ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns mr. haney 7 i's. >> consent calendar thank you item m consent calendar resolution were removed for a second reading and action there was one withdrawn and item n vote on consent calendar. >> thank you ms. fewer ms. mendoza-mcdonnell yes except for items k-4 through 12. >> a lot of from k f w. >> dr. murase ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns and mr. haney thank you. >> item organization wait - >> item organization he guess the calendar. >> severed for board discussion and o. >> item o. >> this was at partnerships are the new teacher center so new teacher center is what? >> thank you so the district had a partnership with new teacher center for a dedicated. >> this is the santa cruz that's all i need to know. >> nothing new about the teacher project (laughter). >> right. >> shall we vote on that. >> okay. >> ms. fewer. >> tell them to change their name. >> we're going to vote can we do it oar thank you ms. fewer sorry. >> what am a voting for oar the new teacher consent calendar. >> the new te

ms. norton: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the democratic whip, my good friend from the neighboring jurisdiction of the state of maryland. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for three minutes. mr. hoyer: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. and i thank the gentleman from north carolina for outlining his position. and we're a nation of laws. the gentleman's indicated that a court has ruled on this issue. an opinion with which he disagrees, and we have a mechanism for overturning or clarifying or changing such a ruling and it is the court system. and that case may well reach the supreme court. but i rise in opposition to this piece of legislation which in my opinion is an exercise in hypocrisy. why do i say that? that can be a harsh word. we're witnessing the party that proclaims itself to be the ampion of local autonomy unless federal

ms. norton. ms. norton: thank you, mr. chairman. could i just say to all three of you that we very much appreciate your service and appreciate your courage in coming forward. i chair the equal employment opportunity commission. i'm very interested in this kind of alleged retaliation. the -- it's interesting that when congress passed title 7 itself it passed retaliation provision in the statute. it's very, very important and, of course, if there isn't any sense that one cannot be punished for coming forward, it is very, very heavy presumption against coming forward. so i was interested to hear about -- it was not -- i don't remember, even though i had to essentially reform the entire agency, creating new parts of the agency, bringing together people. i don't remember anything called directed reassignments. in my view, i can think of no more powerful instrument in the hands of an agency. you testified, i think it was you, mr. rhoades, somebody just quit. mr. rhoades: yes. ms. norton: if that was the intention, it certainly worked. mr.

ms. norton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized for 10 minutes. ms. norton: mr. speaker, first i want to thank my good friend from new york state for the way she has always understood and behaved with respect to the district of columbia which also happens to be the capital of the united states. but as she said, it's more than the capital and this building. is where almost 700,000 americans live. so, mr. speaker, i must strongly oppose that portion of the bill providing for 5233. ration of h.r. nderstand the spectacle we are ongoing here. a strongly republican house is actively sponsoring a bill that repeals a local law. a law that in this case authorizes the district of columbia government to spend its own local funds without congressional approval. who do the republicans think they are? that the people i represent should ask for their approval. to spend, to process funds that they had nothing to do with raising. understand no federal funds are invo

ms. norton: thank you very much, ms. flowers. mrs.omstock: i recognize chairman shuster for five minutes. mr. shuster: i thank the witnesses to testify before this important issue. i think congressman delaney's question was spot on. i think that one of the things he said is absolutely paramount in all this, if you want to attract the dollars to a corporation, an organization of any kind you have to first demonstrate that you deploy those dollars efficiently to get things done, and i think that's something that before this committee or this congress says we'll give more money to metro, we got to see it demonstrated and i don't think it's been done over the last several years or couple decades that they have deployed those dollars in the most efficient way. and i think that requires a cultural change at the agency which i think the new c.e.o., mr. wiedefeld, set the standard. he said some tough things he needed to and needs to take tough actions. my question to managing the employees -- and i think if you're going to shake up a culture

