mr. norton. >> i want to say that unfortunately i think most of this hearing would have bored the american people, because they're looking to see what -- where's the meat? the meat was in the solution. except for questions on our side, there was no hint there was a solution. it was about he said, she said. and 2009, it's just the kind of thing that makes people wonder where they're going. i want to thank the attorney general for these regulations he's issued. the only thing that begins to be a solution is not a statute that is compelled by the gun trafficking we saw here. the reason that the -- that phoenix and that the atf used these tactics is because the u.s. attorney can only bring -- can only prosecute paper violations, whether or not you filled out the paper whether you brought 1,000 guns, 2,000 guns. no u.s. attorney in his right mind would pursue such a matter. the majority in this house has voted down gun trafficking law and left the atf even after the killing of an atf agent with no remedy for what began under the bush administration and continued under this administration. what

norton: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five lem slative days to revise and extend their remarks on h.r. 1734 and include extraneous remarks within the record. the chair: without objection. ms. norton: i rise in opposition to h.r. 1734, the civilian property realignment act. both democrats and republicans agree that we need a system to dispose of and consolidate excess federal property. i have worked diligently with the chairman for such a bill for most of this year. however, the bill before us does not refrequent the bipartisan compromise i agreed to. moreover, i have just learned that the president also opposes the bill and apparently it does not even reflect a compromise among republicans. i opposed the bill, this bill, in the transportation and infrastructure committee and it passed on a party line vote. the bill before us today is essentially the same bill that i opposed at the transportation and infrastructure committee markup. shortly after that markup, the oversi

norton: i rise to strike the last word, mr. speaker. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for five minutes. ms. norton: mr. speaker, we have here one for the books. the democrats offer a 100% private sector solution to the most costly health program affecting the congress -- a crisis affecting the congress, and republicans want to repeal it. this is going to go down in history. the obama administration is a victim of its own honesty. it took the class act into the health care bill knowing that we can't do without it. and then it looked carefully at the cost factors and it did the right thing. it informed the congress that it was suspending implementation of the class act. it certainly will not repeal it or ask for its repeal, nor should we. and here's why. the medicare crisis before us, as i speak, is dwarfed by the long-term health care crisis. we all know it because the class crisis, if you will, is already here. here's how. if a person must go into a nursing home, and those are the potential long-term people, americans, if such ame

mr. chairman, set, and i -- >> madam norton, the rules of the house severely limit my ability to impede your five minutes of opinion or his five minutes of opinion. i have cautioned members. i have made it very clear the witness will not be expected to answer any questions that are not on the narrow subject of fast and furious. staff will show you the rules that limit how much i can stop -- >> mr. chairman, if i may say, it seems to me that that interpretation of the rule was clearly not before us before and i am going to just have to ask, sure, if it's the right, it had been my view all along that a member may ask about what time it is on the wound in her five minutes. i have never had a chairman before try to keep me from using my first amendment rights but since that had been your rule and this is the first time you have invoked it, i tried to honor it. this gentleman could have -- >> i thank the gentlelady for her comment. i have the ability to limit the scope of a hearing. i've tried to protect the attorney general from answering questions which were not within the scope of his preparat

and with that, we go to the gentle lady from the district of columbia, miss norton, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i don't know if conversations with theed secretary of state and secretary clinton or secretary napolitano are of major importance here. but i do know this. after calling the attorney general of the united states six times before the congress, i think the public would have expected that we would have begun to talk about remedy by this time. and, yet, there has been no remedy to give the justice department the tools it needs to prosecute, store purchases or gun trafficking. so here we go again for sixth hearing, mr. attorney general. i want to commend you for the changes you have made. the multiple changes you have made while this matter was unfog coming forward, recognizing full well that until you get the inspector general's report, particularly considering this is the justice department to proceed without due process would be fairly unseemly. you have to understand that when there's an issue like this and it was very important because of the death of an agent, there is an

mr. cummings: additional 30 seconds. ms. norton: pricely because there have been two almost automatic freezes with no hearings means it is the time to send this bill to committee to determine what is fair for federal employees, have they contributed enough or using my standard, leadership by example, have they tribbed -- thud they contribute more? you want to -- should they contribute more? you want to lead by example, members of congress should stand up and ask for a freeze for themselves by themselves like men and women. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. duffy: thank you, mr. cummings: how much time do we have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida has three minutes remaining. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: i grant two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. lynch: i thank the gentleman. mr. speaker, i rise in support of the -- madam s

mr. issa, and the squom from district of columbia, ms. norton, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. issa: i'll be brief. today we're doing a small and technical change to everyone except the people of the district of columbia who consistently have to live under a rule that costs the voters and the residents of the district of columbia to expend enormous additional dollars to have special elections rather than have having the ornary flexibility to try to combine their votes at a time in which it would be less expensive. the bill which is, if you will, an omission, under the home rule act, provides for the district of columbia to fill vacancies on the first tuesday, 114 days after the date of such vacancy occurring. unfortunately, this does not provide the flexibility necessary to time special elections concurrently with other general and primary elections. therefore, this small and yet not small to the district of columbia change will allow them to place the election on a tuesday occurring between 70 and 174 days of the vacancy.

