    [Senate Hearing 113-443]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 113-443

                       NOMINATION OF HON. JULIA A. CLARK

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   before the

                                  COMMITTEE ON

                   HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                        ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION

                                   __________

    NOMINATION OF HON. JULIA A. CLARK, TO BE GENERAL COUNSEL, FEDERAL LABOR
                              RELATIONS AUTHORITY

                                   __________

                                 APRIL 29, 2014

            Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/

                           Printed for the use of the

            Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

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            COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                      THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman
    CARL LEVIN, Michigan                 TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
    MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas              JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
    MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana          RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
    CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri           ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
    JON TESTER, Montana                  RAND PAUL, Kentucky
    MARK BEGICH, Alaska                  MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
    TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
    HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota

                   John P. Kilvington, Acting Staff Director
                Deirdre G. Armstrong, Professional Staff Member
      Stephanie A. Wilkinson, Counsel, Subcommittee on the Efficiency and
          Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce
                   Keith B. Ashdown, Minority Staff Director
             Christopher J. Barkley, Minority Deputy Staff Director
                   Andrew C. Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel
                      Sally Anne Braeuer, Minority Counsel
      Darien B. Flowers, Minority Research Assistant, Subcommittee on the
       Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal
                                   Workforce
                         Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
                       Lauren M. Corcoran, Hearing Clerk

                                C O N T E N T S

                                     ------
    Opening statements:
                                                                       Page
        Senator Tester...............................................     1
        Senator Portman..............................................     2
    Prepared statement:
        Senator Tester...............................................    13

                                   WITNESSES
                            Tuesday, April 29, 2014

    Hon. Julia A. Clark, Nominated to be General Counsel, Federal
      Labor Relations Authority
        Testimony....................................................     3
        Prepared statement...........................................    14
        Biographical and financial information.......................    18
        Letter from the Office of Government Ethics..................    33
        Responses to pre-hearing questions...........................    35

                       NOMINATION OF HON. JULIA A. CLARK

                                  ----------

                            TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014

                                         U.S. Senate,
                               Committee on Homeland Security
                                      and Governmental Affairs,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:32 p.m., in
    room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jon Tester,
    presiding.
        Present: Senators Tester and Portman.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR TESTER

        Senator Tester. I will call to order this hearing of the
    Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
        We convene this afternoon's hearing to consider the
    nomination of Julia Clark to serve as the General Counsel of
    the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).
        Julia Clark has filed responses to a biographical and
    financial questionnaire, answered prehearing questions
    submitted by the Committee, and has had her financial
    statements reviewed by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).
    Without objection, this information will be made part of the
    hearing record,\1\ with the exception of the financial data,
    which are on file and available for public inspection in the
    Committee offices.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ Information referred to by Senator Tester appears in the
    Appendix on page 18.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Julia Clark currently serves as General Counsel (GC) for
    the Federal Labor Relations Authority and has been in this
    position since 2009. Julia started her legal career at the
    Department of Justice (DOJ) and brought over 20 years of labor
    law experience to the FLRA. Thank you, Julia, for joining us
    today.
        Senator Portman obviously is not here yet. He is en route,
    and when he gets here, we will certainly respect his
    opportunity to give an opening statement, but we will continue
    on with our Committee agenda.
        Our Committee rules require that all witnesses at
    nominations hearings give their testimony under oath. Ms.
    Clark, would you please stand and raise your right hand.
        Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give to
    the Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
    but the truth, so help you, God?
        Ms. Clark. I do.
        Senator Tester. Let the record reflect that the witness
    answered in the affirmative.
        With that, I will turn it over to Senator Portman for his
    opening statement.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PORTMAN

