we still haven't seen the ig's report. so this committee has been given less than 8,000 of what the attorney general said week before last are 140,000 documents. and until they actually will articulate specifically why they should not be given those to this committee, remember the president said he didn't know about this, the president said he was not involved. now suddenly, literally, 15 minutes before we're starting this hearing, he suddenly comes to the conclusion that, well, maybe i should invoke executive privilege, which under my understanding means that he somehow was personally involved. i think that begs more questions than answers, it's disappointing that this has to happen at this late hour. yield back. >> first of all, i support the amendment, but mr. welch, let me tell you that in the letter that the deputy attorney general, one of the things they refer to as a letter of june 13. from chairman issa. and they say that in that letter, it says the committee is now -- it is said that the committee is now focused on documents from a

obviously before the senate watergate committee. but the testimony -- everybody said we have witnesses. we have to have witnesses. we have to have witnesses. i said it in the early stages. it turned out doar's instinct was the right instinct. we had witnesses. if it was up to doar we wouldn't have had witnesses i don't think. but the pressure of the committee was we had to have some witnesses so doar said we have to have some witnesses. it was my job then to prepare these witnesses, me and others to prepare these witnesses. and the witnesses, which i had great hopes would have a great impact really didn't have great impact. what had great impact was these statements of information one after another, which were boring, plus the tapes. the tapes, you know, once you heard the tapes and you could put the tapes together with documents and with some of the testimony, that created this tremendous impetus for impeachment. >> tell us about, please, the first time you heard the tapes, if you can remember. >> i'll tell you a story about how i h

before the committee even gets to see the documents. he is pretending to offer. i can't accept that deal. no other committee chairman would. this committee will be considering today a very narrow contempt but members on both sides of the dais have repeatedly said that we owe it to the terry family to get to the truth. it is my intention to continue post contempt to do our job while meeting our other obligations to pursue waste, fraud and abuse in our government. with that, i recognize the ranking member for his opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i just want to first of all go back for one moment, and the document that you read from june 20th, 2012, the one that you and i just got from the deputy attorney general, i do believe that we need to study this and make sure that we understand exactly what the president is asserting here. but just want to quote from it. on the last page, page 4, it says the legal basis for the president's assertion of executive privilege is set forth in the enclosed letter to the president f

you know, i guess he testified before the committee, too. but he didn't -- dean testified similar to the way he testified obviously before the senate watergate committee. but the testimony, everybody said we have witnesses. we've got to have a witnesses. i said it in the early stages. it turned out joe's instinct as i remember was the right instinct. we had witnesses. we had to satisfy the committee. if it was up to doer, we won't have witnesses. he didn't want witnesses. the pressure of the committee was we had to have some witnesses. it was my job then to prepare these witnesses to be -- me and others to prepare these witnesses and the witnesses, willy had great hopes would be have a great impact really didn't have the great impact. what have had great impact was these statements of information one after another which were boring plus the tapes. the tapes were, you know, once you heard the tapes, and you could put the tapes together with documents and with some of the testimony, that created this tremendous imme tus for impeachment. >> tell

it has rocked the military branches. committee members have beat their chests and demanded answers from decorated generals and the military leaders who testified. congress demanded reports. these reports were provided and are now gathering dust on shelves around washington, d.c. the time for reports is over. now it's time for action to solve this problem. the solution is to take the reporting and investigation of cases of rape and sexual assault out of the military chain of command and place them in a separate office independent of the chain of command with the authority to investigate and prosecute within the military. last week i called for the house armed services committee to hold a hearing on the widespread sex scandal at lackland air force base in san antonio, texas. no hearing date has been set. the charges of rape, assault and sodomy are astonishing. one instructor is accused of raping or assaulting 10 victims. and another confessed to having sexual relationships with another 10 victims of his own. yesterday we learned tha

respect when he took over the committee that manny had, and he to earn that respect. so the same time he'd been given this extraordinary task, he has to build credibility with his committee. pressure never bothered him. he was very calm about it. >> i'm going to jump ahead. because you raised something. what about the time when he thought he was having a heart attack? remember in february? gets sick. this is the time when they're discussing the -- >> i remember that. it doesn't -- it doesn't come to. it doesn't come to memory -- i think he got sick. they thought maybe he had some kind of heart -- but it was not -- at least internally, it was not considered, oh, my god. i think he was under a lot of pressure, and i think he what everyone has, high blood pressure or whatever, but i don't -- it's something i don't remember much about. >> okay. by the way, did -- did melvin, the former secretary of defense, play any role what so ever in the selection of john doar? >> i think had supported it. i think there was -- in other words, once doar's name c