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns mr. haney 7 i's. >> thank you board member reports. >> standing committees report from the ad hoc on student assignments from april 2016. >> so we heard maine the issue of middle feeders to have spots for the feeders but looking at language pathways and special education and the staff has a working committee they're trying to resolve a lot of the issues and present the process of their work and had a good dialogue and other committee meeting in may we'll discuss the annual report so the annual report had not come out but part of that is focused on the conversation about some of the outcomes of this year's student assignment process and some of continuing the questions issues that commissioners have. >> thank you president haney the committee as a whole we address to informational items one the school of the arts and task force presentation what the goals and wiener we what we'll doing do moving forward and the comprehensive school counseling program framework in 3 year implementation plan

ms. norton: what is left to be done so we can understand what is outstanding? ms. flowers: we are in the final steps of the verification process. ms. norton: do you expect in a few months? do you expect by the end of the year? when do you expect wmata will be able to access its funds in the normal fashion rather than by hand? ms. flowers: in this last step, if we see that the documentation is verified, we should be able to i think have a targeted lifting of restricted drawdown in certain areas. there are some of the older stuff that i believe will still be there but we can work with them in terms of addressing targeted and focused areas to lift that drawdown. ms. norton: but you don't have a time frame on when you might be able to accomplish -- the burden is now on you. they've done what you asked them to do. the reason i'm pressing you on this question is if they had done all they had to do then the burden shifts to f.t.a. than to say by when do you think wmata will be accountable enough so that the drawdowns will no longer -- these hand drawdowns will no longer b

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns president haney and ms. chin and mr. totiano presents. >> would you, please join us in the pledge of allegiance and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> approval of the minutes from our regular meetings of april 12th. >> thank you vice president i have to read for - >> moving. >> oh, with that, pips from regular meetings of april 12th and september 29th a move acceptance of the minutes picture roll call vote. >> thank you ms. chin mr. totiano mr. duffy ms. mendoza-mcdonnell dr. murase commissioner mendoza-mcdonnell mr. walton thank you ms. wynns and president haney that's 4 i's. >> thank you ms. casco annoy from our superintendant. >> thank you vice president walton and good evening to etch that is here and lonsz abroad before you share my thoughts we're wraulg did superintendents proposal board policy sexual assaults bullying of students and one six 4 sp four for the permit for the academy of san francisco at math tier heard at a future meeting we'r

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns mr. haney 7 i's. >> consent calendar thank you item m consent calendar resolution were removed for a second reading and action there was one withdrawn and item n vote on consent calendar. >> thank you ms. fewer ms. mendoza-mcdonnell yes except for items k-4 through 12. >> a lot of from k f w. >> dr. murase ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns and mr. haney thank you. >> item organization wait - >> item organization he guess the calendar. >> severed for board discussion and o. >> item o. >> this was at partnerships are the new teacher center so new teacher center is what? >> thank you so the district had a partnership with new teacher center for a dedicated. >> this is the santa cruz that's all i need to know. >> nothing new about the teacher project (laughter). >> right. >> shall we vote on that. >> okay. >> ms. fewer. >> tell them to change their name. >> we're going to vote can we do it oar thank you ms. fewer sorry. >> what am a voting for oar the new teacher consent calendar. >> the new te

ms. norton mr. walton no ms. wynns matt haney that's 6 i's. >> all right. thank you everyone for joining us for that and staying so late and i guess we'll see everybody again, thank you for being here and thank you students for staying so loot it is educational or something we wish you the best of luck with finals and everything else we'll take a second while people leaf they're like what just happened; right? >> (laughter). >> the meeting is not over. >> i have item k like laying back special order of business there is a motion that has been seconded on second of a language for the pattern the elements and france mission high school. >> so you'll respectfully you clear the room as poish and quietly as possible we'll continue with our meeting so item k i'd like to ask roberto please come forward for that item. >> good evening so as you know, we complete the federal monitoring process for it as it pertains to the several sites selected as a part of progress we looter to the modeling policy during that process for those schools to make the language for robust

