[Senate Hearing 115-185]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018
----------
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
[Clerk's note.--The subcommittee was unable to hold
hearings on departmental and nondepartmental witnesses. The
statements and letters of those submitting written testimony
are as follows:]
DEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES
Prepared Statement of the Government Publishing Office
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch
Appropriations, I am pleased to present the appropriations request of
the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) for fiscal year 2018.
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
GPO is the OFFICIAL, DIGITAL, SECURE resource for producing,
procuring, cataloging, indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and
preserving the official information products of the Federal Government.
Under Title 44 of the U.S. Code, GPO is responsible for the
production and distribution of information products for all three
branches of the Government, including the official publications of
Congress and the White House, U.S. passports for the Department of
State, and the official publications of other Federal agencies and the
courts. Once primarily a printing operation, we are now an integrated
publishing operation and carry out our mission using an expanding range
of digital as well as conventional formats. In 2014, Congress and the
President recognized this change in Public Law 113-235, which contains
a provision re-designating GPO's official name as the Government
Publishing Office. We currently employ about 1,700 staff.
Along with sales of publications in digital and tangible formats to
the public, we support openness and transparency in Government by
providing permanent public access to Federal Government information at
no charge through our Federal Digital System (FDsys, at www.fdsys.gov)
and its newly introduced successor system govinfo (www.govinfo.gov).
Today these systems make more than 1.6 million Federal titles available
online from both GPO and links to servers in other agencies. In 2016
FDsys averaged nearly 40 million retrievals per month. We also provide
public access to Government information through partnerships with 1,148
Federal, academic, public, law, and other libraries nationwide
participating in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP).
In addition to GPO's Web site, gpo.gov, we communicate with the
public routinely via Facebook facebook.com/USGPO, Twitter twitter.com/
USGPO, YouTube youtube.
com/user/gpoprinter, Instagram instagram.com/usgpo, LinkedIn
linkedin.com/company/u.s.-government-printing-office, and Pinterest
pinterest.com/usgpo/.
History
From the Mayflower Compact to the Declaration of Independence and
the papers leading to the creation and ratification of the
Constitution, America is a nation based on documents, and our
governmental tradition since then has reflected that fact. Article I,
section 5 of the Constitution requires that ``each House shall keep a
journal of its proceedings and from time to time publish the same.''
After years of struggling with various systems of contracting for
printed documents that were beset with scandal and corruption, in 1860
Congress created the Government Printing Office as its official
printer. GPO first opened its doors for business on March 4, 1861, the
same day Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President.
Since that time, GPO has produced and distributed the official
version of every great American state paper and an uncounted number of
other Government publications, documents, and forms. These documents
include the Emancipation Proclamation, the legislative publications and
acts of Congress, Social Security cards, Medicare and Medicaid
information, census forms, tax forms, citizenship forms, passports,
military histories ranging from the Official Records of the War of the
Rebellion to the latest accounts of our forces in Afghanistan, the 9/11
Commission Report, Presidential inaugural addresses, and Supreme Court
opinions. GPO's work to keep America informed goes on today, in both
digital as well as print forms.
Strategic Vision
GPO is transforming from a print-centric to a content-centric
publishing operation. Our implementation of a digital transformation is
consistent with the recommendations submitted by the National Academy
of Public Administration (Rebooting the Government Printing Office:
Keeping America Informed in the Digital Age, January 2013) regarding
our transition to a digital future.
GPO is developing an integrated, diversified product and services
portfolio that focuses primarily on digital. At the same time, we
recognize that some tangible print will continue to be required because
of official use, archival purposes, authenticity, specific industry
requirements, and segments of the population that either have limited
or no access to digital formats, though its use will continue to
decline.
Strategic Plan
Our strategic plan, which is available for public review at
gpo.gov/about, is built around four goals: satisfying our stakeholders,
offering products and services, strengthening our organizational
foundation, and engaging our workforce. The plan provides the blueprint
for how GPO will continue to achieve its mission of Keeping America
Informed with an emphasis on being OFFICIAL, DIGITAL, SECURE. GPO's
senior managers convene at the beginning of each fiscal year to review
the plan and approve the Annual Performance Plan, also available at
gpo.gov.
Our customers are involved in the digital world and understand
technological change. Accordingly, it is important that we foster an
environment that embraces change and innovation, which leads to new
ways of thinking, new work processes, and the development of new
products and services for our customers. Tangible printing at GPO is
being supplanted by an exponential growth in digital requirements by
Congress and Federal agencies. Moreover, the public--including the
library and Government information user communities--has signaled its
strong desire for increased access to Government information digitally.
In transforming the way we do business, we are focusing on managing
content for customer and public use both today and tomorrow. GPO uses
its extensive experience and expertise with digital systems to provide
both permanent public access to Government information in a variety of
formats and the most efficient and effective means for printing when
required, all within a secure setting that is responsive to the
customer's needs.
GPO AND CONGRESS
For the Clerk of the House, the Secretary of the Senate, and the
committees of the House and the Senate, GPO publishes the documents and
publications required by the legislative and oversight processes of
Congress in digital and tangible formats. This includes the daily
Congressional Record, bills, reports, legislative calendars, hearings,
committee prints, and documents, as well as stationery, franked
envelopes, memorials and condolence books, programs and invitations,
phone books, and the other products needed to conduct the business of
Congress. We also detail expert staff to support the publishing
requirements of House and Senate committees and congressional offices
such as the House and Senate Offices of Legislative Counsel. We work
with Congress to ensure the provision of these services under any
circumstances.
Today the activities associated with creating congressional
information databases comprise the majority of the work funded by our
annual Congressional Publishing Appropriation. Our advanced digital
authentication system, supported by public key infrastructure (PKI), is
an essential component for assuring the digital security of
congressional publications. The databases we build are made available
for providing access to congressional publications in digital formats
as well as their production in tangible formats.
GPO's congressional information databases also form the building
blocks of other information systems supporting Congress. For example,
they are provided directly to the Library of Congress to support its
Congress.gov system as well as the legislative information systems the
Library makes available to House and Senate offices. We work with the
Library to prepare summaries and status information for House and
Senate bills in XML bulk data format. We are also collaborating with
the Library on the digitization of historic printed documents, such as
the Congressional Record, to make them more broadly available to
Congress and the public.
GPO AND FEDERAL AGENCIES
Federal agencies are major generators of information in the United
States, and GPO produces their information products for official use
and public access. Federal agencies and the public also rely on a
growing variety of secure credentials that we produce, including
travelers holding U.S. passports, members of the public who cross our
borders frequently, and other users. Our digital systems support key
Federal agency publications, including the annual Budget of the U.S.
Government and, most importantly, the Federal Register and associated
products. As it does for congressional documents, our digital
authentication system, supported by public key infrastructure (PKI),
assures the digital security of agency documents.
Partnership with Industry
Other than congressional and inherently governmental work such as
the Federal Register, the Budget, and security and intelligent
documents, we produce virtually all other Federal agency information
products via contracts with the private sector printing and information
product industry issued by our central office and regional GPO offices
around the country. In 2016, this work was valued at approximately $360
million, an increase of 6.5 percent over the previous year. More than
9,000 individual firms are registered to do business with us, the vast
majority of whom are small businesses averaging 20 employees per firm.
Contracts are awarded on a purely competitive basis; there are no set-
asides or preferences in contracting other than what is specified in
law and regulation, including a requirement for Buy American.
This partnership provides significant economic opportunity for the
private sector. We have long advocated that where Federal agency
printing is required, this partnership is the most cost-effective way
of producing it. In 2013, the Government Accountability Office
conducted a study at the request of the Joint Committee on Printing
that identified approximately 80 Federal printing plants still in
operation government-wide (http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/655936.pdf).
Additional savings for taxpayers could occur if the work these plants
are producing is transferred instead to GPO's shared services
partnership with the private sector printing and information product
industry.
Security and Intelligent Documents
For nearly a century GPO has been responsible for producing the
U.S. passport for the Department of State (DOS). At one time no more
than a conventionally printed document, the U.S. passport since 2005
has incorporated a digital chip and antenna array capable of carrying
biometric identification data. With other security printing features,
this document--which we produce in Washington, DC, as well as a secure
remote facility in Mississippi--is now the most secure identification
credential obtainable. In 2016, GPO produced 20,199,550 passports, an
increase of 32.9 percent from the year before. Over the past decade GPO
has produced more than 140 million passports for DOS. Throughout 2016,
we continued with facility changes and equipment installation and
testing in support of the planned next generation passport.
Since 2008, we have also served as an integrator of secure
identification smart cards to support the credentialing requirements of
Federal agencies and other Government entities. We have been certified
by the General Services Administration (GSA) to graphically personalize
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) cards for Federal
agencies. GSA certified that we comply with Federal Information
Processing Standard 201, which sets requirements to ensure that
identification cards are secure and resistant to fraud.
To date, we have produced more than 12.9 million secure credential
cards across 10 different product lines. Among them are the Trusted
Traveler Program's (TTP) family of border crossing cards--NEXUS,
SENTRI, FAST, and Global Entry--for the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS), which are used by frequent travelers across U.S. borders.
Another card produced for DHS is the Transportation Worker Identity
Card (TWIC). We produce a Border Crossing Card (BCC) that is issued by
the DOS for authorized travel across the Mexican border. We also
produce secure law enforcement credentials for the U.S. Capitol Police
that are used in Presidential inaugurations. The work GPO does in this
field is well-known among the Federal agencies that need these
products, and has been thoroughly validated by the Government
Accountability Office in a 2015 report to Congress http://www.gao.gov/
products/GAO-15-326R and the National Academy of Public
Administration's 2013 report on GPO.
GPO AND OPEN, TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT
Producing and distributing the official publications and
information products of the Government fulfills an informing role
originally envisioned by the Founders, as James Madison once said:
``A popular Government without popular information, or the
means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a
Tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern
ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors,
must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.''
GPO operates a variety of programs and activities that provide the
public with ``the means of acquiring'' Government information that
Madison spoke of. These programs include the Federal Depository Library
program (FDLP), FDsys and govinfo, Publications Information Sales,
Reimbursable Distribution, and social media.
Federal Depository Library Program
The FDLP has legislative antecedents that date to 1813 (3 Stat.
140), when Congress first authorized congressional documents to be
deposited at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester,
Massachusetts, for the use of the public. Since then, Federal
depository libraries have served as critical links between ``We the
People'' and the information made available by the Federal Government.
GPO provides the libraries with information products in digital and, in
some cases, tangible formats, and the libraries in turn make them
available to the public at no charge while providing additional
assistance to depository library users.
The FDLP today serves millions of Americans through a network of
1,148 public, academic, law, and other libraries located across the
Nation, averaging nearly three per congressional district. Once limited
to the distribution of printed and microfiche products, the FDLP today
is primarily digital, supported by FDsys and govinfo along with other
digital resources. This overwhelming reliance on digital content
allowed for the first digital-only Federal depository library
designation in 2014. In fiscal year 2016, one new Federal depository
library was designated as digital-only, while three existing depository
libraries converted to all-digital status.
Federal Digital System (FDsys)
We have been providing access to digital congressional and Federal
agency documents since 1994 under the provisions of Public Law 103-40,
beginning with a site known as GPO Access. Fifteen years later, GPO
Access was retired and a significantly re-engineered site debuted as
GPO's Federal Digital System. FDsys provides the majority of
congressional and Federal agency content to the FDLP as well as other
online users.
Online access to Federal documents made available by GPO has
reduced the cost of providing public access to Government information
significantly when compared with print, while expanding public access
dramatically through the Internet. In 2016, FDsys grew to make more
than 1.6 million titles from the legislative, executive, and judicial
branches available online from our servers and through links to other
agencies and institutions. The system averaged nearly 40 million
retrievals per month.
Govinfo
In early 2016, we unveiled the next generation of our public access
system with the introduction of govinfo. Though in beta, govinfo
improves upon FDsys with a modern, easy-to-use look and feel that syncs
with the need of today's Government information users for quick and
effective digital access across a variety of digital platforms.
Following a period of testing and iteratively developing the system's
features, govinfo will become GPO's primary public access system--the
third such system since we inaugurated online access in 1994--and FDsys
will be retired from service.
Publication and Information Sales Program
Along with the FDLP and our online dissemination system, which are
no-fee public access programs, GPO provides access to official Federal
information through public sales featuring secure ordering through an
online bookstore (bookstore.gpo.gov), a bookstore at GPO headquarters
in Washington, DC, and partnerships with the private sector that offer
Federal publications as eBooks. As a one-stop shop for eBook design,
conversion, and dissemination, our presence in the eBook market
continues to grow. We now have agreements with Apple iTunes, Google
Play, Barnes & Noble, OverDrive, Zinio, EBSCO, ProQuest and other
online vendors to make popular Government titles such as the Public
Papers of the President-Barack Obama, Unsettled: A Story of U.S.
Immigration, and Workout to Go available as eBooks. We also offer a
print-on-demand service for sales titles through Amazon and others,
which enables us to offer more titles and avoid the expense of
additional warehousing.
Reimbursable Distribution Program
We operate distribution programs for the information products of
other Federal agencies on a reimbursable basis, including the General
Services Administration (GSA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC),
from our facilities in Pueblo, Colorado, and Laurel, Maryland. This
program saves money for participating agencies by permitting them to
take advantage of GPO's centralized capabilities and economies of
scale.
GPO and Social Media
We use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest,
and a blog to share information about GPO news and events and to
promote specific publications and products. By the end of 2016, we had
7,530 likes on Facebook, 7,053 followers on Twitter, and 189,253 views
across 75 videos on YouTube. On Pinterest, we had 749 followers pinning
on 17 boards of Federal Government information. We also had 569
followers with 930 posts on Instagram and 3,069 followers on LinkedIn.
Our blog, Government Book Talk, focuses on increasing the awareness of
new and classic Federal publications through reviews and discussions.
GPO'S FINANCES
Business Operations Revolving Fund
All GPO activities are financed through our Business Operations
Revolving Fund, established by section 309 of Title 44, U.S.C. This
business-like fund is used to pay all of our costs in performing
congressional and agency publishing, information product procurement,
and publication dissemination activities. It is reimbursed from
payments from customer agencies, sales to the public, and transfers
from our two annual appropriations: the Congressional Publishing
Appropriation and the Public Information Programs of the Superintendent
of Documents Appropriation.
Retained Earnings
Under GPO's system of accrual accounting, annual earnings generated
since the inception of the Business Operations Revolving Fund have been
accumulated as retained earnings. Retained earnings make it possible
for us to fund a significant amount of technology modernization.
However, appropriations for essential investments in technology and
plant upgrades are requested when necessary.
Annual Audit
GPO is accountable for its finances. Each year, GPO's finances and
financial controls are audited by an independent outside audit firm
working under contract with GPO's Office of Inspector General. For
fiscal year 2016, the audit concluded with GPO earning an
``unmodified,'' or clean, opinion on its finances, the 20th consecutive
year GPO has earned such an audit result.
Appropriated Funds
GPO's Congressional Publishing Appropriation is used to reimburse
the Business Operations Revolving Fund for the costs of publishing the
documents required for the use of Congress in digital and tangible
formats, as authorized by the provisions of chapters 7 and 9 of Title
44, U.S.C. The Public Information Programs of the Superintendent of
Documents Appropriation is used to pay for the costs associated with
providing online access to, and the distribution of, publications to
Federal depository libraries, cataloging and indexing, statutory
distribution, and international exchange distribution. The
reimbursements from these appropriations are included in the Business
Operations Revolving Fund as revenue for work performed.
Fiscal Year 2016 Financial Results
Revenue totaled $875.3 million while expenses charged against GPO's
budget were $804.1 million, for an overall net income of $71.2 million
from operations. Included in both GPO's revenue and net income is
approximately $24.7 million in funds set aside for passport-related
capital investments, as agreed to by GPO and the Department of State,
and $0.4 million in funds resulting from a downward adjustment to GPO's
long-term workers' compensation liability under the Federal Employees
Compensation Act (FECA). Apart from these funds, GPO's net operating
income from fiscal year 2016 was $46.1 million.
Funds appropriated directly by Congress provided nearly $118.8
million (including funds from the Congressional Publishing and Public
Information Programs appropriations, along with appropriations to the
Business Operations Revolving Fund), or about 14 percent of total
revenue. All other GPO activities, including in-plant publishing (which
includes the production of passports), procured work, sales of
publications, agency distribution services, and all administrative
support functions, were financed through the Business Operations
Revolving Fund by revenues generated by payments from agencies and
sales to the public.
