Washington, D.C. – Congress, in its effort to reclaim its responsibility to conduct effective oversight, would do well to look very closely at the approximately $400 billion that is being spent each year on government contracts.
This federal procurement process is the topic of a new report to be released by the Center for American Progress on Monday, May 14 entitled “A Return to Competitive Contracting,” and of an event to be held at 10 a.m. that morning in the Center’s 10th floor conference room.
Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will be the keynote speaker. His presentation will be followed by a panel of experts including Angela Styles, Former Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget; Margaret Daum, Professional Staff, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; Danielle Brian, Executive Director, Project on Government Oversight; and Scott Lilly, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress.
Keynote Speaker:
Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Featured Panelists:
Angela Styles, Former Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget
Margaret Daum, Counsel, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
Danielle Brian, Executive Director, Project on Government Oversight
Moderated by:
Scott Lilly, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
Monday, May 14, 2007
Program: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Admission is free.
Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
Map & Directions
Nearest Metro: Blue/Orange Line to McPherson Square or Red Line to Metro Center
RSVP for this Event
For more information, please call 202.741.6246.
Biographies
Representative Henry A. Waxman represents California’s 30th congressional district. In 2007, Waxman became Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the principal investigative committee in the House. From 1997 to 2006, Waxman served as Ranking Member of the Committee, conducting investigations into a wide range of topics from the high cost of prescription drugs to waste, fraud, and abuse in government contracting. He formed a Special Investigations Division that prepared hundreds of investigative reports on local and national topics for members of Congress.
Since 2001, Waxman has worked to oppose efforts by the Bush administration to block congressional oversight and roll back health and environmental laws. He has launched investigations of White House ties to Enron, contract abuses in Iraq, and the politicization of science. He has also fought for disclosure of the names of the energy industry lobbyists who shaped the White House energy plan and filed suit to force the administration to released “adjusted” data from the 2000 Census that corrects for the undercount of minorities. In addition, Waxman has repeatedly fought efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to relax important air pollution and drinking water protections and by the Food & Drug Administration to weaken enforcement of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Prior to his election to Congress, Waxman served three terms in the California State Assembly, where he was chairman of the Health Committee, the Committee on Elections and Reapportionment, and the Select Committee on Medical Malpractice. He was the author of such major legislation as the Fair Campaign Practices Act, the Fair Credit for Women Law, and the legislation establishing standards for health maintenance organizations in California.
Waxman was born September 12, 1939, in Los Angeles. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA and a J.D. from the UCLA Law School. He and his wife, the former Janet Kessler, have a daughter and son-in-law, a son and daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren.
Angela B. Styles’ practice is concentrated in the area of federal procurement law and litigation. Styles has represented contractors before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Most recently, Styles served in two key procurement positions in the Bush administration. Styles received her initial appointment to the General Services Administration in January 2001, holding this position until her appointment and confirmation by the U.S. Senate as Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy within the Office of Management and Budget at the White House. In these positions, Styles was responsible for the policies and regulations governing $240 billion a year in purchases by the federal government and led presidential initiatives on public-private competition, contract bundling, small business procurement, and purchase card reform. Styles worked on a wide variety of legal, legislative, and policy issues associated with homeland security, terrorism-related indemnification, labor-management relations, and performance-based service contracting. Styles also chaired the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, the Federal Acquisition Council, and the Cost Accounting Standards Board.
Styles has provided legal and policy commentary for numerous national media outlets including the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Styles has made appearances on news programming for CNN, National Public Radio, and C-SPAN Washington Journal.
Styles has testified about complex government contracting issues at more than 20 hearings before the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. She has testified on numerous occasions before the Senate Armed Services, Senate Government Affairs, House Armed Services, House Veterans’ Affairs, House Small Business, and House Oversight and Government Reform Committees.
For her efforts on behalf of minority and women-owned small businesses in the federal procurement process, Styles recently received the 2003 Small Business Administration Leadership Award and the 2003 Women Impacting Public Policy Leadership Award.
Margaret Daum is Counsel to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where she specializes in government acquisition and procurement. Prior to joining the Committee, she was an associate at the New York office of the law firm White & Case LLP. She received her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Columbia College and holds a law degree from Columbia Law School, where she was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
Danielle Brian has been the Executive Director of the Project On Government Oversight since 1993. Brian frequently testifies before Congress and regularly appears in major national media discussing POGO’s investigations. Her work with POGO has led to major reforms and cuts in wasteful spending in such areas as oil industry fraud, lax nuclear security, excessive government secrecy, and defense contractor abuses. Prior to becoming POGO’s Executive Director, Brian worked as a policy analyst at the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Congressional Caucus and then as a producer for television documentaries. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors of both Taxpayers for Common Sense and HALT: Americans for Legal Reform. Brian received a master’s degree in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1990. She received her bachelor’s degree in Government from Smith College in 1985.
Scott Lilly is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress who writes and does research in a wide range of areas including governance, federal budgeting, national security, and the economy. He joined the Center in March of 2004 after 31 years of service with Congress. He served as Clerk and Staff Director of the House Appropriations Committee, Minority Staff Director of that Committee, Executive Director of the House Democratic Study Group, Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee, and Chief of Staff in the Office of Congressman David Obey (D-WI).
Throughout his career, Lilly has been engaged in a wide array of policy matters ranging across the entire spectrum of government activities. These have included counterterrorism, homeland security, efforts to reform American schools, and the financing of federal scientific activities. He has worked on various efforts to reform the legislative process in Congress and served as a political and legislative strategist to the Democratic members of the Appropriations Committee and the House Democratic Leadership.