Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2008
Floor Speech
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 22, 2007)
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Madam Chair and members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch appropriations legislation for the fiscal year 2008.
The Legislative Branch bill is unique in that it appropriates funding for the entire Capitol Building and Grounds as well as nine legislative branch agencies and the 435 Members of this body and their offices. As a new member of the Appropriations Committee serving as a subcommittee Chair, I recognize the tremendous responsibility that comes along with being steward of this great institution, and I am honored by the confidence and trust that Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Obey, and my colleagues have placed in me.
Historically, the Legislative Branch bill has enjoyed the bipartisan spirit that has come to define the Appropriations Committee and my experiences in working with the ranking member have been consistent with that spirit. Over the past several months, I have worked with Ranking Member Wamp, the gentleman from Tennessee, and other members of the committee from both parties to shape and determine the appropriations for the people's House. We held 14 oversight hearings prior to developing this bill, and I am very proud of our accomplishments.
I want to thank the members of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee for their help and input, Vice Chair Lee, Mr. Udall, Mr. Honda, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Ruppersberger, Mr. Wamp, Mr. LaHood, and Mr. Goode. The vast majority of our committee is new to the full committee, and we approached our task with zeal and with dedication.
I would particularly like to thank Ranking Member Wamp for his work on this bill. He has been a good partner, and I appreciate his cooperation and friendship. While we have not agreed on every issue, we worked in partnership to address our differences; and notwithstanding a few issues, they were resolved. I would also like to thank Chairman Obey for his guidance during this process and Ranking Member Lewis for his efforts as well.
Madam Chair, the bill provides $3.1 billion for the legislative branch, not including Senate items. That's an increase of $122 million, or just 4 percent, over the actual spending level in fiscal year 2007. This reflects a $276 million reduction in the total amended budget request, and I think that's an important point that Members should note. We are bringing this bill in under the original request.
We used three guiding principles to develop this bill: fiscal responsibility, security and life safety, and accountability.
In terms of fiscal responsibility, we've emphasized that we need to keep this bill tight with a view towards the long term. We've funded the must-haves over the nice-to-haves and have focused on critical investments. We've held the actual spending increase in this bill to only 4 percent, $122 million, compared to the 13 percent, or $398 million, which was the increase that was requested.
In terms of security and life safety, we've made sure this bill makes the Capitol complex as secure and safe as possible. To this end, the bill includes $50 million worth of critical security and life safety projects, including, at the suggestion and urging of my good friend from Tennessee, interoperable radios for the Capitol Police. It also provides substantial increases to agencies with a direct role in the health/safety of the complex. The Capitol Police receive an 8 percent increase, while the Office of Compliance, which ensures that we protect our visitors and our employees in a safe environment, receives a 23 percent increase.
Finally, in terms of accountability, we've crafted this bill to provide Congress with the resources it needs to perform its constitutional oversight role and hold agencies accountable. We've fully funded House committees and included resources to bulk up GAO to better support our congressional oversight efforts. We've also beefed up the Capitol Police IG office and established a statutory IG office at the Architect of the Capitol to improve oversight within those two organizations.
In closing, we've kept this bill tight so that we're fiscally responsible. We've done so by prioritizing investments for critical life safety and security needs while providing Congress with the tools it needs to hold the government accountable to the American taxpayer.
Madam Chair, we have a wonderful staff. I'd like to thank my committee staff, my personal staff, and Mr. Wamp's staff: Ms. Tracie Pough and Ian Rayder on my personal staff; Mr. Tom Forhan, our clerk; Rob Nabors, the full Appropriations Committee clerk; Chuck Turner; David Marroni; and Mr. Wamp's staff, Jeff Shockey and Liz Dawson, for their assistance. They have assisted both myself and Mr. Wamp as a new Chair and ranking member with our learning curve and worked countless hours to help produce this product.
Finally, I want to thank, Madam Chair, my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee for their guidance, patience, understanding and encouragement as we endeavored to craft a bill that was fiscally responsible with an eye toward ensuring that our employees and visitors have a safe and secure environment in which to function, as well as make sure that Congress has adequate resources to engage in our oversight responsibilities.
Madam Chair, it is an honor to serve in this role.
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Yes, that's correct. As written in the report, the committee believes it is important to offset the greenhouse gases generated by the House, which is why we have directed the CAO of the House to purchase carbon offsets at the suggestion of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) and credits to successfully offset carbon produced by all House operations.
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It is the intent of the subcommittee to eventually encompass all House operations, including travel and district operations. I would welcome this report from Mr. Beard and encourage his recommendations on how we will offset the remaining carbon footprint of the House.
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you for yielding, Chairman Davis. Like you, I am very concerned about the Comptroller General's actions and have personally spoken to him to express my concerns.
I am committed to doing all we can to ensure that the Comptroller General does not put up obstacles to workers' rights to organize. In particular, I am dismayed the GAO, as a legislative branch agency, has retained outside counsel, rather than use its own attorneys to represent it before the Personnel Appeals Board. This action is unnecessarily costly and will likely delay the process of determining the outcome of the petition.
The committee has reiterated these points in report language in this bill. We will be closely monitoring the progress of the Comptroller's review of eligibility, and we are requiring weekly reports on progress in these areas.
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I appreciate the hard work of the distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers).
I appreciated as a freshman his assistance during the orientation process and want to assure the gentleman, as I have in conversations with Chairman Brady, that the language in our report, specifically as it relates to the culinary language, is simply a request for the GAO to take a look at that issue so that we can incorporate culinary students in an instructional way in the preparation and delivery of food in the Members dining room. In addition, the disability language, while it is a directive, it was intended to make sure that we could keep the safety and security focus of our legislation.
I do look forward to working very closely with the chairman and the ranking member of the House Administration Committee so that we can make sure that we cover those needs that we have in the House of Representatives and the legislative branch agencies.
And I appreciate the gentleman's kind words.
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