as we speak, the committee is evaluating this. we have verified that no communications from the president has a right before the house. at least in a preliminary evaluation, we discover that the president after february 4 has said that he has not discussed this and was not made aware. the attorney general has repeatedly given us testimony showing that he did not speak to the president about this. i now read for the record from page 25 of when congress comes calling, which is from the constitution project. executive privilege. the president's communications privilege "the communications in question must relate to the quintessential and non- delegated to presidential power that requires direct presidential decision making. the privilege is limited to the core constitutional powers of the preston such as the power to remove the commander in chief president, it the sole authority to receive ambassadors and public ministers in the parking power. i claim not to be a constitutional scholar. we work to see what assertions may arrive. we wi

so live coverage when the committee comes back in. until then we will give you a look at the hearings starting from the beginning this morning with the chairman and ranking member. >> the committee oon oversight and reform will come to order. reporting a resolution finding the attorney general, eric holder jr., in contempt of congress. on the night of december 14, 2010, in a canyon west, u.s. border patrol agents were engaged in a shoot-out with armed mexican bandits preying on illegal immigrants. one of the agents was 40-year-old brian terry, a three year veteran who had served as a u.s. marine and gone through boot camp at camp pendleton in my district. during that fire fight, a bullet pierced agent terry's aorta and he died in that canyon. two weapons were found at the scene and they were later traced to an operation conducted by the department of justice called fast and furious. 16 months ago, this committee along with senator chuck grassly launched an investigation into whistle blowers' allegations regarding fast and furious. we b

chairman i ask nfor days to file. >> the committee stands adjourned. >> there are 40 members of the house oversight committee and the vote to agree to hold attorney general eric holder in contempt of congress was right along party lines, 23 republicans voting for it, 17 democrats voting against. the full house would have to adopt the resolution. they write the likeliest path but some republicans would find it deficient to allow the house to file a civil lawsuit to compel attorney general holder to turn over information related to the fast and furious operation. if you missed any of today's hearing on the contempt citation or any of our previous hearings on fast and furious or with attorney general holder, you can find those in our video library at c-span.org. federal reserve is extending its operation twist program which aims to keep long-term interest rates low. fed chair ben bernanke explained the move at his news conference today. he also said economic growth continues at a slow pace and he held back by eu problems and the u.s. housing market from earlier today. this is 45 minutes. >>

general seems to think, complying with the committee's subpoena is not optional. the failure to produce documents pursuant to a congressional subpoena is a violation of federal law. still, the attorney general refuses to give the committee even a list of documents he is withholding from us let alone to give us access to all of the documents covered by the subpoena. so it is fair to say that we don't know what we don't know. again, i say this is the problem of evolving truth. on the other hand, the committee has gone to great lengths to accommodate the department's interest as an agency of the executive branch. the committee has made a series of accommodations in an effort to avoid today's vote. citizens in my district are wondering why we have been so gracious in the time length that we have pursued this fast and furious issue. we agreed to view documents documentsen camera and done volunteer interviews instead of depositions and clarified and prioritized the scope of the subpoena among other things. the department has not seen cited any legal authority as the basi

chairman, is where is the reform. our committee is supposed to be working on government reform and any legitimate investigation must be rooted in finding solutions to problems. once they're identified, not just character assassination and overruling presidents and attacking the chief law enforcement officer in our land. so again, i ask, where are the reforms? during this investigation we learned a great deal about what went wrong in the phoenix field division at the atf and the arizona attorney's office, we heard directly from atf agents who witnessed the misguided tactics of gun walking occur which started in prior administrations, and they asked for our help in implementing reforms and coming forward with solutions to the problems that they received every day along the southwest border. the problem they were worried about was not paperwork and subpoenas and contempt charges. they were worried about guns. so where are the reforms and the actions that we could take in response to the problems that they put before us? throughout thi

