ms. holmes norton for 30 minutes. ms. norton: i rise to claim a half hour this afternoon to speak about the citizens of the nation's capital who are full and equal citizens of the united states of america, that nation's capital that was born with the nation itself. was born with the constitution. among its oldest citizens are the citizens of this very city where the congress does its work. now there is a complicated relationship between the federal government and the nation's capital, but one thing has never been complicated. the founders and every american ever since have understood that the citizens of the nation's capital are entitled to the same constitutional rights and democratic rights as every other american citizen. . now, i come to the floor because i think many members who are incumbents who may have forgotten, and there's the largest class of new members who may be surprised by what they may be toobt experience on this floor with respect to the local jurisdiction that they know nothing of and have nothing to do

ms. norton as the witness to talk about d.c. is to say we couldn't talk about the basic provisions of the bill. and if we choose to have one witness on the basic provisions of the bill then you can't talk -- then ms. norton is denied the opportunity to talk about her specific application to her district and that is why when i was chairman -- if a member desired to testify, especially if there was something to do with his or her district, we would always provide a separate panel for that. and for partisan purposes you might say, if it's a republican we'll have a democrat. but it allows that flexibility in the general rule and i would hope in the future that flexibility would be attended to. >> thank you, mr. nadler. if the witnesses would come forward and be seated. we have a very distinguished panel of witnesses today. each of the witnesses' written statements will be entered into the record in its entirety. and i ask that each witness summarize his or her testimony in five minutes or less. to help you stay within that time ther

ms. norton. she asked to be allowed to present testimony here because there's a provision in the bill that specifically pertains to her direct, the district of columbia, and no other, the chairman of the full committee has denied that request. i'm sorry, i regret she was denied the permission to testify, and i hope that this has been a misunderstanding and that in the future, members of congress will as it the practice when i was chairman of the subcommittee will be committed on request to testify as witnesses, especially if it's something to do with their own district. i ask unanimous concept to place her statement and my statement in the record. >> without objection. those statements will be placed in the record. >> i thank you. >> just to clarify the issue, mr. nadler, chairman smith has decided that as a general policy, the judiciary committee and subcommittees have only one panel of witnesses for each hearing and that the panel consists of no more than four witnesses. the minority is able to

ms. norton, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized for two minutes. ms. norton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the president has begun a review of regulations, you would think the majority would do something like declare victory. instead they have an oversight hearing prematurely, a one-sided one. from business. instead of joining issue by calling in the agencies one by one to see what kind of a review the president is in fact doing. i favor government for the good and well, therefore i have always hated government bureaucracy and regulations that make government, even the best, look bad. i headed a federal agency. i believe i will be more remembered for streamlining its processes than for the under lying mission. i eliminate add huge backlog of cases, which had already been carried to full stream. guess what? when we started to settle them we got more remedies. look what the majority has done. they changed the subject from jobs and reducing feder

ms. norton as the witness to talk about d.c. is to say we couldn't talk about the basic provisions of the bill. and if we choose to have one witness on the basic provisions of the bill then you can't talk -- then ms. norton is denied the opportunity to talk about her specific application to her district and that is why when i was chairman -- if a member desired to testify, especially if there was something to do with his or her district, we would always provide a separate panel for that. and for partisan purposes you might say, if it's a republican we'll have a democrat. but it allows that flexibility in the general rule and i would hope in the future that flexibility would be attended to. >> thank you, mr. nadler. if the witnesses would come forward and be seated. we have a very distinguished panel of witnesses today. each of the witnesses' written statements will be entered into the record in its entirety. and i ask that each witness summarize his or her testimony in five minutes or less. to help you stay within that time ther

ms. norton as the witness to talk about d.c. is to say we couldn't talk about the basic provisions of the bill. and if we choose to have one witness on the basic provisions of the bill then you can't talk -- then ms. norton is denied the opportunity to talk about her specific application to her district and that is why when i was chairman -- if a member desired to testify, especially if there was something to do with his or her district, we would always provide a separate panel for that. and for partisan purposes you might say, if it's a republican we'll have a democrat. but it allows that flexibility in the general rule and i would hope in the future that flexibility would be attended to. >> thank you, mr. nadler. if the witnesses would come forward and be seated. we have a very distinguished panel of witnesses today. each of the witnesses' written statements will be entered into the record in its entirety. and i ask that each witness summarize his or her testimony in five minutes or less. to help you stay within that time ther

ms. norton smith. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. dodaro, i would like to ask you a question that i'm sure perplexed members of this committee. and certainly the public. it has to do with very large contractors whose abuse or poor performance is so severe that they are brought to this committee or there's headlines on them and i want to know -- i want to describe the responses of federal agencies in awarding them contracts again. for example, if you did some -- if you did the functional equivalent of what some of these contractors have done is an employee, you'd be out the door and nobody would ever hire you again. but let me give you a couple of examples. kbr, doing work in iraq for department of defense, is so faulty on the maintenance of electrical equipment that deaths resulted including dozens of deaths of american soldiers. but then they awards kbr a $2.8 billion contract to provide support services, additional support services, for our troops in iraq. or let's take the most notorious perhaps black water and private security be

ms. norton: this is ar insult for those who voted for the new majority on the promise of jobs. they don't know how to produce jobs or haven't produce jobs yet. but they will never understand a bill that will make history on the number of jobs it affirmatively destroys. the deficit commission warned about cuts that are at the centerpiece of the majority bill, cuts that don't distinguish between short-term and long-term deficits, between the job-producing role of government investment during an economic turndown and needed savegs to reduce -- savings to reduce long-term deficits. but the majority loses its focus entirely with its obsession on snatching local authority, local jurisdiction over local funds from the district of columbia. while the majority wants to make draconian cuts in most federal programs, putting at high risk the economy itself, it at the same time expands federal power into local funds and affairs of a local jurisdiction, the district of columbia. three writers in this bill are anti-self-government riders having nothing to do with the underlying bill or the fe

ms. norton for five minutes. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. mr. dodaro i would like to ask you a question that is perplexed members of this committee. and certainly the public. it has to do with very large, sometimes huge contractors whose abuses or poor performance is so severe that they are brought before this committee or their headlines on them and i want to know, i want to describe the response of federal agencies in awarding them contracts again. for example, if you did equipment of what some of these contractors have done as an employee, you would be out the door and nobody would ever hire you again it would seem that let me give you a couple of examples. kbr did work in iraq or the department of defense. it was so faulty on the maintenance and the electrical equipment that death resulted, including dozens of deaths of american soldiers. it awards kbr at $2.8 billion contract to provide support services, additional support services for our troops in iraq. let's take -- perhaps blackwater and private security because that has been a headline

commissioner norton: we heard a report from ms. desmond on the title three plan. we also heard from the assistant superintendent about plans for inclusive practices that will be provided at every school. march 4 is a half-day of professional development. it is the first strong evidence of our commitment to expanding inclusive practices. the next meeting will be on march 7 at 5:00 p.m. president mendoza: thank you. a report from the city and school district select committee. commissioner fewer: we reported -- the san francisco unified school district reported on its enrollment procedures. the executive director of our education and placement center came and gave a very good presentation. supervisors were concerned they did not know what was going on. they emphasized that all of our meetings are televised and all the results are available on our website at any time. we are trying to have a better form of communication of our enrollment procedures as we progress on our middle school pathway with our supervisors. president mendoza: thank you. report from the committee