House Proceeding 03-31-09 on Mar 31st, 2009 :: 0:48:05 to 0:52:55
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0:48:00 to 0:48:20( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: help as many sprures as possible. i am -- entrepreneurs as possible. i'm confident that given the right tools entrepreneurs will once again lead our nation's recovery, creating opportunity in the face of adversity. foth vote and yield back my time. thank you, mr. chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman

0:48:05 to 0:52:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Zoe Lofgren

0:48:21 to 0:48:42( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: from california. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lungren: mr. speaker, i have spoken in support of this resolution. i continue to do so. i would just say with respect to the statements made about the small business committee, it received the single largest increase in all the committees

0:48:43 to 0:49:03( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: of the house of representatives . i might say that we actually manage for the budget committee to come in with no increase whatsoever. we had the intelligence committee to come in with

0:49:04 to 0:49:24( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: almost -- well, 1.5% increase below inflation. i remember when we asked them why they were coming in for such a small request, they said, well, we had to increase some of our things last year, we're moving in a new skiff, we had a new meeting in place, we had to have new computers but we made those expenditures last year.

0:49:25 to 0:49:45( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: we don't need it this year. it was refreshing to hear that sort of thing. there's no indation by virtue of the effect that we're giving them a 1.5% increase that we're trying to short tny way , form or fashion. the rules committee also came in below 2% and, again, they talked about the fact that they

0:49:46 to 0:50:06( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: were trying to keep themselves within those limits. i would just say, however, with respect to some things that have been said on the floor, i wish in the stimulus package that was passed it had as much in it for small business as we have for the small business committee in this particular resolution relative to other things. i think we could have done far

0:50:07 to 0:50:28( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: better than that. and particularly with the tax cuts consequences of the president's proposal. mr. speaker, because of some of the questions brought up by mr. issa and others, we in our committee fought and wbrought this up on our side of the aisle. it was supported by the -- by the chairman ease the transparency of the committees of

0:50:29 to 0:50:49( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: jurisdiction so that in fact people could make judgments whether they were carrying out the oversight function and we do it in two ways. let me just underscore that. one, there's already existing requirement th monthly report as to what they're doing. if you would look at those reports now, sometimes they're difficult to decipher.

0:50:50 to 0:51:10( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: so trying to make it much more clear for both the committee and the public we are working on a temp late so that information can be -- template so that information can be easily accessible. we're also working then to put that on the committee website so that people can see and make judgments for themselves. that's one way in which we're trying to ensure that we in the

0:51:11 to 0:51:32( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: congress in our committees do the oversight as well as th legislative work that we're supposed to do. the second way we did it was to request, and it is part of this resolution, that the chairman -- chairpersons and the ranking members of each committee come back to us at the end of the year. and it's not that we're going

0:51:33 to 0:51:54( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: to que that they're dealing with or question how they handle things but rather we're going to have some inquiries, looking at those reports and seeing how, what ey're doing matched up with their budget request. and one of thereas that we're going to provide oversight of this house is to make sure that

0:51:55 to 0:52:15( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: oversight is being done. i think we've tried to answer the question of whether or not real oversight is going to be done by the way that we made these changes that are contained this resolution. and so i would hope that people understand that i take oversight -- the oversight responsibility very, very seriously.

0:52:16 to 0:52:37( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: the chairman has indicated that he does as well. and this committee will do i work to ensure that the american public can make their judgments. it seems to me that's what we're supposed to be doing. if all we are is a rubber stamp committee, the public could say we're not doing our job. mr. speaker, i do not think we're a rubber stamp committee

0:52:38 to 0:52:55( Edit History Discussion )

Zoe Lofgren: with this chairman and i'm certainly going to work with him to ensure that's not the case. we are going to make sure that we do the people's work and that all the committees do as well. if at the end of the year we can't prove it to ourselves we're not going to be able to prove it to th and then it's on us. and i would hope that we would