FISCAL YEAR 2018 APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST
GPO is requesting a total of $117,068,000 for fiscal year 2018, the
same as the fiscal year 2017 level. Total GPO appropriations have
declined by nearly 21 percent since fiscal year 2010. Our continued
transition to digital technologies and products has increased our
productivity and reduced costs. Additionally, maintaining financial
controls on our overhead costs, coupled with a buyout in fiscal year
2015 that reduced GPO's workforce by 103 positions, has helped make
this funding request possible. Finally, the utilization of the
unexpended balances of prior year appropriations, which we are able to
transfer to GPO's Business Operations Revolving Fund with the approval
of the Appropriations Committees, has made it possible in recent years
to hold the line on the level of new funding we request.
TOTAL APPROPRIATIONS TO GPO
Fiscal Year 2010-2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year Appropriation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010............................... $ 147,461,000
2011............................... 135,067,324
2012............................... 126,200,000
2013............................... 117,533,423
2014............................... 119,300,000
2015............................... 119,993,000
2016............................... 117,068,000
2017............................... 117,068,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our fiscal year 2018 request will enable us to:
--meet projected requirements for congressional publishing;
--fund the operation of the public information programs of the
Superintendent of Documents; and
--develop information technology, including IT security, and perform
facilities maintenance and repairs that support our
congressional publishing and public information programs
operations.
Congressional Publishing Appropriation
We are requesting $79,528,000 for this account, which is less than
the amount approved for fiscal year 2017. This appropriation has
declined by 15 percent since fiscal year 2010, as the result of our
continuing transition to digital technology and products as well as
actions taken in cooperation with the House of Representatives and the
Senate to control congressional publishing costs. Unspent prior year
balances from this account that have been transferred to GPO's Business
Operations Revolving Fund for the purposes of this account have also
been used to maintain our requirements for new funding at a flat level
since 2014.
CONGRESSIONAL PUBLISHING APPROPRIATION
Fiscal Year 2010-2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year Appropriation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010............................... $ 93,768,000
2011............................... 93,580,464
2012............................... 90,700,000
2013............................... 82,129,576
2014............................... 79,736,000
2015............................... 79,736,000
2016............................... 79,736,000
2017............................... 79,736,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our request for this appropriation is an estimate of the amount of
work Congress is likely to requisition from GPO for fiscal year 2018,
based on historical data. GPO has no control over the workload
requirements of the Congressional Publishing Appropriation. These are
determined by the legislative activities and requirements of the House
of Representatives and the Senate as authorized by the applicable
provisions of Title 44, U.S.C. GPO utilizes historical data
incorporating other relevant factors to develop estimates of likely
congressional publishing requirements. These requirements are used as
the basis of the budget presentation for this account.
The estimated requirements for fiscal year 2018 include no price
level changes. We anticipate an overall reduction of $208,000 from
current year requirements based on projected volume decreases in
virtually every congressional product category except for business and
committee calendars, the Congressional Record, and hearings.
Commensurate with the beginning of the 115th Congress we began
implementing, in cooperation of offices of the Clerk of the House and
the Secretary of the Senate, a new composition system that will enable
GPO to compose congressional bills in XML. The estimated savings from
this new system have not yet been fully determined but it is expected
to reduce costs as a result of expediting the production process for
these documents. The new composition system will be expanded to
additional congressional products in the future. Additionally, we are
developing a new composition capability for House hearings following a
plan designed by the Committee on House Administration, which is also
expected to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
The unexpended balances of prior year appropriations that have been
transferred to GPO's Business Operations Revolving Fund will be used to
offset anticipated congressional product requirements. The balance of
these funds is earmarked for the development of our new composition
system and other projects that may be required of us, including those
supporting the objectives of the Legislative Branch Bulk Data Working
Group.
Public Information Programs of the Superintendent of Documents
We are requesting $29,000,000 for this account, representing a
decrease of $500,000 or 1.7 percent from the fiscal year 2017
appropriation. This appropriation has declined by more than 27 percent
since fiscal year 2010, as the result of our continuing transition to
digital technology and products which has made the increased
dissemination of official Government information to the public less
costly and more efficient.
PUBLIC INFORMATION PROGRAMS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS
APPROPRIATION
Fiscal Year 2010-2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year Appropriation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010............................... $ 40,911,000
2011............................... 39,831,178
2012............................... 35,000,000
2013............................... 31,437,000
2014............................... 31,500,000
2015............................... 31,500,000
2016............................... 30,500,000
2017............................... 29,500,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The funding we are requesting for fiscal year 2018 will cover
mandatory pay and related cost increases for 89 FTE's, the same as for
fiscal year 2017. Requirements for new funding have also been reduced
by a decrease in printing costs due to digitization and the use of
prior year funds as approved by the Appropriations Committees. These
funds will be used to pay for projects including strengthening public
access to online information by continuing to build gov.info, and to
investigate, develop, and replace legacy methods for the selection and
distribution of digital and tangible materials to Federal depository
libraries.
Business Operations Revolving Fund
We are requesting $8,540,000 for this account, to remain available
until expended, for information technology projects, including
essential cybersecurity measures, and necessary facilities projects.
This is an increase over the $7,832,000 appropriated in fiscal year
2017. Funding provided to this account represents an increase to
working capital for specified projects. Since fiscal year 2013, these
projects have consistently included improvements to GPO's FDsys (and
its successor system, gov.info), which has expanded public access to
congressional and other Government information products in digital
formats while decreasing the costs of distributing traditional print
formats, as well as other essential IT projects. Our request this year
includes necessary expenses associated with enhancing the cybersecurity
of GPO's IT systems, as we have communicated to the Legislative Branch
Cybersecurity Working Group. We also fund necessary physical
infrastructure projects through appropriations to this account.
APPROPRIATIONS TO THE BUSINESS OPERATIONS REVOLVING FUND
Fiscal year 2010-2017
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year Appropriation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010............................... $ 12,782,000
2011............................... 1,655,682
2012............................... 500,000
2013............................... 3,966,847
2014............................... 8,064,000
2015............................... 8,757,000
2016............................... 6,832,000
2017............................... 7,832,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018--$7,000,000
Gov.info Projects--$5,000,000
--General System and Collection Development ($3,800,000).--
Development of new FDsys/govinfo features to support identified
needs of key stakeholders, including developing new content
collections, increasing content in existing collections,
enhancing the accessibility of content, and increasing the
discoverability of information.
--FDsys/gov.info Infrastructure ($1,200,000).--Infrastructure for the
hardware, storage, and environments to manage system
performance as FDsys/govinfo content and usage continues to
grow.
Cybersecurity Projects--$2,000,000
--Security Enhancements for Advanced Persistent Threat ($2,00,000).--
Required for enhanced technologies and services to combat,
detect, and prevent advanced persistent threats (including
sophisticated nation-state actors) from compromising GPO IT
systems.
FACILITIES INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018--$1,540,000
--Elevator Repairs ($900,000).--Elevators 3 and 4 at GPO's G Street
entrance are aging and need frequent repairs. We intend to
replace and upgrade these elevators with modern controls and
security features. These elevators also support employee life/
safety by providing a means for evacuation of medical
emergencies.
--Emergency Power Generator ($500,000).--This will replace GPO's
existing diesel emergency generator with one using clean-
burning natural gas. It will also increase the electrical load
that can be supported in the event of an emergency, such as we
experienced in 2015 with a power outage by PEPCO.
--LED Lighting ($140,000).--Infrastructure for the hardware, storage,
and environments to manage system performance as govinfo
content and usage continue to grow.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the subcommittee, this concludes my
prepared statement, and I would be pleased to answer any questions you
may have.
[This statement was submitted by Davita Vance-Cooks, Director.]
______
Prepared Statement of the Office of Compliance
Chairman Moran, Ranking Member Schatz and Members of the
Legislative Branch Subcommittee, thank you for allowing me the
opportunity to submit for the record this statement regarding the
budget request for fiscal year 2018 for the Congressional Office of
Compliance (OOC).
Congress created the OOC to administer the Congressional
Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA) and the 13 Federal workplace laws
incorporated in the law. We ensure the integrity of a dispute
resolution system, carry out an education and training program that
assists employing offices and covered employees in understanding their
rights and responsibilities under the CAA, advise Congress on needed
changes and amendments to the CAA, and investigate and enforce the
CAA's occupational safety and health protections, public access rights
for persons with disabilities, and unfair labor practice provisions.
The OOC is requesting $4,055,902 for fiscal year 2018 operations,
which represents a 2.4 percent increase from the fiscal year 2017
enacted level. Of the additional $96,902 that is being requested, 87
percent reflects a projected increase in personnel, benefits, and other
personnel compensation. The remaining fiscal year 2018 budget request
focuses on supporting the most important aspects of the statutory
functions of the OOC and improving the delivery of services to the
covered community.
administrative dispute resolution program
The cornerstone of the CAA is the confidential administrative
dispute resolution (ADR) process, which consists of counseling,
mediation, and adjudicative hearings and appeals. The OOC staff remains
committed to administering an effective ADR program by providing a
neutral, efficient, and confidential process for resolving workplace
disputes. We strive to ensure that stakeholders have full access to
these ADR procedures.
We continue to improve our newly-launched electronic case
management system to bring the OOC's procedures in line with current
best practices. This electronic functionality dramatically increases
our efficiency by enabling us to streamline delivery of our services to
the congressional community, as well as to trend data and generate
detailed reports.
education and outreach program
Along with providing an effective ADR program, the OOC administers
an Education and Outreach program for the covered community. The most
effective investment an organization can make in preventing
discrimination continues to be a comprehensive training program. Our
education programs also emphasize the benefits of fair and inclusive
work environments on workforce productivity.
Our education and outreach efforts have recently migrated to a
digital based platform. This shift in focus is essential in carrying
out our statutory training mandate. To continue to fulfill the
education mandate in the CAA, our budget request reflects the need to
further expand our efforts and include technical enhancements to allow
additional and more interactive modules in our online and interactive
Learning Management System.
We also remain dedicated to in-person training on important topics
of workplace safety and health and fairness. The OOC requests an
additional FTE, and the funding to support an increase in staffing, to
hire an educator and respond to employing offices' needs for in-person
training on workplace rights. Currently, OOC staff members provide in-
person training along with a myriad of other duties including internal
communications, government affairs, litigation, and public relations.
However, there is no FTE solely responsible for instructing the entire
legislative branch. The OOC needs at least one additional staff member
to exclusively develop and deliver training to the covered community.
This will significantly advance our education program and allow us to
work more closely with the human resources staff of the employing
offices, thus ensuring that covered employees are informed of their
rights and responsibilities under the CAA as mandated by Congress in
1995.
safety and health, public access, and unfair labor practices
Our budget request also reflects the OOC's continuing efforts to
ensure safe and accessible congressional workplaces through its OSH and
ADA biennial inspections, as well as its case work investigating and
abating safety issues, finding and removing barriers to access in
congressional facilities and programs, and investigating and resolving
allegations of unfair labor practices. By working directly with the
AOC, the USCP, and other offices on the Hill, the OOC has been
instrumental in the development and implementation of cost-effective
solutions to safety and access problems and in the resolution of unfair
labor practice charges. We recently completed our biennial inspections
for the 114th Congress and, in partnership with the National Safety
Council, issued Safety Recognition Awards to the Member offices that
were found to be hazard-free during the OSH inspection. During the
115th Congress, the OOC will continue to stress safety and health for
all Member offices.
The balance of the 2.4 percent increase covers increases in
contract services, including cross servicing providers, equipment,
supplies and other services needed to operate the OOC. The services
include professional development of the staff and technical support to
boost our presence in the ever-growing social media environment on the
Hill, which presents an opportunity to highlight best practices and
provide important information to employees who have little time for
training updates.
The OOC staff and I are available to answer any questions or
address any concerns the Chair of the subcommittee or its Members may
have.
[This statement was submitted by Susan Tsui Grundmann, Executive
Director.]
______
Prepared Statement of the Open World Leadership Center
Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present written
testimony on the Open World Leadership Center.
Overview: I appreciate the opportunity to offer testimony on behalf
of the Open World Leadership Center. The Open World Leadership Center
(Open World or the Center) has served Congress through its
international professional exchange program since our inception in
1999.
The Center administers the Open World program, one of the most
effective American exchange programs for emerging democracies. The
program has enabled more than 26,000 global leaders to engage and
interact with Members of Congress, Congressional staff, and thousands
of other Americans, many of whom are the delegates' direct professional
counterparts.
The Open World program focuses on assisting Congress in its
oversight responsibilities and on conducting exchanges that establish
lasting professional relationships between the up-and-coming leaders of
Open World countries and Americans dedicated to showcasing U.S. values
and democratic institutions. The Center's nonpartisan nature as a
legislative branch agency, independent from the priorities of any
presidential administration, is an important asset of the program and
of the Congress. The Open World program brings emerging Federal and
regional political leaders to the United States to meet their American
counterparts and gain firsthand knowledge of how American civil society
works. This hands-on and close up look at our processes--and the people
who run them--has a unique impact on our delegates. The Open World
experience provides the impetus for improvement; delegates return home
and set to work creating change based on the models they have seen.
The ``Soft'' Power of Exchange: The elected officials and young
professionals from across the former Soviet states and other countries
who, thanks to Congress, come on the Open World program each year have
seen the best of America up close and personal. They go back to their
homes with an improved impression of our country and they share their
positive impressions with their friends, family, community, and
professional counterparts. These are the people that go into elected
office, run cities, teach the next generation, and craft the foreign
policy that directly affects the United States.
Open World's Legislative Branch Identity: A question that I hear
every so often is, ``Why is the Open World Leadership Center in the
Legislative Branch?'' The answer to this is simply that the placement
in the legislative branch allows our program to engage influential,
democracy-minded Russians and others from more closed countries--
products of the Putin Generation looking for positive change--that
would otherwise choose not to travel on an executive branch exchange.
It can be a risky and reputation-damaging proposition for a Russian to
come to the United States as a participant in an executive branch
program. In April of 2017 Open World hosted five in-demand Middle East
specialists from Russia. They were blunt in telling us that they felt
secure on our program, in large part due to its legislative branch
identity.
``Open World appealed to the members of our delegation by being
nonpartisan, politically neutral, and outside of executive
branch politics. The programming fosters a free, open, deep and
meaningful exchange of ideas between peers.''--Group Statement
by Middle East Specialists from Russia, April 2017
Furthermore, the Open World program is a proven asset to the
Congress because it directly benefits their constituents. In 2016, Open
World placed delegations of young professionals in all 50 States and
brought the most members of parliament groups than ever before, 16.
Front Line against Fake News and Anti-American Propaganda: The Open
World program is a proven effective method of directly combatting anti-
American disinformation and propaganda being disseminated out of Moscow
into its neighboring states as well as into other countries via
sophisticated and well-funded communications methods such as the RT
television channel. In the 3 years since Ukraine's Maidan Revolution
and the subsequent illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian
Federation, the world has seen undisputed evidence that Russian troll
farms are blanketing airwaves and the Internet with stories designed to
disrupt the news cycle. Through our Embassy in Kyiv and other sources
we find European-minded, anti-corruption activists and young Members of
Parliament that see a great opportunity in participating in the Open
World program.
Similar Russian tendencies are at play in Georgia and Moldova, both
European Union-oriented governments and with regions mired in frozen
conflicts with Russia. Open World directly engages members of
parliament from both countries as well as their leading NGO and social
services influencers.
Keeping Russia Close: U.S.-Russia relations continue to be
strained. In fact, it is reminiscent of a time 18 years ago when our
founder Librarian of Congress Emeritus Dr. James H. Billington grew
increasingly concerned about our two country's relations during the
NATO action in Yugoslavia. He envisioned a mini-Marshall Plan to keep
goodwill strong at the grassroots level, when our diplomatic efforts
were at a stalemate. Dr. Billington took his concerns not to the State
Department, not to private international funders, but to Congress, to
the Appropriations Committee, in fact, because it was his vision that a
new model of exchange program would support the international oversight
activities of U.S. legislators. They agreed with Dr. Billington, in
effect creating a new support agency for the Congress. In 1999, the
nascent Open World program brought over 2,000 Russians to the United
States for professional programming hosted by their American
counterparts, including Members of Congress, all across the country.
Today, the Open World Leadership Center continues to conduct a
highly-regarded international exchange program in the United States
legislative branch and plays an increasingly vital role in the
political landscapes of many countries throughout Eurasia, and in
particular, Russia and Ukraine. Open World has supported leaders who,
early in their careers, have become influential within their
communities and in the national arena. For example, Alexei Navalny,
Russia's most well-known Kremlin critic was an unknown 29-year-old
lawyer when he came on the Open World program in 2005. Navalny was
hosted in Dallas, Texas on the Local Governance theme and went on to
rise in the ranks of a strong and active movement against Vladimir
Putin. Navalny is only one example demonstrating Open World's expertise
in selecting the most promising individuals to come on the program
usually right at the moment that they are about to ascend in their
profession. We communicate with these alumni, track their results, and
present them to Congress to show how effective our exchange model is.
One profound insight our delegates derive from their experience in
the U.S. is that elected officials truly are accessible and accountable
to the citizens of their jurisdictions. Another powerful element, again
consistently praised by our delegates, is the impact of home stays--
delegates living with American families while in the United States. One
delegate succinctly described ``seeing an America I didn't know
existed.''
