Daily Kos

Oversight & Govt Reform: Global Warming Part II (CCP)

by On The Bus

Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 11:31:44 AM PDT

This is the weekly review of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.  Last week the Committee continued its high-powered hearings into Global Warming and is dogging the Bush Administration at every turn.  Check it out...


Week Ahead - Hearings

  • Monday, March 26: Full Committee hearing on "Safe and Affordable Biotech Drugs – The Need for a Generic Pathway"

    10:00 am, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

    This hearing will look at the high cost of biotech medicines and how to provide a pathway to allow the FDA to approve safe and affordable generic versions of biotech drugs. Witnesses include representatives of the Food & Drug Administration, biotech pharmaceutical manufacturers, scientists, and consumer groups.

    Witnesses:


      Panel I.
    • Dr. Janet Woodcock, M.D., FDA

      • Panel II.

    • Ganesh Venkataraman, Ph.D., Research Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc

    • Geoffrey Allan, Ph.D., Insmed Incorporated (formerly with FDA’s Center for Biologics)

    • Bill Schwieterman, M.D., Tekgenics Corporation

    • Theresa Lee Gerrard, Ph.D., TLG Consulting, Inc. (formerly with Amgen and FDA’s Center for Biologics)

    • Inger Mollerup, Novo Nordisk A/S

      • Panel III.

    • Nelda Barnett , AARP

    • Scott D. McKibbin , State of Illinois

    • Mary Nathan , National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD

    • Yvonne Brown , National Multiple Sclerosis Society

    • Jonah Houts , Express Scripts, Inc.

    • Priya Mathur , California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS)

    • Henry Grabowski, Ph.D., Duke University

  • Tuesday, March 27: Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia business meeting

    2:00 pm, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

  • Wednesday, March 28: Full Committee hearing on "Allegations of Misconduct at the General Services Administration"

    10:00  am, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

    Back in January, Waxman requested documents from Lurita Doan, chief of the U.S. General Services Administration. She is under investigation for a $20,000 no-bid contract given to a personal friend, Edie Fraser.  Since that time additional information (see Waxman's March 6 letter PDF) indicates that Ms. Fraser actually used her connections to convince several Senators to promote Doan to the position of GSA administrator and then expected payment from the agency for her services.   From an email dated 09/20/06, "Lurita, I will do anything for you and will do for the rest of my life... But I have spent so much time at GSA from the report planning to these sessions with ZERO $$. How do we solve".

    Ms. Doan will also be questioned about her involvement in the awarding of a contract to Sun Microsystems.  Initially a GSA contract officer refused to award the contract after an audit by the Inspector General determined that Sun was overcharging the federal government compared with similar services offered to its corporate customers.  Doan had the officer replaced and the replacement subsequently awarded the contract which will cost federal taxpayers millions more than necessary.  

    Ms. Doan will testify before the committee. Other witnesses have not been listed yet.  

  • Thursday, March 29: Full Committee business meeting

    9:30 am, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building

  • Thursday, March 29: Subcommittee on Domestic Policy hearing on "’Build It and They Will Come’: Do Taxpayer-financed Sports Stadiums, Convention Centers and Hotels deliver as promised for America’s Cities?"

    10:30 am, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building


 
Week in Review: 03/19/07 - 03/23/07

Hearings


  • March 19: Allegations of Political Interference with Science: Global Warming Part II

    Witnesses:


      Panel I
    • Mr. Philip Cooney , former Chief of Staff, White House Council on Environmental Quality

    • Dr. James Hansen , Director, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

    • Mr. George Deutsch , former public affairs officer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

      • Panel II

    • Mr. James Connaughton , Chairman, White House Council on Environmental Quality

      • Panel III

    • Dr. Roy Spencer , University of Alabama in Huntsville

    From Waxman's opening statement:

    Today, the Committee continues its investigation into whether the nonpartisan work of climate change scientists was distorted by political interference from the Bush Administration.  