ms. norton: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for as much time as she wishes to use. ms. norton: i'm happy to announce my friendship with the chairman of our full committee, i thank him for his kind words. i only hope he will come to -- two past paths immediate chairs of the committee have come, that is to support budget autonomy for the district of columbia, chairman davis, former chairman davis and former chairman issa. i rise in strong opposition to this bill. this bill that would repeal a law approved by 83% of the district of columbia voters. would nullify a court ruling and would permanently take away the authority of the 700,000 d.c. citizens and their elected officials to spend their local funds without congressional approval. this bill manages to be unprincipled and unpractical -- impractical at the same time. it is profoundly undemocratic. for any member of congress in the 21st century to declare that he has authority over any other jurisdiction except his own. it is

ms. norton will explore this. but this whole idea of people being sent from one part of the country to another, if that's about retaliation, i'll tell you something, to me that's criminal. >> i agree. >> really, because families are so important and individual who those families who have to go through that hell, your wife is on one end and husband on the other. life it short. anyway, i'll yield to ms. norton. thank you. >> yes, sir. >> i thank the ranking member for those comments. i want to make sure i understand the difference between the legitimate use of a tool for management and its abuse. i asked you before about directed reassignment and i can see how it opens itself hugely for abuse and it's interesting, we passed a bill but it looks like internally the agency has begun to take some action because it became apparently so open. and such a problem within the agency, i want to ask specifically about the directed reassignment. here's a legitimate tool. i just want to know if it's been misused because we see th

ms. norton. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from district of columbia for three minutes. ms. norton: i thank my good friend for overly -- his overly generous introduction. and i thank my friend from pennsylvania, my friend from indiana, for this bill. this bill, which i strongly support, the public buildings reform and savings act of 2016, may seem quite technical to those who have heard it described, but i do want to congratulate my good friends, the chairman and the ranking member, for a bill that will have great substantive impact on the way in which g.s.a. does its business. and i particularly appreciate the bipartisan way in which formed them have always -- i thank them both for accepting my amendments. one, in keeping with both this bill and the prior bill, for a new smaller department of energy, then one that's not related to any of this, for lacktation space for visitors -- lactation space for visitors to federal buildings. i appreciate an amendment that allo

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns and mr. haney 6 i's. >> a formal introduction of rules. >> so moved and superintendant carranza thank you mraement i'd like to ask kevin if he'll do the honor of reading the whereas and i'll read the therefore, be it resolved statements. >> the instructions condemning the north carolina that discriminates against transgender and gender in non-conforming students and prohibiting the san francisco unified school district to traffic to and from all conferences or meeting in the state of north carolina whereas the staffing omitting travel to the rooms on march 23 and whereas north carolina discriminates against transgender person on the sex that treats them differently and whereas in, income prevents the students from going to rooms - has been the leader in addressing the needs of transgender and the state of california passed ab 1266 in 2012 firmly the rights of transgenders to have access to locker rooms to gender identities and whereas the maintenance that businesses designate single contribut

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns mr. haney 7 i's. >> all right. i want to welcome everyone who's joined. >> us we thank you very much for being here if anyone wants to address do bureaucratic's speak out a card and give to ms. casco before the item is called mr. superintendent >> thank you president haney a number of announcements this evening this morning of the high school balboa got did green school award if the environment for their excellence in environmental education and green teams of teachers and students to include rainwater and much, much more other schools were demonstrating a commitment to the shipyard for the recycle programs we want to extend congratulations for the environmental effort and being acknowledged i'm proud to announce the district as a whole was recently selected as one of the california green ribbon unified school district by the board of education this was an honor given we're one of 3 schools selected in california and 15 nationally so thank you to everyone in the schools 2 keeps our community green this friday appro