        Senator Portman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You just went
    through the hardest part of this hearing. [Laughter.]
        I appreciate the fact that Chairman Carper and Ranking
    Member Coburn asked us to hold this hearing, and Senator
    Tester, as usual, took responsibility. We thank you for being
    here to answer some of our questions. We want to tell you that
    we are here to ask you questions and be sure you are the right
    person for the job, but we are impressed with your public
    service. I know you went through this back in 2009, so you have
    experienced a nomination and a confirmation process.
        This is a critical juncture for the Federal Labor Relations
    Authority, because after a lot of years of significant backlogs
    and low employee morale, it appears that the agency is finally
    turning things around. Back in 2009, when you were just
    starting at FLRA, there was a backlog of nearly a thousand
    unfair labor practice (ULP) complaints and appeals cases. I am
    told that backlog has now been almost completely eliminated. I
    want to hear about that issue from you. If you are confirmed,
    my understanding is one of your top priorities would be to
    continue to process cases in a timely and efficient manner.
        One of the most important factors, as we see, in addressing
    the backlog was the Office of General Counsel's (OGC) decision
    in 2010 to amend its regulations to authorize alternative
    dispute resolution (ADR), and I want to talk to you about that.
    I think that is a good approach to save litigation time and
    valuable resources, so in my view that is a good policy change
    and we want it to continue. I want to ask you about that.
        I would say, even with these successes, the recent history
    of the FLRA has not been without its challenges. We are all
    aware the Authority came in dead last on the Partnership for
    Public Service's ``Best Places to Work in the Federal
    Government'' survey in 2005, 2007, and 2009. It seems like you
    have made some strides in terms of your internal management and
    now you rank No. 8 out of 29 small agencies for employee
    satisfaction. I was concerned to see employee satisfaction fall
    in a number of important areas between 2012 and 2013, including
    in the ``performance-based rewards and advancement'' area, and
    the ``effective leadership'' area.
        I am sure we will be able to talk about some of these
    issues and can agree that more can be done to ensure efficiency
    and effectiveness fulfilling your responsibility at FLRA to
    foster lawful and productive relations between Federal
    employees and government managers. We look forward to
    discussing those issues and other issues with you this
    afternoon.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Tester. Thank you, Senator Portman. I appreciate
    your comments.
        Ms. Clark, you will have 5 minutes for your oral statement.
    Please note that your entire written statement will be a part
    of the record. With that, you may begin.

     TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE JULIA A. CLARK,\1\ NOMINATED TO BE
           GENERAL COUNSEL, FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