Congressional leadership is instrumental in advancing democracy and
strengthening civil society worldwide. With its support by Congress
Open World is a strategic long-term investment in our security, a
matter of principle, and a crucial source of our international
influence and strength. Open World is committed to these efforts while
recognizing the possibility of uncertainty and setbacks, understanding
that progress requires our unwavering dedication to enduring principles
and goals.
Open World's Powerful Alumni Network: Open World maintains a vast
alumni network across Russia, Ukraine, and the other countries of the
former Soviet Union. Many members of the alumni 26,000-strong community
are active in their communities, regions, and at the Federal level.
They are a valuable resource to our diplomatic missions abroad. The
communications multiplier effect is a major result of the Open World
program. Our alumni dispel myths and untruths about the United States
and help promote a positive message about the American reality.
For Open World's Russia program, the objective is to have
participants return to Russia with a more positive view of America; to
add to their professional skills through direct contact with U.S.
citizens engaged in similar work; and to counter the Russian
information war by providing an objective view of the American people
and our society. These programs are intense 10-day thematic visits to
the U.S. that expose young and emerging Russian leaders to democratic
practices, civil rights, good governance, transparency in media, sound
health and education policy and practices, the provision of social
services, and economic development strategies.
Open World has had enormous success in Russia due to a continuous
low-key presence there since 1999 providing our colleagues from Russia
with broad exposure to American democratic and free-market
institutions.
Open World's Ukraine program helps Ukraine mature in the aftermath
of revolution and enhance its leaders' skills and capabilities to
advance the country's agenda. These programs come at a time when part
of Ukraine has been annexed and it faces continuing Russian aggression
in the East and South, and through Russian-controlled media.
The Open World program also focuses on the institutional
development of civil society organizations and the promotion of
democratic and economic reform. The subthemes of the program are aimed
primarily at fighting corruption, promoting transparency and
accountability in governance, furthering decentralization of power, and
improving the business climate to enhance trade capacity, particularly
as it relates to the agricultural and energy sectors.
Open World has had growing success in Ukraine as it has worked
steadfastly there since 2003 to be responsive to its developmental and
societal needs. More than 3,200 outstanding alumni now serve in
leadership positions throughout the country. In 2016, Open World's 46
Ukraine programs were hosted in 44 U.S. communities in 32 States,
providing our colleagues from Ukraine with broad exposure to American
democratic and free-market institutions. To exemplify some programmatic
results:
Open World is supporting its alumni in the Parliament and
throughout the country's legal institutions to assist actual judicial
reform. Open World works with its U.S. judicial partner, the
International Judicial Relations Committee of the Judicial Conference
of the United States (whose Head is chosen by the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court), on creating intense programs that outline a practical
path toward judicial reform.
Two members of the new Cabinet of Ministers are Open World alumni.
Open World alumni are in top leadership positions in the Ministry of
Health, the Ministry of Education and Science, and the Ministry of
Youth and Sports. The Prime Minister is a strong supporter of the
project and has been a very active supporter of the Birmingham
(Alabama)--Vinnitsa partnership program that Open World implements.
Open World alumni are among the leadership in Ukraine's Parliament
and many others serve as key staff members. These dedicated alumni are
eager to work with Open World to expand this element of programming.
Open World Strategic Goals: The Open World Leadership Center
Strategic Plan for 2016-2020 builds on the excellent work done under
the previous plan. We have adopted goals that will strengthen our work
with Members of Congress and continue to cement our legislative
identity. The plan sets the Center's direction for the next 5 years.
This iteration is an update that includes activities through 2020. The
strategic plan review process includes an effort to ensure that our
goals are measurable and attainable, despite limited staff resources.
Our performance measures, which are based on the Government Performance
and Results Act, are challenging, though obtainable. The Center's three
goals are to: ensure that the Center is a resource, an asset, and a
sound investment for Congress; expand the reach of the Center to
countries strategically important to the United States; operate as a
model cost-effective, responsive agency.
Plans for 2017 and Beyond: In the ever-shifting landscape of U.S-
Russian relations and our relations with other strategic countries in
the region, the Open World Leadership Center is poised to address
emerging issues such as: Anti-American sentiment; Countering Russia's
influence; Global health concerns; and Democracy programs. Open World
was designed to be and has remained agile and can create programming
quickly to support Congress in their response to pressing international
oversight issues.
[This statement was submitted by Ambassador John M. O'Keefe,
Executive Director.]
______
BUDGET REQUEST
I would first like to thank the Committee for their ongoing support
of the Office of the Secretary of the Senate's budget and mandated
systems. For fiscal year 2018, I am requesting a budget of $36,307,000.
The request includes $25,771,000 in salary costs, $1,900,000 for the
operating budget of the Office of the Secretary, $3,500,000 for the
Financial Management Information System (FMIS) modernization project
and $5,136,000 for the Senate Information Services (SIS) program.
The salary budget represents an increase of $999,000 over the
fiscal year 2017 budget which includes $629,000 for a cost of living
adjustment and $370,000 for highly skilled and specially trained staff
to support the Financial System Program Office (FSPO) within the Senate
Disbursing Office. The cost of living adjustment is essential to retain
experienced professional staff who have dedicated their careers to
supporting the institution of the Senate. The operating budget of the
Office of the Secretary remains flat at $1,900,000.
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OPERATING BUDGET
In order to have more flexibility and be able to work within
stringent budget guidelines, I request that the $1,900,000 be
designated in multi-year (2018/2022) monies and that the apportionment
breakdown for the Secretary's accounts be eliminated.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amount available Budget estimate
Item Fiscal Year 2017 Fiscal Year 2018 Difference
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Departmental operating budget: Executive office........... $500,000 ................ ................
Administrative services................................... $1,251,600 $1,900,000 ................
Legislative services...................................... $148,400 ................ ................
-----------------------------------------------------
Total operating budget.............................. $1,900,000 $1,900,000 ................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROJECT REQUESTS
fmis modernization project
The budget includes a request for $3,500,000 (a planned decrease of
$500,000 from last year's program amount) in no-year funds to continue
the modernization of FMIS. This funding is requested to complete the
Budget and Accounting projects, continue the work on Data Sharing and
Reporting, and facilitate the retirement of the Senate's mainframe
computer and associated hardware and software. The flexibility of no-
year funding remains important to the success of the modernization
project due to its complexity, the unique Senate technical environment
and business requirements, and the continuing need for open
competition.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Item Fiscal Year 2017 Fiscal Year 2018 Difference
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FMIS Modernization Project................................ $4,000,000 $3,500,000 ($500,000)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The FMIS modernization project is an update of the Senate's
collection of financial applications. This project will: improve
financial system supportability and flexibility; address business
requirements not met by the existing system; and continue to bring the
Senate closer to an integrated, auditable, paperless financial system.
Throughout the modernization the approximately 140 Senate offices using
FMIS will not be substantially impacted as they continue to use the
current program.
The FSPO was established in May 2016 to oversee the modernization
effort. FSPO is staffed with Disbursing IT personnel and augmented with
four additional full-time staff. Over the remainder of the year, FSPO
collaborated with the Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA) to:
--Issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for implementation services for
the first phase of several phases of financial system
modernization activities;
--Award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts for
financial systems modernization services to five qualified
vendors;
--Initiate procurement of the software required to support the first
phase of financial system modernization activities; and
--Facilitate multiple training activities for stakeholders who will
be participating in the first phase of the financial system
modernization.
The fiscal year 2018 request is the third year of a planned six-
year phased project. In addition to the funding received to date and
requested for fiscal year 2017, the table below outlines the additional
funding required for software and support services for this project.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016 2017
Fiscal Year Funding (funded) (pending) 2018 2019 2020 2021 Total
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Implementation/Acquisition............... 2.5M \1\ 4M 3.5M 3M 2.5M 2.5M 18M
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Due to the Continuing Resolution (CR), only $2.5M of the $4 million requested for fiscal year 2017 was
received. The additional $1.5M is critical to activities required to allow the retirement of the mainframe by
the end of calendar year (CY) 2018. If it must be maintained beyond CY 2018, it and several of its components
will require replacement at a cost to the Senate that significantly exceeds $1.5M.
The FMIS Business Case outlines the full scope of the financial
system modernization project. The following table reflects the Business
Case, including major phases and timelines for the proposed
modernization effort as well as the status through fiscal year 2016 and
activities planned through fiscal year 2018.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modernization
Date Business Area Approach and Status through Planned through
Rationale fiscal year 2016 fiscal year 2018
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2016-Fiscal Year... Budget............ Replace multiple --Acquired --Implement Oracle
2018 \2\. existing budget software to Hyperion Planning
applications and support and Public Sector
manual processes development. Planning and
with a commercial --Worked with SAA Budgeting for:
software package to establish --Phase I--
widely used by hardware and Disbursing; and
Federal agencies configure an --Phase II--
to: initial sandbox Offices/
--Allow for more environment to Committees and
efficient and support SAA.
effective budget development. --Provide direct
planning and --Provided integration with
budget execution training payroll,
tracking; activities for replacing
--Enable ``what- staff existing
if'' budget participating in PeopleSoft EPM
analyses at the the modernization module, which is
Senate and of budget. used to perform
individual office --Held planning payroll
levels; and discussions with projections and
--Facilitate direct payroll system will reach end of
integration stakeholders support in April
between the related to budget/ 2018 (Phase II).
payroll and payroll
financial system. integration and
PeopleSoft
Enterprise
Program
Management (EPM)
replacement.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2016-Fiscal Year... Reporting......... Streamline and --Gathered --Complete review
2021. modernize the reporting of reporting
reporting requirements from requirements with
infrastructure to financial system stakeholders.
prepare for and stakeholders. --Establish
minimize impacts --Developed historical
of the financial initial data reporting
system management and repository on
modernization, reporting distributed
and: strategy. environment.
--Reduce the volume --Augment
of reporting data; reporting
--Eliminate unused repository with
and redundant budget, payroll
reports; and procurement
--Consolidate data to support
numerous, retirement of
disparate report legacy systems
processes; currently on
--Ensure the mainframe.
consistency and
accuracy of
historic data; and
--Provide greater
flexibility for
users to customize
the data they view
and receive.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2017-Fiscal Year... Accounting........ Replace the --Developed Chart --Review GL
2018. mainframe-based of Accounts for requirements with
general ledger modern GL. stakeholders.
(GL) system with a --Reviewed Chart --Implement
commercial of Accounts with PeopleSoft
software package, Oracle subject General Ledger,
which will: matter experts Accounts Payable
--Allow the Senate and system and Accounts
to retire the stakeholders. Receivable.
expensive and --Documented --Retire legacy
increasingly initial mainframe and
difficult to requirements for related hardware.
support mainframe GL.
hardware and
software;
--Implement a
modern GL which is
consistent with
all current
Federal financial
standards and
reporting
requirements; and
--Enhance the
Senate's ability
to maintain the
core component of
the financial
system and the
source of the
statutory semi-
annual ``Report of
the Secretary of
the Senate''.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ The Budget modernization project timeline was extended due to several factors including unanticipated
activities required to maintain the legacy system and the delay in full funding for the budget work planned
for fiscal year 2017.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modernization
Date Business Area Approach and Status through Planned through
Rationale fiscal year 2016 fiscal year 2018
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2017 \3\-Fiscal Data Sharing...... Automate interfaces --Acquired --Implement Oracle
Year 2019. with Senate software to Hyperion Data
systems and support sharing Relationship
outside agencies, of master data Management (DRM)
such as the between financial software in
Department of the applications. production
Treasury, to: environment.
--Reduce errors in --Transition
Senate reporting; existing batch
and master data
--Eliminate the interfaces to
manual effort DRM.
required to
support daily and
monthly external
reporting.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2018-Fiscal Year... Procurement to Replace the highly
2019. Payment. customized
procurement to
payment
applications with
commercial
software, where
possible, subject
to a thorough
alternatives
analysis. This
will allow the
Senate to:
--Continue to meet
unique Senate
business needs
while also
addressing a
number of business
requirements not
currently met by
the existing
applications;
--Enhance the
Senate's ability
to administer and
support financial
system
applications;
--Enable more rapid
deployment of user-
requested
changes; and
--Facilitate
tighter
integration of all
procurement to
payment
applications to
enhance Senate
financial
statement
production.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2019-Fiscal Year... Asset Management.. Replace the
2021. existing Asset
Management
application with a
commercial
software module
that will:
--Enable direct
integration with
financial system;
and
--Eliminate
redundant
processes and
data, increasing
the efficiency and
accuracy of the
Senate's asset
tracking.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2019-Fiscal Year... Archival Tools.... Implement data
2021. archival tools to:
--Reduce the costs
and potential
application
performance issues
associated with
maintaining large
volumes of
financial data;
and
--Ensure that all
relevant data is
archived together
and may be
restored together
as needed to
support Senate
financial
operations.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ The Data Sharing project was initiated early to accelerate preparation for the Accounting/GL replacement and
retirement of the mainframe as well as to minimize impacts to the existing payroll system.
sis program
The budget includes a request for $5,136,000 (an increase of
$786,000) in multi-year funds (2018/2022) for the SIS program. This is
the first time since 2011 that this Office has requested additional
funds to support the continuation of current services offered as part
of this program ($500,000) and to acquire three new subscription
services ($286,000) at the request of the Senate community.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Item Fiscal Year 2017 Fiscal Year 2018 Difference
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIS Current Services...................................... $4,350,000 $4,850,000 $500,000
Additional Subscriptions.................................. 0 $286,000 $286,000
-----------------------------------------------------
Total SIS........................................... $4,350,000 $5,136,000 $786,000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIS is a collection of information resources and services, managed
by the Senate Library, that support the research needs of the Senate
community, providing cost-effective access to legislative and legal
databases, academic journals, policy research, historical and current
newspapers, real-time news tracking, and media alert services. Funding
enterprise-wide access to research and news services continues to
provide the greatest return on investment for all Senate users because
it allows shared access to a comprehensive set of high quality
resources and tools in support of core business functions at rates
unattainable by individual offices and committees.
Usage statistics and feedback from a May 2016 staff survey support
the procurement of current services as the core set of required
services for the next 5 years and identify three new content sources
for inclusion in fiscal year 2018 offerings. Based on this data, during
2016, the SIS program managers negotiated new service contracts for
fiscal year 2017, with options through fiscal year 2021, with existing
program vendors to maintain or enhance services. The agreements provide
for modest increases in the firm-fixed-price cost of services as
vendors also continue to add value by updating product platforms,
enhancing search interfaces, and expanding content and features
available to the Senate.
IMPLEMENTING MANDATED SYSTEMS
Two systems critical to the Senate community and administered by
this Office are mandated by law, FMIS and the Legislative Information
System (LIS).
update on status of fmis
In addition to the six-year modernization project, Disbursing
continued to oversee the current FMIS program, create a bridge from the
current program to the modernized financial system, and prepare for the
roll-out of the first modernized business areas. Several key
accomplishments over the past year are described below.
Focusing on the current version of FMIS, the Disbursing Office
continued to improve the FMIS user experience by publishing a quarterly
Financial Tips & Tricks newsletter, developing and implementing a
customer feedback survey, conducting more than 20 group meetings for
various user communities, and providing direct communications related
to system updates and issues. Disbursing also engaged in significant
planning, testing and exercising of FMIS functions supporting the
Senate's continuity of operations (COOP) planning.
The Office encouraged adoption of financial system functions that
lay important groundwork for the modernized program. An example of this
was increasing the number of offices configured for paperless voucher
processing by 20 percent. The roll out of imaging and digital signature
capabilities for paperless voucher processing will continue throughout
2017.
In order to prepare for a seamless introduction of the first phases
of the modernization project, Disbursing completed requirements, a
design, and the early stages of development for a Web FMIS release to
facilitate modernization of voucher entry and review. In 2017,
Disbursing will follow up on this preparation with the following
releases:
--FMIS 14.1 (planned for Spring through Summer 2017)--Modernization
of voucher creation and review functions used by Member
Offices, Committees, Leadership, the Committee on Rules and
Administration, SAA, the Office of the Secretary, and
Disbursing to address user requested changes, enhance
supportability and ensure compatibility with modern browsers;
and
--FMIS 14.2 (planned for Fall 2017)--Modernization of additional
document types, such as requisitions, purchase orders, invoices
and receiving reports used by SAA and the Office of the
Secretary to address user requested changes, enhance
supportability and ensure compatibility with modern browsers.
update on status of the lis project
LIS is a mandated system (2 U.S.C. 6577) that provides desktop
access to the content and status of legislative information and
supporting documents. In addition, pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 181, a program
was established to provide for the widest possible exchange of
information among legislative branch agencies. The long-range goal of
the LIS Project Office is to provide a ``comprehensive Senate
Legislative Information System'' to capture, store, manage, and
distribute Senate documents. The Office is currently focused on a
Senate-wide implementation and transition to a standard system for the
authoring and exchange of legislative documents such as bills,
resolutions, amendments and reports, that will greatly enhance the
availability and re-use of legislative documents within the Senate and
with other legislative branch agencies.
