[Senate Hearing 115-411]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2019
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TUESDAY, MAY 8, 2018
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 2:31 p.m., in room 192, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Steve Daines (Chairman) presiding.
Present: Senators Daines, Murphy, Hyde-Smith, and Van
Hollen.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
STATEMENT OF HON. CARLA D. HAYDEN, LIBRARIAN OF
CONGRESS
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR STEVE DAINES
Senator Daines. Good afternoon. The subcommittee will come
to order.
I'd like to welcome everyone to the second of our fiscal
year 2019 budget hearings for the Legislative Branch
Appropriations Subcommittee.
Today, we have with us the Honorable Carla Hayden,
Librarian of Congress, and the Honorable Stephen Ayers,
Architect of the Capitol. I very much appreciate their
willingness to appear before the subcommittee today and look
forward to your testimony.
I'd like to start by thanking you for taking time to be
here today as well as being very generous in your time with the
tours and with your staff. They were very informative for me to
see the vast responsibilities that you have and the important
mission that you go to work and accomplish every day.
Mr. Ayers, being able to get up close and see some of the
ongoing projects around campus has given me a greater
appreciation for all your agency does. In fact, just today, I
was pointing out the difference between the Senate side of the
building and the House side of the building, you kind of see
before and after view there. I told my staff members it's a
huge responsibility to maintain these facilities for those who
work here and the millions who visit here every year, while
also preserving these most important historic buildings.
Dr. Hayden, I greatly enjoyed seeing some of the many
treasures the Library has. In fact, it was fun to share with my
own family last week what you shared with me on that table and
I can see the talents of your staff, the passion of your staff
about what they do and they truly are an asset to our Library,
not to mention the expertise. You've got a lot of walking
history there between the ears and it's very, very impressive.
I'd also like to mention my support of the Veterans History
Project. The Library collects, preserves, and makes accessible
the accounts of American war veterans for the benefit of future
generations. In fiscal year 2017, the project received 4,335
collections and I'm proud to say that our office has submitted
over 75 interviews for Montana veterans.
Looking forward to fiscal year 2019, the total budget
request for the Library is $706 million in appropriated funds,
an increase of $36.2 million above the fiscal year 2018 enacted
level. The request supports continued investment in IT
modernization efforts across the Library, including the
Copyright Office and Congressional Research Service (CRS).
It also focuses on increased staff capacity to address the
backlogs in collection processing and copyright registration.
The Architect of the Capitol's budget request for fiscal
year 2019 totals $744.9 million, an increase of $32.8 million
above fiscal year 2018 enacted level. Of this request, a $198
million is for capital projects around the campus and $434.9
million is for the operating budgets of each jurisdiction to
maintain facilities on a daily basis.
The Architect's request also seeks to address a backlog of
deferred maintenance totaling $1.5 billion while also providing
for critical life safety projects across all its jurisdictions.
I look forward to the discussion today and learning more
about your specific requests and understanding each of your
agencies' priorities in the coming fiscal year.
I'd like to turn now to my Ranking Member, Senator Murphy,
for any opening remarks he may like to make.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR CHRISTOPHER MURPHY
Senator Murphy. Well, thank you to both of you for your
very valuable and commendable public service. These are big,
complicated Agencies to run. We appreciate your willingness to
be up to the job on a daily basis.
I will note this is my second year of doing these hearings
and I will just as a point of information note that the crowds
actually seem bigger this year, which I think must have to do
with your chairmanship, Mr. Daines.
Senator Daines. I think it's the outstanding Ranking Member
that draws the crowd.
Senator Murphy. Listen, you've got big tasks ahead of you
this year, Dr. Hayden. As you know, I'm very supportive of the
Library's plans to enhance the visitors' experience.
We've put a lot of money into this facility and it really
shouldn't be a hidden gem in Washington. It should be front and
center on every visitor's agenda when they come to the Capitol
and so look forward to continuing to work with you to increase
the ability of all visitors to experience what we get to
experience at the Library of Congress.
And to Mr. Ayers, thank you for our collaborative
relationship. You know, we've put off a lot of real important
public safety projects and so I know they are front and center
on your agenda and in your budget, but I hope in your testimony
and in answers to questions we'll also get to talk about some
of the projects that if do now, we can save money on compared
to continued postponement.
You have been, I think, very good in presenting us with
some opportunities for savings by front-loading some projects
that are inevitable and have to be done one way or another and
our task will be to balance those critical public safety
projects with those potential cost savings, as well. So look
forward to your testimony.
Senator Daines. I would like to ask our witnesses,
beginning with Dr. Hayden, to give a brief opening statement of
approximately five minutes to allow time for questions.
The written testimony of each witness will be printed in
full in the hearing record.
Dr. Hayden.
SUMMARY STATEMENT OF HON. CARLA D. HAYDEN
Dr. Hayden. Thank you, Chairman Daines, Ranking Member
Murphy, and Members of the subcommittee. Thank you for this
opportunity to provide testimony in support of the Library's
2019 budget.
The Library of Congress remains the world's largest
library, a premier research institution, and a destination for
scholars and Members of Congress. It is also an institution
that holds enormous potential for reaching so many more
Americans from all walks of life who can find information and
inspiration from this remarkable national resource and this has
been a major focus and will continue to be on my tenure.
Over the past year, we've made significant strides in
increasing access to the Library and improving the user
experience. For example, the U.S. Copyright Office published a
new Archive of Copyright Cases.
The Congressional Research Service is currently beta-
testing online webinars and adding instant messaging and tele-
conferencing services. The National Library for the Blind and
Physically Handicapped launched a public education program to
raise awareness of the services they offer.
The Law Library put fully-indexed and searchable historic
versions of the U.S. Codes online and new primary source
collections now online include the papers of Alexander
Hamilton, Ulysses Grant, Benjamin Franklin, and Susan B.
Anthony, as well as new high-resolution scans of the original
documents in the Abraham Lincoln papers.
As I've visited libraries and communities in many States
this past year, I have been energized by the interest, the
enthusiasm, and the expressed need for more connection to the
resources and services of the Library of Congress.
Realizing the Library's potential to reach out across the
country requires that we first take care of the fundamentals
and I'd like to express my sincere gratitude for your support
in the 2017 and 2018 funding bills for mission-critical goals.
The initiatives funded in these bills, along with the 2019
request, methodically build to our goals of modernization for
greater access and customer service to the Congress and
visitors and special thank you for your support and initiative
to revitalize and enhance the visitor experience in the Thomas
Jefferson Building through a public-private partnership.
I'm also deeply appreciative for your support for the
Library's Collections Storage Modules at Ft. Meade as part of
the Architect of the Capitol's budget.
I'm happy to report that as a result of the support of this
committee in crucial areas of IT modernization, Copyright
Office staff and storage programs, the Library has closed or is
awaiting GAO confirmation on 24 of 31 public recommendations
for improving IT efficiencies.
The Copyright Office has reduced its registration backlog
by nearly 25 percent in the past year and we are actively
filling the interim storage facility at Cabin Branch as well as
the recently completed Module 5 at Ft. Meade.
And, in addition, I've taken managerial steps during the
past year to create efficiencies in our operations and
management. I have appointed Mr. Mark Sweeney as Acting Deputy
Librarian of Congress. All IT organizations and personnel were
centralized into the Office of the Chief Information Officer
and we completed the first phase of the Envisioning 2025
Initiative for a new Strategic Plan.
The Library's direction forward, as defined in the planning
process, will be more user-centered. As a result of this
planning, I announced this month a realignment of internal
units to prepare the Library for this user-centered future, and
I'm confident that the combined steps have established a robust
management structure that is prepared to hit the ground running
with the new Strategic Plan as it's completed later this
summer.
For fiscal year 2019, our budget request builds on the past
2 years and concentrates on IT modernization, targeted
workforce skills, and increased access. Details of the request
are provided in my written testimony and highlights include
ongoing investment in the Copyright IT Modernization.
As we move to the development of the next generation
registration system and a modern recordation system, which is
currently paper-based, investment in our workforce for CRS
analysts, economists, and attorneys to meet full demand, full
registration of the copyright examiner workforce, and foreign
and legal language expertise for the Law Library.
And, finally, workforce investment and library services,
which will increase access by speeding up processing of a
significant backlog in Special Collections, such as the Teddy
Roosevelt and Caspar Weinberger papers, which have yet to be
processed.
And to reiterate, IT modernization and a strong workforce
are critical areas of investment to help the Library achieve
its potential as a national resource with superior customer
service to all of our service populations.
Chairman Daines, Ranking Member Murphy, Ms. Hyde-Smith,
thank you for your interest, and I look forward to any
questions.
[The statements follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Carla D. Hayden
Chairman Daines, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
subcommittee:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of
the Library's fiscal 2019 budget.
Now in my second year as Librarian of Congress, I am even more
committed to doing all I can to share the breadth and depth of the
Library's collections and our staff's expertise and commitment to
public service. Today, the Library holds more than 167 million items in
all formats and languages and has the world's largest collections of
legal materials, films, and sound recordings. Last year, the Library
welcomed nearly 1.8 million in-person visitors and there were 93
million visits to our website. CRS provided custom services to 100
percent of Senate and House Member offices and standing committees.
More than 452 thousand claims were registered by the U.S. Copyright
Office. More than 10.5 million preservation actions on the collections
were undertaken; over 20 million audio/braille books and magazines were
circulated via partnerships with more than 100 network libraries
throughout the United States; and the Library responded to over 1
million reference requests from the Congress, the public, and other
Federal agencies.