        Ms. Clark. Thank you, Chairman Tester, Ranking Member
    Portman. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to appear
    before you again and report on the accomplishments of the
    Office of the General Counsel since I was here in 2009.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Clark appears in the Appendix on
    page 14.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        As Senator Portman mentioned, at that time when I was last
    here, the General Counsel's position had been vacant for a
    prolonged period of time, resulting in a daunting backlog of
    complaint and appeals cases. At that time, we suffered a 40
    percent reduction in the OGC staffing level. There were many
    vacancies. Our case processing performance was at a historic
    low. Our public education and information resources were
    virtually nonexistent. And, sadly, our employee morale was at
    an unacceptable low point.
        And while I identified these deficiencies as priorities
    when I was here in 2009 and I vowed to address them, I could
    not know then what I know now about OGC career employees'
    capability and commitment to addressing these looming
    challenges.
        The Office of General Counsel Regional Office employees
    provide labor relations dispute resolution services directly to
    Federal employees, union representatives, and management
    representatives. They are the first point of contact. OGC
    employees handle over 90 percent of all the cases filed at the
    FLRA. Their commitment to the OGC mission and tireless efforts
    were key to our success. They have my deep respect and
    appreciation and deserve the credit for OGC's remarkable
    accomplishments over the past 5 years.
        To support them, when I came to the agency, I decided early
    to direct our limited hiring ability to front-line regional
    office vacancies. I also adopted recommendations from our
    career staff to streamline case processes and make more
    efficient use of technology. Most importantly, as Senator
    Portman reflected, we decided to integrate the alternative
    dispute resolution opportunities into all stages of our case
    processes.
        Our ADR processing has proven to be particularly effective
    and enduring and the results are measurable and positive. Our
    ULP case processing has improved by every measure. Our
    productivity is up 25 percent. Our timeliness improved from 49
    percent to 68 percent. At the same time, our ULP case filings
    increased over 25 percent and now are holding steady at about
    4,600 per year.
        Our employee morale improved quickly and dramatically,
    although there is always room for improvement, and I am looking
    forward to the opportunity to talk about what we can do to
    continue to improve.
        But, the Office of General Counsel is now the leading
    source of information regarding Federal unfair labor practice
    and representation case processing law and practice. We have
    comprehensive manuals, resources, case law outlines, policy
    guidance, and self-paced tutorials that are available to the
    public 24/7.
        Also, our regional office employees provide classroom-style
    education and training on a regular basis and also in response
    to joint labor-management requests. Over the last 5 years, that
    staff, who is also processing ULP cases and representation
    cases, managed to train 15,000 participants in training
    sessions nationwide.
        We have also accomplished what we have accomplished by
    leveraging resources through interagency agreements and
    collaborations to expand our education and ADR activities.
    Through a 2010 partnership with the Federal Mediation and
    Conciliation Service (FMCS), we developed training to support
    Executive Order (EO) 13522, and in those training sessions, in
    an 18-month period, FMCS and our regional office employees were
    able to train another 6,000 labor-management representatives in
    150 sessions. We developed that training into an online
    tutorial for folks who were not able to attend our sessions.
    That is still available.
        We have continued our partnership with the FMCS to support
    the mission of the National Council on Federal Labor-Management
    Relations. We have also entered into shared resource agreements
    with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department
    of Defense (DOD) to develop online training that addresses
    every aspect of the law and practice that we are responsible
    for. The wonderful thing about these shared resource agreements
    is that we were able to partner with much larger agencies who
    had instructional designers and technological studios, and
    provide the content so that there can be a neutral presentation
    of the kinds of information that managers, union
    representatives, and employees need. In addition to that
    partnership, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has
    posted our tutorials on their Human Resources University, so
    they are available 24/7.
        We still have ongoing challenges, the ones mentioned by
    Senator Portman, such as succession planning. We are a very
    small agency. Our hiring ability has been very limited. So, the
    development of new leaders has been a priority and is a
    challenge, but one that we have developed a strategy to meet.
        Also, managing to continue to maintain a high level of
    productivity and efficiency and morale is a challenge that is
    ongoing and that we have to pay attention to all the time.
        Our management culture that we cultivate and nurture is one