Extensible Markup Language (XML) has been accepted as the primary
data standard to be used for the exchange of legislative documents and
information. Following the implementation of LIS, the Office shifted
its focus to the data standards program and established the LIS
Augmentation Project (LISAP). The overarching goal of LISAP is to
provide a Senate- wide implementation and transition to XML for the
authoring and exchange of legislative documents.
The Office provides support to Senate Legislative Counsel (SLC);
the Committee on Appropriations; the Committee on Commerce, Science,
and Transportation; and the Senate Enrolling Clerk in their use of
Legislative Editing in XML Application (LEXA) for drafting, engrossing,
and enrolling. With the addition of the Commerce Committee drafters,
all Senate measures (bills, resolutions, and amendments) are produced
in XML. In addition, the Government Publishing Office (GPO) uses LEXA
to complete measures for printing. Several new features and fixes were
added in LEXA releases in 2016 to improve the drafting process. Office
staff trained new drafters in the use of LEXA.
The Office has been working with staff from GPO and the Legislative
Computer Systems (LCS) in the Office of the Clerk of the House of
Representatives to create and print committee reports in XML. The
initial LEXA committee report application was released to the Commerce
Committee in 2013, and the Office provided several features which
improved accuracy, efficiency and reduced processing time. New features
included importing footnotes, exporting a committee report to MS Word
for review, and enhanced table handling needed for Appropriations
Committee reports. Committee report processing for the Appropriations
Committee was added to LEXA in 2016.
Other enhancements to LEXA in the past year included improved
performance when processing large documents and the ability to create
conference report signature sheets. With the addition of signature
sheets, all Senate documents printed by GPO for SLC are created in
LEXA. The ability to test the first release of GPO's system to replace
Microcomp was also added to LEXA in 2016.
Two other group projects with GPO and LCS include participants from
the Law Revision Counsel and the Senate and House Legislative Counsels.
The multi-phase project for the Law Revision Counsel will result in
applications to convert, edit, and maintain the U.S. Code in an XML
format. The Legislative Counsel offices collaborate on maintaining and
using the compilations of existing law in an XML format. The Office and
LCS also monitor and participate in GPO's project to replace Microcomp
with a new composition system that can directly ingest XML data without
having to convert it to another format before printing.
The Office will continue to support all Senate offices using LEXA
and will work with the House, GPO, and the Library of Congress (LOC) on
projects and issues that impact the legislative process and data
standards for exchange. With the implementation of committee report
processing for the Appropriations Committee, the Office will begin a
project to increase process efficiency in LEXA for Appropriations
drafters. The Office will also explore options to modernize the LEXA
application.
LEGISLATIVE SERVICES
The Legislative operations of the Office of the Secretary provide
support essential to Senators in carrying out their daily chamber
activities as well as the constitutional responsibilities of the
Senate. Legislative Services consists of the following departments:
Bill Clerk, Captioning Services, Daily Digest, Enrolling Clerk,
Executive Clerk, Journal Clerk, Legislative Clerk, Official Reporters
of Debates and Parliamentarian.
The Office of the Secretary maintains a positive working
relationship with GPO and they continue to respond in a timely manner
to the Secretary's requests, through the Legislative staff, for the
printing of bills and reports, including the expedited printing of
priority matters for the Senate Chamber.
bill clerk
The Office of the Bill Clerk collects and records data on the
legislative activity of the Senate, which becomes the historical record
of official Senate business. The Office keeps this information in its
handwritten files and ledgers and also enters it into the Senate's
automated retrieval system so that it is available to all House and
Senate offices via the Legislative Information System (LIS),
Congress.gov, and Senate.gov. Current amendment information is entered
and updated by the Office and is available to Senate offices on the
Amendment Tracking System. The Bill Clerk records actions of the Senate
with regard to bills, resolutions, reports, amendments, cosponsors,
public law numbers, and recorded votes.
The Bill Clerk is responsible for preparing for print all measures
introduced, received, submitted, and reported in the Senate. The Bill
Clerk also assigns numbers to all Senate bills and resolutions. All the
information received in this Office comes directly from the Senate
floor in written form within moments of the action involved, so the
Office is generally regarded as the most timely and most accurate
source of legislative information.
The Bill Clerk coordinated with the Office of the Executive Clerk
and the Office of Web Technology, and the Senate Library to provide
input regarding Senate data on Congress.gov through meetings with LOC.
The Office maintained communication with the Secretary's legislative
offices, floor staff, and the Senate Library in support of facilitating
input on Congress.gov, predominantly in the areas of legislation,
committee reports, and the Congressional Record.
captioning services
The Office of Captioning Services provides real-time closed
captioning of Senate floor proceedings for individuals who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing and unofficial electronic transcripts of Senate floor
proceedings to Senate offices on Webster.
Captioning Services strives to provide the highest quality closed
captions and is comprised of some of the most seasoned and respected
captioners in the industry. The overall average accuracy rate for the
Office has continuously been above 99 percent, a level of achievement
that has spanned more than two decades. Overall caption quality is
monitored through daily translation data reports, monitoring of
captions in real-time, and review of caption files on Webster. In an
effort to decrease paper consumption and printing costs, accuracy
reviews and reports were mostly completed in electronic form.
The real-time searchable Closed Caption Log database and VideoVault
browser, available to Senate offices on Webster, continues to be an
invaluable tool for the entire Senate community. Legislative floor
staff, Cloakroom staff, Senate Recording Studio, and Member offices in
particular continue to depend upon its availability, reliability, and
contents to help in the performance of their everyday duties.
daily digest
The Office of the Daily Digest is responsible for publication of a
brief, concise and easy-to-read accounting of all official actions
taken by the Senate in the Congressional Record section known as the
Daily Digest. The Office compiles an accounting of all meetings of
Senate committees, subcommittees, joint committees and committees of
conference.
The Office enters all Senate and joint committee scheduling data
into the Senate's web-based scheduling application system. Committee
scheduling information is also prepared for publication in the Daily
Digest in three formats: Day-Ahead Schedule; Congressional Program for
the Week Ahead; and the extended schedule which appears in the
Extensions of Remarks section of the Record. The Office also enters all
official actions taken by Senate committees on legislation,
nominations, and treaties into LIS.
The Office publishes a listing of all legislation which has become
public law, as well as a ``Resume of Congressional Activity'' which
includes all Congressional statistical information, including days and
time in session; measures introduced, reported and passed; and roll
call votes. The ``Resume'' is published on the first legislative day of
each month in the Daily Digest. The Office also assists the House Daily
Digest Editor in the preparation at the end of each session of Congress
a history of public bills enacted into law and a final resume of
congressional statistical activity.
All hearings and business meetings (including joint meetings and
conferences) are scheduled through the Office and are published in the
Record, on the Digest's page on Senate.gov, and in LIS. Meeting
outcomes are also published by the Daily Digest in the Record each day
and continuously updated on the website.
The Office publishes a ``20-Year Comparison of Senate Legislative
Activity'' which can be found at: http://www.senate.gov/reference/
resources/pdf/yearlycomparison.pdf
enrolling clerk
The Office of the Enrolling Clerk prepares, proofreads, corrects,
inputs amendments and prints all legislation passed by the Senate prior
to its transmittal to the House of Representatives, the National
Archives, the White House, the United States Court of Federal Claims,
and the Secretary of State. Electronic files of all measures engrossed
and enrolled in the Senate are transmitted daily by the Enrolling Clerk
to GPO for overnight distribution and public web access.
The Office also keeps the original official copies of bills,
resolutions, and appointments from the Senate floor through the end of
each Congress.
executive clerk
The Office of the Executive Clerk is responsible for the Journal of
the Executive Proceedings of the Senate, a record of the Senate's
actions during executive sessions.
The Executive Clerk, receives, assigns numbers to, and processes
the nominations, treaties, executive communications, petitions or
memorials, and presidential messages sent to the Senate. As part of
this processing, the Executive Clerk enters each of these into LIS
along with the Senate's actions on each.
The Office prepares the Executive Calendar daily when there are
nominations, treaties, or resolutions related to treaties before the
Senate. The Executive Clerk also prepares all nomination and treaty
resolutions for transmittal to the President of the United States.
The Office worked in collaboration with the Office of the Bill
Clerk, the Office of Web Technology, and the Senate Library to provide
extensive knowledge and feedback to LOC related to the Senate materials
available on Congress.gov, primarily in the areas of nominations,
treaties, executive communications, presidential messages, and
petitions or memorials.
journal clerk
The Office of the Journal Clerk takes notes of the daily
legislative proceedings of the Senate in a minute book and prepares a
history of bills and resolutions for the printed Journal of the
Proceedings of the Senate, or Senate Journal, as required by Article I,
Section V of the Constitution. The content of the Senate Journal is
governed by Senate Rule IV, and is approved by the Senate on a daily
basis.
The Journal staff take 90-minute turns at the rostrum in the Senate
Chamber whenever the Senate is in session, noting the following by hand
for inclusion in the minute book: (i) all orders (entered into by the
Senate through unanimous consent agreements), (ii) legislative messages
received from the President of the United States, (iii) messages from
the House of Representatives, (iv) legislative actions as taken by the
Senate (including motions made by Senators, points of order raised,
division votes taken and roll call votes taken), (v) amendments
submitted and proposed for consideration, (vi) bills and joint
resolutions introduced, and (vii) concurrent and Senate resolutions as
submitted. These notes of the proceedings are then compiled in
electronic form for eventual publication of the Senate Journal at the
end of each calendar year. Compilation is efficiently accomplished
through utilization of the LIS Senate Journal Authoring System. The
Senate Journal is published each calendar year, and in 2016, the Office
completed the production of the 1,000-page 2015 volume. It is
anticipated that work on the 2016 volume will conclude by August 2017.
legislative clerk
The Legislative Clerk sits at the rostrum in the Senate Chamber and
reads aloud bills, amendments, the Senate Journal, presidential
messages, and other such materials when so directed by the Presiding
Officer of the Senate. The Legislative Clerk calls the roll of Members
to establish the presence of a quorum and to record and tally all
``yea'' and ``nay'' votes. The Office prepares the Senate Calendar of
Business, published each day that the Senate is in session, and
prepares additional publications relating to Senate class membership
and committee and subcommittee assignments. The Legislative Clerk
maintains the official copy of all measures pending before the Senate
and must incorporate into those measures any amendments that are agreed
to. The Office retains custody of official messages received from the
House of Representatives and conference reports awaiting action by the
Senate. The Office is responsible for verifying the accuracy of
information entered into LIS by the various offices of the Secretary.
A small sample of the work completed during the 114th Congress, 2nd
Session includes the processing of 2,243 submitted amendments, 329
reports of committees, 163 roll call votes, and the incorporation of
267 floor amendments into measures considered by the Senate.
The Office works closely with GPO, particularly the night
production crew. For this past session of congress there were 166
separate issues of the Calendar of Business published. Publications are
also available online, which has lowered the need for printed copy and
makes the materials more accessible.
official reporters of debates
The Office of the Official Reporters of Debates is responsible for
the stenographic reporting, transcribing, and editing of the Senate
Floor proceedings for publication in the Congressional Record. The
Chief Reporter acts as the editor-in-chief and oversees the production
of the Record to ensure its accuracy and consistency with Senate
parliamentary rules and procedures.
When the Senate is in session, the electronic and paper transcripts
of the floor proceedings of the Senate begin to go to GPO in the early
evening, and the last delivery occurs approximately three hours after
the Senate adjourns or recesses for the day. The Record is published in
paperback form and online and is available to the public on the next
business day.
The Morning Business Coordinator is responsible for coordinating
the printing of legislative and executive material in a portion of the
Morning Business section of the Record and sits in the Senate Chamber,
recording daily floor activity of the Senate for the Official Reporters
of Debates.
parliamentarian
The Office of the Parliamentarian continues to perform its
essential institutional responsibilities to act as a neutral arbiter
among all parties with an interest in the legislative process. These
responsibilities include advising the Presiding Officer and Senators
and their staff, as well as committee staff, House Members and their
staff, administration officials, the media, and members of the general
public, on all matters requiring an interpretation of the Standing
Rules of the Senate, the precedents of the Senate, and unanimous
consent agreements, as well as provisions of public law and the
Constitution that affect the proceedings of the Senate.
The Parliamentarians work in close cooperation with Senate
leadership and their floor staffs in coordinating all of the business
on the Senate Floor. A parliamentarian is always present on the Senate
Floor when the Senate is in session, ready to assist the Presiding
Officer in their official duties, as well as to assist any other
Senator on procedural matters. The Parliamentarians work closely with
the President pro tempore and the Vice President of the United States
and their staff when either performs duties as President of the Senate.
The Parliamentarians monitor all proceedings on the floor of the
Senate, advise the Presiding Officer on the competing rights of the
Senators on the floor, and advise all Senators as to what is
appropriate in debate. The Parliamentarians keep time on the Senate
Floor when time is limited or controlled under the provisions of time
agreements, statutes, or standing orders. They keep track of amendments
offered to the legislation pending on the Senate Floor, assess them for
germaneness and other possible points of order, and review countless
other amendments that are never offered in the same regard.
The Office of the Parliamentarian is responsible for the referral
to the appropriate committees of all legislation introduced in the
Senate and all legislation received from the House, as well as all
communications received from the Executive Branch, memorials from State
and local governments, and petitions from private citizens. In order to
perform this responsibility, the Parliamentarians do extensive legal
and legislative research. The Office works extensively with Senators
and their staff to advise them of the jurisdictional consequences of
drafts of legislation, and evaluate the jurisdictional effect of
proposed modifications in drafting.
In 2016, in addition to day-to-day duties, the Parliamentarians
continued work on the Electronic Senate Precedents (ESP) system;
rewrote the Guide to Senate Floor Procedure; participated in or
conducted several seminars on Senate procedure; reviewed certificates
of election for Senators in the Class of 2017, ensuring that all
necessary documents were received and in order for the opening of the
new Congress; participated in orientation for new Senators and staff;
and were heavily involved in the review, handling and preparation of
materials and advising the Vice President of the Constitutional and
statutory requirements for conducting the counting of electoral ballots
for President and Vice President of the United States.
FINANCIAL OPERATIONS
disbursing office
The mission of the Senate Disbursing Office is to provide efficient
and effective financial, payroll and employee benefits information, and
advice to the offices, Members, and employees of the Senate. The
Disbursing Office manages the collection of information from all the
accounting locations within the Senate to formulate and consolidate the
agency level budget, disburse the payroll, pay the Senate's bills, and
provide appropriate counseling and advice. The Disbursing Office
collects information from Members and employees that is necessary to
maintain and administer the retirement, health insurance, life
insurance, and other central human resource programs, and provides
responsive, individual attention to Members and employees on an
unbiased and confidential basis.
In addition to the current FMIS program and the project to
modernize the financial system, the Disbursing Office continued work on
several activities that required a significant level of staff
resources. Among them were (i) the initial distribution of new
Employer-Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage forms (Forms
1094-C and 1095-C) required by the Affordable Care Act, (ii) roll-out
of online access to payroll and benefits information for Members and
employees (including paystubs and W-2 Forms), (iii) the assistance to
outgoing offices with financial and employee benefit information as
well as retirement counseling, and (iv) the validation, review and
publication of the Report of the Secretary of the Senate for the 6
month periods ending in March and September 2016.
The Disbursing Office also continued working with Member offices
and the Senate Stationery Room to establish office accounts for the
online flag ordering system using the Department of the Treasury's
Pay.gov system. Sixty-four offices were using Pay.gov at the end of
2016. The usage is expected to expand even further during 2017.
In addition, the Disbursing Office compiled the 2017 operating
budget of the United States Senate for presentation to the Committee on
Appropriations and prepared and distributed budget justification
worksheets to the various offices to gather the information needed for
the fiscal year 2018 budget request and submission to the Office of
Management and Budget.
ADMINISTRATIVE AND EXECUTIVE OPERATIONS
senate chief counsel for employment
The Office of the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment (SCCE) is a
non-partisan office established at the direction of the Joint
Leadership in 1993 after enactment of the Government Employee Rights
Act, which allowed Senate employees to file claims of employment
discrimination against Senate offices. With the enactment of the
Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA), Senate offices became
subject to the requirements, responsibilities and obligations of twelve
employment laws, and subject to suit in Federal district court for
alleged violations of such laws. In accordance with the CAA, Congress
has applied subsequently enacted employment laws to Senate offices,
such as the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act. Senate offices
are also subject to certain non-CAA Federal laws that create compliance
obligations regarding Senate employment.
