must be to relive these nightmares, especially before a congressional committee. and when i read your testimony, mr. root, i gotta tell ya, you said over and over again a parent should never have to do this. identifying a child who has been harmed and murdered. so only you can truly know what losses mean to your families. i also lost a

mr. cummings for five minutes. >> i've always been concerned about making sure that we save as much money as possible at the same time was hoping we could find ways to bring in more money. >> so do you agree that in order to be financially viability, long term it's important to develop innovative products and services? >> we do support the continued ability to be innovative and development products and resources that people need. the challenge is finding that sweet spot to be profitable, but you don't want them to be able to compete unfair ly. >> so you end up in a no spot? >> it's kind of heart. on the one hand we want them to bring in more money, but then we tie their hands and shackle their feet, saying we don't want you to do this and that. what do you recommend they do? >> i'd like to hear what you all have to say. it's very from you traiting for the postal service and for us. enchts i would say the first -- >> i'm talking about things that will be profitable. i don't want anything that's not profitable, so let's take that off the table. we're talking about profitable things. >> the

mr. cummings ask him the questions? he will have a chance to ask mr.ever he wants to ask him. we don h

mr. cummings. sometimes he and i disagree, but rarely, but his line of questioning, mr. peter neffenger, his line of questioning was from the other side of the aisle. we heard the questions and it was documented by staff, the amounts of money that were used to pay and transfer people in retribution. the other thing to is, sometimes i was telling the chairman, i think you are a good guy. i think you are a good guy to clean up the mess, but sometimes the leader is fed mushrooms and kept in the dark. i will put that as politely as we can. mr. cummings describe to you what we heard is going on, that you are being fed this information by these people who are protecting their rear end. i'm trying to put this in terms that can be transmitted on c-span and the family community, but again, this is our concern. i helped create tsa. i'll never forget mr. minetta and i went out and we had a goal of 20 or 30 minutes from curb to the gate. that's when it was under the transportation committee. we actually went out and did it. it can be done. we don't have to hassle the 99% of the peop

mr. cummings. >> thank you for your testimony. i just think we have to get this done. we can go around in a circle forever and never can be in the same place 10 years from now. i want to take all of you for coming to the table. but i'm interested in what the chairman said about government to government. do you see that growing or going postmaster general? >> sir, i do see opportunity. >> how would we get there? >> weightman dave support from you in the chairman on that, but some of the outreach effort we've had with the agencies as a starting point for change our infrastructure. rather than go if the tsa pre-verification or frequent buyers are there's an opportunity for us to handle some work as well. >> mr. channing, if i may, one of the key pieces of the postal service is going to go down this road is also defined in associated with that. that goes to the larger issue of what is that we want the government institution to do. but the house on fire financially, we need to put that out and legislative progress does not lend itself to get to first principles. if there's

mr. elijah cummings in the record. i do not object to that being in the record only stai. irs commissioner without any provisions as to what had should be attached to the entire statement he has a chance to be here. he's not. the chair will ask if there's -- if there's objection to the unanimous consent request of the gentleman of michigan to place ranking member cummings statement in the record. being none that will be made art part of record. there's objection heard regarding placing the statement of commissioner in the record and therefore it will not be placed in the record. if there are further discussions regarding under what concerns it might be made a part of the record. the chair will be happy to entertain that and any time to, of course, the hearing. but at this point objection is hearing and not be used as part of the record. j gentleman may continue with opening statement. >> thank you. >> in the history of our republic, the house of representatives have votessed to impeach a federal official only 19 times. >> i have hon noser having served on this committee to

mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i thank all our witnesses for being here today. mr. chairman, i'm sitting here today, i'm surprised, very surprised and shocked that you would invite john hannah to testify before our committee as an expert witness. particularly on the subject of false white house narratives. mr. hannah was vice president dick cheney's top national security adviser in the white house. he personally, personally helped prepare secretary of state colin powell's infamous speech to the united nations in the run-up to the iraq war. a speech that secretary powell has called a permanent blot on his record. mr. hannah was identified by the iraqi national congress as is, quote, principle point of contact, end of quote, in the vice president's office. the inc was an organization that supplied our nation with reams, with reams of false information about weapons of mass destruction. mr. hannah worked directly for scooter libby, who was convicted after the bush administration leaked the identity of a covert cia agent, valerie plame. her husband, ambassador joe wilso