Over the past year, the Library has made significant strides in
increasing access to Congress and the American people. The Copyright
Office published a new archive, a resource offering public rulings and
government briefs in copyright cases. CRS worked to modernize its
service to Congress by joining the Skype for Business Federation, which
this year enabled instant messaging and teleconferencing with
congressional staff. The Library launched LC Labs and, working with the
Serials division, rolled out a new crowd sourcing app inviting users to
help create a database of historic newspaper images from Chronicling
America. New ``touch history'' tours allow visitors who are visually
impaired to experience the magnificence of the Jefferson Building. The
Law Library further expanded online content with fully indexed and
searchable U.S. Codes going back to 1925. New collections have been
made available online, such as the papers of Alexander Hamilton and
James Buchanan, and new high-resolution scans of the original documents
in the Abraham Lincoln papers.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the outstanding
support that this subcommittee and the entire Congress give to the
Library. In particular, I appreciate the support you have given us for
our fiscal 2018 requests to meet high-priority staffing needs in the
Copyright Office as well as enterprise-wide investment in IT
modernization to upgrade network infrastructure, Copyright IT
modernization, and the Congressional Research Service's (CRS) mission-
specific Integrated Research and Information System. The Library has
absorbed 76.5 percent of mandatory pay and price level increases
(approximately $122 million) between 2010 and 2017. Your strong support
for staffing resources allows us to better handle critical work and to
begin replacing specialized staff expertise that was developed over
many years and lost--principally to retirement--and not replaced due to
budget limitations. I also thank you for your continued support for the
Library's collection storage modules program at Ft. Meade as part of
the Architect of the Capitol's budget.
I come before you today to discuss the Library's funding request
for fiscal 2019 as we continue implementation of a modernization
process across the Library that will expand access, provide superior
customer service, and ensure proper stewardship of the national
collection.
In the past year, I have taken steps to ensure an administrative
foundation is in place to support and lead us toward these goals.
I appointed Mark Sweeney as Acting Deputy Librarian of Congress.
Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Sweeney served as the Associate
Librarian for Library Services. He was responsible for carrying out
Library Services' mission to acquire, organize, provide access to,
maintain, secure, and preserve the Library of Congress's universal
collection.
In December, all service unit IT organizations and all IT personnel
were centralized into the Office of the Chief Information Officer
(OCIO) to maximize value from the Library's investment in technology.
All technology activities are now coordinated through the OCIO and
approved by the Chief Information Officer.
In the same month, we saw the results of the first phase of our
Envisioning 2025 initiative, which will inform a 5-year strategic plan
to guide all service units in working toward shared goals. In the first
phase, the Library more clearly defined its role in American life as
that of a place for memory, knowledge, and imagination:
Memory--Acquire, sustain, and provide access to a unique
universal collection
Knowledge--Provide authoritative and objective research,
analysis, and information
Imagination--Inspire and encourage creativity, promote, and
protect the work of American creators
The Library's direction forward, as defined in Envisioning 2025,
will be more ``user-centered.'' The Congress will always be the
Library's foremost user as we continue to support this body in your
legislative and representational duties. Users also encompass creators,
inclusive but not limited to copyright users and stakeholders;
individual learners of any age who seek understanding and knowledge
through the Library's collections and services; and connectors who are
external communities such as libraries, schools, or other groups and
institutions that connect users to the Library.
Thank you for the supporting the Library's efforts to revitalize
and enhance the visitor experience in the Thomas Jefferson Building
through a public/private partnership. This is an exciting future
direction for the Library as we bring the Nation's collections and
history out of the vaults and into public spaces. Through expanded and
improved access to the national treasures in the Library, visitors will
be inspired to use our collections just as we have envisioned in 2025
and beyond.
I am confident that we have a strong management structure and
robust strategic planning process to lead the Library into the future.
Now, however, I ask for your assistance in helping us take the
additional steps we need with an increase in funding for critical
initiatives.
The Library of Congress fiscal 2019 budget request is for
approximately $761 million, which represents a 5.9 percent increase
over the Library's fiscal 2018 enacted appropriation. Of the requested
$42 million increase, 52 percent accounts for mandatory pay and price
level increases ($22.0 million). The balance of the increase represents
critical program investments necessary to fulfill the Library's role
and to move forward on the commitment to be more user-centered.
This request extends and builds on the modernization efforts
initiated in 2017 and 2018, which concentrated on information
technology (IT) modernization, a strong workforce, and increased
access. The Library continues to embrace modernization, not only of its
IT but of its workforce, infrastructure, and collections stewardship.
The Library's staff is essential to fulfilling its memory role--
acquiring, sustaining, and providing access to a unique universal
collection. We must foster the correct mix of skillsets to achieve
this. We are also employing digitization and other technologies as a
means of expanding access to memory even with fewer staff. The budget
request includes an investment to strengthen staffing capacity for
processing special collections where a significant backlog has emerged
over the last 10 years. This would include such works as the Herman
Wouk and Caspar Weinberger papers, which are currently stored in
thousands of containers inaccessible to users. Our request also seeks
to dramatically increase access through two digitization efforts. The
first to preserve and make accessible historic copyright records and,
the second, in the Law Library to make public domain U.S. legal and
legislative materials and foreign law materials more widely available.
Next, our budget submission strengthens the Library's role in
knowledge, in its capacity to provide authoritative research and
analysis in areas of significant congressional interest in the CRS, and
foreign legal and language expertise in the Law Library.
The CRS workforce has decreased by approximately 13 percent in the
last 8 years, losing 92 FTE, and 23 percent of CRS staff will be
eligible for retirement this year. In fiscal 2016, CRS received 563,000
requests for products and services, including more than 61,400 requests
for custom research and analysis. Demand is expected to remain at these
levels or higher in the future. Additional FTE in CRS will strengthen
analytic capacity and ensure replacement of corporate knowledge over
time as retirements and attrition take place.
The Copyright Office and its work is central to the Library's role
of inspiring and encouraging creativity. Our quest for Copyright IT
modernization has continued in successive budgets with infrastructure
and networking. Now, in the fiscal 2019 budget, we turn to the
development of the Next Generation Registration System and a modern
recordation system. The Library's commitment to a modernized and well-
staffed Copyright Office is reflected in requests for a modernization
enterprise solution, restoration of the registration examiner workforce
to pre-sequestration levels, and contractor support to aggressively
address a recordation backlog before the data is migrated to a new,
modernized system. We are specifically targeting areas where backlogs
have emerged due to attrition, retirement, or increased activity.
Shared operating capacity allows the Library to be more efficient
and cost-effective as we work to achieve our goals. The congressionally
sanctioned Legislative Branch Financial Management System (LBFMS),
hosted by the Library as a shared service for the legislative branch
has been a success story. It has experienced substantial growth and now
provides the financial system for eight legislative branch agencies.
From 2015 to 2017, the number of users has increased 44 percent and the
number of transactions processed by 140 percent. As a shared service,
the LBFMS averages a combined annual $2.5 million in cost avoidance,
compared to operating separate systems through Federal shared services
providers. Accompanying this growth and success is the need to
standardize the system across the user agencies. To accommodate these
growing pains, our budget request provides for process standardization
across the user agencies to decrease the need for costly customizations
over time and increased hosting costs for this shared system.
In closing, modernization--of workforce, infrastructure,
collections stewardship, as well as IT--is critical to moving the
Library forward into the future. The fiscal 2019 budget request
furthers the modernization efforts of recent budget requests and
targets critical workforce needs.
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
subcommittee, the Library is the embodiment of the American ideal of a
knowledge-based democracy. I thank you again for supporting the Library
of Congress and for your consideration of our fiscal 2019 request.
______
Prepared Statement of Karyn A. Temple, Acting United States Register of
Copyrights
Chairman Daines, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
subcommittee:
Thank you for the opportunity to submit the United States Copyright
Office's fiscal 2019 budget request.
The Nation's copyright system provides exceptional benefits to all
who use it, from those who work in copyright industries to those who
seek to use copyrighted materials to the public at large. It
incentivizes the development of our creative culture and facilitates
the important exchange of information among researchers and potential
users of copyrighted materials. The importance of copyright is
highlighted by the fact that, in 2015, copyright industries employed
more than 5.5 million workers and contributed over 6 percent of the
total U.S. GDP.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ ``International Intellectual Property Alliance, Copyright
Industries in the U.S. Economy: the 2016 Report 2 (2018)'', available
at https://iipa.org/files/uploads/2018/01/2016CpyrtRptFull-1.pdf; see
also ``U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Economics and
Statistics Administration, Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy:
2016 Update (2016)'', available at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/
files/documents/IPandtheUSEconomySept2016.pdf (noting that copyright-
intensive industries provided 5.6 million jobs in 2014 numbers).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Copyright Office plays an essential role in this ecosystem. The
Office administers the copyright law and, in fiscal year 2017 alone,
registered 452,000 claims to copyright, examined 5,984 statutory
licensing filings, and recorded nearly 15,000 ownership-related
documents--generating a total of more than $39 million in fees for its
services. The Office administered over a billion dollars in royalties
for statutory licenses to use certain copyrighted works. The Office
also manages the mandatory deposit provision of the Copyright Act that
provides the Library of Congress with a myriad of published works for
its collections, which in fiscal 2017 included 658,045 published works
worth over $40 million.
To assist with its work and provide a foundation for modernization,
the Copyright Office in fiscal 2017 undertook substantial successful
measures to streamline and update its practices. The Office further
began several new initiatives to reduce the number of pending
applications for registration. The Office also issued nine final rules
and worked on an additional eight proposed rules that increased the
effectiveness of the copyright system. For example, the Office
published final rules regarding group registrations of newspapers and
photographs to provide a more efficient electronic submission mechanism
to file for copyright registrations, and a final rule for refining the
deposit requirements for certain types of literary works and musical
compositions. To further simplify and automate its processes, the
Office issued new rules to allow electronic signatures on
electronically-filed statements of account, for the removal of
personally identifiable information from registration records, and an
interim rule with improvements in the process of recording transfers of
copyright ownership, which can facilitate the licensing marketplace.
The Copyright Office also performs critical legal and policy
functions for the United States. In fiscal year 2017, the Office
assisted Congress with numerous copyright-related policy issues,
including by releasing legal and policy reports on a wide array of
issues such as section 1201 limits on circumvention of technological
protection measures, software-enabled consumer products, exceptions for
libraries and archives, and mass digitization. The Office also provided
expert copyright advice to Congress during its continuing review of the
Nation's copyright law on a number of key copyright issues. Further, in
fiscal year 2017, Office lawyers conducted extensive copyright legal
analysis and worked with the executive branch and the courts on a
number of high-profile litigation matters, including one case before
the U.S. Supreme Court. On the international front, the Office
participated on international delegations working on a potential
broadcast treaty and several free trade agreements, and in
intergovernmental groups assessing the impact of foreign copyright
systems.