norton: mr. speaker, the party line from republican leaders is that republicans agree on a payroll tax cut holiday. they just need to find a way to pay for it. but republican members speak a different language. georgia republican paul broun told the press, quote, the payroll tax holiday is just a gimmick to get obama, re-elected. end quote. that will be news to the average american family who will see their taxes increase by $1,000 on march 1 without a table tax agreement. the press reports a serious republican split with only a 50-50 chance that republicans can get their members to agree on a payroll tax deal. line that 50-50 republican split up against their nearly unanimous opposition to having wealthy and corporate taxpayers contribute one dime to deficit reduction. i'll leave it to the republican leadership to reconcile these issues and their caucus. meanwhile, the clock ticks louder each day. republicans have 22 days to make up their minds on whether every worker who draws a paycheck deserv

mr. speaker. and thank you, colleagues. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from the virgin islands rise? ms. norton: mr. speaker, i move -- mrs. christensen: mr. speaker, i move that the house do now adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow for morning hour >> a bill making it illegal for members of congress to trade stocks. known as the stock back. it passed with bipartisan support last week. live coverage of the house always here on c-span. republicans have been moving a handful of bills aimed at overhauling the budget process. first and legislative line-item veto bill. a staff writer for "the hill," on how works. >> line item veto in which the president would be able to strike individual provisions and preparations bills that was ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court in the 1990's. the u.s. constitution has never allowed the president to have that. and instead this bill would create a similar situation where

mr. chairman and the gentleman from north carolina. >> i thankshed g lady from the district of columbia miss norton for five minutes. >> i want to thank senator lee for appearing today. i just want to say i might have found the discussion edifying had there also been present a senator who supported the appointments during this recess, since all senators are known or ri jealously regarding their institutional prerogatives. after that, mr. chairman, i'd as soon get onto the next panel. >> i thank the lady. i will note we took all senators who asked to be here. with that we recognize gentleman from tennessee. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you, senator, for being here. hearing, i'm going to yield my time back to the chairman issa. >> you mentioned earlier teddy roosevelt's famous appointments. those were specifically when the congress went gavel to gavel. th anticipated historic change of sessions. did the president have that option in this case or could he have had that option to do it on january 3rd? wasn't there, in fact, a moment between sessions? >> i don't regard there to have been an opportunity for him to issue an actual r

norton smith here as the moderator of this discussion. thank you. >> thank you, andy. [ applause ] i don't know about you, mrs. bush. i'm not accustomed to getting a standing ovation just for showing up. >> you just got it because laura was here. >> it's hard to know where to begin. let me ask. we've heard from a number of folks earlier today, and i know you were here for the discussion. we heard from real-life practitioners, people who have been in white houses of both parties and different periods of our history who have been challenged and risen to the challenge. each of you had, in some ways, unique qualifications or life experience before you came to the white house. and andy has described them. was that a particular advantage to you? and is there any way to fully prepare for the job of first lady? >> shall i start? >> sure. >> yes, i was prepared because i lived in washington with george for years, and he was vice president for eight years. so i could watch a very good president and his wife. and the truth is the white house itself is so well organized. it's pretty hard to make too many mistakes other than jus

mrs. obama. a distinct, unique, great honor. fabulous honor. but while you're all dignitaries i would like to make mention of the fact that oliver holmes norton,of you have helped achieve this significant mile stone. thank you for taking this journey with us. one of the things i like to do because nobody gets anything done by themselves or even with an able and beautiful partner, we have a council who has been with us on this journey and with lonnie, all supporting and advising. i'd like the members of the advisory council to stand and receive your applause and appreciation. and if i can be allowed just one moment of personal reflection before i turn it over to linda, the personal significance to me. i've read it many times that history is written by the winners. history is written by the winners. and to me,b the reality of this museum puts an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence that after 400 years of struggle, of triumph, of tragedy, of turmoil, of turbulence, we won. >> well said, well said. as members of this council, we have had the pleasure of witnessing a vision take shape. one that as lonnie bunch has indicated will encourage u

norton, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i don't know if conversations with the secretary of state, with secretary clinton or secretary napolitano are of major importance here, but i do know this, that after calling the attorney general of the united states six times before the congress, i think the public would have expected that we would have begun to talk about remedy by this time, and yet there has been no remedy to give the justice department the tools it needs to prosecute straw purchasers or gun trafficking. but here we go again for the sixth hearing. mr. attorney general, i want to commend you for the changes you have made, the multiple changes you have made while this matter was unfolding and the facts were coming forward recognizing full well that until you get the inspector general's report, particularly considering that this is the justice department to proceed without due process, would be fairly unseemly. you have to understand that when there's an issue like this and it was very important because of