    Our goal in this investigation is to find out what role the White House actually played.  It would be a serious abuse if senior White House officials deliberately tried to defuse calls for action by ensuring that the public heard a distorted message about the risks of climate change.

    See my diary for info about the first hearing on January 30th: Part I.

    Since that time, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has turned over many more documents but the production is still not complete (they have been dragging their heels on this request since July 2006).    The documents clearly show that Philip Cooney was able to exert significant influence over federal climate change policy and science. Cooney and his staff made hundreds of changes to government publications on climate change to minimize the dangers and the role that humans play in global warming.  

    NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen then spoke about his experiences with the Public Affairs offices at NASA and how they tried to control the information and interviews he gave to the media.    Press releases relating to global warming science were sent from NASA headquarters to the White House for review, approval or disapproval, and editing.  

    The Minority party's witness was Dr. Roy Spencer.  In his opening statement, Rep Darrell Issa complained that Spencer was being unfairly treated because he was the last witness to speak and relegated to a panel all by his lonesome.  However in their own Minority Background Memo they described Spencer thusly, "Spencer has been labeled a "skeptic" because he has been skeptical of the alleged scientific consensus that global warming is predominantly caused by human activity. Additionally, Spencer is an Evangelical Christian and published a column on intelligent design."  Okkkay then, that explains it!
     
    A webcast of the hearing is available on the Committee website.  Kossack Ott provided a  
    Live Blog of the hearing and jhritz added some post-hearing commentary with Shays vs. Hansen at Waxman's Global Warming Hearing

  • March 22:  Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs hearing on "Iraq: IEDs and Munitions, Are They Secured?"
    Witnesses:

    • Ms. Davi D'Agostino, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management, GAO

    • Lieutenant General Gregory S. Newbold, US Marine Corps, retired


    The Subcommittee for National Security and Foreign Affairs held a hearing to look at the munitions sites in Iraq and how to better secure them.  The GAO found that "The overwhelming size and number of conventional munitions storage sites in Iraq, combined with certain prewar planning assumptions that proved to be invalid, resulted in U.S. forces not adequately securing these sites and widespread looting, according to field unit, lessons learned, and intelligence reports."  (See Report (PDF) for more details.)

Inquiries
 


  • Waxman sent this letter Longstanding Precedent Exists for Congressional Testimony from White House Officials to Senator Patrick Leahy & Representative John Conyers.  Bush said that he was giving Congress "unprecedented" access to information about the US Attorney scandal.  To the contrary,  Waxman provided a list of Clinton Administration officials who had to testify publicly and under oath before Congressional Committees:  including White House Counsel, Chiefs of Staff, and other individuals serving as Senior Advisor to the President, Deputy Counsel to the President, Director of Political Affairs and Chief of Staff to the Vice President.  In addition there is ample precedent for turning over internal communications between White House aides, including emails and even attorney-client communications from White House Counsel.  

    This administration is contradicting itself because it has already allowed Senior Administration officials to testify at Waxman's hearings this year.  This past week the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality testified at the Global Warming hearing, and the prior week we heard James Knodell, director of White House office security testify at the Plame hearing.   As we all now know, the Senate Judiciary Committee has authorized issuing subpoenas to White House officials.  

  • Information Requested on Allegations of Political Interference in Tobacco Case

    Taking a cue from this WaPo article, Waxman sent a letter to AG Alberto Gonzalez requesting communication and documents between the White House and Department of Justice pertaining to the Dept's litigation of tobacco companies. According to the Department's lead attorney in the case, Sharon Eubanks, several Bush loyalists in Gonzales's office undermined the government's case by asking the trial team to "soften witness testimony, drop a request for structural changes in tobacco company management, and lower the amount of money requested for a nationwide program to help smokers quit."  Eubanks was also quoted in the WaPo piece, saying:

    "Political interference is happening at Justice across the department," she said. "When decisions are made now in the Bush attorney general's office, politics is the primary consideration. . . . The rule of law goes out the window."