Moreover, the Copyright Office has continued its critical mission
of assisting the public with understanding and navigating copyright
issues. In fiscal 2017, the Office answered almost 194,000 phone,
email, and mail inquiries; retrieved and copied thousands of copyright
deposit records for parties involved in litigation; and assisted nearly
2,000 in-person visitors. The Office also proactively worked to
distribute 48 issues of NewsNet, an electronic news service covering
legislative and regulatory developments and general Office news, to
more than 28,000 subscribers.
To conduct all of this work effectively and efficiently, the
Copyright Office needs the foundation of a modern information
technology system. Developing and deploying modernized systems that
facilitate and enhance the Office's work and provide a positive
experience for the public is therefore one of the Office's highest
priorities. To that end, in September 2017, the Office and the Library
of Congress's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) jointly
submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations a
revised Copyright Office IT modernization plan that focused on
leveraging resources within the Library to take full advantage of
possible economies of scale. That revised plan, Modified USCO
Provisional IT Modernization Plan: Analysis of Shared Services, Support
Requirements, and Modernization Efforts,\2\ supplements the Office's
2016 Provisional Information Technology Modernization Plan and Cost
Analysis,\3\ and draws on the collaborative work of the Office and the
OCIO to identify possible synergies that might exist now or in the
future, as both the Office and the Library engage in dual modernization
efforts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ ``U.S. Copyright Office, Modified USCO Provisional IT
Modernization Plan: Analysis of Shared Service, Support Requirements,
and Modernization Efforts (2017)'', available at https://
www.copyright.gov/reports/itplan/modified-modernization-plan.pdf
(``Modified IT Plan'').
\3\ ``U.S. Copyright Office, Provisional Information Technology
Modernization Plan and Cost Analysis (2016)'', available at https://
www.copyright.gov/reports/itplan/technology-report.pdf (``Provisional
IT Plan'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through all of its work, the Copyright Office sits in the middle of
the complex and incredibly important national copyright system, and
continues to provide Congress, the executive branch, the courts, and
the public with expert copyright staff who work hard to administer the
copyright law.
funding and overall fiscal year 2019 budget request
The Copyright Office requests a budget for fiscal year 2019 that
will enable the Office to fulfill crucial copyright modernization goals
as set forth in the Modified IT Plan, and to provide for supplemental
staffing necessary to achieve greater efficiencies in registration,
public records, public information services, and legal review. As the
Office positions itself for the future, the requested funds will
support the changes necessary to provide world-class service to a wide
variety of constituencies--from the copyright community to government
entities to the public at large.
The Copyright Office's overall budget is composed of three separate
budgets or program areas: (1) Basic Budget, which funds most of the
Office's core operations, including the majority of payroll-related
expenses. Historically, the Basic Budget has been provided through a
combination of appropriated dollars and authority to spend fee revenue,
with fees constituting a majority of this funding (generally in the
range of 58 percent to 67 percent); (2) Licensing Budget, which is
derived completely from licensing royalty collections otherwise payable
to copyright owners and filing fees paid by cable and satellite
licensees pursuant to statutory licenses administered by the Office;
and (3) Copyright Royalty Judges Budget, which funds the Copyright
Royalty Board (``CRB'')--although the CRB is not a part of the Office,
the Office administers its budget on behalf of the Library of Congress.
For fiscal year 2019, the Copyright Office requests a combined
total of $93.4 million in funding and 483 FTEs, of which $49.8 million
would be funded through authority to expend fees collected in fiscal
year 2019 and in prior years.
The Office's fiscal year 2019 requests are:
--Basic Budget: $85.8 million and 454 FTEs. $21.6 million and 23 FTEs
of this request are for new initiatives, including funding
Copyright Office modernization activities aligned with the
joint Modified IT Plan, and staffing to address ongoing
operations described further below. As in past years, the
Office asks that Congress provide budget authority through a
combination of annual appropriations and authority to offset
fee revenue. The Office requests that $39.2 million be provided
through authority to expend fiscal year 2019 fee revenue and
that $4.3 million come through use of unobligated revenue
balances of prior years. The Office requests that the remaining
$42.3 million come from appropriated dollars.
Initiatives to be funded through this request include:
--$12.1 million (8 FTE) for Office modernization activities, which
in fiscal year 2019 will primarily encompass development
work for the next-generation registration system and final
development and deployment of the automated recordation
system. In addition to technical development efforts, this
initiative includes eight positions needed to ensure
effective project oversight through the Copyright
Modernization Office (``CMO''), which is partnered with the
Library's OCIO. The recommended mix of funding for this
initiative includes $4 million in increased offsetting
collections authority, $2 million in prior-year unobligated
balances, and $6.1 million in new appropriations.
--$5 million for the Office's Searchable Historic Records project.
This request will focus on completion of the digitization
of the public records and development of the Office's
virtual reading room. Pending an industry analysis
currently underway to identify the best approach, the
project will transition to indexing records to develop
public search capabilities for all records via a web
interface.
--$2.1 million (15 FTE) for additional examination positions to
reduce pendency times for copyright registration.
--$1.3 million to provide for the long-term storage of the Office's
physical copyright deposits, a significant number of which
must be secured by the Office for the life of the
underlying copyright.
--$1.1 million for contract support to reduce the backlog of
recordation requests and to prepare for transition to an
automated recordation system.
--Licensing Division Budget: $5.8 million, all of which is funded via
fees and royalties. The requested increase includes mandatory
pay-related and price level increases of $.75 million.
--Copyright Royalty Judges Budget: $1.8 million in total, with $.15
million to support mandatory pay-related and price level
increases. $.5 million (for non-personnel-related expenses) of
the total request is offset by royalties. The remainder, $1.3
million in appropriated dollars, is to cover the personnel-
related expenses of the judges and their staff.
focus of funding request
The Copyright Office's funding request focuses on three key areas:
(1) increased funding for IT modernization efforts, including the
historical records initiative; (2) staffing for the Office's core
registration services; and (3) contract support to support the Office's
recordation program, as well as for inventory activities to prepare for
the Office's long-term need to secure physical copyright deposits.
Copyright IT Modernization
Modernization of the Copyright Office's aging information
technology systems and applications is the Office's first priority. In
partnership with the Office, the Library's OCIO developed detailed cost
projections and timelines for full IT modernization that align with the
revised provisional IT modernization plan and are reflected in the
Office's modernization funding request. In addition to partnering on
the modernization planning, the OCIO is taking full responsibility for
the technical IT responsibilities for the Office, as the Library
consolidated all Office information technology positions within the
OCIO in December 2017. With all technical IT support now residing
within the OCIO, both the Office and the OCIO support a new approach to
maintaining the Office's oversight of its mission-critical systems. In
accordance with the revised plan, in January 2018 the Copyright Office
established the CMO, which complements the OCIO's technical support by
providing the business direction necessary to ensure that modernization
projects are continuously aligned with the Office's mission and
strategic goals. In keeping with the plan's dual-governance approach,
the Acting Register of Copyrights and the Library's Chief Information
Officer jointly chair a newly-formed Copyright Office Modernization
Governance Board, which provides the executive direction critical to
meeting the Offices' long-term modernization goals.
Projects already underway under the supervision of the CMO and the
Governance Board include the Copyright Office's new automated
recordation system, which is entering into final development stages in
anticipation of a calendar year 2019 release, and which completely
overhauls the current manual recordation of documents. The Office and
the OCIO have also begun early-stage work on the Office's next-
generation enterprise registration system through a contract that
provides for design of the user interfaces that unify how end users
experience the Office's applications. Also noteworthy is the January
2018 release of the Office's ``proof of concept'' Virtual Card Catalog,
which provides preliminary and accelerated public access to historical
copyright records in advance of full digitization of all Office
records, while seeking public input on options for further access.
Furthering the goal of data accessibility, both for public benefit and
for operational insight, the Office also is developing a data
management model that ultimately will provide for a federated search
technology to allow users to search across registration, recordation,
and licensing databases, and that will establish chain-of-title
sequencing that can link registrations to recordations or other
documents.
Using the development and deployment timeline developed by the
Library's OCIO, Copyright Office IT modernization activities planned
for fiscal years 2019 through 2024 include development and unification
of public interfaces and all Office workflows through an enterprise
solution. This enterprise solution will consist of modular applications
including the next-generation registration system, the recordation
system, the public interfaces, back-end processes, and future
incorporation of statutory license processing.
The first phases will focus on registration processing, using data
collected from the user interface project already underway, with
development work next incorporating back-end requirements. Development
will be complex, as the final system must integrate processes for
complicated copyright examination procedures, copyright deposit
management, fee payments, and other workflows. Given the scope of the
system, development for the next-generation registration system is
expected to span 5 years. Since the next-generation copyright
registration system will be developed using agile methods, certain
functionality will be available to Copyright Office staff and to the
public even before all development activities are completed. As
resources allow, development work for other processes will proceed in
order of priority and in keeping with the overall timeline and planning
documentation.
In support of ongoing and planned modernization projects, the
Copyright Office is thus requesting $12.1 million, comprised of a mix
of fees, prior-year unobligated balances, and new appropriations, as
referenced above. The request is proposed as recurring over 5 years, at
a total of $60.6 million. In fiscal year 2024, the Office would request
that all but $5.4 million non-recur, with the remaining funding
providing for ongoing maintenance and operations costs of the deployed
enterprise solution.
Searchable Historical Records
Recognizing its responsibility for the maintenance of the world's
largest catalog of records of copyright, the Copyright Office continues
to prioritize its efforts in securing the Office's historical records
through digitization and in making those records accessible in an
online and easily searchable format. For fiscal year 2019, the
Copyright Office is requesting $5 million, inclusive of $1 million in
prior-year unobligated balances, to recur over 7 years for the
searchable historical records project. The requested funding will allow
the Office to take advantage of technological advances in digitization
to complete the data capture and digitization of all remaining
historical records, as well as the development and launch of a new,
modernized Public Records Catalog IT system.