as i speak, the committee is evaluating bids. we have to verify that no communication from the president has arrived before the house. additionally, at least in a preliminary evaluation, we discover that the president well after february 4, has said that in fact he has not discussed this and was not made aware of it. additionally, the attorney general has repeatedly given us testimony showing that he did not speak to the president about this. i now read for the record from page 25 of when congress comes calling which is from the constitution project and i apologize if this seems preliminary that this communication arrived only within minutes of the start of this mark up. " executive privilege, the president's communication privileged and the quote "the communications in question must relate to the quintessential and non delegable presidential power that requires direct presidential decision making. the privilege is limited to the core constitutional powers of the president such as the power to appoint an remove, the commander-in-c

clay, two minutes, a member of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri is recognized for two minutes. mr. clay: mr. speaker, as a member of the oversight committee, i know that the gunwalking operations conducted by the a.t.f. under both the previous and current administrations were absolutely wrong. but the leadership of this house is focused on shameful election-year political posturing instead of the real issue. the justice department long ago ended the practice of allowing these guns to walk across the border, putting communities in mexico at great risk, but the same people who have relentlessly pursued a baseless partisan attack on attorney general holder and the president have ignored the desperate pleas of the mexican government. to strengthen american gun laws and curb trafficking that gave rise to the strategy in the first place. but focusing in on the real issue would take time away from them playing politics with the oversight authority. those on the other side of the aisle claim to be concer

gregg's we could have staff and the code advisory committee -- >> we could have staff and the code advisory committee present at the next meeting. and may be resolved it because they voted against it. >> i also like to ask how many projects that want to get this rule deleted? other projects are designed without this exemption. information on that. -- >> i would have to get you information on that. >> i would think we ought to have more input from coded by three. when i first -- code advisory. when i first read this, i thought it was old warehouses that were converted into live and work spaces. a lot of those places became more live band work. -- live than work. i think one of the issues is zoning. i would like to get something put in planning, how they looked at it, too. >> for the next meeting and if the staff could give us a report on that then, that we will have a discussion. is it just staff? bourdy want someone from the planning department as well? brecht's -- or do you want someone from the planning department as well? >> yes. >> i can help a little bit with the process. the san franc

the committee has a number of concerns about the validity of this assertion. one, the assertion was transparently not a valid claim of privilege given its last-minute nature. two, the assertion was obstructive given that it could have and should have been asserted months ago but was not until the day of the contempt markup. three, the assertion is eight months late. it should have been made by october 25th, 2011, the subpoena return date. four, to this moment the president has not indicating he is asserting executive privilege. five the assertion is transparently invalid in that it is not credible, that every document withheld involves a communication authored or solicited and received by those members of an immediate white house adviser staff who have brought significant responsibility for formulating the advice to be given the president on the particular matter to which the communications relate. six, the assertion is transparently invalid where the justice department has provided no details by which the committee might evaluate the amilkibility of the privi

the whole. committee of style. >> that was the last committee. it really turned out to just be governor morris. he wrote the final draft. he took this really quite messy set of provisions, 23 article-long draft constitution and totally reorganized it and made it coherent and did a great job and about two and a half days. >> what was the committee of five? >> the committee of five was i think right in the middle of the convention when they were trying to figure out how many congressman each state would get. what happened was they made this deal where the senate would go to get per state voting and so equal votes in the senate and the house would be proportional voting, and clearly the practical politicians in the room said, okay, this is great, how many did we get? so they then set up a committee of five to sort it out. at the actually had to do it three times before they got a system that worked. >> committee of 11. >> well, there were five or six committees of 11. it is tough to say. my favorite was the

i think that the committee does think that is important that those uncertainties be reduced in order for the healthiest economic kind of an expansion. >> could you elaborate more on real gdp growth at 2.5% in the fourth quarter this year and decelerating sharply to 1.9. what's the reason for that? >> the question is the gdp is forecasted for 2.4% in the fourth quarter. that decelerates then to below 2% in the first quarter. again, that is primarily a function of the uncertainty in fiscal policy. sequestration is scheduled to begin. other tax increases are scheduled. any other action from congress, tax will likely rise in 2013. that's what the law is right now. so that essentially is reflected in the forecast in that slow down on consumer spending. >> a lot of the forecasts are for a bigger hit than that. >> again, this is very difficult to forecast in this situation because there is some presumption that there will be some kind of compromise, but it's probably the case if we talk to every single economist, they might have a totally different scenario how that's going to occur, how kig