    that vigilantly examines our processes, reexamines them, looks
    for potential improvements, but also continuously engages our
    front-line staff in this deliberative process.
        I believe that the Office of General Counsel is well
    positioned to sustain and enhance its contribution to
    productive, stable, and efficient labor-management relations
    throughout the government. It would be an honor and a privilege
    to continue to lead the Office of General Counsel as we meet
    these challenges and serve the public interest.
        Senator Tester. Well, thank you for your testimony, Julia,
    and I am going to start my questioning with the standard
    questions, three in all, that we ask all nominees, then I will
    turn it over to Senator Portman for his.
        Is there anything that you are aware of in your background
    that might present a conflict of interest with the duties of
    the office to which you have been nominated?
        Ms. Clark. No.
        Senator Tester. Do you know of anything, personal or
    otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and
    honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to
    which you have been nominated?
        Ms. Clark. No.
        Senator Tester. Do you agree, without reservation, to
    respond to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before
    any duly constituted Committee of Congress if you are
    confirmed?
        Ms. Clark. Yes.
        Senator Tester. Thank you, and you may proceed, Senator
    Portman.
        Senator Portman. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for
    your indulgence.
        You talked a little bit about this in your opening
    statement and you have more even in your written comments, but
    getting back to the case backlog issue and how you got about a
    thousand complaints and appeal cases resolved that were subject
    to the backlog when you took the job in 2009, you say that a
    number of management factors, you believe, contributed to
    reducing the backlog. You talk about strategic hiring
    decisions, streamlined case processes, and more effective use
    of technology. However, you note that the Authority's
    alternative dispute resolution, ADR initiatives, and I am
    quoting you here, ``have proven particularly effective and
    enduring.''
        As I said earlier, I am supportive of ADR, particularly in
    this context, and I just want to know a little bit about why
    you think it works. You made a decision in the office to
    implement this new policy. Was this something that you decided
    to do, or was it something that your predecessor put in place?
    What has your role been at the Office of General Counsel in
    authorizing these ADR activities?
        Ms. Clark. The ADR activities that we engage in now
    required a change to our regulations. We reinstituted a
    regulatory policy that had been in place previously but was not
    in place at the time I came to the job. It was something that I
    intended to do and looked on very favorably, but consulted with
    career staff about their experience under those regulatory
    changes, both when ADR was permitted in the earliest stages of
    the processes and when it was prohibited, and I felt very clear
    that allowing for ADR early was the right thing to do and I
    authorized and directed that we go in that direction, which we
    did very quickly.
        Senator Portman. How important was that in terms of getting
    the backlog out?
        Ms. Clark. The backlog itself that occurred because of the
    General Counsel vacancy involved cases that had been fully
    investigated. Complaints had been authorized, but complaints
    had not been issued. And only by confirming and appointing a
    General Counsel could those cases go forward. ADR played a big
    role in resolving that backlog quickly, because at that point,
    the career staff was in the position to work with the agencies
    and the unions to resolve them.
        But the real difference in terms of instituting ADR as a
    regular part of our work was allowing for ADR to begin at the
    moment a case walks in our door, at the moment a charge is
    filed. A charge is the first point of contact in our regional
    offices. The regulations permitted our field agents to offer
    ADR services at the moment when they begin investigating a
    case. The offer is voluntary. It makes clear to both the
    management and the union representatives that engaging in
    alternative dispute resolution is at their choice.
        But the offer is not a one-time deal. Not only was a
    regulatory change made, our agents were trained in ADR
    techniques and ADR techniques as they apply to our process so
    that while they are involved in the case process,
    investigating, taking witness statements, they are continuously
    open to and offering ADR services and looking to what the
    underlying dispute is, what are the interests of the parties,
    and how can we resolve whatever the concerns are at the
    earliest possible stage, and hopefully with the least amount of
    formal case processing. And many cases are resolved simply by a
    private settlement in this way.
        Senator Portman. Do you think more training of labor
    representatives and management representatives would be helpful
    to encourage even more use of ADR?
        Ms. Clark. I absolutely do. And, in fact, our partnership
    with the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service has been
    extremely helpful in this regard. That agency has a statutory
    responsibility with respect to collective bargaining in the
    Federal sector, and the Office of General Counsel started a