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns mr. haney 7 i's. >> all right. i want to welcome everyone who's joined. >> us we thank you very much for being here if anyone wants to address do bureaucratic's speak out a card and give to ms. casco before the item is called mr. superintendent >> thank you president haney a number of announcements this evening this morning of the high school balboa got did green school award if the environment for their excellence in environmental education and green teams of teachers and students to include rainwater and much, much more other schools were demonstrating a commitment to the shipyard for the recycle programs we want to extend congratulations for the environmental effort and being acknowledged i'm proud to announce the district as a whole was recently selected as one of the california green ribbon unified school district by the board of education this was an honor given we're one of 3 schools selected in california and 15 nationally so thank you to everyone in the schools 2 keeps our community green this friday appro

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns mr. haney ms. chin and mr. totiano and ms. fewer. >>

ms. norton and mr.io that the washington metropolitan delegation is united to ensure working with you that america's subway is a subway system second to none. thank you very much. >> thank you, congressman hoyer. next is congressman connelly. >> chairman graves, chairman schuster, thank you for having us here today. i'm delighted to join with my colleagues, mr. hoyer and mr. delaney. i serve as the ranking member of the government operations subcommittee of the oversight government reform committee which held it own hearings on the metro. the challenges facing metro are significant and i welcome collaboration between our two committees to ensure robust oversight over the management of federal dollars and the adherence to federal safety standards. i spent the last 22 years working at metro, first as a chairman where i made appointment to the board and approved the local operating subsidy. for the past eight years i've worked with your and your colleague to secure the $150 million annual commitment for me

ms. norton and mister defazio that the washington metropolitan delegation is united in its determination to ensure working with you that america's subway is a subway system second to none. thank you very much. >> thank you congressman boyer. next is congressman connolly. >> german grays, chairman schuster, ranking members norton and defazio, thank you for having us here today. i'm delighted to join with my colleagues mister hoyer and mister delaney. i serve as the ranking member of the governing operations committee of the oversight and government reform committee which held its own hearings on metro and the weight of the plaza tragedy. the challenges facing metro are significant and i welcome collaboration between our two committees to ensure robust oversight over metro's management of federal dollars and adherence to see federal safety standards. i've spent the last 22 years working in metro. first is a member of the fairfax board of supervisors whereas german i made appointments to the metro board and approved the local operating subsidy. for the past eight years, i worked with you an

ms. norton. you.orton: thank to get back to one of the themes of this hearing, i have been interested to hear about the testimony given on the coronation between the epa and the ig. the reason that interests me is we want to reduce the time that employees spend on admin should i amsullivan, interested in funding available to the agency to do the job that needs to be done in investigating. can you tell me what the teaming levels are for the that investigates misconduct allegations? quest yes ma'am. i can tell you -- >> yes ma'am. i can tell you in general, the current -- 289 employees. that is dropped from 360. in my office, i had 70 65 years ago. i am down to 61. , iause of the uncertainty have not been able to hire back up to 61. i now have 55 full-time. the rest are professional support staff or scientists or computer forensic people. i have five agents assigned to our office of professional responsibility here in washington. those agents work misconduct investigations. in the field, i have ano

ms. norton for her opening questions. >> ms. flowers, i want to thank you all at the fta for the financial discipline you are importing in the metro. quite as it is kept, metro, or wmata's financial record keeping mirrors, or has mirrored the much more widely understood and known issues of safety particularly financially accountable, a system that was in disarray. that directly effects safety because most of the money wmata is getting is for safety. if you look behind the criticism wmata has received we are told 783 million dollars in federal transit funding for wmata is going unspent. everyone assumes that wmata is sitting on money and that wmata is really ineffective by not spending money it already has so how could it want more money. but if you look behind the numbers, you find, ms. flowers, 390 million is obligated for safety projects and new cars and the remaining amount is waiting reimbursement through fta. now according to the information we have been given from fta in order to bring itself into the compliance it needed,