we've provided deliberative materials to the committee. we laid out a plan that might resolve this matter. we have offered to make materials available, documents available in the period from february to december of 2011 to brief on those documents, to answer any questions that might come up with regard to the documents that we produced. at least as of now, the committee has rejected that proposal. it is our hope that we can somehow find a way through this. the offer that we made is still there, it's still outstanding, and it is one that goes far beyond what any justice department has done previously. >> can you assess what were the types of documents that you were going to present? i realize you can't tell us in great detail but what were these documents that you were going to present to him on the condition that they avoid the markup tomorrow? >> well, it wasn't on that. we offered the documents on the condition that we would resolve the subpoena question, that he would view the provision of these documents as fully satisfying the two subp

the position and prestige of this committee has been diminished and the result should concern us all.ernment reform committee ranking member elijah cummings before the contempt rote this morning, a sentiment shared of most democrats on the hill an agreement could have been reached to avert today's outcome. just before the committee meeting began, the white house asserted expectative privilege. nbc's kristen welker is live at the white house with more on this. what more do we know about the agreement and the committee got word just before the start of the hearing? >> reporter: right. good morning, thomas. the white house believes this was necessary to assert executive privilege to essentially protect documents that have never been released to congress before. these are documents that relate to congressional inquiries, media inquiries, in to the fast and furious operation. senior administration officials telling me, look, 7,600 documents turned over to congress. that's been 11 congressional hearings. they believe that the justice department has been cooperating completely with these hea

he is the chair of the house oversight committee. let's go ahead and take a listen. >> if the gentlelady would allow me to continue, when it comes to the question of postponing today, had the attorney general yesterday turned over the documents he said he would return over in return for essentially an ending of this investigation, had he turned over those documents we would not be here today. we would be evaluating those documents but until we evaluate documents that tell us that we can bring a close to either contempt or to the entire investigation, we can't assume that and of course as you know, or i hopefully the ranking member would explain, there was no log or actual documentation showing what they intended to present. i did go into that meeting yesterday would full intent we would likely postpone based on something being produced. nothing was produced and i'm still waiting. and i said in the news conference yesterday that i would wait all night. and we did have people here all night in hopes that those documents would arrive and

as we speak, the committee is evaluating this. we verified that no communication from a president has arrived before the house. additionally, at least in the preliminary evaluation, we discover that the president, well after february 4th has said that in fact he has not discussed this issue was not aware of it. the attorney general has repeatedly given us testimony showing that he did not speak to the president about this. i now read for the record from page 25 when congress comes calling which is from the constitution project and i apologize if this seems preliminary this communication arrived only within the minutes of the starting of the markup to the executive privilege from the president's communications privilege of coming in by quote the communications in question must relate to the quintessential non-delegated residential power the requires direct presidential decision making. the privilege is limited to the core constitutional power was of the president, such as the power to appoint and we moved the commander in chief powe

that it seems is what the committee is after here. know, not the crime, it's the cover up. and that would be the counter argument, won't it? >> and i agree with that. i think that's where the problem for the obama administration gets in. it's more of the cover up not the policy mistakes on the border, serious policy mistakes, look, mistakes happened, but the cover up is what congress is really going after right now. in the end this is a glass half full or half empty situation. it depends on how you want to look at it. a executive privilege always creates could kind of problems because it seems undemocratic, if you'd like, with a small d, but in truth presidents have an enormous amount of power, and as you mentioned, or your show has been mentioning i think it's been used 24 times, executive power just since ronald reagan. the using of it doesn't strike me as odd, but the fact that this story is just starting to be unearthed and what is the white house involvement, and was there a true cover up? this will have legs throughout the summe

side of the committee. he became a judge in the ninth circuit. very able guy. >> you must have seen the emotion. >> yes. yes it was. i remember -- i do remember the emotion. the emotion, particularly on the republican side. that's where the emotion really was. the republicans really voted for impeachment in the final analysis were very torn. they understood they were in the process of potentially bringing down a republican president and there was agony. there was really agony in their faces because many of them, and this is really interesting, i used to have these discussions even on our staff especially when the republican members of the staff, especially sam garrison, who is a very intelligent guy, unfortunately, later on he got into trouble after the impeachment, way after, but he in effect was -- burt jenner was sort of pushed aside by the republicans because they felt he wasn't sufficiently republican enough or partisan enough so garrison -- garrison was quite an intelligent guy and garrison expressed a