    partnership with them, partly in the context of the Executive
    Order, but since then, we do joint training with them on the
    front line, but we also work with the FMCS in interventions in
    particularly troubled relationships. But, we make a good team
    and that kind of training, I believe, is extremely helpful.
        Senator Portman. That is good for the Committee to know.
    Again, I believe that it is very useful, not in every case, but
    more training, probably, to understand the consequences of
    going through it, and having the option to pull back if you
    feel like you need full-blown litigation.
        Ms. Clark. Right.
        Senator Portman. That helps. On the morale issue, looking
    at all this data, it is a little confusing to me, because you
    have this latest survey. Last year, 2013 finds a drop,
    actually, in employee satisfaction as it relates to what is
    called ``performance-based rewards and advancement,'' and that
    number was not very high to begin with. You had a 57.7 there.
    What would that be, a ``C''?
        Ms. Clark. Yes.
        Senator Portman. So, what accounts for that apparent
    disconnect? Otherwise, since 2009, you seem to have had a
    positive impact on the culture there. There have been
    improvements in employee satisfaction. And yet, ``performance-
    based rewards and advancement'' seems to be flat and going down
    a little bit. What do you think about that? What do you think
    it is due to?
        Ms. Clark. I think there is a general issue throughout
    government, and I see it in real life at our agency, and that
    there has been a limit on the extent to which we can reward
    employees for their performance.
        In our agency, or the part that I am responsible for, for
    example, we have a performance management system that is
    quantifiable and objective in terms of productivity,
    timeliness, and quality. Our staff is measured that way. Our
    managers are measured on the aggregate performance of the
    people they supervise. It is all by the numbers. They do a
    great job. They exceed their goals.
        But, we have very limited ability to reward them for their
    exceptional service. And while thank yous help, it also helps
    to be rewarded through the performance award system and we have
    not been in a position to offer financial awards for some time.
        And in terms of advancement, I am hopeful that our survey
    will look better next year in that regard. We are in a position
    where we have done a lot of developmental activities, employee
    development, developing new leaders. So, I am hopeful that
    there will be some better results there. But, I do believe a
    real problem has been our inability to reward employees in a
    tangible way for their exceptional performance.
        Particularly in this case, our agency is much smaller than
    it was in the past, and while we have many new employees, most
    people remember a time when ratios of cases filed to agents
    were much lower, maybe even 50 percent lower than what an agent
    is expected to do now. So, they are under a lot of pressure and
    we have a limited ability to reward them for their exceptional
    performance under pressure.
        Senator Portman. Yes. In your testimony, you talk about
    wanting to provide more advancement opportunities. I assume
    that means trying to manage the people you have more
    effectively----
        Ms. Clark. Yes.
        Senator Portman [continuing]. To create some openings and
    to promote people who have shown through performance reviews
    that they are doing exceptional work.
        I would say the budget issues are going to be tough here on
    everything, but Fiscal Year 2013, direct obligations: $23.4
    million; Fiscal Year 2014, direct obligations estimated to be
    $25.5 million. Some agencies would die for that percentage
    increase. And I know that the personnel budget is huge--about
    75 percent of your budget--but there are agencies that are
    actually freezing or reducing employee numbers and you are
    talking about a 14 percent increase and a 25 percent increase
    from staffing levels in 2009. I would like to ask one question
    and then I will turn it back to the Chairman. Thanks for your
    time. Do you think that is necessary and justifiable?
        Ms. Clark. The budget we have now is absolutely necessary.
    It provides an opportunity for us to increase our staffing,
    which is one of the best ways we have to allow our employees a
    more manageable workload.
        For my part, the allocation that is provided to the Office
    of General Counsel, from the very beginning and continuing,
    will be directed toward hiring at the front line, hiring at the
    regional office level for field agents. I believe that is the
    right thing to do. In addition to that, we have been building a
    developmental process that allows for our front line agents to
    be trained, but also for our senior agents to develop their
    leadership potential and be in a position to take on the
    managers' roles in those offices.
        But, I think, with respect to the funding, we have gotten
    by with a very limited staff and done as well as we have for
    the past 5 years primarily because so many of our employees who
    had been with the agency for a long time, some from the very
    beginning--hung in there and were in a very good position to
    make the system work, even by being understaffed. This increase
    allows us to rebuild our staffing to a level that hopefully
    will allow us to sustain this kind of performance into the
    future.