The SCCE is charged with the legal defense of Senate offices in all
employment law cases at both the administrative and court levels, from
case inception through final appeal. In addition to litigating cases,
the SCCE's attorneys provide legal advice to Senate offices about their
obligations under employment laws. Each Senate office client is an
individual client of the SCCE; accordingly, each such office maintains
an attorney-client relationship with the SCCE. The SCCE also conducts a
robust training program on a wide variety of employment law topics,
including seminars to educate Senate managers, staff and interns about
how to identify, prevent, and address unlawful harassment in the
workplace.
The areas of responsibilities of the SCCE can be divided into the
following categories: litigation (defending Senate offices in courts
and at administrative hearings); mediations to resolve potential
lawsuits; court-ordered alternative dispute resolutions; Occupational
Safety and Health Act compliance; Americans with Disabilities Act
compliance; layoffs and office closings in compliance with the law;
management training regarding legal responsibilities and employee
rights; employee and intern training regarding prohibited harassment,
including sexual harassment; union drives, negotiations, and unfair
labor practice charges; and preventive legal advice.
conservation and preservation
The Office of Conservation and Preservation supports the official
record preservation and bookbinding needs of Senate leadership,
committees, and offices.
In 2016, the work of the Office included bookbinding, framing, and
the fabrication of materials for presentation, storage, and display.
Bookbinding included re-casing of older books, congressional hearings,
and Congressional Record volumes with new covers and end sheets;
repairing bound volumes of Senate Library collection materials; and
preparing new volumes for binding from materials printed in-house at
the request of Senate offices. The Office designed and fabricated
custom boxes, enclosures, and slipcases for preservation and storage of
materials and prepared objects and signage for display in Senate
exhibits.
curator
The Office of Senate Curator, on behalf of the Senate Commission on
Art (COA), develops and implements the museum and preservation programs
for the Senate. The Curator collects, preserves, and interprets the
Senate's fine and decorative arts, historic objects, and specific
architectural features; and exercises supervisory responsibility for
the historic chambers in the Senate wing of the Capitol under the
jurisdiction of COA. Through exhibitions, publications, and other
programs, the Curator educates the public about the Senate and its
collections.
In keeping with scheduled procedures, all Senate Collection objects
were inventoried in 2016, and any changes in location were recorded in
the Curator's database. As directed by S. Res. 178 (108th Congress, 1st
session), the Office submitted a list of the art and historic
furnishings in the Senate to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
The list, known as the Historic Furnishings Inventory, documents the
history of acquisition, use, and manufacturer for each object. Items on
the inventory are prohibited from removal or purchase. The inventory,
which is submitted every 6 months, is compiled by the Office with
assistance from the SAA and the Architect of the Capitol's (AOC)
Superintendent of Senate Office Buildings.
The Office continued to advance the preservation and documentation
of the historic Russell Senate Office Building furnishings by
conducting a yearly inspection of the use and location of the 64 flat-
top partner desks that remain in the Senate, and through educational
initiatives aimed at informing Senate staff about the history of the
furnishings. This year, the Office acquired an original 1909 flat-top
desk donated by the descendants of a former Senator. Following
precedent, the desk was added to the Historic Furnishings Inventory and
transferred to the AOC so that it could be refinished and made
available for use.
The Curator continued to conduct extensive primary source research
into the original construction, configuration, and decoration of the
Old Supreme Court Chamber in anticipation of the planned restoration of
the space. The Curator also completed the restoration and
electrification of an 1859 Cornelius & Baker six-arm chandelier. Over
145 similar chandeliers illuminated the Senate extension in the 1860s.
Twenty-eight objects were accessioned into the Senate Collection
this year. The most significant addition was the donation of History
and Physics, two oil sketches by Constantino Brumidi. These small
preparatory studies were executed in the mid-1860s as proposed
decorations for two lunette frescoes in room S-211 in the Capitol (the
Lyndon Baines Johnson Room).
A new exhibit was installed by the Curator into showcases in the
vestibule outside SD- G50, titled: Who Was Everett McKinley Dirksen?
The exhibit highlights the career and accomplishments of the Dirksen
Building's namesake and was created in conjunction with the Senate
Library and Senate Historical Office. The Curator also installed an
interpretative exhibit in the Trophy Corridor of the Senate wing of the
Capitol to highlight the recently installed historic Cornelius & Baker
chandelier.
education and training
The Joint Office of Education and Training, co-sponsored by the
Secretary of the Senate and the SAA, provides training to ensure that
all Senate staff have the resources and skills they need to perform
their jobs. In 2016, nearly 3,000 staff attended in-person classes and
nearly 1,200 staff attended online classes. The Office also facilitated
three conferences for 137 State staff, and provided customized
training, facilitation services, and coaching to more than 150 Member,
committee, and support offices, in which more than 2,000 staff members
participated.
This year the Office plans to expand leadership development
offerings, provide training for the Academy Nomination Coordinators,
and coordinate continued training for the Chiefs of Staff and
Administrative Directors in the New Member offices.
The Health Promotion Office within Education and Training is
mandated to provide health promotion activities and events for the
Senate community. Each year the Office coordinates and hosts the 2-day
Health and Wellness Fair. In 2016, over 2,000 staff participated in
health promotion activities, which included screenings for glucose,
cholesterol and blood pressure; exercise demonstrations, and seminars
on topics including healthy eating and cancer prevention.
gift shop
The Gift Shop serves Senators and their spouses, staff,
constituents, and the many visitors to the Capitol complex. The
products available include a wide range of fine gift items,
collectables, and souvenirs, many created exclusively for the Senate.
In addition to over-the-counter and walk-in sales, the Gift Shop
offers an order form through Webster and the administrative office
provides mail order service, special order and catalogue sales. While
the Gift Shop has two physical locations, the Capitol kiosk remains
temporarily closed due to the continued restoration of the Brumidi
corridors.
Consistent with statute and past practice, a transfer of $40,000 to
the Senate Employees Child Care Center was made based on the annual
sales of the Congressional Holiday Ornament (see 2 U.S.C. 6576(c)(3)).
The Official 2016 Congressional Holiday Ornament is a brass ornament
with 24 karat gold finish that showcases the exterior of the Capitol.
The ornament has two hinged doors which open to reveal the Rotunda.
Sales of the 2016 holiday ornament were just over 25,000, of which more
than 8,000 were personalized with engravings designed, proofed, and
etched by the Gift Shop staff.
historical office
In 2016 historians and archivists of the Senate Historical Office
continued to serve the Senate and the broader community through a
variety of activities, including archival assistance and guidance,
tours and presentations, publications, reference assistance, and
educational outreach programs. In addition, while the Secretary served
as Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress the
Senate Archivist facilitated the semiannual meetings and related
discussions of the Advisory Committee.
The Historical Office has provided more than 50 specially-requested
talks and tours to Senate offices, answered more than 1,000 history-
related questions via email from staff, public, and press, and drawn
standing-room-only audiences to a series of ``brownbag lunch'' history
talks. In September the Office observed Constitution Day with ``A More
Important Duty: Standing Committees and the Senate's Constitutional
Powers and Responsibilities.'' This program filled the Kennedy Caucus
Room with Senate staff, high school students, and visitors who explored
four archival exhibits while learning more about the important role of
committees in Senate history.
The Senate Archivist and deputy archivists assisted the offices of
retiring Members in selecting an archival repository, in preserving the
Senator's digital and paper content, and in identifying committee
records needing preservation. For the first time, retiring Members were
able to select the Senate Data Information Exchange Format for the
download of their Constituent Services System (CSS) data, something
which archival repositories had been hoping to receive and which the
archivists accomplished through collaboration with SAA CSS staff.
Senate Rule XI (2) directs that ``The Secretary of the Senate shall
obtain at the close of each Congress all the noncurrent records of the
Senate and of each Senate committee and transfer them to the National
Archives for preservation.'' During 2016 the Senate transferred 720
cubic feet of paper records and 4.56 TB of electronic records to the
Center for Legislative Archives (CLA). Archivists have prioritized
creation of electronic records preservation guidance for committees and
have incorporated the new guidance into a draft of the 4th edition of
the Records Management Handbook for United States Senate Committees. To
further assist Senate Committees, the archivists provide electronic
records processing support to committees without their own archivists
and have instituted the use of processing tools to further enhance the
authenticity of electronic records being transferred to the CLA.
In fulfilling its mission to preserve and promote the history of
the Senate, the Office pursues many long-term research and writing
projects, conducts oral history interviews, and is a primary content
provider for Senate.gov. For example, in anticipation of the centennial
commemoration of the nineteenth amendment in 2020, the historians have
launched a special oral history project, conducting interviews with
former and current female Senators and select female staff. These
interviews document the evolving role of women in the Senate and their
impact on the institution and its legislative business.
human resources
The Office of Human Resources was established in June 1995 by the
Secretary of the Senate as a result of the CAA. The Office focuses on
developing and implementing human resources policies, procedures, and
programs for the Office of the Secretary. These responsibilities
include recruiting and staffing; providing guidance and advice to
managers and staff; training; performance management and evaluation;
job analysis and classification; compensation planning, design, and
administration; leave administration; records management; maintaining
the employee handbook and manuals; employee relations and services; and
organizational planning and development.
The Office administers the following programs for the Secretary's
employees: the public transportation subsidy program, student loan
program, Family Medical Leave Act program, parking allocations, and the
Secretary's intern program.
information systems
The Office of Information Systems provides technical hardware and
software support for the Office of the Secretary. Information Systems
staff also interface closely with the application and network
development groups within SAA, GPO, and outside vendors on technical
issues and joint projects. The Office provides computer-related support
for all local area network (LAN) servers within the Office of the
Secretary, as well as direct application support for all software
installed on workstations, initiates and guides new technologies, and
implements next generation hardware and software solutions.
The primary mission of the Office is to continue to provide the
highest level of customer satisfaction and computer support for the
Office of the Secretary. Emphasis is placed on creating and
transferring legislative records to outside departments and agencies,
fulfilling Disbursing Office financial responsibilities to Member
offices, and complying with office-mandated and statutory obligations.
interparliamentary services
The Office of Interparliamentary Services (IPS) is responsible for
administrative, financial, and protocol functions for special
delegations authorized by the Majority and/or Minority Leaders, for all
interparliamentary conferences in which the Senate participates by
statute, and for interparliamentary conferences in which the Senate
participates on an ad hoc basis. The Office also provides appropriate
assistance as requested by other Senate delegations.
The statutory interparliamentary conferences are: the Mexico-United
States Interparliamentary Group; the Canada-United States
Interparliamentary Group; the British-American Interparliamentary
Group; and the United States-China Interparliamentary Group.
On behalf of the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders, the staff
arranges official receptions for heads of state, heads of government,
heads of parliaments, and parliamentary delegations. Required records
of expenditures on behalf of foreign dignitaries under authority of
Public Law 100-71 are maintained by IPS.
IPS receives and prepares for printing the quarterly consolidated
financial reports for foreign travel from all committees in the Senate.
In addition to preparing the quarterly reports for the Majority Leader
and the Minority Leader, IPS staff also assists staff members of
Senators and committees in filling out the required reports.
legislative information system (lis) project office
See the section on the LIS Project on page 8.
library
The Senate Library, which celebrated its 145th year of service in
2016, provides legislative, legal, business, and general information
services to Senators and staff. The Library's collection encompasses
legislative documents that date from the Continental Congress in 1774;
current and historic Executive and Judicial Branch materials; an
extensive book collection on American politics, history, and biography;
a popular collection of audiobooks; and a wide array of online
resources. The Library also authors content for three websites:
LIS.gov, Senate.gov, and Webster.
The reference librarians work with Senate staff on a wide range of
research topics, including legislative histories, legal citations,
public records, and news article searches. They are experienced
information professionals who draw on in-depth knowledge of Senate
institutional procedures and practices when answering reference
questions, and in 2016, they handled requests from all 100 Senate
offices and every standing committee. There were over 10,700 walk-in,
telephone, and email inquiries, many of which were handled on tight
deadlines.
The Library is meeting the Senate's increasing demand for
information through the creation of new web-based content, judicious
selection and investment in online resources, expanded outreach and
training opportunities, and use of technology to support alternative
means for information delivery. Senate librarians also teach a variety
of classes for Senate staff.
The Library catalog now provides Senate staff with desktop access
to over 48,000 full- text electronic documents and online resources. A
3-year collaborative effort to update nearly 8,500 obsolete series
statements in existing catalog records was completed in January,
resulting in improved access to Senate prints, publications, treaty
documents and Federal Government documents.
The inaugural edition of the Library's biweekly email newsletter
was launched in December 2016. The newsletter highlights upcoming
Library training classes, featured resources, and services. It is
distributed to Senate staff who use one or more Library service and to
administrative managers and committee clerks. The newsletter has been
well received, with requests from staff to be added to the distribution
list for future editions.
The Library presented exhibits and events relevant to the Senate
community. These included two new hallway displays: A Tour of African
American Landmarks & Historical Sites in Washington, D.C., to
commemorate African American History Month, outside SR-B15, and Who Was
Everett McKinley Dirksen?, outside SD-G50. The Dirksen exhibit is the
result of the joint efforts of the Library, the Office of the Senate
Curator, the Senate Historical Office, and the Office of Conservation
and Preservation.
page school
The Senate Page School serves all appointed Senate pages with a
sound program, both academically and experientially, during their stay
in the Nation's capital. Senate pages are all juniors or rising juniors
in high school and the School ensures the appropriate continuation of
their studies integrated into the schedule of the page program in the
Senate. The School focuses on providing a smooth transition from and to
the pages' home schools.
In 2013, the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools awarded
accreditation renewal that continues until May 1, 2018. The Page School
is among schools throughout the world that meet the internationally
recognized standards of quality.
Faculty and staff provided extended educational experiences to
pages, including 21 field trips, 5 guest speakers, and opportunities to
study world languages. A panel of former pages also provided
information and answered current pages' questions. Summer pages made
four field trips to educational sites and heard from one guest speaker.
The community service project embraced by pages and staff continues.
Pages collected, assembled, and shipped items for gift packages to
military personnel serving in various locations and included letters of
support to the troops.
printing and document services
The Office of Printing and Document Services (OPDS) serves as
liaison to GPO for the Senate's official printing, ensuring that all
Senate printing is in compliance with Title 44 of the U.S. Code as it
relates to Senate documents, hearings, committee prints and other
official publications. The Office coordinates, schedules, delivers and
prepares Senate legislation, hearing documents, committee prints and
miscellaneous publications for printing, and provides printed copies of
all legislation and public laws to the Senate and the public. In
addition, the Office assigns publication numbers to all hearings, and
committee prints, as well as legislative documents and other
publications; orders all blank paper, envelopes and letterhead for the
Senate; and prepares page counts of all Senate hearing transcripts in
order to compensate commercial reporting companies for the preparation
of the transcripts.
During fiscal year 2016, OPDS prepared 2,217 requisitions
authorizing GPO to print and bind the Senate's work, exclusive of
legislation and the Congressional Record. In addition to processing
requisitions, the printing services section coordinates proof handling,
job scheduling and tracking for stationery products, Senate hearings,
Senate publications and other miscellaneous printed products, as well
as monitoring blank paper and stationery quotas for each Senate office
and committee. Examples of major printing projects are: the Report of
the Secretary of the Senate; the Congressional Directory, 115th
Congress; the Authority and Rules of Senate Committees; the Journal of
the Proceedings of the Senate, 114th Congress, 1st Session; and 58th
Presidential Inaugural materials.
During 2016, OPDS processed and distributed over 6,600 distinct
legislative items as well as fulfilled over 10,000 requests for
legislative material at the walk-in counter, by mail, fax, and
electronically. The Office produced 853 on-demand print jobs during
2016, and continues to monitor and adjust the number of documents
received from GPO to meet demand while eliminating waste. Online
ordering of legislative documents and the Legislative Hot List Link,
where Members and staff can confirm arrival of printed copies of the
most sought after legislative documents, continue to be popular. The
site is updated each time new documents arrive from GPO to the Document
Room.
public records
The Office of Public Records receives, processes, and maintains
records, reports, and other documents filed with the Secretary of the
Senate that involve the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), as
amended; the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) of 1995, as amended; the
Senate Code of Official Conduct; Rule 34, Public Financial Disclosure;
Rule 35, Senate Gift Rule filings; Rule 40, Registration of Mass
Mailing; Rule 41, Political Fund Designees; and Rule 41(6),
Supervisor's Reports on Individuals Performing Senate Services; and
Foreign Travel Reports. The Office works closely with the Federal
Election Commission (FEC), the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, and
the Clerk of the House concerning the filing requirements of the
aforementioned acts and Senate Rules.
From October 2015 through September 2016, Public Records staff
assisted over 10,000 individuals seeking information from or about
reports filed with the Office, responding to walk-in inquiries and
inquiries by telephone or e-mail. Further, the Office provided
assistance to individuals attempting to comply with the provisions of
the LDA.