key members of the committee. these are democrats, by no means who is constituency, south carolina and alabama, would by no means certain to vote for impeachme impeachment putting aside the republicans so. what we were trying to do was get it right. make sure it was as accurate as possible. when they make a decision they can make it in a coherent factual accurate fashion. that's big -- even i didn't think of that till recently. we really were working for both the republicans and the -- sure, it was a republican staff that worked for jenner, then sam guerinson. we had a republican staff working with us, that's one of the great things is meld the staffs together. we wanted -- we were being questioned all the time whether this should be done or that should be done or what the consequences of this is and of that, how do you analyze this and that. this is a very important concept to understand during that impeachment. this is a real joint effort but also an effort where we were subject to checks and balances. as we had

>> you've got the date right but i believe that it is going to be not a committee of the whole but an augmented budget committee. >> oh, an augmented budget committee, not a committee of the whole. >> it's june 19. >> so i'm whereon on both counts. ok. >> commissioner mendoza. restate it. the budget committee. we were talking about the meeting. fine. we're good. >> can i ask a question about the committee of the whole thing first? the reports we heard at the committee of the whole meeting posted online? the superintendent's reports? the superintendent's own report in particular was comprehensive and different than anything we've had before, much more, i think, accessible, coherent, so is it posted online and if it's not, could it be? thank you. >> report of the augmented rules policy and legislate i committee on may 16. commissioner wynns? >> how come the rest of the agenda doesn't apore here? the informational items are not listed in the meeting in the committee sum mear. >> it's on the next page. >> ok. thank you. ok. so we had two action items, legislative overview. we again had, i

the books that were handed to the committee? >> again, not the article i watergate conspiracy, but i may have had a role in some of the other stuff? >> the question for you, since you were working on the legal side, did you come to the understanding that this procedure was like a grand jury? some question as to whether mr. st. clair could be there and cross-examine. >> and -- and then i guess the issue in a grand jury, the defendant's council is not there. >> most grand juries. some states by statute permitted defense council. >> is this one of the -- sort of discussions? >> yeah, there were a lot of arguments about whether the standard here was probable cause, 4 out of 9. preponderance, 5 out of 9. reasonable doubt? >> you mean five out of nine jurors? >> no, percentage likelihood. no. a grand jury, four o4 out of 9 , that's probable cause. there are all different standards of proof required. another would be preponderance, 5 out of 9 or 6 out of 10, whoever you like. another standard, clear and convincing evidence, loosely tran

. >> members of the committee, controller's office. it is up to the committee. usually, the committee merges at the end, but you can do it now. supervisor chu: thank you. we took comment on the entirety of the budget and with the public comment on the enterprise department budget. do we have a motion to merge items 3 and 4 into items 1 and 2? we have that motion and can do so without objection. now we have one aao and one aso for the department's budget. we will be hearing from a number of departments this week. today, we are following up with regards to some of the outstanding issues recommended by the budget analyst. so we have most of the departments coming back today. in addition, we also have a brief update from the mta about their budget. if you recall, when they came forward, there were some changes from labor negotiations, among other things, and they wanted to fall back up with the committee on. they will be doing a presentation for us today. city planning department will be called out of order as well as the treasury tax collector, because of conflicts

chairman and ranking members of the committee. on behalf of veterans, thank you for the opportunity to testify. this order will help veterans make educational choices to meet their needs. this order will provide veterans and their families with clarity. by signing this order, the president has initiated a process that the vairias agencies would have had to wait months to again working on. we believe that this will provide timely clarity for student veterans. how will they pay for education that veterans and service members need? how will they pay for their education. while schools are required to report hundreds of data points to the college navigate tore, it does not put that into a tool. even a review of it exposes broad issues in the information that is reported to the department of education. often the data doesn't match up and there are school that is use this confusion to hide performance. although i don't believe that the ordinance will clean up bad reporting it will expose schools that might not be entirely on the level. we

chairman and thank you on behalf of the committee. your efforts to really do due diligence to get us to a point where we are assuring that officials are held accountable for the irresponsible tactics used in this very flawed operation, which resulted in the death of brian terry. terry. brian terry has been dead for over 500 days now and still no one has been held accountable. so it is with disappointment and with brevity that this committee sits here and i sit here to hold someone accountable for what has happened. i would like to just read off of the web site, the oj our web site and i quote, our solemn responsibilities to hold government accountable to the taxpayers because taxpayers have the right to know what to get from the government. we will work tirelessly in partnership with citizens and watchdogs to deliver the facts to the american people and to bring genuine reform to the federal bureaucracy. that is what we are charged charge to do in this committee and very unfortunately this administration, this department of justice, ha