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns mr. haney 7 i's. >> thank you board member reports. >> standing committees report from the ad hoc on student assignments from april 2016. >> so we heard maine the issue of middle feeders to have spots for the feeders but looking at language pathways and special education and the staff has a working committee they're trying to resolve a lot of the issues and present the process of their work and had a good dialogue and other committee meeting in may we'll discuss the annual report so the annual report had not come out but part of that is focused on the conversation about some of the outcomes of this year's student assignment process and some of continuing the questions issues that commissioners have. >> thank you president haney the committee as a whole we address to informational items one the school of the arts and task force presentation what the goals and wiener we what we'll doing do moving forward and the comprehensive school counseling program framework in 3 year implementation plan

ms. norton for five minutes. we all recognize that there are revenue, theces or usual mythical sources i mentioned from time to time from the side of rome. government, federal is never mentioned by you but it has been alleged that that is here.s really called for that in the last fast act that we had just done, there was a 25 are sent increase in systems and that was something that as the ranking member, i find very hard or because there really is a difference between these systems and the newer ones. yet, what cannot be ignored is that metro had a 5% loss over the last five years. you are probably going to have more. i noted in something you said a few months ago that it was trying to help itself. it was looking for something business often does, incentives to re-attracted writers. two -- to re-attract riders. if you left you could reenter at another time. some kind of pass. can you afford to put some of these incentives in place, in of so, what kind of the incentives are you looking at to help rid ttracted to m

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns and mr.aney 6 i's. >> a formal introduction of rules. >> so moved and superintendant carranza thank you mraement i'd like to ask kevin if he'll do the honor of reading the whereas and i'll read the therefore, be it resolved statements. >> the instructions condemning the north carolina that discriminates against transgender and gender in non-conforming students and prohibiting the san francisco unified school district to traffic to and from all conferences or meeting in the state of north carolina whereas the staffing omitting travel to the rooms on march 23 and whereas north carolina discriminates against transgender person on the sex that treats them differently and whereas in, income prevents the students from going to rooms - has been the leader in addressing the needs of transgender and the state of california passed ab 1266 in 2012 firmly the rights of transgenders to have access to locker rooms to gender identities and whereas the maintenance that businesses designate single contributor

ms. norton mr. walton no ms. wynns matt haney that's 6 i's. >> all right. thank you everyone for joining us for that and staying so late and i guess we'll see everybody again, thank you for being here and thank you students for staying so loot it is educational or something we wish you the best of luck with finals and everything else we'll take a second while people leaf they're like what just happened; right? >> (laughter). >> the meeting is not over. >> i have item k like laying back special order of business there is a motion that has been seconded on second of a language for the pattern the elements and france mission high school. >> so you'll respectfully you clear the room as poish and quietly as possible we'll continue with our meeting so item k i'd like to ask roberto please come forward for that item. >> good evening so as you know, we complete the federal monitoring process for it as it pertains to the several sites selected as a part of progress we looter to the modeling policy during that process for those schools to make the language for robust

ms. norton. >> thank you. to get back to one of the themes this hearing, i've been about the to hear testimony that's been given on improved coordination between ig. and the the reason that interests me is to reduceviously want the time that employees spend on administrative leave when they're not doing anything for the agency. in the nterested investigative process. i recognize that it takes time. you can't cut corners. you can be sued. understand that some of these investigations can be very complex. , i'm interested in the unding available to agency to do the job that needs in investigating. can you tell me what the are for the team hat investigates misconduct allegations? >> yes, ma'am. i could tell you general approximately 34 other agents working a fraud, threat, and misconduct cases in this the field. > staffing levels like this reminds me about what we're seeing on television with tsa. this is alleve that because everybody has decided to get on a plane. point congress has to understand that if you ther