The LDA requires semiannual contribution reports, and quarterly
financial and lobbying activity reports. The Office conducted an LDA
Guidance review in coordination with the Clerk of the House. As of
September 30, 2016, there were 4,439 registrants representing 16,455
clients. The total number of individual lobbyists disclosed on fiscal
year 2016 registrations and reports was 11,406. The total number of
lobbying registrations and reports processed was 105,499. The Office
referred 140 cases of potential noncompliance to the U.S. Attorney for
the District of Columbia.
FECA requires Senate candidates to file quarterly and pre- and
post-election reports with the Secretary of the Senate. Filings for
fiscal year 2016 totaled 4,816 documents containing 468,246 pages,
which were scanned, processed, and transmitted to the FEC, as required
by law.
The filing date for Public Financial Disclosure Reports was May 15,
2016. A total of 4,501 paper and e-filed reports and amendments were
filed. The reports were made available to the public and press as soon
as they were filed and processed, and in most cases, the same day.
Public Records staff provided copies to the Ethics Committee and the
appropriate State officials.
Senators are required to file mass mailing reports on a quarterly
basis. The number of pages submitted during fiscal year 2016 was 350.
In addition, the Office received 752 Gift Rule/Travel reports during
fiscal year 2016.
stationery room
Since it was formally established in 1854, the Senate Stationery
Room has evolved into a diversified retail outlet serving the needs of
the Senate community by providing a wide range of office and
administrative supplies, communication and computer accessories, and
special order items for official government business.
The Stationery Room fulfills its mission by utilizing open market,
competitive bid, or General Services Administration schedules for
supply procurement; maintaining sufficient in-stock quantities of
select merchandise to best meet the immediate needs of the Senate
community; developing and maintaining productive business relationships
with a wide variety of vendors; maintaining expense accounts for all
authorized customers and preparing monthly activity statements; and
managing all accounts receivable and accounts payable reimbursement.
Utilizing the Pay.gov service offered by the Department of the
Treasury, the Stationery Room has been accepting online flag requests
and payments from constituents through Member websites. Currently, 64
Member offices are offering this payment option and 22 offices are in
the beginning stages of the program. The benefits include a reduced
wait time for constituents, elimination of payment inaccuracies, and
greatly reduced workload for office representatives. The Stationery
Room will continue to expand this service to interested Member offices.
The Stationery Room, with the assistance of the Office of Web
Technology, upgraded its online web ordering portal through Webster.
The upgrades included an enhanced search engine, modernized layout,
improved images of items and easier checkout. Customers can place a
stock order online and the order will be delivered within 24 hours. Use
of the website helps reduce order time, increases customer convenience
and order accuracy, and reduces the use of paper through reduced
reliance on hard copy orders. Since the upgrade in September 2016, 387
orders have been placed using the website compared to 190 total orders
for the entire fiscal year 2016 prior to the upgrade.
The Stationery Room contracts annually with various vendors to
provide U.S. flags. The flags are purchased by constituents through
individual Member offices, and are flown over the U.S. Capitol Building
for commemoration of special occasions. While many flags are flown for
specific reasons, the Stationery Room sells pre-flown flags for offices
to meet those generic requests. The Stationery Room coordinates its
flag procurement program with the Capitol Visitor Center, offering both
entities the benefits of greater volume discounts where available.
web technology
The Office of Web Technology is responsible for Senate.gov, the
Secretary's intranet on Webster, portions of the central site of
Webster, and legbranch.senate.gov (an extranet site available to all
Capitol Hill entities), along with the web-based systems, servers, and
technologies supporting these websites that fall under the purview of
the Secretary of the Senate.
Senate.gov content is maintained by over 30 contributors from seven
departments of the Office of the Secretary and three departments of
SAA. All content is controlled through the Secretary's web content
management system, managed by the Office of Web Technology.
A refreshed version of www.senate.gov launched in March 2017
completing a 2 year project to offer a new and better opportunity for
audiences to interact with the wealth of information provided on the
central site. The updated site is clean, modern, and has a responsive
design which optimizes the site's presentation on any accessing device,
such as mobile phones or tablets. Greater ability to contact Senators,
view live and archived Senate Floor proceeding streams, and conduct
searches on the central site are a few of the enhancements.
Senate.gov has been transitioned to secure sockets (https). This is
the new best practice for websites and the transition of the central
site serves as an example for other Senate sites. Although no personal
information is collected on the central site (when https is most
strongly recommended) the change will help ensure the central site
remains at or near the top of search results.
The Office also worked extensively with the Office of the Bill
Clerk, the Office of the Executive Clerk, the Senate Library and LOC in
the refinement of Congress.gov and the dissemination of legislative
bulk data, allowing for increased accuracy and transparency of
Congressional information. Part of these processes involved expanding
legbranch.senate.gov to host newly generated data feeds for the
Congressional community and will likely be further expanded in the
incoming year.
In 2016 an average of 27,425 visits occurred per day to the central
site of Senate.gov. The Office responded to nearly 700 emails from the
general public regarding Senate.gov sites.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND CONTINUITY PLANNING
Throughout 2016, the Office of the Secretary continued to exercise,
maintain and develop a broad range of emergency preparedness and
continuity programs under the direction of Senate leadership and in
coordination with SAA, House Officers, U.S. Capitol Police, and
partners in the Executive and Judicial Branches. The primary objectives
in this area are to ensure the continuity of the legislative process,
and that the Senate can meet its constitutional obligations under any
circumstances.
The Secretary's Legislative staff and supporting offices maintain
and regularly exercise plans to ensure that the Senate can convene and
conduct legislative business under any conditions in various locations.
All other departments maintain plans to carry out their essential
functions, either locally or elsewhere, depending upon conditions.
All departments within the Office of the Secretary maintain
individual COOP plans to ensure that each department can carry out its
essential functions during an emergency. Last year, several departments
within the Office developed a new program to create and maintain
departmental COOP plans. The project was undertaken and completed
entirely with in-house resources, and replaces a previously-used
commercial product, resulting in an annual savings of more than
$20,000.
Across the Office of the Secretary, monthly drills and annual
exercises are conducted in order to ensure that plans are current, and
that staff understand their continuity responsibilities. All
departmental plans are supported by emergency supply kits stored in
multiple locations within and outside the District of Columbia.
Finally, the Secretary's Legislative departments, as well as several
others, continue to employ robust cross-training programs initiated in
prior years, to ensure that staff with critical skills will be
available in an emergency.
----------
NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES
Prepared Statement of the American Association of Law Libraries
Dear Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
subcommittee:
Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony in
support of two key Federal institutions funded by the Legislative
Branch Appropriations Subcommittee: the Government Publishing Office
(GPO) and the Library of Congress (LC). The American Association of Law
Libraries (AALL) works closely with these agencies to support their
missions, and our members rely on their leadership in providing access
to and preservation of legal information and other materials.
AALL is the only national association dedicated to the legal
information profession and its professionals. Founded in 1906 on the
belief that people--lawyers, judges, students, and the public--need
timely access to relevant legal information to make sound legal
arguments and wise legal decisions, its nearly 4,500 members are
problem solvers of the highest order. AALL fosters the profession by
offering its members knowledge, leadership, and community that make the
whole legal system stronger.
Under the leadership of GPO Director Davita E. Vance-Cooks and
Librarian of Congress Carla D. Hayden, GPO and LC are transforming
themselves into modern agencies for the digital world. We urge members
of the subcommittee to support the agencies' fiscal year 2018 budget
requests in full.
government publishing office
The Government Publishing Office produces, authenticates,
disseminates, and preserves government information in multiple formats
from all three branches of government. We urge the subcommittee to
fully fund each account within GPO's request.
The Congressional Publishing request will ensure support for the
publication of Congressional materials, which law libraries use to
provide access to trustworthy legal information in print and online.
Some users, such as law professors, students, self-represented
litigants, and members of the public prefer the print for its ease of
use and the ability to skim the index and flip to specific pages. Thus,
the nearly 200 law libraries in the Federal Depository Library Program
(FDLP) must continue to have the option of receiving these materials in
print.
The Public Information Programs account supports the centuries' old
FDLP. FDLP libraries, including the 18 in Oklahoma and 18 in
Connecticut, provide geographically convenient access to government
information from all three branches of government in print and online.
We are pleased with GPO's efforts to introduce greater flexibility into
the depository program to allow more libraries to participate or
continue their participation. As we note above, many law libraries
continue to rely on GPO for distribution of specific tangible
materials, especially core legal titles in print.
We appreciate GPO's recent digitization initiatives and
partnerships with the Library of Congress and National Archives and
Records Administration. The digitization projects provide access to the
historical Federal Register and Congressional Record, opening up a
treasure for researchers and the general public. We urge the Committee
to support additional digitization projects and the preservation of
documents in the FDLP collection. We also commend GPO for actively
participating in the House's Bulk Data Task Force and the Committee on
House Administration's annual Legislative Data Transparency Conference.
AALL supports GPO's request for funding for the continued
development of govinfo.gov, currently in beta. Every day, AALL members
rely on access to the official, authentic government information in the
new govinfo and in the Federal Digital System (FDsys), which govinfo
will eventually replace. We appreciate the inclusive process GPO took
in involving law librarians in the development of govinfo, and our
members are pleased with the new site. We also support GPO's efforts to
seek certification of FDsys/govinfo as a Trusted Digital Repository.
Once certification is complete, GPO will be first Federal agency with
this designation.
library of congress
The Library of Congress has enjoyed increased public attention this
year under the leadership of new Librarian of Congress Carla D. Hayden.
Thanks to Dr. Hayden's leadership, LC is investing in its technology,
digitizing historically significant collections, and updating the
Library's technology infrastructure. We strongly urge the Committee to
fully fund the Library's fiscal year 2018 request.
Our association was pleased to welcome new Law Librarian of
Congress Jane Sanchez earlier this year. Members of AALL know Ms.
Sanchez from her many years in the library community, including as
director of Library Services and Content Management at GPO. We believe
Ms. Sanchez is well-suited for the Law Librarian position and look
forward to working with her in her new role.
The Law Library of Congress is responsible for providing access to
trustworthy legal materials in print and electronic formats. Its
collections are exceptional, and must be preserved. In fact, 70 percent
of the Law Library's collection is unique. We thank the subcommittee
for its support of funding for Law Library compact shelving as part of
the fiscal year 2017 omnibus bill. The replacement of the outdated and
hazardous shelving units has been a priority for both the Law Library
and AALL. If the Library's compact shelving is not working properly,
then materials cannot be accessed and there is a greater chance of
loss.
We commend LC for its development of Congress.gov. The Law Library
has recently expanded the number of legal resources available via
Congress.gov, and has seen a tremendous jump in traffic. AALL believes
this demonstrates the public's interest in accessing official,
authoritative sources of government information. We also support the
Law Library's digitization efforts and its work to provide greater
access to legal materials online.
Finally, we support the excellent work of the Congressional
Research Service (CRS), and urge Congress to provide public access to
its unclassified, non-confidential reports. The public has a strong
interest in CRS reports. Many organizations and websites already make
thousands of reports freely available online, and commercial third-
party services offer the reports for a fee. The popularity of these
sites demonstrates the public's desire for access to these essential
reports. Members of the public need access to up-to-date, reliable
information in order to understand the important policy issues before
Congress and to participate in the democratic process.
conclusion
AALL thanks the subcommittee for the opportunity to provide written
testimony. If we can provide additional information or assistance,
please contact AALL's Director of Government Relations Emily Feltren at
efeltren@aall.org.
[This statement was submitted by Ronald E. Wheeler Jr., President.]
______
Prepared Statement of Civic Impulse, LLC
Dear Members of the subcommittee:
Each year ten million individuals use our free website
www.GovTrack.us to research and track legislation in the U.S. Congress.
Our users include journalists, legislative affairs professionals at
small businesses and Federal and State agencies, legislative staff on
the Hill, advocates, teachers, students, and of course member of the
general public. This testimony is submitted on their behalf.
Public access to legislative information ensures that accurate
information about legislation, votes, and other activities of the
Congress reaches the American public?. It's not about playing gotcha.
Our users are professionals who have a job to do, including your staff,
and our users are also regular Americans who also feel they have a job
to do, that is, to vote in elections, to stay informed, and for some,
to learn what it takes to become a future senator. At Civic Impulse
LLC, our job is to take the official record, from you, and bring that
to the widest audience we can, and to teach them how the Congress
really works so their relationship with you is a meaningful one.
I would like to begin by commending the subcommittee for its
support of important programs in the last several years:
--The Bulk Data Taskforce's legislative bulk data program, which went
live in 2016 and was a joint effort of the Senate, the
Government Publishing Office, the Library of Congress, and the
Clerk of the House has allowed us to disseminate the most
accurate information yet about the status of pending
legislation.
--Improvements to the Senate's website, which has made it easier for
the public to learn about the Senate, including the use of
HTTPS to protect Senate web pages and data from eavesdropping
and alteration.
--The launch of Congress.gov by the Library of Congress, and its
agile-lead improvements since its launch, which is an example
for the whole legislative branch in how best to develop modern
technology.
--Digitization and publication of core historical documents by the
Government Publishing Office and Library of Congress, including
the Congressional Record, Statutes at Large, and Constitution
Annotated (though more work is needed here).
I also commend the staff at the offices and legislative branch
agencies named above who have done remarkable work in producing
accurate, durable, and timely information within the constraints that
an institution like the Senate requires.
To continue the subcommittee's commitment to public access to
legislative information, I respectfully recommend the following:
--Create a public advisory committee on legislative transparency for
stakeholders to engage systematically on this issue, including
but not limited to access to data.
--Continue participating in the bicameral Bulk Data Taskforce effort
and fund the participation of the offices and agencies that are
members of the taskforce.
--Support congressional publication of other important information in
a structured data format, including Senate floor amendments,
committee votes, and disbursements.
--Cultivate the legislative branch's in-house technology talent as
other parts of the government are doing and use technology to
better connect senators with their constituents.
--Increase Senate staff levels above Congress's current historic lows
so the Senate has sufficient capacity for policy analysis,
oversight, and constituent services and direct the
Congressional Research Service to report on on how staffing
levels impact the legislative branch's capacity to function,
and make that report public.
--Systematically release non-confidential Congressional Research
Service reports to the general public. Years of experience has
demonstrated that public access to these reports enhances the
public debate without creating a commensurate burden.
I would be glad to discuss these topics further and tell you more
about how the work of the Senate on public access to legislative
information translates into a stronger democracy.
[This statement was submitted by Joshua Tauberer, Ph.D., President,
Civic Impulse, LLC.]
______
Prepared Statement of the Congressional Research Employees Association
I write as President of the union representing nearly 500 non-
supervisory employees of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The
Congressional Research Employees Association (CREA) is one of three
unions covering Library of Congress employees. My other role at the
Library is as Specialist in Drug Safety and Effectiveness in the
Domestic Social Policy Division, one of six research divisions, which,
along with five administrative offices, make up the Congressional
Research Service.
In my 15-month tenure in office, I have worked to build trust
between CREA and three key groups: bargaining unit employees, CRS
management, and Library management. My work at building those
relationships with congressional committees and their staff is in its
early stage. I look forward to sharing CREA's concerns with you--and
learning yours. My hope is that we can explore approaches to resolving
or avoiding obstacles that impede the functioning of CRS and the
Library. Thank you for accepting this testimony for the record.
In the context of this subcommittee's focus on fiscal year 2018
appropriations, I offer comments on four topics:
--IT centralization across the Library,
--involvement of staff in CRS and Library policy consideration,
--workplace concerns, and
--CRS mission.
it centralization
A time-sensitive topic is how the Library is going about its move
into information technology (IT) centralization. We do not necessarily
oppose centralization; we have concerns about how it might be
structured.
What prompts our concern is that while CREA has proposed including
non-management perspectives and interests in the Library's initiative
to centralize IT resources, authority, and operations, the Library's
Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Human Resources Services
management, which includes labor relations, have denied our requests.
The Library has contracted with a consultant to recommend several
centralized organizational structures. Because that report may strongly
influence management's decisions, we believe employee union access to
the consultant is essential. The Library has denied the unions access
to the consultant and to internal planning discussions.
My hope in bringing our concerns to the subcommittee is that you
encourage the Librarian and the Chief Information Officer to
--engage with non-supervisory employees as they assess how best to
centralize responsibility for the effective and efficient
functioning of IT services for the Library and CRS in
particular,
--inform employees (via their unions) which tasks the Library
assigned to the contractor,
--modify the consultant's task assignment to include interviews with
the three unions, and
--make sure that the contractor interviews managers (and non-
managers) in a way that makes interviewees feel safe in
expressing opinions that may not coincide with those of their
supervisors.
The CRS Office of Information Management and Technology provides
seemingly instant help for CRS employees whose work directly supports
Congress--a level of timeliness not available to other Library units.