the committee stands adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> coming up on c-span, the head of the drug enforcement administration testifies at a house judiciary hearing. then atlantic monthly hosts a form on the market for biofuels. and federal reserve chairman ben bernanke discusses the economy and fed policy at a news conference in washington. . . . . the u.s. was not the leader in the world in biofuel. since then, the u.s. is. conventional left in all but also in the development of second-generation biofuels. it has galvanized the development of these new technologies. i do not think it has been in constant turmoil. that is why it has worked. we have a lot of capacity that is efficient and effective. my concern is more about not having the patience and letting this thing continue to play out which is on track to success. companies that have a track record -- track record of technology like our own, companies like bp, dsm, that a

chairman, senator shelby and members of the committee. you are all probably familiar with the concept of the law and the instrument but you may know it as the law of the hammer. if you are holding a hammer everything looks like a nail. that concept is supposed to be a warning not to use reflexively a familiar tool in response to every problem but i must confess that the longer i taught and wrote in the area of financial regulation the more convinced i became in the centrality of strong capital standards to a sound financial system. my time at the federal reserve has not changed my mind. on the contrary, a series of events most recently the jp morgan loss has only reinforced my conclusion. a bank with a strong capital position can absorb losses from unexpected sources whether those be external shocks to the economy, the insolvency of important counter parties or failures of risk management within the firm. strong buffers ensure that losses are borne by shareholders of the bank and not by taxpayers either directly through bailout or indirect

the v.a.'s advisory committee reflects that need. we must also insure that the advisory committee has the opportunity to present its views on these types of issues to the secretary and congress as required by 38usc-3692. i am disappointed since congress revised the committee's membership in public law 1 111-275, the committee has not met in the last year and possibly longer and i hope that the director will inform us of his plans to make use of the advisory committee. also in reviewing the membership of the advisory committee i think that we should consider bringing in experts in compliance and enforcement, and i look forward to working the ranking member in the subcommittee to enhancing the role of the advisory committee and i recognize the distinguished ranking member for the remarks and i would note as a graduate of both iowa state university and the university of iowa, he probably has no problem getting tickets for the autumn civil war, and i'm not sure which city it is, and i would not put you on you which team ycity you are ro f

magazine announces this year's best of the bay will help think the swiss serious illness and how the committee centers the burning gay pride month as they continue their work and a berkeley native then moved to turkey sharing it takes maybe for you to become the next one. >>> welcome to bay area focus its its july tradition this and this is a magazine will feature this year's best of the bay area the s. curve web site as " beets and " alt smart insider's guide to the years newest and busiest arrivals in the capital. also a companion over the top events to support family house. a home away from home for families of kids with serious illnesses. woke me that this had to scout magazine publisher welcome. we should sit at the magazine is on the new stand now and will talk about the event to the new look of the magazine and a minute but a little bit about family house first. it partnered how many years >>> sixth year that were working the family house. >>> why is it a good fit? crews of particular reason why the magazine and the family house work together that the fantastic organization that helps f

several members of the committee have asked to hear from mr. dimon and due diligence conducted by my staff i decided to invite the regulators informed the committee that there was a breakdown in the risk management involved with these trades despite the fact that the trades were reportedly designed to reduce the managed risk as they continue to look into the matter that the firms solvency and stability is not in jeopardy at this time. while this is welcome news, questions remain that must be answered if we want our banks to better manage the risks to maintain financial stability as i believe they do. today marks the two-month anniversary of incumbents where they downplayed concerns for the initial reports of the chief investment office trades. we later learned our out of control trading strategy and i've said before a letter explained we've made an egregious mistake. there's no excuse for it. we know where we are stopping. we know where we are stupid. we know there was bad judgment and in hindsight we took far too much risk and it was badly moni