mr. cummings. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. mr.irman i do thank you for holding today's hearing examining employee misconduct at the environmental protection agency. this is the third hearing of our committee has held on this topic. this congress and i am encouraged that the epa's response to allegations of employee misconduct has vastly improved. i like you want it to be effective and efficient. i do not want to constantly hold hearings and hear about be 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 responses to misconduct cases have taken far too long. at the committee's hearing in april 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. i did that again so we could be effective and efficient to get things done as opposed to going around in a circle. i also directed my staff to work directly with epa a

mr. cummings. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for holding today's hearing examining employee conduct at the environmental protection agency. am encouraged by th eee epa's response. it has vastly improved. i like you, want to be effective and efficient. i do want to constantly hold hearings and hear about these problems. at some point, we should be able to get them resolved. employ misconduct is rare. but as this committee has seen , cases have taken far too long. the committee's hearing in april 2015, a little over a year ago. i asked the epa and the ig to work together to improve quarter nation in employee -- improve coordination in employee misconduct matter so we could be effective and efficient in getting things done, as opposed to going around in a circle. i directed my staff to work directly with the epa and ig to help develop new protocols to improve disciplinary processes. as a result, the epa and the ig are coordinating their efforts, as they never did before. but as i often say, we can always do better. they a

mr. cummings. been a law enforcement officer my entire life. i've worked for, you absolutely have to immediately report an arrest and a conviction. i was surprised to learn that he epa employees did not have to do that. i've accepted that as that's the ules, but i was a little curious as to why just for the sake of knowing if you put trust and confidence in a particular employee, it may affect your judgment or decision making if person was just convicted of, say, theft or in their private life. triggers counseling? how do i determine whether should have counseling and would that be a part of keeping them on? you don't have a lot to do with the final say. >> thank you, ranking member. it depends. the short answer is it depends on the case and what the nature is.he offense if it was an offense created out the employee r just didn't know what the rule was, it may be appropriate but evaluated on its own merit. is running out but where wean asked about go from here. ell me clearly, what would you like to see done so that we can be effective and effi

mr. cummings has equal time, as well. let me go to administrator mccarthy. and copper rule requires you by law to updated every six years, but you did not do that, correct? ms. mccarthy: they required us to review it. >> you don't believe it is required under law to updated? ms. mccarthy: there are many laws -- >> you are just supposed to look at it? ms. mccarthy: we are actively looking at this rule. we wanted to add substantive revision to it. do what the last administration did, just we get a bit? rep. chaffetz: this has been more than seven years now. your own words, you would have this new rule out in 2013, correct? ms. mccarthy: i am really not aware of that, sir. the schedule i am aware of is the 2017 schedule. rep. chaffetz: you mean 2018? that is what we heard in testimony. ms. mccarthy: it would be out in 2018. rep. chaffetz: this is what is so frustrating. we have an expert like market edwards come on tell us, and there is so much confusion. is there confusion about the lead and copper will? ms. mccarthy: i do believe it can be strengthened. rep.

mr. cummings. >> not try to get rid of you. but you understand what i'm saying. >> thank you survivorship that. i'm concerned alumni have an investigation and because i don't have enough special agent to expeditiously investigate allegations, we eventually get to them, but the old saying justice delayed is justice denied. i'm very concerned that i do have enough agents to adequately and immediately address some of these allegations. that is why so many cases in the pipeline. if you do the math, my average, mark responsibility, which is my -- they average 9.5 cases each. the agents in the field average approximately 70 to the spirit a lot of those cases in the field are multimillion dollar fraud investigations that are very involved. i simply do not enough agents to expeditiously investigate every cute that i have my plate -- case that i have a market. >> will you continue to work to come up with solutions to the problems? you have a wonderful. we continue to that surgical >> ? >> absolute. it is better -- beneficial to myself a