Copyright Office Staffing
To fully modernize, the Copyright Office must focus on its systems
as well as the valuable personnel resources necessary to provide
quality services to the public at large, copyright owners, technology
companies, and the Library itself. Through its employees, the Office
provides expert guidance to the public, Congress, other Federal
agencies, and the courts in copyright law analysis, examination of
claims, and document recordation. The Office conducts outreach and
education and provides customer service to the thousands who annually
seek information in person, on the phone, and through email.
In the fiscal year 2019 request, the Copyright Office seeks to add
much-needed registration specialists. It is an Office priority to
provide reasonable registration review processing times, and the Office
continues to focus all available resources on addressing the many
factors that have caused increasing processing times. While modernized
systems and processes have proven critical to improving productivity,
the Office must also maintain adequate numbers of employees trained in
complex copyright claims examination. The fiscal year 2019 request
augments the fiscal year 2018 request for additional examination staff,
allowing the Office to efficiently onboard and train multiple teams of
examiners.
For fiscal year 2019, the Copyright Office also is requesting
temporary funding increases for contract support to accelerate the
reduction of its recordation workload and assist in the transition to a
new, automated recordation system. The Office's request for temporary
contract support also will provide for much-needed inventory software
as well as a comprehensive inventory of the copyright deposits and
other materials stored by the Office so that the Office can accurately
assess current and future storage needs as modernization efforts
progress.
Along with the IT modernization request, these requests are part of
the Copyright Office's multi-pronged planning to ensure modernization
takes place across all of its operations. To enable appropriate
analysis of staffing requirements, the Office initiated a number of
internal assessments of its organizational structure and also recently
commissioned a report that evaluated the Office's capabilities for
collecting, monitoring, and analyzing all of its costs. The
recommendations stemming from the assessments and report will be used
to further monitor and refine workflows so that the work of all of the
Office's employees is optimized.
pending changes to the copyright office fee structure
The Copyright Office recognizes that fees collected from users of
its services are an important source of funding for ongoing operations,
and that the Office must regularly evaluate the sufficiency of its fee
structure, especially when making requests for additional
appropriations.
In November 2017, the Copyright Office completed the first phase of
an Office-wide fee study, bringing in expert consultants for the first
time in decades to comprehensively evaluate the Office's fees. This
initial study considered internal drivers of the Office's costs and
external factors, such as an assessment of economic trends that affect
stakeholder value, statutory restrictions, and policy goals. As part of
this assessment, the Office also directed consultants to consider the
costs of modernization of the Office's systems. Using recommendations
resulting from that study, the Office is drafting a Federal Register
notice requesting public comment on proposed fee changes.
As part of the Copyright Office's evaluation of fees, the Office
supports possible changes to its overall funding legislation. For
example, the Office would benefit from greater flexibility in the use
of prior-year unobligated fee balances, which could allow the Office to
provide services to the public in the event of a lapse in
appropriations. Flexibility in management of prior-year balances across
budget cycles also could provide for more efficient and cost-effective
administration of large, non-recurring projects related to
modernization and other capital expenditures. To that end, the Office
submitted a request for a change in the fiscal year 2019 appropriations
language to allow for 20 percent of the balance available in prior-year
fees to be available each year, in addition to appropriated amounts,
for obligation without fiscal year limitation, and to allow the Office
to access prior-year balances to continue operations during a lapse in
appropriations.
The Office also is interested in pursuing additional fee-setting
options, such as through the use of subscription fees, differential
fees, or additional fees for high-volume access to improved and
modernized data. The Office would welcome explicit authorization from
Congress permitting the Office to contemplate a wide range of fee types
to further the use of the copyright system.
* * * * *
The Copyright Office understands the significance associated with a
budget request of the size and scope necessary to position the Office
for success in an increasingly digital world. The Office is committed
to its own continuous improvement and to an honest assessment of its
needs and costs of services, and greatly appreciates the Committee's
consideration of this request, as well as the ongoing support for the
success of the Office and for the national copyright system.
______
Prepared Statement of Mary B. Mazanec, Director, Congressional Research
Service
Chairman Daines, Ranking Member Murphy and Members of the
subcommittee,
Thank you for the opportunity to present the Congressional Research
Service (CRS) fiscal 2019 budget request. I would also like to thank
the Committee for your support of CRS's fiscal 2018 budget request. CRS
is working aggressively to implement the much needed modernization of
our IT infrastructure and to ensure the public availability of CRS
Reports within the timeframe directed by Congress. My testimony will
present our request for fiscal 2019, and summarize for you some of the
more notable support that CRS has provided to the Congress over the
past fiscal year. In addition, I will bring you up to date on a number
of initiatives that we are undertaking to ensure that CRS continues to
provide you with exceptional analytical, consultative and information
support in the future.
In fiscal 2017, Congress called upon CRS for research and
analytical expertise at every stage of the legislative and oversight
process and across all public policy issues on its agenda. CRS experts
provided more than 61,400 custom products and consultations in response
to specific requests from Members and staff, produced and maintained
more than 11,100 reports and products, and held more than 250 events
for nearly 8,600 congressional participants. CRS served over 99 percent
of all Member and committee offices.
fiscal 2019 budget request
The CRS budget request for fiscal 2019 is $125.68 million, with
almost 90 percent devoted to staff pay and benefits. To ensure that our
research staff can meet the needs of Congress, in fiscal 2019, CRS
requests $2.743 million for the addition of 20 FTEs to strengthen the
Service's research capacity for highly complex current and emerging
issues. These personnel additions will significantly advance the
Service's efforts to restore the research and analytical capacity, lost
through attrition in recent years and better enable us to plan for the
anticipated departure of a significant portion of the CRS workforce.
These new positions will also allow CRS to enhance the diversification
of subject matter expertise throughout the Service and maintain robust
research across legislative areas. Consequently, CRS will be better
positioned to provide timely and comprehensive support to Congress on
key policy issues in the future. Support for the Service's fiscal 2019
program request would permit CRS to increase research capacity in the
following areas:
--Four (4) positions to support domestic policy in the areas of
healthcare insurance and financing, healthcare services, and
education policy;
--Four (4) legislative attorneys focusing on military and veteran's
law, tax and bankruptcy law, and constitutional law;
--Two (2) positions, an analyst and an economist, to enhance coverage
in oversight issue areas related to international development
assistance and global emerging economies;
--Two (2) analysts to cover emerging national security and
intelligence issues related to cybersecurity, foreign arms
exports and military assistance;
--Four (4) positions, analysts or economists, to broaden the depth
and scope of coverage in government oversight issues,
macroeconomic policy, economic development policy and
legislative process support; and,
--Four (4) analysts to augment the specialized knowledge necessary to
better support legislative work in the areas of agriculture,
science and technology, energy, transportation and
infrastructure.
CRS is committed to maintaining and strengthening the breadth and
speed of delivery for all research products and consultations. With the
appointments of additional content area specialists and a focus on
innovation and responsiveness, CRS will be able to ensure a seamless
succession of expertise and continue to comprehensively meet Congress's
needs in an increasingly fast-paced legislative environment.
budget challenges
CRS's greatest asset is the breadth of our analytical talent.
Congress has long considered CRS staff to be an extension of its own,
offering not only subject matter expertise, but intimate knowledge of
the legislative process as well as decades of institutional memory
gained from working side-by-side with Members and congressional staff.
However, since 2010, CRS has lost more than 13 percent of its staff due
to flat budgets and inflationary pressures. Although CRS has been able
to mitigate some of the impact due to staff reduction, the Service has
not been able to replace staff on a one-to-one ratio.
In addition, 23 percent of CRS staff will be eligible for
retirement in fiscal 2018. Consequently, the Service must plan for
workforce succession that will ensure continuity in subject matter
expertise, a critical challenge that will only grow as CRS research
staff retires. When CRS is unable to fill vacancies in advance of
announced retirements, current CRS experts must absorb additional
subject area responsibilities until the new hires are brought onboard
as well as devote time to support knowledge transfer to the new
analysts.
As I noted, CRS products and services are frequently and heavily
utilized by virtually all congressional offices and committees and it
is expected that demand will remain at these levels or increase in the
future. Consequently, CRS must act now to arrest the reduction of
personnel and aggressively supplement research capacity. Congress's
approval of the eight entry-level positions in the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, Fiscal 2018 was an important first step in this
effort. However, the additional FTE's requested as part of the fiscal
2019 budget is necessary to restore CRS's staffing to near pre-2010
levels.
With such staffing challenges and without additional funding, CRS
anticipates:
--Additional gaps in the scope and depth of analysis;
--An inability to offer full research coverage, in particular in
high-demand areas, such as education, healthcare, taxes,
infrastructure and natural resources;
--An increased need to prioritize assignments, resulting in less
timely responses; and,
--A diminished ability to effectively perform all of the functions
required of CRS by statute.
Meeting the needs of Members and staff is CRS's highest priority,
and the Service remains committed to providing timely responses,
products and consultations on the broad range of issues before
Congress. Yet, while the eight new appointments authorized in the 2018
appropriation will certainly mitigate the impacts noted above, CRS
capabilities to meet congressional requests will continue to be
stretched thin.
service to congress
In the last fiscal year, CRS continued to explore opportunities to
better fulfill its mission to provide comprehensive and reliable
legislative research, analysis and information services that are
confidential, objective, nonpartisan, authoritative and timely. The
Service provided significant support to Congress on a broad range of
policy issues such as the Federal budget, healthcare reform, Federal
programs requiring reauthorization, environmental regulation,
immigration, border security, Federal land management and intellectual
property. CRS experts also provided critical research, analysis and
consultative assistance on emergent issues, including the nomination of
a new Supreme Court justice, the opioid crisis, developments in the
Middle East and North Korea, and Federal emergency management
challenges brought about by multiple natural disasters. In addition to
providing research and analytical expertise, the Service supported
Congress's work through its online services. CRS continues to
contribute to the development and daily operation of Congress.gov, the
next-generation platform for legislative information.
