mr. moran: thank you, madam chairman. i thank my very good friend, the distinguished ranking member of the committee for yielding me the time. to rise in strong opposition to an extension of the current pay freeze for federal employees. this legislation is a cynical attempt to tap into misguided resentment fostered by the far right against the federal government and the two million men and women who serve our nation as civil servants. of those two million let me point out to my colleagues nearly two out of three civil servants work for the department of defense, department of homeland security, the department of veterans affairs, and department of justice. in other words, two out of three federal employees work in jobs related to our national security, at home and abroad, or caring for our veterans. every one of those employees now seems to be the target of this body's misguided anger. that's wrong. most of our federal employees work for the defense department to enhance our security. works to ensure nuclear materials are

. -- president moran: motion carries. mr. secretary, if you would call item 12. >> item 12, approval of the minutes. approval of the minutes of the january 10, 2012, regular meeting. president moran: any revisions or corrections to the minutes? could i have a motion? to go so move. >> second. -- >> so moved. president moran: all those in favor? motion carries. >> item 13, public comment. this opportunity is members of the public may address the commission on matters that are within the commission's jurisdiction that are not on today's agenda. i have no speaker cards so far. president moran: mr. acodecosta , welcome. >> happy new year. i think 2012 is going to be a very challenging year and a good way. i am here to talk about the san francisco redevelopment agency, and at some of the changes that are being fostered. not because the city needs it, but because the state demands that somebody take charge of the assets and a one ever has been grandfathered in. so they have to do it rather quickly. after the martin luther king holid

mr. moran: i do. the speaker pro tempore: is recognized. mr. moran: thank you madam speaker. madam speaker, the house leadership is still scrambling to find the votes to pass what everyone is coming to recognize is the worst transportation authorization bill in this nation's history. with gasoline prices approaching $4 a gallon, house republicans are falling back on their wrong-headed 2008 campaign slogan of drill, baby drill. it's a cynical ploy and assumes americans think the pain of high gasoline prices is justifiable grounds to open restricted areas for drilling and weaken protection that is would ensure offshore drilling is done in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. the cold reality however, is that this bill will not bring relief to americans suffering at the gasoline pump, and prosperous fishing and tourism industries, real job creators based in bristol bay, southern california the west coast of florida, and virginia, will needlessly be placed at risk. and for what? approximately $1.8 billion in new federal revenue over 10 years. not nearly enough to fund p

mr. moran: thank you, madam chairman. i thank my very good friend, the distinguished ranking member of the committee for yielding me the time. to rise in strong opposition to an extension of the current pay freeze for federal employees. this legislation is a cynical attempt to tap into misguided resentment fostered by the far right against the federal government and the two million men and women who serve our nation as civil servants. of those two million let me point out to my colleagues nearly two out of three civil servants work for the department of defense, department of homeland security, the department of veterans affairs, and department of justice. in other words, two out of three federal employees work in jobs related to our national security, at home and abroad, or caring for our veterans. every one of those employees now seems to be the target of this body's misguided anger. that's wrong. most of our federal employees work for the defense department to enhance our security. works to ensure nuclear materials are

mr. moran, welcome back. i want to ask you about another cbo report. 8.9% unemployment by the end of the year and only 2% growth for the whole year and another year of trillion dollar deficits. now, look, president obama hardly mentioned any of this stuff at all in his state of the union, and i do want to be fair because i don't think that the republicans have really burned up the roads on coming forward with solutions for getting stuff done. the country is so unease they we're on the verge of bankruptcy, senator moran. what's going to happen here? >> well, absolutely, the state of the union, in my view, thea, dress failed to feature the greatest problem in our country and it's related to job, and i think republicans and others have had difficulty in tying the deficit and its consequences to job creation and the ability for people to feel secure economically in this country, and the reality is as long as we have this major deficit looming over the economy, no person, no businessman or woman, no farmer or ranc

hoyer: i yield one minute to the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for one minute. mr. moran: thank you madam speaker. i thank my good friend from maryland. i appreciate the work of the conferees. but i oppose this conference agreement not out of concern for the welfare of the tens of thousands of federal employees that i represent, but out of concern for the welfare of the great nation we serve. we are blessed with the least corrupt, most effective least discriminatory, most responsive federal work force in the world. and yet how do we repay them? we are requiring them to increase their pension contributions by 400% with no increase in benefits. so we are sending them a signal. so i will really appreciate what you are doing. you are expendable. it's a signal that will not be lost on the recruits that we desperately need in the few -- future. let alone the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who could easily be making much more in the private sector. the whole country's going t