i am lucy dalglish executive director of the reporter's committee for freedom of the press. for more than 40 years the reporters' committee provide the free legal and advocacy service. i'm happy to testify on behalf of the sunshine and government initiative of which the reporters committee is a member. sgi is a coalition of media associations promoting greater transparency in government. thank you, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing. we strongly object to the changes the united states department of labor announced less than two months ago. the department's approach as proposed in april makes the release of market moving information less reliable, less secure, more prone to errors and inaccuracies and less equitable as it reaches the public. last month, the sunshine in government initiative urged the labor department to suspend these changes, clarify the concerns with the current process, and work with us to address those concerns. since then only your attention to this issue has helped bring about productive discussions between the media entities and the labor department

you've got the investigation, you have this committee. but we also know the other undercurrent of the story is the politics of all of this. it's right down party lines. many have seen that this fast and furious" investigation was something conservatives people on the right wanted to see pushed for lack of a better description, would give enthusiasm to see it go to this point. here we are an investigation, but weise also know the politics of all of this. >> politics is something that members of this committee from both parties talked about today, and clearly, there is a big layer of that over all of this. what is interesting is that both parties acknowledge that politics is playing out and both parties acknowledge that there are legitimate issues here. you will find that democrats respect that the power of this committee to look into things in other parts of the government. they're not happy that it's involving the attorney general. some believe he is being mistreated and has been not shown the proper respect and they would like to see it n

republicans are the majority on the committee. they have the votes whenever they move towards that vote, wolf. >> so there should be no doubt that in this committee the republicans -- i assume all the republicans will vote to hold the attorney general in contempt. the democrats will vote against it. but the republicans, as you point out, have the majority. so presumably it will move forward, is that right? >> presumably, that is how exactly things will move forward. even if you just listen to some of the debate today, it was absolutely along partisan lines. one side saying the department of justice is stone walling. the other side saying this is a political witch hunt on the part of republicans. going forward though, wolf, it becomes a little bit more unclear. that full house of representatives would need to vote on this citation. that could happen as early as next week is what we are hearing. after that, it's unclear where it would go. it would likely go to the u.s. attorney for the district of columbia, but it's unlikely the just

lee, a member of the appropriations committee. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. ms. lee: thank you, mr. chairman. let me thank our ranking member for yielding, but also i want to thank the subcommittee chair and the entire staff for their tireless effort to bring this appropriations bill to the floor. i also want to say to the ranking member, mr. olver, i will miss your thoughtfulness, i will misyour clarity of purpose on all the issues, i will miss your attention to detail and the bipartisan spirit that you bring to this appropriations committee and i just have to say, i wish you the best as you close this chapt for the your life and begin the next chapter but i'm going to miss you deeply as we've heard tonight and we will hear until you begin this next chapter. thank you again so much for your service and most importantly, i want to thank you for your friendship. yes, as a member of the appropriations committee, i really understand the constraints which we have been working under, but i cannot support th

asked for the b banking committee, was told by some, you don't want to be on the banking committee, because the bank is done, and they have passed dodd/frank and the heyday has come and gone, and in my view, oversight, implementation, and modification and alteration of dodd/frank is a very important task for this congress. one that i wanted to fully engage in, because the consequences of dodd/frank are tremendous, and certainly to directly to financial institutions, but more importantly to the customers and the borrowers and the depositors that we care a lot about. it is concerning to me that while we continue to have these hearings, i am -- my concern is that there is no legislation that then follows the series of ideas that are presented and certainly i would guess that every member of the committee has expressed either here in a committee hearing or in a letter to the regulators a desire for a different outcome than what has occurred with dodd frank. so i think that there is a general belief among most everyone on the committee that there needs to be some alterations in the dodd/f

clay, two minutes, a member of the committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from msouri is recognized for two minutes. mr. clay: mr. speaker, as a member of the oversight mmittee, i know that the gunwalking operations conducted by the a.t.f. under both the previous and current administrations were absolutely wrong. but the leadership of this house is focused on shameful election-year political posturing instead of the real issue. the justice department long ago ended the practice of allowing these guns to walk across the border, putting communities in mexico at great risk, but the same people who have relentlessly pursued a baseless partisan attack on attorney general holder and the president have ignored the desperate pleas of the mexican government. to strengthen american gun laws and curb trafficking that gave rise to the strategy in the first place. but focusg in on the real issue would take time away from them playing politics with the oversight authority. those on the other side of the aisle claim to be concerned ab