CRS undertook a substantial revision of content for ``The
Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and
Interpretation (CONAN),'' the statutorily required document in which
CRS attorneys provide legal analysis and interpretation of the
Constitution, based primarily on Supreme Court case law. This
initiative was undertaken in concert with a broader effort to develop
an initial prototype for the design and search functionality of the
next-generation CONAN website. A modernized CONAN will enable greater
ease of access and utility for Congress and the public.
The Service worked to leverage advances in technology and present
its research and analysis to best suit Congress's needs. In fiscal
2017, CRS joined the Skype for Business Federation with the House,
Senate and Architect of the Capitol, opening new pathways for
interacting with congressional clients. In addition, CRS conducted a
pilot of a new podcast product, providing congressional clients mobile
access to discussions of legislative issues by CRS analysts.
Finally, CRS continued to develop geographic information systems
(GIS) products and tools to respond to congressional interest in
geospatial analysis. The Service completed 185 GIS-related requests on
issues of interest to Congress including Federal lands, energy,
military installations, education, national monuments, floods and wild
fires.
crs strategic initiatives
To ensure that CRS is able to offer a high level of support across
the full range of issues before Congress, the Service has undertaken a
number of strategic initiatives including product and technology
enhancements, staff training and development, strategic planning and
the identification of workplace efficiencies. In 2017, CRS continued to
execute its Strategic Plan. Initially, the Service focused on enhancing
the skills of its professional workforce through several special
programs, including leadership development training for first-line
supervisors and nonsupervisory staff, and expansion of the new employee
mentoring program to include guidance for existing staff members. In
addition, CRS continued its Core Writing Curriculum program, in which
senior staff members provide newer analysts with tools and best
practices in preparing effective analytical writing for congressional
clients. Efforts in 2017 also focused on improving internal
communications and examining ways to increase staff diversity and
inclusion.
As part of the execution of its Strategic Plan, CRS took steps to
maximize efficiency and strengthen internal collaboration and
coordination, by consolidating its Finance and Administration and
Workforce Management and Development offices into one organizational
unit, the Office of Administrative Operations; and combining the
Program Office and Communications Office into the Congressional
Programs and Communications Office. In addition, following a successful
pilot, research librarians in the Knowledge Services Group were moved
permanently to the research divisions, to better align with the work of
analysts and meet the divisions' research priorities and requirements.
In 2017, the Service actively participated in the Library of
Congress's ``Envisioning 2025'' strategic planning initiative which
informed the Library's future direction and priorities. To inform the
companion Directional Plan for CRS, a senior leader retreat was held to
discuss the Service's products and services, staff composition and
organization and other strategic topics to guide the work of the agency
moving forward. CRS continues to proactively identify strategic
initiatives that will best position the Service to serve Congress's
needs well into the future.
In addition, CRS has been working closely with the Library's Chief
Information Officer to ensure that CRS reports are made available to
the public within the timeframe directed by Congress in the fiscal 2018
appropriations act.
conclusion
CRS remains dedicated to fulfilling the important responsibility
that Congress has entrusted to the Service. However, years of steadily
decreasing staffing levels and the impending retirement eligibility of
a significant portion of our workforce has placed the Service in a
precarious position. In recognition of the budgetary constraints under
which we have operated, we are constantly exploring ways to function
more efficiently while continuing to be responsive to the needs of an
ever evolving Congress. We have adapted our product line to better meet
congressional needs, adopted state-of-the-art research methodologies
and utilized new formats to present our research and analysis. The
modernization of technology systems promises to streamline CRS workflow
and position the Service to offer more advanced research products.
Yet these efforts will be of limited utility without the research
and analytical expertise necessary to fully execute our mission.
Recovering critically needed staff capacity and replenishing analytical
experience will ensure that these investments reap their greatest
benefit for Congress and that CRS is positioned to continue providing
the level of research and analytical support to which Congress has
become accustomed.
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Murphy and Members of the
subcommittee, CRS is honored and proud to serve the United States
Congress. I thank you again for your support of CRS and for your
consideration of our fiscal 2019 request.
Senator Daines. Thank you, Dr. Hayden.
Mr. Ayers.
----------
ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL
STATEMENT OF HON. STEPHEN T. AYERS, ARCHITECT OF THE
CAPITOL
Mr. Ayers. Thank you, Chairman Daines, Ranking Member
Murphy, and Senator Hyde-Smith.
I appreciate the opportunity to present the Architect of
the Capitol's fiscal year 2019 budget request and, first, I'd
like to thank the subcommittee for your support of our needs in
the 2018 Omnibus. The projects and efforts you were able to
fund will be critically important to our success this year and
next.
The funding will also assist our more than 2,100 talented
employees with reducing the constraints that impede their
ability to get their jobs done every single day.
We take pride in our mission to serve Congress and the
Supreme Court, preserve America's Capitol and to inspire
memorable experiences for all of those that visit. I'm
incredibly pleased to report that our achievements last year
have been terrific and significant.
In 2017, we successfully completed the conservation of the
U.S. Capitol's Brumidi Corridors, and several major projects
across campus reached important milestones. We made significant
progress on the stone preservation projects at the Capitol, as
the Chairman noted, and at the United States Supreme Court, the
Russell Senate Office Building and the United States Botanic
Garden Conservatory.
Also, the major equipment needed for the co-generation
system at the Capitol Power Plant has been installed and we're
looking forward to testing that system this summer.
Unfortunately, our annual costs continue to rise and our
work is often backlogged. Our request represents the resources
we think we need to support our infrastructure and fulfill our
mission.
The ability to retain sufficient people to keep up with
increased security requirements is essential. Reducing the risk
of infrastructure failures that lead to larger and more costly
repairs is equally as essential.
Additionally, with annual visitation at the Capitol growing
by 12 and a half percent last year, and another 8 percent on
top of that so far this year, more employees are needed to
continue to provide the first-rate customer service that
visitors expect.
We have to bolster our common central services that improve
our agency efficiencies and decrease our jurisdictional
operating costs. These services include specialized
construction, project management, historic preservation,
safety, cyber security, IT and support functions, just to name
a few.
Adequate funding for these services is critical to the
successful delivery of our capital projects.
For fiscal year 2019, our risk-based prioritization process
identified a $173 million of projects that are primed and ready
for funding in 2019. Of this, approximately $49 million is
requested for projects that were requested in 2018 but did not
receive funding. This includes the North Exit Stair improvement
at the Library of Congress's Jefferson Building, which would
address an open citation from the Office of Compliance.
In the Senate, we're seeking funds for the final phase of
the Russell Exterior Stone Project and to replace the Hart
Senate Office Building's air-handling units to ensure reliable
service well into the future.
We also continue to prioritize security upgrades across the
Capitol Campus with our ongoing effort to replace vehicle
barriers and kiosks that have reached the end of their intended
life cycle.
In addition, for a third year, we're pursuing funding to
implement the replacement of a critical infrastructure project
at the Alternate Computer Facility, an important component of
maintaining reliable congressional operations.
While to an untrained eye, our buildings look to be in
great condition, delays in our annual preventive maintenance
and continued phasing of our large projects are deeply
concerning to us.
Funding our needs as they're identified in our budget will
ensure our stakeholders and our visitors to Capitol Hill will
experience the grandeur of these great buildings as well as to
meet the modern needs of a modern workforce.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I look forward to any questions
you may have.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Stephen T. Ayers
Chairman Daines, Ranking Member Murphy, and Members of the
subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to present the Architect of
the Capitol's (AOC) fiscal year 2019 budget. Our request of $720
million is a modest representation of the resources needed to support
our infrastructure and adequately fulfill our mission to serve Congress
and the Supreme Court, preserve America's Capitol and inspire memorable
experiences.
View of the U.S. Capitol Building from the U.S. Botanic Garden's
Bartholdi Park
This year, the AOC celebrates the 225th anniversary of President
George Washington accepting Dr. William Thornton's design for the U.S.
Capitol. Honored as the first Architect of the Capitol, Dr. Thornton
could hardly have imagined how much the U.S. Capitol and our campus
would change and expand from his design, adopted on April 2, 1793.
Today, we operate and care for more than 18.4 million square feet
across 37 facilities and 570 acres of grounds.
Every day the AOC works to preserve our historic and aging
infrastructure, while upgrading facilities to meet the needs of a 21st
century workforce and address rapidly evolving security requirements.
In fiscal year 2018, Congress provided a significant budgetary increase
that will help reduce operational constraints that impede the ability
of our more than 2,100 skilled employees.
The talented men and women of the AOC strategically plan, allocate
and manage our resources across the agency to support high-profile
events, construct and develop critical infrastructure projects, and
meet the daily needs of building occupants and visitors. Last year, we
successfully supported preparations for the 58th Presidential
Inauguration, completed the conservation of the U.S. Capitol's Brumidi
Corridors, and introduced a new automated system for congressional
staff to quickly and easily obtain passes for their tour groups.
Capitol Exterior Stone & Metal Preservation Project
We reached milestones on several major projects across campus
including stone preservation projects at the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Supreme
Court, Russell Senate Office Building and U.S. Botanic Garden
Conservatory. Also, the necessary major equipment needed for the
cogeneration system has been installed.
Unfortunately, these successes do not seem as grand when measured
against our limited ability to keep pace with mounting needs.
Additional increases are needed in fiscal year 2019 to address critical
operational and capital deficiencies that could negatively impact our
performance. AOC employees are in a race against time as the
infrastructure rapidly deteriorates and projects continue to
accumulate.
Performing Routine Maintenance Improves the Safety and Security of Our
Infrastructure
AOC professionals are our greatest asset. We strive to provide
streamlined, efficient operations and maintenance activities. Fully
funding payroll obligations and bolstering support for maintenance
activities reduces the risk of infrastructure failures that will
require larger and more costly repairs.
Each year, inflationary personnel and preservation costs continue
to rise. The ability to sustain adequate personnel to keep up with
increased security requirements is essential to support U.S. Capitol
Police facilities and congressional resiliency requirements.
Visitors at the U.S. Botanic Garden Participate in a Hands-On Garden
Exhibit
Additionally, with annual visitation growing by approximately 12.5
percent last year, increases are needed for the U.S. Capitol Visitor
Center, the U.S. Botanic Garden and the Library of Congress to continue
to inspire current and future visitors by providing first-rate customer
service, hospitality and visitor engagement. The ability to improve
their facilities and grow the exhibit and education capabilities
requires additional resources to maintain the high level of quality
visitors expect, desire and deserve when visiting their nation's
capital.