moran? >> aye. >> senator lieberman? >> no. >> mr. chairman, on the vote of those present, the ayes are two, the nays are six. >> can i ask the clerk to go back to the senators we passed. >> senator landrieu. >> yes by proxy. >> senator mccaskill. >> no by proxy. >> and senator brown has just appeared so rather than his voting by proxy -- >> senator brown? okay. mr. chairman, on the vote of those present the ayes are two, the nays are seven. on the vote by proxy the ayes are four, the nays are four. on this vote, the ayes are six, the nays are ten and the amendment is notgr >> all right. i thank the clerk. thank you senator paul. senator pryor? >> i think that senator landrieu wanted to be noted that she based her vote on the napoleonic code. listen, this amendment should be noncontroversial. i think we haven't passed an amendment yet so maybe this will be the first one. >> we passed one. >> we passed one? >> noncontroversial. >> there we go. i would like to, at the appropriate time, ask that senator mccaskill and senator landrieu be

hoyer: i yield one minu to the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for one minute. mr. moran: thank you madam speaker. i thank my good friend from maryland. i appreciate the work of the conferees. but i oppose this conference agreement not out of concern for the welfare of the tens of thousands of federal employees that i represent, but out of concern for the welfare of the great nation we serve. we are blessed with the least corrupt, most effective least discriminatory, most responsive federal work force in the world. and yet how do we rep them? we are requiring them to increase their pension contributions by 400% with no increase in benefits. so we are sending them a signal. so i will really appreciate what you are doing. you are expendable. it's a signal that will not be lost on the recruits that we desperately need in the few -- future. let alone the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who could easily bmaking much more in the private sector. the whole country's going to pa

senator moran, do you have any other amendments? >> i have no other amendments, mr. chairman. thank you. >> okay. so now i just think about who is here. senator levin i believe has passed. we'll go to senator akaka for another amendment at this time. >> thank you very much. >> senator akaka? which one would you like to call up at this time?ff akaka 5. >> akaka number 5. >> this amendment on medicare. >> okay. >> i would like to come back to workers compensation at another time, but not now. so i would like to turn to health care. >> okay. >> and my amendment is to strike the provisions requiring postal retirees to enroll in medicare parts a and b. if they are eligible. and replacing their current health benefit plan with not a not yet negotiated plan. i understand that the postal service estimates it will save $15 billion from these provisions. but as far as i know, they haven't provided anything to support that particular claim. opm, which has much more extensive health benefits, does not believe this will save the postal service money. rather opm believes this will impose co

hoyer: i yield one minute to the gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for one minute. mr. moran: thank you madam speaker. i thank my good friend from maryland. i appreciate the work of the conferees. but i oppose this conference agreement not out of concern for the welfare of the tens of thousands of federal employees that i represent, but out of concern for the welfare of the great nation we serve. we are blessed with the least corrupt, most effective least discriminatory, most responsive federal work force in the world. and yet how do we repay them? we are requiring them to increase their pension contributions by 400% with no increase in benefits. so we are sending them a signal. so i will really appreciate what you are doing. you are expendable. it's a signal that will not be lost on the recruits that we desperately need in the few -- future. let alone the hundreds of thousands of federal employees who could easily be making much more in the private sector. the whole country's going t

mr. moran: by the end of last year, the private sector was expanding at 4.5% annualized pace. why, then wasn't economic growth in the most recent quarter even better than the 2.8% that the commerce department reported last week? as a reporter with "the new york times" explained, the answer is because the economy is the combination of private and public sectors. the public sector has been shrinking because of cuts in state and local governments and some federal cuts, especially to the military. the fourth quarter government shrank at an an cruel rate of 4.5%. over the last two year the private sector grew at 3.2% while the government shrank at an annual rate of 1.4% and the combined result was economic growth of 2.3%. that's a lot of numbers but the fact is economic growth and employment growth would have been significantly stronger over the last two years without those government cuts and that's why we shouldn't be continuing to discourage federal employment by continuing to freeze their pay as the majority wants to do today and it's why we shouldn't be letting unemployment be