ms. norton. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you mr. sullivan and mr. meiburg for being here. to to get back to one of the things of this hearing, i've been interested to hear about testimony that is been given on improved coordination between epa and the dig. we want to reduce the time that employees spend on it administratively when not doing anything for the agency. so i am interested in the investigative process. i recognize recognize that it takes time, you cannot cut corners, you can be sued, so and i also understand that some of these investigations can be very complex. mr. sullivan, i'm interested in the funding available to the agency to do the job that needs to be done in investigating. can you tell me what the staffing levels are for the team that investigates misconduct allegations? >> yes, ma'am i can tell you in general the current authorize fte for the inspector general's office as a whole is 289 employees. that has dropped in the last five years from 360. in my office from 360. in my office i have an authorize ft strength of 765 years ago, i'm now down to 61. b

ms. norton. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. meiburg and mr. sullivan for being here. to get back to one of the themes of this hearing, i've been interested to hear about the discipline has been given on improved coordination between epa and the ig. and the reason that interests me is that we obviously want to reduce the time that employees spend on administrative leave when, obviously, they're not doing anything for the agency. so i'm interested in the investigative process. i recognize that it takes time, you can't cut corners, you can be sued. and i also understand that some of these investigations can be very complex. mr. sullivan, i'm interested in funding available to the agency to do the job that needs to be done in investigating. can you tell me what the staffing levels are for the team that investigates misconduct allegations? >> yes, ma'am. i could tell you in general, the current authorized fte for the inspector general's office as a whole is 289 employees. that's dropped in the last five years from 360. in my office, i had an authorized fte strength of 76 f

ms. norton. >> thank you mister chairman and thank you mister meiburg and mister sullivan for being here. to get back to one of the themes of this hearing, i've been interested to hear about the testimonies given on improvedcoordination . between the epa and the ig and the reason that interest me as we obviously want to reduce the time that employees spend on administrative leave when obviously they are not doing anything for the agency so i'm interested in the investigative process. irecognize that it takes time, it can cut corners . you can be sued so also, i understand that some of these investigations can be very complex area mister sullivan, i'm interested in the funding available to the agency for the job that needs to be done investigating. can you tell me what the staffing levels are for the team that investigates misconduct allegations? >> yes ma'am, i can tell you in general the current authorized fte for the inspector general's office on the whole is 289 employees. the drop in the last five years from 360. in my office i have an authorized fte strength of 76 five years ago, now

ms. norton for her opening questions. >> ms. flowers, i want to thank you all at the fta for the financial discipline you are importing in the metro. quite as it is kept, metro, or wmata's financial record keeping mirrors, or has mirrored the much more widely understood and known issues of safety particularly financially accountable, a system that was in disarray. that directly effects safety because most of the money wmata is getting is for safety. if you look behind the criticism wmata has received we are told 783 million dollars in federal transit funding for wmata is going unspent. everyone assumes that wmata is sitting on money and that wmata is really ineffective by not spending money it already has so how could it want more money. but if you look behind the numbers, you find, ms. flowers, 390 million is obligated for safety projects and new cars and the remaining amount is waiting reimbursement through fta. now according to the information we have been given from fta in order to bring itself into the compliance it needed,

norton. ms. foster, you are recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. thank you. mr. chairman, ms. schakowsky can distinguish numbers of this panel. i privileged to present his testimony concerning the pricing of human fetal tissue. my views are consistent with those of the charlotte institute where i am an associate scholar which is dedicated to advancing science, medicine and research in the service of human life and to promote a culture and policy of life. my views were consistent with those of sound legal, law firms and legal organization advocating for the universal right to life. as an attorney i have dedicated my career to advocating for the right of every innocent human being to be protected. and so i am troubled by those in the abortion and tissue procurement industry who scheme to trade in baby body parts for the own financial enrichment. the public learned of these back alley transactions last year went undercover videos of the oregon business brokers surface online. indeed, the trade and fetal body parts is a business. estimate shared by the evidence presented by this p

ms. norton mr. walton ms. wynns mr. haney ms. chin and mr. totiano and ms.you. >> if you'll please join me in the pledge of allegiance