Any further reductions in common central services, funded through
the Capital Construction and Operations appropriation, threatens agency
efficiencies and increases jurisdictional operating costs. These
services include supporting the AOC's specialized construction,
curatorial, design, energy and sustainability, facilities planning,
high voltage, historic preservation, project management, safety, fire
and environmental, cybersecurity, and technical support functions.
The increased funding in fiscal year 2018 will allow us to slow the
need to move funds targeted for supplies, routine maintenance,
upgrades, inspections and emergency repairs to cover annual
inflationary increases while mitigating negative impacts to our mission
requirements. We will continue to work to reverse this trend and
prevent a reactionary posture that largely addresses issues as failures
occur. We must not fall back into a position that increases the risk of
system failures that will require larger and more costly repairs.
Our fiscal year 2019 request includes a $21 million increase to
specifically address costs for supplies, routine maintenance, upgrades,
inspections and emergency repairs that continue to escalate.
Capitol Power Plant Refrigeration Plant Revitalization Project
To an untrained eye, our buildings look to be in great condition,
but across campus we continue to face a growing list of work-arounds
that are needed to circumvent problems and simply maintain current
operations. With additional funding we can begin to change this dynamic
and ensure we maintain all systems responsibly, thereby reducing the
need for more numerous and expensive Line Item Construction Program
(LICP) projects on an annual basis.
Delays in annual preventive and corrective maintenance initiatives
and the continued phasing of major replacement and renovation projects
wreak havoc on infrastructure systems. To address this, the agency's
risk-based prioritization process identified $173 million in LICP
projects primed for fiscal year 2019 funding. Of this, approximately
$22.7 million (13 percent) will be used to complete the next phases of
critical infrastructure projects needed at the Capitol Power Plant.
Increased Exit Options in the Thomas Jefferson Building are Needed To
Improve the Safety of Occupants and Visitors
Projects that were requested in fiscal year 2018 but did not secure
funding represent an additional $49 million (28 percent), including the
North Exit Stair Improvement project at the Library of Congress' Thomas
Jefferson Building. This project would address an Office of Compliance
citation to increase exiting egress capacity and improve fire
protection systems. Funding this project would reduce delays and
overcrowding conditions during emergency evacuations.
In the Senate, the Hart Senate Office Building's air handling units
require replacement to ensure reliable service and system control. The
Hart Building is almost 40 years old, and many of the internal systems
are nearing the end of their useful lives. If these needs are not
addressed in a timely manner, failures will become more likely and
routine repairs will become more extensive and costly.
Also in the Senate, during deliberation over the fiscal year 2018
Consolidated Appropriations Act the final phase of the Russell Senate
Office Building's exterior stone restoration project was removed from
fiscal year 2018 consideration and will need to be added to our fiscal
year 2019 request.
We continue to prioritize security upgrades across the Capitol
campus and the ongoing effort to replace vehicle barriers and kiosks
that have reached the end of their intended life cycle. Additionally,
we are seeking funding for the first phase of the replacement of all
chillers and associated distribution piping within the Alternate
Computer Facility, an important component in ensuring efficient,
reliable congressional operations.
Adequately funding the AOC's needs as they are identified will
ensure the stakeholders and visitors to Capitol Hill experience the
grandeur of these historic treasures while meeting the needs of a
modern workforce.
Aerial View of the U.S. Capitol Campus
Senator Daines. Thank you, Mr. Ayers.
In the spirit of time management, I'm going to yield to our
two subcommittee Members here before the Ranking Member and
myself ask our questions.
Senator Hyde-Smith, I yield to you.
SURPLUS BOOK PROGRAM
Senator Hyde-Smith: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for
holding this hearing and, Dr. Hayden and Mr. Ayers, thank you
for coming and discussing your 2019 budget with us.
You know, you just have such important roles in researching
and preserving the history of our Nation for future generations
and your Surplus Book Program has been very beneficial to my
constituents in Mississippi. We've taken advantage of that. I
also appreciate the work of the Architect of the Capitol to
ensure that my constituents have that positive experience as
they visit the Capitol and the surrounding buildings. I'm also
grateful for the hard work of the AOC Team is doing to move my
staff and me into the new office as quickly as possible so we
can better serve the people of Mississippi.
I truly look forward to working with you and your
respective positions and I thank you for your service. I think
you're doing a great job.
Mr. Ayers. Thank you.
Senator Daines. I want to thank the Senator for bringing up
the Surplus Book Program. It's important in Mississippi. I know
in Montana over the last 3 years we've been able to send books,
over 4,000 books in fact, to 20 different small towns and these
are small towns in rural areas as well as in reservations.
There's an old famous country-western song that says
everybody dies famous in a small town. I can tell you a little
bit from Washington, DC, goes a long way in these rural
communities. It's a big deal back home and I thank you for
pointing that out. We appreciate it in Montana as well.
Senator Van Hollen.
CONGRESSIONAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Hayden, thank you for your service and thank you for
your initiatives to really open up the Library of Congress and
the national treasures of the Library of Congress to the
American people. I think that initiative is already bearing
fruit and I'm grateful and also appreciate the Young Readers
Program because we've had a lot of folks from Maryland and
other areas obviously coming in for that. So thank you for
that.
And to Mr. Ayers, again, thank you for trying to make sure
this, you know, Capitol is as open and welcoming to the
American people as it can be.
I don't have any questions at this point, but I do
appreciate your very good work and look forward to working with
the Chairman and the Ranking Members and other Members of the
subcommittee on the budget request.
Mr. Ayers. Thank you, Senator.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you.
LIBRARY'S BUDGET REQUEST
Senator Daines. Thank you, Senator Van Hollen.
One thing about this subcommittee and the witnesses here is
it's a very tangible area--we see the impact here. We walk
around every day and see the important work that you do for
this institution as well as for the people of this great
country.
Dr. Hayden, your request includes increases for a number of
projects as well as about $22 million in mandatory pay and
price level increases across the Library.
The projects include $4 million and 40 full-time
equivalents (FTE) for collection arrearage reduction, $12
million for copyright modernization, and $2.7 million and 20
FTE for increased capacity at CRS.
You've also included $10 million in your base from last
year for the Library's Visitor Experience Project, which we had
a chance to talk at length about when we visited.
Understanding we may not be able to accommodate the entire
requested increase, how would you prioritize the needs of the
Library?
Dr. Hayden. In terms of mission-critical elements of the
budget, of course, the mandatory increases for staff and being
able to make sure that is part of what we always maintain, if
possible. Looking at the arrearage and having access to the
collections, that's vital, as well as copyright modernization
and continuing on the progress that has been made so far.
We are in a stage with copyright IT modernization that is
exciting. It's challenging, but it needs to continue, and, of
course, CRS and having the capacity to serve Congress. Those
are mission-
critical aspects.
Senator Daines. Certainly when we have an economy that's
growing and actual labor shortages across our country, it
highlights the importance of taking care of our own employees.
Without the mandatory pay increase, would there be potential
for a hiring freeze and furloughs if we didn't accomplish that?
Dr. Hayden. We would try to avoid as much as we could
looking at a hiring freeze but that is an option, as well as
being able to absorb and make sure that across the board some
of the inflationary increases could be handled and that's what
the Library has done in the past and has been able to spread
those non-programmatic increases.
Senator Daines. Right. And again that highlights the
importance of ensuring we're taking care of our own employees--
--
Dr. Hayden. Right, right.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS VISITOR EXPERIENCE
Senator Daines [continuing]. And retention, as well.
Dr. Hayden, remaining on the subject of the Visitor
Experience, this subcommittee provided $2 million in the fiscal
year 2018 Omnibus to begin the design and planning of the
project.
It's anticipated that this master plan will be complete in
May of 2019 for review.
Dr. Hayden. Yes.
Senator Daines. The plan will include details of an
acquisition, design and construction timeline, and further
refine cost estimates.
The question is are you still on track to complete the
master plan by May of next year? Time goes by quickly--we're a
year away.
Dr. Hayden. And I have to reiterate how grateful we are for
being able to take advantage of this opportunity to have a
public-private partnership. We have already great interest in
the private sector to help support and supplement this effort
and so we're very grateful for that and the contract for a
company to work with us, an exhibit design company basically,
is almost ready to be let and we are moving ahead quite
aggressively.
We also have been taking advantage of the opportunity to
visit different museums, some that are recently opened, and
other facilities that have utilized technology in very
effective ways. So this project is on track and we really thank
you for this opportunity.
Senator Daines. Do you think, Dr. Hayden, that we can get
this done in 12 months?
Dr. Hayden. Yes.
Senator Daines. Okay. Thank you. You're requesting an
additional $10 million in fiscal year 2019 for this project.
Could you provide some details on what this funding would
go towards and why it is needed this year when completion of
the plan is not anticipated until next year?
Dr. Hayden. Part of the contractual aspect of working on
exhibit design requires that you are able to plan out a number
of months and even years in the construction of the exhibits.
This project, as we discussed this during your visit, is
less about architectural changes or tearing down walls, things
like that, and more about the exhibit fabrication and so the
plan, there are parts of the plan--for instance, the Treasures
Gallery where we'll be able to exhibit some of the wonderful
things that we know will be part of that Treasures Gallery.
That planning and the construction and some of the details that
go into the planning will be part of this.
Senator Daines. Do you still anticipate requesting a total
Federal investment of about $40 million with private donations
totaling around $20 million?
Dr. Hayden. Yes, and we are very confident and we have
great philanthropic interest and support that that fund-raising
goal will be met even in a shorter period of time, possibly
within the next year.
Senator Daines. Thank you.
Ranking Member Murphy, we lost about half our crowd when I
started speaking. So I think your theory here may be incorrect
that I was the draw.
Senator Murphy.
Senator Murphy. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I just want to get a couple more points of clarification on
the line of questioning regarding the visitors experience.