mr. cummings' staff and 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 educatehe 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

mr. cummings, for his opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. let me first of all start off by expressing how very sorry i am for the families of casey chadwick, sarah root, and marilyn ferris. the crimes that were committed against them were brutal and barbaric. and their lives were stolen away from them all too soon. but not only were their lives stolen away from them, their lives were stolen away from their parents and their friends and relatives. and so to mr. root, mrs. heartling i want to thank you for being with us today. i thank you for something else, though. i thank you for taking your grief and turning it into a passion to make sure that it does not happen to anybody else. i really appreciate that. thank you. i know how painful it must be to relive these nightmares. especially before a congressional committee. when i read your testimony, mr. root, i got to tell you, you said over and over again, a parent should never have to do this. identifying a child who has been harmed and murdered. so only you can truly know what losses mean to y

mr. cummings setting for the ig -- >> is already been submitted. mr. korda, i appreciate your commitment on this issue. the director has agreed within a weeks time to give all the letters and correspondence she is at the state department making his request. the statute is clear. want the sector receives that it says the secretary shall. we will be fascinated and i think you're right, another hearing would be most appropriate i do hope you can join us for that. the gentleman's time has expired. director, we thank you for your being with us or today. the committee will stand in recess until 12:30 p.m. and then we will convene the second panel. we stand in recess. thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> today, voice of america director delivers keynote remarks at the leadership forum hosted by the usc annenberg center. this is her first major public appearance since being sworn in as the new director. live coverage at 12:10 p.m. eastern here on c-span2.

mr. cummings. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. there have been few times that in my 20 years on this committee that i have felt so strongly about an individual. administrator neffenger is a person who i have a phenomenal amount of respect for. when i was the chairman of the subcommittee on the coast guard and maritime matters, it was mr. neffenger, admiral neffenger who cleaned up a mess called deepwater horizon where the coast guard was buying ships that didn't float. radar systems that were supposed to have surveillance of 360 degrees with 180 degrees, radios that when they got wet, they didn't work. he cleaned up the mess and saved this country and the coast guard probably hundreds of millions of dollars. and, sir, no matter what happens in this hearing, i thank you. i really do. last month our committee heard testimony from three transportation security administration employees. they raised troubling allegations about personnel practices that stretched back several years in some cases. the employees who came forward deserve to

mr. duffy cummings moreno mr. walton ms. wynns pr president haney that is 4 i's. >> that's 5 i's thank you. >> thank you ms. casco. >> and now we will entertain a report if rules committee on one six 4 dash a for the 2016. >> the committee recommends that the board send a positive recommendation and adopt this resolution. >> thank you dr. murase are you reading the resolution into the record. >> yes. >> in support of safeties for all act of 2016 authored by myself and commissioner mendoza-mcdonnell and vice president walton whereas more than a one hundred and 17 thousand americans were killed or injured by guns in 2013 including 7 thousand plus children and 8 thousand plus californian and whereas they've been one hundred and 60 school shootings in the united states since the sandy hook elementary school attack in 2012 whereas a california is a leader in adapting effective and common sense gun safety laws to improve public safety but the state has polls in the law that allow too many dangerous individuals to commitment acts o

mr. cummings s?ked him the question >> i can say whatever i wanted to say in my opening statement. >> just be fair about it. you can say what you want. >> i wanted to know if he was here. >> mr. rhodes is not here. i would also note that the democrats were free and usually almost always invited democratic witness but there is no democratic witness because you did not invite one. >> you know for fact that we got less than the notice is required in the rules and did not object and went on with the hearing. you know that. >> i disagree with the timing issue. >> you gave us the required time. >> yes. >> i disagree. >> we will sort that out. we have a good working relationship. >> parliamentary inquiry. does the executive privilege applied to media interviews or appearances before congress? >> i do not know the full answer but i believe they are free to talk to whoever they want to in the media but they did claim executive privilege. >> is that a yes or no, does that apply when you are being interviewed b