        And I do believe that the increase was warranted,
    particularly in light of the fact that we were so severely cut
    well before the budget cuts that occurred over the last several
    years. So, we have been restored, but probably to a level that
    is still below the level that most agencies are at now.
        Senator Portman. I thank you for that answer. Mr. Chairman,
    I have no other questions for the nominee, but I will listen to
    yours we appreciate your service, Ms. Clark, since 2009, and we
    hope you will continue to focus on not just reducing the
    backlog, but improving the morale and making the agency work
    well for management and labor representatives. Thanks.
        Ms. Clark. Thank you.
        Senator Tester. Thank you, Senator Portman.
        Julia, first of all, I want to say, thank you for your
    service and I am very pleased of your willingness to serve
    another stretch in this job. And I hope to get you moving
    sooner than later through the pipeline.
        But, getting back to my statement, you have been in the
    position for 5 years. What makes you want to go back and do it
    again?
        Ms. Clark. Five years goes by faster than you think, maybe,
    and I do not think it is just because of my young age. We have
    a lot to do, and I can say that in the past 5 years, we have
    just now gotten to a level of functioning so that we are not
    racing at a breakneck speed but can actually begin laying a
    foundation that will be solid enough to sustain this
    organization, this part of this organization, well into the
    future. We have great plans and much still to accomplish.
        To Senator Portman's point, coming from the private sector
    before I took this job, I was and still am a very strong
    believer in the role of this agency in facilitating the parties
    that come to us and helping them resolve their differences and
    move on to do the public interest. There is more that we can do
    in that regard and I really would welcome the opportunity to
    continue to do it.
        Senator Tester. Senator Portman talked about the backlog,
    and you have done a great job in reducing that backlog. Can you
    give me an idea on any initiatives you are working on at this
    point in time or plan to work on that will continue to improve
    the timeliness of management of cases?
        Ms. Clark. In terms of timeliness, this is the highest
    priority for me and others in our agency. It is my view that
    resolving disputes quickly so that the parties can get back to
    their work is what needs to happen.
        Some of what we are doing in terms of timeliness is just
    pure scientific facts. We need to continue to move our
    resources to the front line because that is where it happens.
    We need to continue to train our workforce. We are also
    involved in some pilot programs to look at our case processes
    and find ways to move them along more quickly. We are
    developing initiatives.
        In fact, today, several employees that might have liked to
    be here just to see you and listen to you are not here because
    we are engaged in some intensive training of all of our
    employees, again, on alternative dispute resolution techniques,
    and in particular, the art and science of listening and finding
    resolutions that serve the public interest, but also train the
    people who come before us so that maybe they will be able to
    resolve their own problems the next time.
        In addition to that, we are developing our use of online
    meetings that will facilitate taking witness statements,
    negotiating settlements, prehearing conferences in real time.
    That saves a lot of time in terms of sending witness
    statements, affidavits to be signed, documents back and forth,
    and I think that will make some tremendous improvements, as
    well.
        Senator Tester. Thank you. Can you talk a little bit about
    hiring and retention and what trends you have seen in these
    areas?
        Ms. Clark. I think our agency has a tremendous retention
    rate. The people who come to this agency have a commitment and
    an understanding of what they do as being fundamental to good
    government. So, our retention rates are good. I think that we
    understand how the work gets done and who is really responsible
    for it. So, I think that has actually been one of our strongest
    points.
        Senator Tester. How about transparency? What role does it
    play in your work?
        Ms. Clark. Transparency--well, that has been also very
    important to the way I wanted to do business. All of our case
    handling manuals, every guidance, every process that our field
    agents follow are published and online in the most accessible
    format, hyperlinked to our statutes, our decisions, so that
    anyone who comes before our agency can follow along and
    understand what our agents are doing, the policies that we
    follow, and the way we exercise our judgment and discretion.
        Senator Tester. Before coming to the FLRA, you spent your
    career as a trial attorney at the Department of Justice. How
    has this experience helped you in your role as General Counsel?
        Ms. Clark. That was my first job out of law school, and I
    think the first thing I learned about government through being
    at the Department of Justice is the incredible responsibility,
    the incredible authority, and the incredible power of the
    Federal Government and what an enormous responsibility that is
    when you are put in the position of carrying out a law passed
    by Congress, and in particular, a prosecutorial function. The