Did you share with us what the timeline is on the necessary
documentation to unlock the second eight million? I'm not sure
if I followed that. You've got two million to provide some
documentation to the subcommittee, of which unlocks the----
Dr. Hayden. And the understanding is that that would be
within a 3-year period, but the estimates now are definitely
that it can be executed in a year, that other time period.
VISITOR EXPERIENCE--AOC AND LIBRARY COOPERATION
Senator Murphy. Gotcha. And to stay on this topic, Mr.
Ayers, can you just talk about your cooperation, to the extent
it's happened so far, on this project, and then, you know,
let's say this is a huge success, are there other renovations
that need to be made to the building, if we have a lot more
visitors than we have on an annual basis right now?
Mr. Ayers. I'd be happy to. Dr. Hayden and I have met with
her exhibits designer and gone through the three major moves
that are on the table at the moment--the Treasures Gallery, the
Reading Room and the Youth Center--and we're really comfortable
with those. We think it's a great vision, Number 1.
My team has subsequently met on several occasions with the
Library staff to begin to work with them on the master plan
that they're about to embark on, and through that process they
will also engage in the design work of those exhibits. That's
where we'll really redouble our efforts to stay closely engaged
in the work as that's when we'll sort out any fire and life
safety, structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing
issues, and we'll work closely with them to the end.
I think your second question, Senator Murphy, are there
other building things that may need to be done, I would offer
two points.
One, we completely renovated the Jefferson and Adams
Building in the 1990s, so they're in fairly good shape. I don't
think we're going to experience a complete building
modernization, but I would say, and I'm quite confident Dr.
Hayden would agree, there are such rich treasures at the
Library that we could open three Treasure Galleries, four
Treasure Galleries, or five, to bring this material out of the
stacks and to the American people in an easy and understandable
way, and I think the possibility does exist that there are
future restorations that could help bring this material out.
WORLD DIGITAL LIBRARY
Senator Murphy. Sorry to interrupt our flow and move it
over to Mr. Ayers. I'll come back to you, Dr. Hayden.
Talk to me a little bit about the World Digital Library
Program.
Dr. Hayden. Yes.
Senator Murphy. So this is a project that you were in for
as a temporary manager, which turned out to be what started to
look like more of a permanent leadership role and you've scaled
back.
So tell me about what the future of this project is without
the at least named leadership of the Library of Congress
because it appears to me to be a really worthwhile endeavor
that I worry might suffer without the day-to-day leadership of
the Library and the United States.
Dr. Hayden. Well, the Library of Congress took a leadership
role in getting a consortium together of major research
libraries and reference libraries throughout the world to start
the World Digital Library and you're right in terms of the
temporary nature turned into a decade of managing the program.
What that decade gave the Library of Congress and also the
library community that's part of it is an opportunity to really
work out the mechanics. There were changes, as you can imagine,
in this last decade in terms of technological requirements and
now the Board of the World Digital Library is working with
another research institution that may be able to take on the
day-to-day management of the project.
The Library of Congress will still be a major contributor
of information. It's digitizing treasures from around the world
and these libraries are part of that. So the Library will be
involved during the next year as the Board of the World Digital
Library works out the details of the transition of the
management. The Library of Congress will still provide some
technical support and management support.
Senator Murphy. You don't worry about their ability to
continue?
Dr. Hayden. The proposed partners that--I'm not at liberty
to name it because all the details haven't been worked out--is
very substantial organization and the Board looked at that in
terms of making sure that the management continues. So we're
still going to be very much a part of it.
COPYRIGHT MODERNIZATION
Senator Murphy. Great. One more question, and I'm sure we
have questions for Mr. Ayers.
Going back to the Next Gen Registration System, can you
just talk to me about what input that you have asked for and
received from the creative industry community, how you've
incorporated their feedback, and how they're going to continue
to be involved in this process because obviously our intent
here is to make sure that the user of the system is the main
focus?
Dr. Hayden. The Copyright Office--and I'd like to also take
this opportunity to commend Karen Temple, the Acting Registrar
of Copyright, and she's here today, who's been really leading
this effort and making sure that everything stays on track.
The entire spectrum of the copyright community has been
involved and getting input at various stages and we are now at
the point of actually getting to the modernization of the
Copyright Registration System and to not lose sight of the
recordation system, which is paper-based and manual right now,
and so the Copyright Office will be moving ahead and has
definitely made great strides.
Senator Murphy. Is there a process moving forward--I mean,
obviously as you roll this out, you're going to expect some
bumps and hiccups. So I guess my question is, is the creative
community that is often,----
Dr. Hayden. Yes.
Senator Murphy [continuing]. You know, the loudest in part
in raising objections to the slowness of the existing system
going to have some mechanism to give you feedback?
Dr. Hayden. Yes, and there's constant actual feedback. As
you mentioned, they're very vocal, but all parts of the
community have been very generous, I think, with their support
and also making sure that along the way it's a process of
checking with the community as we go along and beta testing and
things like that. So they will be involved and they are.
Senator Murphy. Great. That's all I have for Dr. Hayden.
IT MANAGEMENT AND GAO REPORT PROGRESS
Senator Daines. One more question, Dr. Hayden. Mr. Ayers,
you're not off the hook yet here. Okay?
Dr. Hayden, the Library's made great strides in improving
its IT management, investing in enhancements to functionality
as well as security. Many of these improvements are based on
the recommendations made by GAO, who we just had up here a
couple weeks ago, in their March 2015 report.
Can you provide an update on the GAO recommendations and
how many the Library has closed to date?
Dr. Hayden. The GAO report and the progress, working with
them very closely on the recommendations, is a wonderful
success story.
I mentioned in the opening statement that 24 of the 31
recommendations are either approved or waiting approval from
GAO and we've had weekly meetings with them throughout the
process and they have indicated that they're pleased with the
progress. So we look at that report as a guidepost and a map
for improving IT.
Mr. Barton is behind me and he has definitely made that a
major priority.
Senator Daines. And he's smiling, too, I might add.
Dr. Hayden. Well, he is smiling. He told me when I was
confirmed in this position that IT will not be a problem and
I've kept him to that. I have weekly meetings with him, as
well.
Senator Daines. Having spent 12 years in the cloud-
computing business, take care of your IT folks.
Dr. Hayden. Yes.
Senator Daines. That's good advice. It really is.
Dr. Hayden. I keep Mr. Barton close.
Senator Daines. That's great. So you've got 24 of the 31,
getting close.
Dr. Hayden. Right.
Senator Daines. What's your plan for addressing the
remaining recommendations, and do you have an estimated
timeline where you could get them all completed?
Dr. Hayden. Yes, the completion is, of course, the approval
of GAO. The submission of the remaining will be by the end of
this calendar year and that's the estimate that they will be
submitted.
Senator Daines. Great. Thank you. Appreciate that.
Dr. Hayden. So it's a good story.
Senator Daines. I was most impressed. I think we get over
$120--$128 back for every dollar invested in GAO. So at that
rate, we should put billions of dollars in there Senator
Murphy.
CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATIONS FUNDING
Mr. Ayers, one of the largest increases in your request is
for the Capital Construction and Operations Jurisdiction, 11
percent over the fiscal year 2018 enacted level. This
jurisdiction does not generally have its own capital projects
and the funding is for the support functions it provides to
other jurisdictions.
The question is can you explain in more detail why this
jurisdiction is so important to the AOC's mission and what the
requested increase would provide?
Mr. Ayers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have this saying
that any project that you fund in one of our jurisdictions has
a tail of five other business units that work to support that.
All of those five business units are within our Capital
Construction and Operations (CCO) appropriation and so we may
have $200 to $300 million of design or construction projects
that are funded through our jurisdictions.
The people that manage those projects are in our CCO
appropriation and we are really struggling today with the
amount of design and construction work that's on the plate with
a very significant project increase in 2018 but no increase in
CCO resources.
We're struggling to have the requisite number of people to
oversee our design and construction work. I think that's one of
the biggest things.
To get those project managers and construction managers,
you have to have people in your HR department that are capable
of hiring the right people.
Similarly, they're all supported by our IT Department. On a
$300 million construction project, you're going to have
hundreds of invoices that come through every single month that
have to be processed and paid. That takes people in your
budget, finance and accounting departments, to handle all of
that, and while our project workload has increased, the number
of people in our CCO appropriation has stayed flat. We are
struggling today and we're trying to convince you to make it
right in 2019.
Senator Daines. Thank you. In relation to the investments
you intend to make for cyber security, I understand you're
working from recommendations made by the Legislative Branch
Cyber Security Working Group.
In fact, I believe you're also working to be in compliance
with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA)
and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
guidelines, though not required of Legislative Branch agencies,
is that correct?
Mr. Ayers. That is correct, Senator, yes.
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
Senator Daines. All right. You mentioned in your testimony
that you would like to position the AOC to move to becoming
more preventive rather than reactive when it comes to
maintenance and repairs to our facilities. This means more
investment in people and the day-to-day operating budgets for
each jurisdiction, which in turn would reduce costs of the
larger line item construction projects.
Can you expand on how this preventive maintenance reduces
the costs of larger projects and perhaps an example or two of
how infrastructure has suffered from what you refer to as work-
around repairs?
Mr. Ayers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Our Preventive
Maintenance Program is robust and covers thousands, if not
hundreds of thousands, of pieces of equipment across the
Capitol Campus that need to be maintained just like your car
needs to be maintained. If you don't put oil in the engine of
your car, ultimately it's going to seize up and that's going to
cost you $4,000 or $5,000 for a new engine.
All of our equipment, whether it's elevators or escalators
or HVAC pieces of equipment or pumps, throughout the Capitol
Campus are just like your automobile that requires ongoing
investment on a continual basis to keep running at optimal
performance.
I can also reflect that over the last several years of
relatively flat budgets, we have had to reduce many of our
maintenance activities so that we could continue to pay our
people and pay for mandatory pay increases, make sure they're
trained and able to do their function. That has increased our
number of work orders that aren't closed on time, which means
the preventive maintenance activities or the oil change in your
car may be required every 3,000 miles. Well, we're not doing it
on our equipment for every 6,000 miles. That's sort of an
analogy that I think we can all appreciate.