president, you and hillary go down to the senate judiciary committee and testify. ford testified after the nixon pardon. go down and testify. let them ask you any question they want about whitewater. and they started screaming, the other staff members, stephan open miss started screaming this is -- i'd rather have vast publicity. you'll handle testimony because there is nothing here, than set up an institution with 25 fbi agents who will start investigating you and your friends in arkansas for the rest of your presidency. when i said this by the way monica lewinsky was a junior in high school. she wasn't around at this time. this is six years. don't set up this institution. they will be after you, your friends and everything. oh, they keep asking me about it. he folded. he folded. even hillary folded. hillary who was on my side and couldn't deal with it. they appointed the independent counsel. in the first one was replaced, bob fisk by ken starr, i theft white house because i was now a very controversial figure who gave bad advise about not appointing independent co

the committee will be in order. the chair: the committee will be in order. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? >> i rise and request to speak out of order. the chair: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. cantor: i would advise the house that at the end of the amendment series is the lummis amendment. after that amendment, we will be revoting the connelly amendment. so don't leave. we will need to be revoting the gentleman's amendment. i ask unanimous consent that roll call number 327 be vacated to the end that the request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly remain as unfinished business and further the chair may reduce the time for voting on that amendment to not less than two minutes. the chair: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the chair appreciates the motion and will state that the chair didn't recognize individuals in the well. two-minute voting will proceed. pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, proceedings will continue in the following order. an amendmen

that was asserted by the getty of the committee. as you just heard from the chairman, the committee is going to recess and they will do that so that members can vote on the house floor. coming up shortly probably in about ten or 15 minutes or so. what we're going to do is open up our phone lines in a few minutes to ache your reaction. a couple of ways to do that. if you are a republican, the pho phone. make sure you mute your television or radio when you call in. we will get to calls in about ten minutes. you can use the handle cspanholder and we will read some of those. they will recess and coming back from a vote. the house ju judiciary committee. although he is not a member of that committee he was allowed a privilege to question the attorney general. here is how that looked. >> december 14, 2010, brain terry was gunned down and we began knowing about fast and furious shortly therefore. people representing you have said repeatedly you didn't know about that before then. i sent you a number of letters. senator sent you a couple of

the chair: the committee will be in order. the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 5972, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill making appropriations for the department of transportation and housing and urban development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2013, and for other purposes. the chair: when the committee of the whole rose on wednesday, june 27, 2012, an amendment was offered by the gentleman from louisiana, mr. scalise, had been disposed of and the bill had been read through page 150, line 9. for what purpose does the gentleman from iowa seek recognition? mr. latham: mr. chairman, i ask unanimous consent to vacate the request for recorded vote on the landry amendment due the end put the question de novo. the chair: is there objection to the request for the gentleman from iowa? without objection, the request for recorded vode on the amendment is vacated and the chair will put the question de novo. the clerk

so, the risk committee did a great job. this is a flaw i would blame on management, not the risk committee. recently, two directors have been added that have experience in financial markets. >> ok. so, you feel the risk committee -- this was too small of an item for them? give me a little more context for this. >> the risk committee reviews broader issues, regulations, requirements -- they need a lot of management. they talk to rick committees. i think it would have been hard to capture this is management did not capture it. we were misinformed and impaired >> the second question goes to the broader -- we were misinforming them. >> the second question goes to the broader context. a share. -- the shareholders lost, but the taxpayers did not. what is to stop this from happening again, maybe being a larger loss, but particularly in a week or less well-capitalized institution? it was an institution smaller than j.p. morgan the start of the capital the catapult, firms like lehman brothers. -- the catapult, firms like lehman broth

>> yes. >> madam chair and members of the committee, and i have nothing to add. to the a motion to object? we will do that without objection. thank you to the department for your agreement. to the public library. >> good morning, city librarian. the key to the budget analyst for the support. we are in concurrence with the deficit reduction. the only outstanding issue remains the recommendation of the library openings additional flow hours there represents 2.5 fte for those facilities. i am happy to respond to any questions you may have. supervisor chu: would you be able to address the area where there is still the this agreement? >> madam chair, just to clarify these are the policy recommendations. the library is an agreement with all of the recommended cuts. these are the policy recommendations on pages 13 and 14. supervisor chu; what remains is primarily the policy recommendations for the custodian, a library one and a library tech assistance. these four positions are related to the expansion of library hours, correct? take of that is correct. - >> that is corre