Although leadership says mission-critical activities would be
maintained, would a centralized management lead to an averaging of
resources and attention across Library units? Even if Library
management didn't take resources away from CRS, would it allow CRS's
technological abilities growth to stagnate while Library management
concentrated on improving IT in other units?
I've been told that CRS uses different platforms and programs than
the rest of the Library. Although there may be instances where
consolidating work or functions makes sense, there are many others
where CRS has developed approaches that serve the mission-specific
needs that Congress expects and requires of us, including
confidentiality, security, and timeliness. Who would be responsible for
protecting that?
involvement of staff in crs and library policy consideration
In addition to IT centralization, the Library and CRS are missing
other opportunities to take advantage of the expertise and policy
experience that Members and committee of Congress rely on every day:
CRS's own staff.
If a congressional committee wanted to figure out the best way to
reorganize a cabinet department, it could call the CRS experts in the
Government & Finance Division; if planning a program to coordinate
emergency services and financing after a natural disaster, a Member
could call the CRS experts in my Domestic Social Policy Division. Yet
the Library and CRS have been slow to engage their own experts and the
union that represents them in policy considerations.
A CRS example: When CRS revised its policy on confidentiality in
2015, it issued the final version without first discussing the
objectives and procedures with the staff who respond to congressional
requests and protect the confidentiality of requesters and the matters
that we discuss with them. The objectives of the policy--which I
believe we share--may be endangered by procedures and restrictions that
do not serve the interests of Congress. After over a year of discussing
this disconnect between CRS management and the practical knowledge of
the employees who do the work the policies address, CRS management and
CREA are now moving into a better approach. While bargaining unit
employees are still not included in policy working groups, CRS now
posts its final drafts and invites comments from all staff. I hope this
approach yields final policy documents that put forth not only
appropriate goals but also feasible procedures that support them.
A Library example: This week nine ``tiger teams'' began work as
part of the Library's strategic planning activities. The Library did
not invite the unions to participate. Neither did it inform us of this
activity. Did the Librarian's Office choose to not include the unions?
Or did it not even think to consider our participation?
We like that the Librarian routinely gives kudos to the Library's
staff. Now, we are ready to share our ideas and energy with her and her
leadership team.
workplace concerns
Although CRS came out well on many measures in the most recent
Federal Employees Viewpoint Survey (FEVS), the survey also revealed
several areas where CRS staff saw problems and wanted change. The CRS
Director has taken some steps--such as setting up advisory groups--to
address widespread concerns about communication and diversity and
inclusion.
However, she has not engaged in areas that, based on reports from
staff and our own observations, CREA knows there are pockets extreme
discontent within CRS. We were hoping that FEVS data could corroborate
those problems so that management and CREA could work to improve
employee morale and repair the group's functioning. We see how those
problems impede CRS's ability to provide Congress with objective,
authoritative, and timely analysis. Despite our concerns, CRS
management has refused to share division-specific results with staff or
CREA.
Would the subcommittee please consider urging CRS to provide
division-specific FEVS results to CREA? That tool, while maintaining
individual employees' confidentiality, could help us--and CRS--focus on
these problems.
crs mission
In the Library's fiscal year 2018 budget request, CRS proposes
hiring GS-11 ``junior analysts'' in time-limited positions, saying,
``The junior analyst model is more flexible and cost-effective in
providing expertise in areas that may only be in demand for a short
period of time. The junior analysts would gain experience that may
result in opportunities for permanent positions should they arise from
attrition and succession planning.''
The CRS tradition--backed by many Congresses--has been to provide
comprehensive information and analytic support to Members and
committees. Our GS-15 specialist positions assert one is ``a national
expert.'' We may ``apply new hypotheses and concepts to intractable
problems; define or clarify issues; synthesize complex variables from
several disciplines; assess political and institutional constraints;
organize and present policy options and analyze their consequences; and
anticipate the direction of policy questions.'' That's quite a skill
set.
Two recent trends--the retirement of our specialists and budget
constraints--are, bit by bit, limiting the scope and depth of CRS
expertise. The CRS proposal for the new position of temporary junior
analyst is an attempt to find new ways to respond to congressional
needs. That may help in the short term. But it moves the full coverage
that Congress has enjoyed and expected farther out of reach each year.
The CRS proposal would change the promotion potential of new hires
and change the mix of staff. We do not want to defensively oppose a
management proposal because it might adversely affect some of our
bargaining unit members. We note, however, that Congress has
appreciated and depended upon the wide-ranging and in-depth expertise
CRS staff make available. How do we find ways to maintain that cadre of
expertise and experience in just about every area Congress considers?
We in CREA want to analyze the problem, consider the solution
management has put forth, and, using the skills for which you value us,
look for options that best serve the needs of all involved. Just as a
congressional committee LA talks to industry, academic, and consumer
groups in forming a position, so too does CREA suggest CRS do as it
considers staffing patterns. Our mid-level managers may contribute
useful observations, but may not know the extent or rhythm of how we
assist Congress. Ask us.
If you are working with the Library and CRS leadership to tackle
questions of scope, quality, and cost in the future of CRS, I ask that
you include CREA in those discussions. If you are not currently working
on those topics, I urge you to begin and to include CREA.
Thank you for this opportunity to offer my thoughts. I, along with
my CREA officer team, look forward to constructive conversations with
CRS, the Library, and you.
[This statement was submitted by Susan Thaul, Ph.D., President.]
______
Prepared Statement of the Data Coalition
Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
Committee: Thank you for this opportunity to provide written testimony
on behalf of the Data Coalition regarding the modernization of the
legislative branch of our government.
The Data Coalition was founded in 2012. We represent 36 technology
and consulting companies, employing over 200,000 Americans. Fourteen of
our members are startups founded within the last decade and ten are
public companies. All of our member companies support the publication
of government information as machine-readable and open data.
By expressing laws and bills as open data, instead of unstructured
documents, we believe Congress can ensure accountability to
constituents, make lawmaking easier, and lay a foundation for automated
compliance in the future. The Coalition advocates for the passage of
open legislative data mandates including the Searchable Legislation
Act, the Statutes at Large Modernization Act, and the Establishing
Digital Interactive Transparency (EDIT) Act. These mandates,
collectively, will move Congress to create and use a comprehensive open
data structure for bills, amendments, and enacted laws.
Legislative branch drafting and publishing systems have reached a
crucial point. Current systems are based on 30-year-old formats and
software. Incremental investments in the existing technologies have
become unsustainable and will lead to failures throughout the system.
Meanwhile, legislative data standards and software technologies have
advanced to define a clear path forward to modernize these systems. The
excellent work of the members of the United States Legislative Branch
XML Working Group and others have laid the groundwork for this
modernization.
Concerted investment is now needed to build on this groundwork and
establish an integrated, modern system for legislative information.
This system should be based on accepted data standards and technologies
and guided by a few fundamental principles, which we outline below. We
also provide recommendations for how to best achieve these principles
based on existing statutory authorities and institutional expertise.
open standards for documents
A common document format should be used throughout the legislative
branch. Use of a common format improves system efficiency and supports
the goals of 2 U.S.C. 181 for legislative branch information exchange.
United States Legislative Markup (USLM) is a legislative drafting
standard based on the international LegalDocML standard and provides a
common structure for documents produced throughout the legislative
branch. USLM's structure assures a consistent preparation of
legislative materials to facilitate an efficient flow of information
throughout a complex and nuanced legislative process.
The Coalition has been supportive of the Statutes at Large
Modernization Act (H.R. 1729) which would require the Government
Publishing Office (GPO) to put all historical Federal laws online in a
machine-readable format. Currently, historical statutes are only
available as unsearchable PDFs. And while the Law Revision Counsel has
published the U.S. Code online in USLM, the U.S. Code does not
represent a complete history of U.S. laws since it only organizes
(``codifies'') public laws (``Pub.L.'') by subject matter. Conversely,
the U.S. Statutes at Large lists laws sequentially, as passed by each
Congress, and includes repealed laws, private laws (``Pvt. L.''), and
cyclical appropriations bills. By transforming the U.S. Statutes into a
machine-readable and open format, the GPO would enable powerful
legislative and legal research through efficient access to fully
searchable historical laws.
open standards for url citations
In the modern age, data standards also extend to the location of
documents on the web. In particular, any legislative branch legal
citation should have a common and standardized path on the web to
retrieve the cited document. These paths should be extensible to reach
particular provisions, as is defined in the references within USLM.
Doing so will create a unified digital reference standard for the
legislative branch, to support existing legal citation standards. This
will aid transparency and efficiency within the legislative branch, and
create tremendous public interest benefits. Developing and implementing
such standards across agencies of the legislative branch will take an
initial investment and a clear mandate.
funded interagency coordination
The legislative process, from bill drafting to publication and
codification, requires the exchange of information and coordination
between many agencies of the legislative branch. Currently, much of
this coordination has been informal and has not been specifically
funded. Thus, data may be lost, delayed, or distorted as it passes from
one part of the legislative branch to another. Great efforts have been
made at each agency to minimize such losses, but they are inevitable
without a specific, funded effort to manage the interchange of data
and, ideally, create a common software platform for tasks that the
agencies share.
modernize legislative practices
The United States legislative process is steeped in tradition, much
of which was based on the most modern technology of the time--paper.
With a shift to digital information, and a public that will never see a
printed copy of a statute, certain practices need to change in order to
provide true transparency today. Practices such as drafting changes in
redlined text, have been adopted by jurisdictions such as California.
Changes to the form of submission of amendment (e.g. the Rules
Committee already supports electronic submission), could also create
broad benefits. We recommend the creating and funding of a Committee to
propose technical changes to current practice that could best support
modern informational infrastructure.
transparency for the public
The various legislative agencies have made great strides toward
making information about the legislative process available in a timely
manner and in standard digital formats. This work should continue and
be supported where necessary. Additionally, the Coalition supports the
publication of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports online, in
a machine-readable and open data format, for full public access. As we
have publicly stated, CRS reports play a critical role in our
legislative process by informing lawmakers and staff about the
important issues of the day. Making CRS reports available as open data
will modernize a long-outdated and disjointed aspect of the legislative
process and the public's access to expertise supported by their tax
dollars. Longstanding congressional policy allows Members and
committees to use their websites to disseminate CRS products to the
public, although CRS itself may not engage in direct public
dissemination. The result is that people with Capitol Hill connections
can easily obtain CRS reports from any congressional staffer and well-
resourced groups can pay for access from subscription services. We
believe the public should have timely and consistent access to CRS
produced public reports.
In support of these principles we present five recommendations for
the Committee to consider.
standardize documents in uslm
The Law Revision Counsel has published the U.S. Code online in
USLM, and there are projects underway at the Government Publishing
Office (GPO) to convert bills, public laws, statutes, and other
documents into USLM. As we describe above, the Coalition encourages the
Committee to fund work at the GPO's Congressional Publishing office to
begin making the historical United States Statutes at Large available
to the public at no cost on a website in a searchable, non-proprietary
format. In doing so the Committee should ensure that this online
edition of the Statutes at Large is prepared in consultation with those
entities developing USLM formatting conventions used for enrolled bills
and other legislative materials. In addition, the Committee should
allocate funds to the GPO to extend USLM to legislative amendments and
bill Compilations.
fund interagency coordination
As previously mentioned, interagency coordination and data exchange
is an essential function. Modernization efforts will be inefficient and
ineffective if agencies do not have the funds and mandate to
coordinate. This coordination should include all agencies that produce
and publish documents in the legislative branch, including the House
and Senate, GPO, the Library of Congress and the Law Revision Counsel.
The work of this coordination group should extend the achievements of
the Legislative Branch XML Working Group, with dedicated resources to
the integration tasks ahead. This coordination should focus on data and
document exchange between the agencies, development of common software
resources, and development and implementation of url citation standards
for legislative branch documents.
modernize document drafting and publishing
The current drafting and amending platforms in the Senate and House
do not support the more modern, schema based USLM standard. The
platforms themselves depend on outdated technologies and, in some
cases, hardware. An investment needs to be made into modernizing these
drafting platforms, providing a common software platform for agencies
to draft, exchange, update and publish documents. This effort would
augment the goal of increased interagency coordination within the
legislative branch described above.
establish a house-senate practice modernization taskforce
As previously mentioned, some legislative drafting practices need
to be updated in order to support greater transparency and efficiency.
A task force including Members of interested Committees should be
established to work with the Legislative Counsel in both the Senate and
House to review drafting practices and make recommendations for areas
of improvement. Many of these will not require formal changes in laws
or rules, but education about preferred practices for maximizing the
benefits of modern information systems is needed for members and staff.
support opening congressional research service reports
We encourage the Committee to consider proposals to comprehensively
publish and catalogue non-confidential CRS reports on a centralized
online portal in machine-readable and searchable formats. We do not
make a specific recommendation on which entity should handle this
publishing; we leave that decision to the discretion of the Committee.
We would note that the Secretary of the Senate, Clerk of the House, the
GPO, the Library of Congress, and libraries in the Federal Depository
Library Program (FDLP) are all practical entities for hosting. We urge
the Committee to give great weight to the significant public benefit
that would result from comprehensive, timely access to this valuable
public resource.
We appreciate this opportunity to testify in support of these
important initiatives and welcome any follow-up with the Committee.
[This statement was submitted by Christian Hoehner, Director of
Policy.]
______
Prepared Statement of Demand Progress
Dear Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
Committee:
On behalf of a coalition of organizations and individuals, thank
you for the opportunity to submit testimony in support of expanded
public access to Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports.
Longstanding congressional policy allows Members and committees to use
their websites to disseminate CRS products to the public, although CRS
itself may not engage in direct public dissemination. This results in a
disheartening inequity: insiders with Capitol Hill connections can
easily obtain CRS reports from any of the 20,000 congressional staffers
and well-resourced groups can pay for access from subscription
services. However, members of the public can access only a small subset
of CRS reports that are intermittently posted on an assortment of not-
for-profit websites. Now is the time for a systematic solution that
provides timely, comprehensive free public access to and preservation
of non-confidential reports while protecting confidential
communications between CRS and Members and committees of Congress.
CRS reports--not to be confused with confidential CRS memoranda and
other products--play a critical role in our legislative process by
informing lawmakers and staff about the important issues of the day.
The public should have the same access to information. In 2015 CRS
completed over 1,200 new reports (including other general-distribution
products) and updated over 2,400 existing products. (CRS also produced
more than 3,100 confidential memoranda.)
Our interest in free public access to non-confidential CRS reports
illustrates the esteem in which the agency is held. CRS reports are
regularly requested by members of the public and are frequently cited
by the courts and the media. For example, over the last decade CRS
reports were cited in 190 Federal court opinions, including 64 at the
appellate level. Over the same time period, CRS reports were cited 67
times in The Washington Post and 45 times The New York Times. CRS
reports often are published in the record of legislative proceedings.
Taxpayers provide more than $100 million annually in support of
CRS, and yet members of the public often must look to private companies
for consistent access to CRS reports. Some citizens are priced out of
these services, resulting in inequitable access to information about
government activity that is produced at public expense.
In fact, while CRS generates a list of all the reports it has
issued over the previous year, it silently redacts that information
from the public-facing version of its annual report. This makes it
difficult for the public to even know the scope of CRS products they
could obtain from Congress. A Google search returned over 27,000
reports including 4,260 hosted on .gov domains, but there is no way to
know if those documents are up to date, what might be missing, or when
they might disappear from view. We think it critical that in
circumstances when the public has access to a CRS report, it knows
whether it is the most recent, up-to-date version.
Comprehensive free public access to non-confidential CRS reports
would place the reports in line with publications by other legislative
support agencies in the United States and around the globe. The
Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the
Law Library of Congress, and the 85 percent of G-20 countries whose
parliaments have subject matter experts routinely publish reports to
the public. In addition, former CRS analysts with more than 500 years
of experience have signed a letter calling for public access to the
reports.
We hasten to emphasize that we are not calling for public access to
CRS products that should be kept confidential or are distributed only
to a small network on Capitol Hill. Memoranda produced at the request
of a Member or committee and provided to an office in direct response
to a request should remain confidential unless the office itself
chooses to release the report. By comparison, we believe no such
protection should attach to reports typically published on CRS's
internal website or otherwise generally disseminated.
We value the work of CRS and in no way wish to impede its ability
to serve Congress. CRS reports already undergo multiple levels of
administrative review to ensure they are accurate, non-partisan,
balanced, and well-written. Authors of every CRS product are aware of
the likelihood that reports will become publicly available.