mr. cummings: additional 30 seconds. ms. norton: pricely because there have been two almost automatic freezes with no hearings means it is the time to send this bill to committee to determine what is fair for federal employees, have they contributed enough or using my standard, leadership by example, have they tribbed -- thud they contribute more? you want to -- should they contribute more? you want to lead by example, members of congress should stand up and ask for a freeze for themselves by themselves like men and women. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida. mr. duffy: thank you, mr. cummings: how much time do we have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida has three minutes remaining. the gentleman from maryland. mr. cummings: i grant two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from massachusetts, mr. lynch. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. lynch: i thank the gentleman. mr. speaker, i rise in support of the -- madam s

norton: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, i think in the next several days and weeks, you'll see people come forward to speak for the silent majority in this controversy about contraceptives, contraception and what kinds of institutions should and should not provide them. if ever there has been a silent majority, it is women of america, particularly women who may happen to work for catholic hospitals, for catholic university -- for a catholic university as i did for example, when as a protestant i worked as a professor at georgetown university here in washington. the catholic church has long accepted the laws against discrimination, except as to the church itself and the church's own activities. and so, you find that in the catholic hospital or catholic church, you must hire people regardless of their race or religion and the like. now the church seems to be seeking a different rule on how you accommodate for religion. we have accommodated for the catholic church when it comes to hiring their own employees. for examp

mr. chairman, deny the right to have a -- >> general lady -- >> i want the right to make a parliamentary inquiry. >> state your parliamentary inquiry. >> greta: ten minutes later, norton, maloney and congressman qugley stormed out of the hearing. congressman issa joins us. nice to see you, sir. >> they didn't storm out of the hearing. they stormed to a press conference to make an issue over what they didn't like which was religious people, religious leaders, of many denominations coming in to talk about tim pact of the president and secretary's decision to not give them the normal broad exclusion of what is considered to be religious freedom and their execution. that simple. we had ministers, we had a lutheran minister, obviously a catholic bishop. we also had a jewish rabbi for whom none of the things talked about or against their faith. yet, he was saying for the same reason that this is a bad precedent. >> greta: all right. were they given an opportunity to have a witness? >> absolutely. >> greta: what happened with that? >> greta, barry lynn is well known to the show. barry lynn, reverend barry lynn one of the witnesses they suggested. we invited him. we confirmed

norton stormed out of a congressional hearing on contraception today. it was after she says the committee refused her female guest. >> the gentle lady -- >> one thing mr. chairman we've been denied the right to have a witness. i want the right to make a parliamentary inquiry. >> today's hearing stemmed from the controversial move last week by the obama administration requiring health care providers including religious affiliated institutions to make birth control available to employees. the president modified that policy last friday so insurance companies would pay the birth control costs. delegate norton says she walked out because the first panel of the hearing did not include any women. she says it violated free speech rights. the second panel after norton had left did include two female guests. >> the republican presidential race, a new poll shows rick santorum has a slight edge over mitt romney in the next major contest, which is michigan. >> joining us now is "meet the press" moderator david gregory. with all of romney's money, all of his organization, why can't he separate himself from the rest of the pack? >> that is the question they're asking

norton of the district of columbia took on darrell issa on the witnesses listed there. watch this picture of an all-male panel there. let's listen to the delegate. >> one thing, mr.hairman, we've been denied the right to have a witness -- >> the gentle lady -- >> i want to have the right to make a parliamentary inquiry. >> the chairman of that committee, darrell issa of california, defended the witness selection. all males on the first panel. let's listen. >> since only yesterday, two days after what would be the appropriate time for the minority to name their witness request, we were given it. with the short notice, final schedule was determined based on the unusual circumstances of the minority not in a timely fashion submitting any valid request for any witnesses. even though on a daily basis, actually multiple times per day, the majority requested that. >> also with us now is u.s. congresswoman jackie spear of california who boycotted the hearing altogether. let's hear first from delegate norton, eleanor holmes norton who is a friend of mine. thank you for coming on. you were very strong today. when did you find out they were going to be an all-male -- almost

mr. president as senator lieberman has pointed out, the threat is not only to our national security, but also to our economic well-being. a study by the company norton last year calculated the cost of global cyber crime at $114 billion annually. when combined with the value of time that victims lost due to cyber crime, this figure grows to $388 billion globally, which norton described as significant ly more than the global black market in marijuana, cocaine, and heroin combined. in an op-ed last month titled "china's cyber thievery is national policy and must be challenged," former d.n.i. mike mcconnell, former homeland security secretary, michael chertoff, and former deputy secretary of defense william lindh noted the ability of cyberterrorists to cripple our infrastructure. they sounded an even more urgent alarm about the threat of economic cyber espionage. citing an october, 2011 report to congress by the office of the national counterintelligence executive, they warned of the catastrophic impact that cyber espionage, particularly that pursued by china, could have on our economy and our competitiveness. they estimated that the cost easily means b