mr. moranre once again to raise a topic about how we raise our youth, how we raise our children in rural america. and i want to talk about just for a few moments about the proposed department of labor child farm labor rules. last week, we had perhaps what would be considered a piece of good news, the department of labor announced that they would withdraw and repropose the parental exemption portion of their proposed child labor rules. i'm worried, however, despite this good news there is still a lot of effect that will occur, a lot of consequences that will occur as a result of the rules that -- the proposed rules that are not being withdrawn and there is no suggestion that they are going to be reproposed. so the thing i want to make clear to my colleagues is that while the department of labor announced that they were going to withdraw a portion of the rules, unfortunately, the majority of what is going to be offensive, difficult, and a challenge for our way of life in rural america remains. la

moran? >> no. >> senator lieberman? >> no. >> mr. chairman on the vote of those present, the ayes are five, the nays are 12. and the amendment is not agreed to. >> okay. senator akaka. you're next. >> thank you, very much, mr. chairman. i want to offer akaka amendment number one, to strike title three regarding governmentwide workers compensation or feca reform. let me tell you why i'm offering this. feca reform should not be done in postal reform. most of the employees affected by this are not postal employees. and the savings expected from these changes would have very little effect on the postal service's deficit. feca has not been reformed in close to 40 years. we need to take a closer look at comprehensive reforms to make shush we get it right and we -- to make sure we get it right and we can include adequate measures to reduce waste. there are complex issues related to the appropriate benefit levels that deserve more analysis before we cut benefits. at a hearing i held in july, witnesses raised serious concerns with reducing fe

moran? >> no. >> senator lieberman? >> no. >> mr. chairman, on the vote of those present, the ayes are five, the nays are eight. on the vote by proxy, the yays are zero, the nays are three. on this vote the ayes are five, the nays are 11. and the amendment is not agreed to. >> i thank the clerk. thank you, senator akaka. of those here, let me indicate that next we'll go to senator johnson and then senator mccaskill. then senator paul, then senator tester, then senator moran and then senator begich. all of whom have amendments pending. senator johnson? >> thank you. i'd like to offer johnson amendment number one and only. i would -- like my colleague from kansas, new to this process, and as i studied the issue, there's pretty -- pretty eye popping charge here that the gao study laid out the deficits of the 30esal service and it's $250 billion and it is a quasi private quasi governmental agency here, but the fact of the matter is if we experience those types of deficits we'll be on the hook for it. or the taxpayers will be on the hook

mr. president? [laughter] >> get up there. >> i am right behind you. president moran: i think we need a bigger room. >> could you get a little bit more closer? >> all right. thank you. thank you. [applause] >> will the main thing is, i am serious. you of made careers for a lot of people who would have never had an opportunity to have careers. >> mr. president, before you all leave, i just want to make a very quick comment. back in 1974, i was the only united farmworkers union members elected to the legislature, and it was because of the laborers' union in los angeles, and all the work you did to help cesar chavez over those years, all the work you have done here in san francisco, my new home town. two years ago, we honored rocco davis, who i have known for 20 years. not only do you provide a tunnel and improvement work in san francisco, but your members helped build over 12 stem cell labs to house scientists that are discovering and researching for cures for the most deadly diseases in our society. itwith laborers who helped to build those facilities. the laborers uni

. >> senator moran. >> mr. chairman, thank you. madam secretary, this is my first opportunity to visit with you since the announcement about the president's budget, and i want to talk about a topic unrelated at least to cybersecurity but certainly related to security. and the chairman just spoke about clear and present danger. one that you and i have had a conversation about over a long period of time is related to our food and animal safety and security in this country, and as you can imagine, can expect, the disappointment that i have, others in our congressional delegation have in regard to the president's failure to include dollars related to construction of thing a grow and bioscience security facility to replace the aging plumb island, we have had a number of conversations and i will live within my six minutes today to talk about this nongermane topic. but i will have a greater chance to visit in the homeland security appropriations hearing in which you and i will be together in just a few days. but i would not want this oppo

commissioner moran: thank you, and there are ongoing discussions about programming that space and changes that need to be made. ok, thank you. mr. secretary, if you would call item 17. >> item 17, rates policy. public hearing to consider possible action to adopt the proposed san francisco public utilities commission rates policy. commissioner moran: commissioners, this is something we have talked about a couple of times. it was before us in i think exactly the same form a couple of meetings ago. this is really a perspective policy. it will apply to the next time we do this, which will be in two years. so we have time to see how it fits and if we change direction, we can do that. i think there is value in setting that direction today. one thing i would ask staff to do is kind of reflect on if we were looking at the budget we just adopted, through the lens of that policy, how would we have done? >> mr. president, actually, we did ask that question. we looked at the proposed policy. we look at our proposed budget, and looking through the lens, we think that the policy -- the budget reflects the policy. we are going to have to refi