We do not make a specific recommendation on who should
comprehensively publish non-confidential CRS reports online, although
the approach outlined in the bipartisan, bicameral legislation known as
the Equal Access to Congressional Research Service Reports Act of 2016,
H.R. 4702 (114th) and S. 2639 (114th) is a reasonable. The Clerk of the
House, the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Publishing Office
(GPO), the Library of Congress and libraries in the Federal Depository
Library Program (FDLP) are all reasonable places for the public to gain
access to these documents. Space constraints prevent us from responding
in this document to concerns occasionally raised about public access to
CRS reports, so for more information please go to the document
identified in the footnote for our evaluation of those concerns.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See Nov. 12, 2015 letter in support of expanded public access
to CRS reports, available at https://s3.amazonaws.com/demandprogress/
letters/2015-11-12_Letter_Calling_for_Public_
Access_to_CRS_Reports.pdf and https://goo.gl/sLa37S.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We ask only that all non-confidential reports be published as they
are released, updated, or withdrawn; that they be published in their
full, final form; that they are freely downloadable individually and in
bulk; and that they be accompanied by an index or metadata that
includes the report ID, the date issued/updated, the report name, a
hyperlink to the report, and the division that produced the report.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testimony. If you have
further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at
daniel@demandprogress.org.
Sincerely yours,
American Association of Law Libraries
American Civil Liberties Union
American Commitment
American Society of News Editors
Americans For Tax Reform
Association of Alternative Newsmedia
Association of Research Libraries
Campaign Finance Institute
Cause of Action
Center for Data Innovation
Center for Democracy & Technology
Center for Responsive Politics
Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Common Cause
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Data Coalition
Defending Rights & Dissent
Demand Progress
Free Government Information
FreedomWorks
Government Accountability Project
GovTrack.us
LegiStorm
Minnesota Coalition On Government Information
National Coalition for History
National Security Archive
National Security Counselors
National Taxpayers Union
New America's Open Technology Institute
OpenTheGovernment
Project On Government Oversight
Public Citizen
Quorum
R Street Institute
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Southern Oregon University Hannon Library
Sunlight Foundation
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
TechFreedom
The FOIA Project (foiaproject.org)
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse
University
Amy Frazier (Middlebury College Libraries) *
Andrew Lopez (Shain Library, Connecticut College ) *
Bert Chapman (Purdue University Libraries) *
Brenda Ellis (Middlebury College) *
Bryan Carson (Middlebury College Library) *
Carrie Macfarlane (Middlebury College Libraries) *
Claire King (Kansas Supreme Court Law Library) *
Dr. William D. Jackson (CRS, retired.) *
Francis Buckley (Former Superintendent of Documents, US Government
Printing Office) *
Helen Burke (Minnesota Coalition on Government Information) *
Jada A. Aitchison (UALR Law Library, Little Rock, AR) *
Lois Aleta Fundis (Reference and Government Documents Librarian, Mary
H. Weir Public Library, Weirton, WV) *
Melissa Serfass (University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen
School of Law Library) *
Michael Malbin (University at Albany, SUNY) *
Patrick Wallace (Middlebury College) *
Richard Rowberg (National Academies of Science, Engineering, and
Medicine) *
Robert Sippel (Evans Library, Florida Institute of Technology) *
Ryan Clement (Middlebury College) *
Shari Laster (University of California, Santa Barbara) *
Stephen Hayes (University of Notre Dame--Hesburgh Libraries' Mahaffey
Business library) *
Susan Bucks (Monmouth University) *
Terry Simpkins (Middlebury College) *
Wendy Swanberg (University of Wisconsin-Madison; Bickford Organics) *
* for affiliation purposes only
Kathleen L. Amen
Henry Cohen
Kayla Cook
Louis Fisher
Jeffrey Griffith
Kay Halstead
Patricia Hassan
Michele Hayslett
Bernadine Abbott Hoduski
Juli Hughes
Kelly McGlynn
Jonathan Medalia
Judy Myers
James Nichol
Norman Ornstein
Jennifer Pesetsky
Margo Pierson
Ronald Russ
Karen Russ
Christine Scott
Karin Shank
Ellen Simmons
Maryellen Trautman
Barbara Wagner
[This statement was submitted by Daniel Schuman, Policy Director.]
______
Prepared Statement of the Library Copyright Alliance
The Library Copyright Alliance (``LCA'') consists of three major
library associations: the American Library Association, Association of
College and Research Libraries and Association of Research Libraries.
Collectively, we represent over 100,000 libraries in the United States
employing more than 350,000 librarians and other personnel. An
estimated 200 million Americans use these libraries over two billion
times each year.
The Library of Congress (``Library'') is one of the world's leading
research and cultural institutions.\1\ We appreciate the opportunity to
provide these comments as the subcommittee prepares to make fiscal year
2018 appropriations for it. We look forward to working with the
subcommittee and full Appropriations Committee throughout the
appropriations process to ensure that the Library has the resources it
needs both to remain preeminent and realize its enormous full potential
under the new Librarian of Congress (``Librarian''), Dr. Carla Hayden.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The Library of Congress is a member of the Association of
Research Libraries but it played no role in the preparation of this
submission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have three principal observations and requests:
(1) It is imperative that Congress appropriate sufficient funding
to allow the Library to continue to perform its broad and fundamental
mission of preserving and providing the public with access to critical
information resources. At her confirmation hearing last year before the
Senate Rules Committee, the Librarian articulated a vision under which
the Library's ``resources are readily available to more people
online,'' noting that ``[t]his would provide all Americans with ``a
sense of ownership and pride in this national treasure.'' She also
spoke eloquently to the power of the Library's deep and significant
collections to shape educations, lives and the careers of millions of
people.
Specifically, the Librarian described how--through the modern
Library of Congress she hopes to helm--``a child on a reservation in
New Mexico will have the same access as a high school student in St.
Louis, Missouri.'' She further envisioned that ``a fifth grader in
Bowling Green, Kentucky, would be able to view Abraham Lincoln's papers
from his home computer, and a shy tenth grader from Meridian,
Mississippi, with dreams of performing, would be able to view the
Library's Leonard Bernstein collection.''
(2) It is particularly important that the Library be fully enabled
financially to truly modernize. The Librarian's objective of
``continuing movement to open the treasure chest that is the Library of
Congress'' requires upgrading the Library's information technology (IT)
infrastructure, which in turn requires more funding. We are well aware
of the IT management issues at the Library identified in the past by
the Government Accountability Office, but the Librarian was
overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate expressly because (as Members
observed) she has the IT management and broader library system
modernization experience necessary to put the Library's IT house in
order. Indeed, she has already taken several important steps to achieve
this result.
Further, and more specifically in this regard, the Librarian also
testified regarding the importance of the Library balancing its various
roles, including ``ensur[ing] a fully functional Copyright Office that
supports the community it serves.'' The Copyright Office has had its
own IT challenges, as well documented by the GAO and a recent report by
the Library Inspector General. Addressing these challenges will require
better IT management within both the Copyright Office and the Library.
But achieving the IT objectives identified in the Copyright Office's
2016-2020 strategic plan also requires additional funding.
We support that plan's IT objectives, including creating a modern
system for recording commercial and noncommercial copyright documents
and making copyright records easily searchable and widely available to
all who need them. In particular, we agree that:
--Registrations, licenses, and other copyright records should become
more accessible and useable to the global public;
--The public should be able to view records that form the life-cycle
of a copyright interest in a more cohesive and comprehensive
fashion; and
--Pre-1978 copyright records should be available online.
We note that while there is disagreement among stakeholders
concerning the location of the Copyright Office, there is unanimous
support that modernization of the Copyright Office cannot and should
not wait. Thus, it is prudent to focus resources on that area of strong
consensus, while discussion regarding Copyright Office autonomy
continues more broadly among all stakeholders.
(3) Consistent with the goal of increasing public access to
information, we strongly support expanded access to non-confidential
Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports. These reports play an
important role in the legislative process by providing lawmakers and
staff with non-partisan analyses of the significant issues of public
concern. Statute should ensure that members of the public also have
access to this trove of information they paid to create.
Thank you for the opportunity to submit these request and
observations. We hope that the subcommittee and full Appropriations
Committee will consider our organizations as resources and deeply
interested stakeholders in all of the matters addressed above as the
appropriations process for fiscal year 2018 evolves. We look forward to
facilitating your work.
Please contact LCA's counsel, Jonathan Band,
jband@policybandwidth.com, with any questions you may have.
______
R Street Institute, Kosar, Kevin deg.
Prepared Statement of the R Street Institute
Chairman Lankford, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
Committee:
Thank you for considering my written testimony. My name is Kevin
Kosar, and I am vice president of policy for the R Street Institute, a
free-market think tank here in Washington. I also co-direct the
Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group, a bipartisan gathering of
experts and congressional staff who meet monthly to discuss ways to
reform Congress to meet the demands of the 21st century. Our aim, as we
say, is to ``Make Congress Great Again.''
I am here today to encourage the committee to make public access to
Congressional Research Service reports more equitable. In short,
lobbyists and other interested persons within the Beltway can get
copies of CRS reports much more easily than the average member of the
public. This is not fair, as it is the public whose tax dollars support
CRS to the tune of $106 million per year.
Here I will make two brief points:
First, no harm can come of making the reports more equitably
available to the public. I spent more than a decade working at CRS, as
an analyst and a research manager. I love the agency, as do the 24
other former and retired CRS experts who signed an April 28, 2017
letter to you in support of broader public access to CRS reports. We
have 570 years of collective experience working at CRS and we are
convinced that this is the right thing to do. Forty groups on the left,
right, and center also support more equitable public access--which
makes CRS leadership's lonely lobbying against reform look peculiar
(attached).
Second, Congress always has made CRS reports available to the
public, albeit in an ad hoc way. For example, CRS' 1979 annual report
(pp. 63-85) lists dozens of CRS documents publicly released as
committee prints, as part of hearings, and in the Congressional Record
(attached). When the Internet arrived 20 years ago, Congress released
even more CRS reports to the public. Committees, individual members,
and various offices within the two chambers posted CRS reports online
and emailed them to lobbyists, interest groups, and constituents. This
explains why there are thousands of copies of CRS reports floating
about the Internet, scattered here and there.
To conclude, what I and other former CRS employees advocate is that
Congress continue to publish the reports, but to do so more
consistently. I think it makes most sense to have Government Publishing
Office do it, since its job is to make authenticated government
documents accessible to the public. GPO previously has published CRS
reports, like the Evolving Congress, which came out late in 2014. As
previously mentioned, GPO also has published CRS reports as parts of
committee prints and hearings.
Thank you.
ATTACHMENTS
posted on may 10, 2017 by kevin kosar
CRS SHOULD STOP FIGHTING ACCESS TO ITS OWN REPORTS
http://www.rstreet.org/2017/05/10/crs-should-stop-fighting-access-to-
its-own-reports/
The Congressional Research Service plays an essential role in
policymaking and oversight. It makes Congress smarter about issues and
teaches new legislators how to legislate. I would not have spent 11
years working at CRS if I did not think very highly of the institution.
But there is one topic on which the widely esteemed and nonpartisan
agency has been embarrassingly biased: the proposals to make its
reports more equitably available to the public. As a practical matter,
CRS reports are available--27,000 copies can be found on government and
private-sector websites. EveryCRSReport.com, for example, has more than
8,000 reports. But official congressional policy does not provide for
consistent public release of the reports, which explain the workings of
Congress, agencies and myriad public policies.
Legislation has been introduced in this Congress and last Congress
to fix this situation, and a number of times previously. Reps. Mike
Quigley, D-Illinois, and Leonard Lance, R-New Jersey, would have the
Government Publishing Office post the reports on GovInfo.gov. This
solution would give citizens a central repository to go to read
authenticated copies of the reports, and would relieve CRS and
congressional staff of the hassles of responding to reporters,
lobbyists and constituents who ask for copies.
Inevitably, CRS proclaims aloud that it takes no position on the
issue and will do whatever Congress directs. But how are we to square
that claim with this 2015 memorandum that CRS' leadership shopped to
legislators? The memorandum is modestly titled: ``Considerations
arising from the dissemination of CRS products.'' The content, however,
is nothing but scare-mongering speculation about bad things that might
happen if more Americans had access to CRS reports. Proponents of
expanded access to CRS reports quickly demolished the claims made in
CRS' ``considerations'' memo.
As someone who once reviewed CRS reports before they were
published, I can tell you that, had a CRS analyst written this memo, it
never would have seen the light of day. And said analyst would have
been rebuked by his or her supervisor. The memorandum not only
misconstrues what is being proposed?--?nobody is advocating that CRS
itself distribute the reports--but it also makes no mention of the many
possible benefits of a change in policy (like increased public
understanding of how Congress and government operates).
That means the memo violates CRS' own very clear policies that its
work for Congress must be accurate and unbiased, and must consider the
possible benefits and costs of any proposed policy. (This internal CRS
rule not only is intellectually honest, it also, ahem, protects the
agency from having its work give the appearance of bias.)
One hopes that someone in Congress would call CRS leadership to the
carpet on this tartuffery, and demand the agency to disavow the
memorandum. In a time when Federal budget cuts are being seriously
discussed, the agency does itself, its employees and Congress no favors
by being the lone voice advocating against common-sense reform.
R Street Institute, Moss, Sasha deg.
Prepared Statement of the R Street Institute
To: Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on the
Legislative Branch
Re: Public Access to Legislative Information (Congressional Research
Service)
May 12, 2017
Dear members of the subcommittee:
The following is a letter addressed to the chairmen and ranking
members of the Joint Committee on the Library; the House and Senate
legislative branch appropriations subcommittees; the Committee on House
Administration; and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.
It was signed by 25 former Congressional Research Service (``CRS'')
employees, with a combined 570 years of service with the agency. They
formally request that Congress provide a central online source for
timely public access to CRS reports, which would allow all members of
the public to enjoy access on equal footing and to verify that the
reports are authentic. The nonconfidential reports of other
legislative-branch support agencies--such as the Congressional Budget
Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Library of
Congress' law library--already are made available publicly. These
former and retired CRS employees respectfully request the same of CRS
reports.
25 former CRS employees: Give free public access to CRS reports
Dear Chairman Harper, Chairman Shelby, Chairman Yoder, Chairman
Lankford, Ranking Member Brady, Ranking Member Klobuchar, Ranking
Member Ryan, and Ranking Member Murphy:
We are 25 former employees of the Congressional Research Service
(CRS) with a collective 570 years of service with the agency. We write
in strong support of timely, comprehensive free public access to CRS
reports. In doing so, we distinguish between CRS reports, which are
non-confidential, and other CRS products, such as memoranda, which are
confidential.
CRS plays a vital role in our legislative process by informing
lawmakers and staff about important policy issues. To that end, nothing
should impair CRS's ability to provide confidential support to members
of Congress, such as through briefings and confidential memoranda. Nor
should Congress take any steps to weaken the Constitutionally-protected
status of CRS's work product. In contrast, CRS reports are widely
available on Capitol Hill to staff and lobbyists alike, are released
with no expectation of confidentiality, and could be of immense value
to the general public.
Longstanding congressional policy allows Members and committees to
distribute CRS products to the public, which they do in a variety of
ways. In addition, CRS provides reports upon request to the judicial
branch, to journalists, and to the executive branch, which often
publishes them on agency websites. Insiders with relationships to
congressional staff can easily obtain the reports, and well-resourced
groups pay for access from third-party subscription services. Members
of the public, however, can freely access only a subset of CRS reports,
usually via third parties.
It is difficult for the public to know the scope of CRS products
they could obtain from Congress. A Google search returned over 27,000
products including 4,260 hosted on .gov domains, but there is no way to
know if those documents are up to date, whether the search is
comprehensive, or when the documents might disappear from view.
We believe Congress should provide a central online source for
timely public access to CRS reports. That would place all members of
the public on an equal footing to one another with respect to access.
It would resolve concerns around public and congressional use of the
most up-to-date version. Additionally, it would ensure the public can
verify it is using an authentic version. And it would diminish requests
to analysts to provide a copy of the most recent report. Other
legislative support agencies, i.e., the Congressional Budget Office and
the Government Accountability Office, publish non-confidential reports
on their websites as a matter of course. Doing so does not appear to
harm their ability to perform their mission for Congress.
We thank you for the opportunity to share our thoughts on
implementing full public access to non-confidential CRS reports. If you
wish to discuss this further, please contact Daniel Schuman, Demand
Progress policy director, at daniel@demandprogress.org, or Kevin Kosar,
R Street Institute senior fellow and governance director, at
kkosar@rstreet.org. Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
With best regards,
Henry Cohen, George Costello, Heather Durkin, Gregg
Esenwein, Louis Fisher, Peggy Garvin, Jeff
Griffith, Pamela Hairston, Glennon J.
Harrison, John Haskell, Kevin Holland,
Thomas Hungerford, W. Jackson, Nancy Jones,
Kevin Kosar, Jon Medalia, Jim Nichol,
Elizabeth Palmer, Harold Relyea, Mort
Rosenberg, Dick Rowberg, Daniel Schuman,
Christine Scott, Sherry Shapiro, and Nye
Stevens.
cc: Joint Committee on the Library
House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee
Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee
Committee on House Administration
Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
Leadership of the House of Representatives
Leadership of the United States Senate
[This statement was submitted by Sasha Moss, Tech Policy Manager.]