Eleanor Holmes Norton

The majority has been obsessed with depriving the District of Columbia of its home-rule rights ever since this Congress opened. They have come now with their choice, their preference, for the people I represent. If, in fact, the majority…

On the contrary, a letter is on its way up here from city council members. The present mayor opposes the bill. Yes, the former mayor was for the bill. The largest demonstration of citizens since I have been in the Congress was held when…

Look, the majority has chosen to run the government, the Federal Government, from CR to CR. But the majority has no right to inflict this operational outrage on the local funds of a local jurisdiction, the District of Columbia. The…

If the gentlewoman would yield, I think it's very interesting that we have on the floor Members from, perhaps, the most dense part of the Federal workforce, all the way to Hawaii. Eighty-five percent of Federal workers does not work in the…

I thank the gentlelady, and I hope she will remain with us, because the gentlelady is pointing out distinctions that the public is largely unaware of. Some of these job categories that my friend from Maryland points to ought to be…

Far from scapegoating, it seems to me we ought to stand up and salute Federal employees for what they're doing for this country now.

Half of the Federal workforce, I learned, work in the nine highest paying occupation groups: judges, engineers, scientists, nuclear plant inspectors. That's half of the Federal workers. Less than a third of private sector workers work in…

The Federal workforce, now with many baby boomers, is eligible to retire, and there is absolute panic about whether or not we will ever see a workforce as good as the workforce we got in the post-Kennedy period. These were people who came…

That's such an important point about translating them. Unlike what the Federal Government is required to do, the people who have been throwing around the comparisons don't do what the Bureau of Labor Statistics does. Now, this is very…

This is such an important point. I would say to my friend from Maryland because, remember in Wisconsin, the public employees said, look, we will do our share. Yet the Governor insisted upon going at collective bargaining. Anyone who thinks…

I want to thank the gentlelady for coming down. You make a very important point about the stagnation of the American standard of living. It correlates with the stagnation of the American labor movement. The stagnation of the American labor…

I suspect you're--frustrated would be probably an understatement--about the Old Post Office RFP.

the last I read, OMB cannot override a statutory mandate of the United States Congress.

I am in solidarity with the gentlewoman from Wisconsin and with my friend from the Virgin Islands as well, those who have come down, and in special solidarity with the workers in Wisconsin, in Ohio, in Indiana, who are fighting for their…

This is very important because it means that Americans understand a fundamental right when they see one. And they are saying, and they know best of all, we're willing to take these cuts, don't go into people's fundamental rights, in fact…

Mr. Bernanke spoke. I'm not on that committee, but I heard what he said. He has said, as well, don't harm the recovery. You don't, in the midst of a bear recovery, start acting as though you had a full-fledged economy. Everybody has been…

I want to bring this right home to what is happening on the floor of this Congress as we speak. There is too little recognition of what you have indicated that when you cut agencies, you strangle services. That goes for the Federal sector…

I look forward to learning more about the Presidential libraries.

The underlying bill is a special insult to the Americans who voted for the new majority on the promise of jobs. They might forgive that the majority does not know how to produce jobs or that they haven't produced jobs yet, but they will…

I favor government for the good of the general welfare; therefore I have always hated government bureaucracy and regulations that make government, even the best of government, look bad. I headed a Federal agency, and I believe I will be…

I am grateful. The majority has taken regulation, a subject on which there is a basis for areas of consensus, and has polarized it. They have broken their promises on jobs--look, no jobs bill--and on reducing Federal power by trying to…

And I am pleased to sit with you, Mr. Chairman, and with our friends on the Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee again to examine the process for replacing the Social Security Administration's current data center.

Last thing we want is more delay on this project.

Generally, of course, when GSA puts out an RFP, one of the criteria is proximity to mass transportation.

I would like to apologize to the witnesses and to others who have come to this important hearing, and I just want to say for the record that I object to it being held in this annex.