    In addition to interfering with the case, the White House may have influenced the publication of a DOJ op-ed in the USA Today.  Emails (PDF) that Eubanks provided to the Committee show that the White House inserted a sentence into the op-ed ("President Bush and his Administration have proven time and again a strong commitment to holding the tobacco industry accountable for past fraud and abuse.") and then said that version was "good to go".

  • Continuing to look into waste, fraud and abuse by Iraqi contractors, Waxman asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to produce documents related to a $188 million contract with DynCorp.  A report released by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction revealed waste and fraud in the construction of a residential camp for police trainers.  The audit found that millions of dollars were spent on construction of an Olympic-sized swimming pool among other things that were not authorized under the contract.

Legislation - NEW
Here are the bills & resolutions introduced last week - listed under the Subcommittee which has jurisdiction over the matter.  


Domestic Policy
  • H.R.1614 : To reform the financing of House elections, and for other purposes.                                 
    Sponsor: Rep Tierney, John F. [MA-6]


Information Policy, Census, and National Archives
  • H.R.1656 : To amend title 5, United States Code, to permit access to databases maintained by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for purposes of complying with sex offender registry and notification laws, and for other purposes.
    Sponsor: Rep Poe, Ted [TX-2]

  • H.R.1664 : To authorize grants for contributions toward the establishment of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library.
    Sponsor: Rep Goodlatte, Bob [VA-6]


Federal Workforce, Postal Service, and the District of Columbia
  • H.RES.256 : Congratulating Sauk Village, Illinois, on its 50th anniversary.
    Sponsor: Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2]

  • H.RES.257 : Supporting the goals and ideals of Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month.
    Sponsor: Rep Platts, Todd Russell [PA-19]

  • H.R.1572 : To amend title 5, United States Code, to eliminate the discriminatory treatment of the District of Columbia under the provisions of law commonly referred to as the "Hatch Act".
    Sponsor: Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC]

  • H.R.1603 : To amend title 5, United States Code, to establish a national health program administered by the Office of Personnel Management to offer Federal employee health benefits plans to certain individuals affected by an incident of national significance, and for other purposes.
    Sponsor: Rep Jefferson, William J. [LA-2]

  • H.R.1617 : To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 561 Kingsland Avenue in University City, Missouri, as the "Harriett F. Woods Post Office Building".
    Sponsor: Rep Carnahan, Russ [MO-3]

  • H.R.1661 : To amend the Law Enforcement Pay Equity Act of 2000 to permit certain annuitants of the retirement programs of the United States Park Police and United States Secret Service Uniformed Division to receive the adjustments in pension benefits to which such annuitants would otherwise be entitled as a result of the conversion of members of the United States Park Police and United States Secret Service Uniformed Division to a new salary schedule under the amendments made by such Act.
    Sponsor: Rep Van Hollen, Chris [MD-8]


Legislation - UPDATES
  • H.R.180 : To require the identification of companies that conduct business operations in Sudan, to prohibit United States Government contracts with such companies, and for other purposes.
    Sponsor: Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] (introduced 1/4/2007)      Cosponsors (90)
    Latest Major Action: 3/20/2007 House committee/subcommittee actions.
    Status: Subcommittee Hearings Held.

  • H.R.1433 : To provide for the treatment of the District of Columbia as a Congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives, and for other purposes.
    Sponsor: Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] (introduced 3/9/2007)      Cosponsors (18)
    Latest Major Action: 3/22/2007 House floor actions.
    Status: Mr. Smith (TX) moved to recommit with instructions to Oversight and Government.

  • S.CON.RES.14 : A concurrent resolution commemorating the 85th anniversary of the founding of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, a leading association for the 1,300,000 United States citizens of Greek ancestry and Philhellenes in the United States.
    Sponsor: Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME] (introduced 2/28/2007)      Cosponsors (4)
    Latest Major Action: 3/19/2007 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Tags: House, oversight, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Congressional Committees Project, Henry Waxman, Global Warming, Iraq, tobacco (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

Permalink | 14 comments

Permalink | 14 comments