commissioner moran: thank you, and there are ongoing discussions about programming that space and changes that need to be made. ok, thank you. mrsecretary, if you would call item 17. >> item 17, rates policy. public hearing to consider possible action to adopt the proposed san francisco public utilities commission rates policy. commissioner moran: commissioner moran: commissioners, this is something

. >> senator moran. >> mr. chairman, thank you. madam secretary, this is my first opportunity to visit with you since the announcement about the president's budget, and i want to talk about a topic unrelated at least to cybersecurity but certainly related to security. and the chairman just spoke about clear and present danger. one that you and i have had a conversation about over a long period of time is related to our food and animal safety and security in this country, and as you can imagine, can expect, the disappointment that i have, others in our congressional delegation have in regard to the president's failure to include dollars related to construction of thing a grow and bioscience security facility to replace the aging plumb island, we have had a number of conversations and i will live within my six minutes today to talk about this nongermane topic. but i will have a greater chance to visit in the homeland security appropriations hearing in which you and i will be together in just a few days. but i would not want this oppo

senator moran. >> mr. chairman, thank you., this is my first opportunity to vet with you since -- to visit with you since the announcement of the president's budget, and i want to talk about a topic unrelated at least to cybersecurity but certainly related to security. and the chairman just spoke about clear and present danger. one that you and i have had a conversation about over a long period of time is related to our food and animal safety and security in this country. and as you can imagine, can expect the disappointment that i have, others in our congressional delegn

moran: motion carries. other new business? no other new business. this meeting stands adjourned at 4:00. >> so good morning and welcome mr. mayor, mr. council general. everybody. it's great to see such a great crowd here for what for us is an extremely important event. my name is ed reiskin. i'm the transportation director here in san francisco and very pleased to welcome you all here this morning for what we expect will be a very lively and productive couple of days here in san francisco. the san francisco m.t.a. is the agency that's charged with implementing the city's transit first policy, which is about getting people out of their cars and into more sustainable modes of transportation, such as bikes, such as walking and transit in our great muni system. as someone who myself gets around the city often by bike, and i do that by choice, but more importantly, i'm given the charge of our agency to get folks out oaf their cars. i can't tell you how exciting it is for me to think all of the brain power and enthusiasm for cycling that's in this room are going to spend the next two days working with us to help us figure out how we can d

moran: we have the minutes of january 12 in january 24 in front of us. any public comment on the minutes? seeing none, all those in favor? the motion carries. mr. secretary, would you call public comment? >> general public comment. members of the public might address the commission on matters that are within the commission's jurisdiction, but not on today's agenda. we have no speaker cards. president moran: i believe you have a couple at the rail. >> sorry. i did not see you. president moran: welcome. >> happy birthday. i do not know the number. i would not dare to say. but from all of us. [applause] >> [inaudible] [laughter] think you very much. as the knowledge jackson -- esp inola jackson. it is a pleasure to be here today. i have a package for you, mr. courtney. you can make sure the rest of the commissioners have it. this is something that goes back to 1976. also in that packet -- i cannot talk about it now, but i have my budget in there. you can take it off line and give me my budget. i want to thank you. i have been talking with the staff. i would like you to know that everything is going to be working out with the southeast sewage plant

moran. for the information for members, the order of arrival today now senator landrieu, pryor, brown, carper, 11, johnson. let's go to senator pryor. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for this very important meeting took always good to see you, madam secretary. let me start, if i may, madam secretary, with a question about, i think you've pretty much said that you feel like we need a statute, but i'm curious about what specific authority you think your agency or the federal government does not have in this area that you need. what specific authority to you feel like you need to accomplish what you need to do here? >> i think the specific authorities that the statute contains, most important is the ability to bring all of the nation's critical infrastructure up to a certain base standard of security. and to outline the process with which that will occur. >> and let me ask you on a little different topic. i know that in reading some of the new stores, trade publications, et cetera, the private sector seems to have hesitation about sharing too much information and understandably so. they may fear that a competitor will get it, or it may create lia