    Justice Department was a tremendous training ground for a
    lawyer and I am really very fortunate to have had that
    experience and to be able to bring it to the role that I play
    now.
        Senator Tester. And now you have spent 5 years as General
    Counsel. What lessons from that service will shape your job
    over your next tenure?
        Ms. Clark. I think the most important lesson that I have
    learned as being General Counsel has been the importance that
    the civil service, that career staff play in the functioning of
    government and upholding the laws and the Constitution. The
    career staff at our agency are some of the most bright,
    dedicated, open, flexible, adaptable people I have ever run
    across, and their ability--many of them, having been there
    since the agency was created, working under every
    Administration since the agency was created--their ability to
    come to me with well thought out plans, to answer the questions
    that I had and the questions I should have had, was just a
    remarkable experience and I will thoroughly enjoy working with
    them in the future.
        And the other important lesson that I wanted to reflect on
    is that while I had been a union representative as a labor
    lawyer for many years of my life, I had been a union member, I
    have been a management representative, but I think that I most
    fully appreciated the importance of a unionized workplace in
    terms of offering constructive and helpful information when I
    took this job. And I would like to say that the union at our
    agency has been incredibly influential in terms of helping me
    understand a direction, letting me know when I have made a
    mistake, and I have had that wonderful experience of deciding
    that it is not a sign of weakness to acknowledge a mistake and
    take a different direction.
        So, I would say those two things, the incredible career
    service and also the value of having an independent union in
    the workplace.
        Senator Tester. And, finally, and we do hope that your
    confirmation will occur quickly, but if you could, as concise
    as you can, talk about what your short-term and long-term
    priorities are going to be for the FLRA over the next while
    that you are in this position.
        Ms. Clark. All right. I think ongoing, both short-term and
    long-term: succession planning. Those wonderful career
    employees that I have been talking about, well, they are going
    to retire, and many of them soon. We have an employee
    development, leadership development program in place, and now
    it is not just ad hoc but it is a systematic program and it
    will be ongoing.
        The other longer-term priority is to reduce our case
    processing time. Right now, our performance time targets are
    120 days. That is of fairly recent origin. That is the time
    target that was in place when I took this job. But for the most
    time in our history, the time targets in the Office of General
    Counsel were 90 days and the performance against that target
    was 85 percent. As I said earlier in my remarks, when I came to
    this job, we were only hitting the target, 120-day target, 49
    percent of the time. With current staffing, we have been able
    to move up to 68 percent of the time. Yet, it is my firm belief
    that a 90-day time target is really what is in the best
    interest of the public. So, finding a way with the resources we
    have to reduce our time target to 90 days and to perform well
    against that target is the long-term priority.
        Senator Tester. Senator Portman, do you have any further
    questions?
        Senator Portman. [Shakes head no.]
        Senator Tester. OK. I just want to thank you for your
    testimony. I want to thank you for your clarity in answering
    the questions. As I said when I opened up my questions, I
    certainly appreciate your commitment to public service and
    thank you for wanting to sign up again for this job.
        With that, Senator Portman, do you have any closing
    comments?
        Senator Portman. No, just that we appreciate the
    opportunity to be here as surrogates of the Chair and Ranking
    Member of the full Committee. Our Subcommittee on the
    Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the
    Federal Workforce, as you know, is very involved in the issue
    of management of the Federal workforce, so I think it is
    appropriate we are following these issues like the backlog
    issue.
        We appreciate your coming in today, and again, we
    appreciate your service since 2009. We hope you will be able to
    continue to make progress. As you said, there are some clear
    successes you have had in terms of clearing backlogs, but there
    is also plenty of work to be done----
        Ms. Clark. Yes.
        Senator Portman [continuing]. Including keeping the morale
    up and ensuring we have, as you said earlier, the maximum
    opportunity for people to resolve their issues and get back to
    work.
        Ms. Clark. Right.
        Senator Portman. So, thank you, Ms. Clark.
        Ms. Clark. Thank you.
        Senator Tester. Thank you, Senator Portman.
        It is fair to say now that the hearing record will remain
    open for 24 hours for any additional comments and for any
    questions that might be submitted for the record.
        With that, once again, we thank you, Julia, for your
    willingness to serve, and this hearing is adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 3:10 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

                                A P P E N D I X

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