Senator Daines. Yes. Well, I spent 13 years before I got in
cloud-computing in manufacturing and that move to preventive
maintenance, it's pay me now or pay me later and usually if you
pay it now, it's on your schedule versus paying later on a
reactive schedule. So I applaud the more proactive preventive
maintenance philosophy you're bringing to the job each day.
Mr. Ayers. Thank you.
Senator Daines. Senator Murphy.
Senator Murphy. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman.
CHILDCARE
Mr. Ayers, I want to talk to you for just a little bit
about childcare. The House over the past two fiscal years has
taken over the O'Neill Building and they funded $30 million in
renovations that tripled the capacity of the childcare centers
there.
That has been, you know, an issue that we've been talking
around in the Senate, especially of late, about the fact that
the Senate is pretty wildly less family-friendly than the House
is, largely because of our rules, but also because we have 68
slots for childcare in the Senate. We have nine infant slots
for the entirety of the Senate and their staff, and as we want
to become a more attractive work place for very busy parents,
we've got to keep up with the increasing demand for childcare.
So I know you did a study, your AOC did a study in 2018
about facility options. Can you just talk to us a little bit
about, to the extent you know them, what the options were that
you identified and any update on options that might be
available to us, should we want to make that same kind of
funding commitment that the House did?
Mr. Ayers. Thank you, Senator Murphy. We did do a study in
2010. I've read the report and I think there were probably 15
or 20 alternatives that were evaluated that were within a 15-
or-20-minute walking distance to the Dirksen Building.
There were a number of alternatives. They all had their
pros and cons. I think the net result of that survey was we are
better off building a new building here on the Capitol Campus
than trying to purchase another building and renovating one of
those old properties that are around the Capitol Campus.
Senator Murphy. Do you remember if----
Mr. Ayers. It's probably time to engage in another study
since that--it's really a real estate agent kind of study. It's
probably seven or 8 years old and time that we do that again,
if the Congress is interested in that.
Senator Murphy. Do you know if the empty floors at the
Library's Little Scholars facility on East Capitol was part of
that study or whether that's still available today? That would
seem like a pretty easy and accessible option.
Mr. Ayers. I don't recall, Senator, whether that was part
of the study, but I do know that the upper floors of that
building are currently vacant. I think one of the limiting
factors in the childcare center business is infants need to be
on the first floor. They can't be on any upper floors, and so
usually a multiple-story building doesn't work out well for
childcare centers.
Senator Murphy. Well, I look forward to following up on
this with you. I think whether we need a full study done or
not, it's probably time for us to catch up to where the House
is on this question.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
My only other question for you, Mr. Ayers, was on the
question of energy efficiency, which is something I know you've
put a lot of thought and work in on. I'm pretty impressed that
the AOC has reduced energy consumption on campus by 32 percent
over 10 years. That's no joke and a credit to both you and to
the people who use the building.
Can you just give a little update on what may come next
with respect to energy efficiency? What are the investments
that we should be looking at as a committee if we wanted to,
you know, make another down payment?
I know once you get your first 30 percent, it gets a little
bit harder after that, but what are the things that we should
be looking at as investments, things that might be further down
on your list for those of us that might want to invest earlier
we could look at moving up?
Mr. Ayers. Senator Murphy, that first 30 percent really
stemmed from the Energy Independence and Security Act that the
Congress was the lead on that and we were able to achieve the
30 percent mandated by 2015.
We're so confident that there's still energy to be saved in
our buildings that we set another goal for ourselves of 20 more
percent energy use intensity in our buildings over the next 10
years. That's going to total 50 percent, and something that the
Congress can be very, very proud of, in 2025.
Mr. Ayers. Is that 20 percent off of the pre-30 percent
baseline or is that a new 20 percent off of existing baseline
Mr. Ayers. That's 20 percent off the original baseline.
Senator Murphy. Additional 20 percent. Okay.
Mr. Ayers. That's pretty aggressive. There are two big
moves that we are making that will get us there and that the
Congress has already made investments in.
One is the cogeneration system at the Capitol Power Plant.
When that is online, it will begin to pay back in energy
savings, in perpetuity quite frankly, and so we're going to see
very significant savings from that.
Secondly, the way we were able to achieve the first 30
percent, the big moves were three energy savings performance
contracts, public-private partnerships, one in the Senate, one
in the House, and one in the Capitol. They've been so
successful for us, we determined that we're going to do a
fourth one at the Library of Congress Buildings and we are in
the engineering phase of that now. That's going to save us
considerable energy.
Those two big moves, along with some behavioral changes
throughout the Congress, we think, are going to enable us to
achieve 50 percent by 2025.
Senator Murphy. Do you know--sorry to put you on the spot,
but do you know offhand what were the major contributors that
your private contractors achieved to get that reduction?
Mr. Ayers. Well, the Number 1 thing is steam efficiency and
doing everything we can to make sure our steam operations are
as efficient, in generating, distributing and conserving it in
our buildings is the most important thing we can do.
Next in line is electrical savings, whether it's turning
HVAC equipment off at night, setbacks on evenings and weekends
and things like that. So steam first, electricity second.
Senator Murphy. Okay. All right. Great. Well, listen, look
forward to working with you on the next 20 percent. Thank you.
Senator Daines. I'm going to support the Ranking Member's
thinking around maybe revisiting the site and looking for
creative ways we can provide a childcare facility. I think
that's something that we need to look at with our workforce
shortages, looking at the future, and becoming more family-
friendly here on the Hill.
The private sector does that. Oftentimes they're
integrating daycare right where moms and dads go to work every
day. So look forward to working on that, Senator Murphy, and
maybe we can revitalize that and take a fresh look.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS NORTH EXIT STAIR PROJECT
Mr. Ayers, included in your request is $18.1 million for
the North Exit Stair Project in the Thomas Jefferson Building
to address the Office of Compliance citation regarding egress
issues. We talked about that a bit yesterday.
This is the first of many phases to remediate the citation
with a total project cost anticipated to be $62 million.
Have you consulted with the Librarian and, if not, I could
point you to her, on how this project may impact plans for the
Visitors Experience Project also in the Thomas Jefferson
Building?
Mr. Ayers. Well, those are three important projects. There
are four stairwells that we believe are necessary in the Thomas
Jefferson Building. Of course, we have an open citation from
the Office of Compliance for those stairwells.
There's no doubt a building from 1897 is egress-deficient,
doesn't meet today's current building codes. The Congress has
already invested in the first stairwell and the first phase of
all four of these stairwells is to relocate the books that are
in the area where the stairwells are going to go. So we've
worked closely with the Library on that first phase.
We've identified the location. The books have been moved
out and relocated to another area by the Library of Congress,
and we're ready to start construction.
While Dr. Hayden and I haven't specifically talked about
whether there's any interference between those staircases and
the new Visitors Experience, I'm confident to say I don't
believe that there is. I know where the stairs are and I know
the big moves that Dr. Hayden is contemplating for the new
Visitors Experience and I don't think there'll be any overlap
or any interference with one another.
Dr. Hayden. I agree.
Senator Daines. Here's your chance, Dr. Hayden, right here.
Dr. Hayden. Well, we have talked generally about the
possible impact of more visitors coming because they want to
see the treasures. I was listening with interest about the
being more family friendly, having a youth center, and having
more people having access from zero to 12 coming into the
Library.
So we're very aware that if we build it, they will come
with these wonderful new exhibits, and it's basically an
exhibit-driven visitor experience and the architectural aspects
of the building parts will be with the AOC, and there should be
little impact from what we understand already on the structure.
Senator Daines. A follow-up question. What's the
anticipated timeframe, back to Mr. Ayers, for completion of the
phase of the project given funding is provided in fiscal year
2019?
Mr. Ayers. Of the exit stairs, Senator?
Senator Daines. Correct.
Mr. Ayers. That's probably an 18-month to 24-month
construction period.
Senator Daines. Okay.
Mr. Ayers. Pretty significant job in the middle of an
occupied building, of course.
Senator Daines. Right. And a $62 million price tag, so
that's significant.
SENATE UNDERGROUND GARAGE
My last question for Mr. Ayers is regarding the Senate
Underground Garage. It's a very visible project. We just funded
the final phase of the project in the fiscal year 2018 Omnibus.
Could you provide an overview of the work that we have
already done on the project and what this final phase will
accomplish?
Mr. Ayers. This project is broken down into a number of
phases and funded according to those phases, but the Senate
Underground Garage dates back to--well, it was last renovated
in the 1950s. I think it was first built in the 1930s,
renovated in the 1950s.
It holds about 190 cars and the first move is to move all
of those cars out to several alternative parking locations,
including a surface lot that we have created where the Taft
Memorial is. Then we need to essentially uncover that entire
garage, the roof, many of the walls, and excavate it,
rewaterproof it, put it all back together, and then go back
inside and restore the walls and fire protection systems, the
ventilating system, electrical services in the garage.
Senator Daines. What's the anticipated end date if the
project remains on schedule?
Mr. Ayers. I think the end date is November of 2020.
Senator Daines. Okay. Thank you.
Senator Murphy.
Senator Murphy. I'm good.
Senator Daines. Okay. Well, this concludes the Legislative
Branch Appropriations Subcommittee hearing regarding fiscal
year 2019 funding for the Library of Congress and the Architect
of the Capitol.
Thank you, Dr. Hayden, thank you, Mr. Ayers, for your
testimony.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
The hearing record will remain open for 7 days, allowing
Members to submit statements and/or questions for the record,
which should be sent to the subcommittee by close of business
on Tuesday, May 15th, 2018.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the agencies for response subsequent to the
hearing:]
Questions Submitted to Hon. Carla D. Hayden
Questions Submitted by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith
educational materials
Question. Dr. Hayden, many of my constituents live in rural areas
and a majority of Mississippi students attend school districts that are
considered rural by the Department of Education. In many of our towns,
the public library is a center point for the community, where
constituents have access to the Internet, books and other educational
materials. Would you share with the Committee how the Library of
Congress is utilizing its resources to assist rural libraries and
schools?
Answer. The Library of Congress is utilizing its resources to
assist rural libraries and schools in a number of ways. For starters,
our Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program awards grants to a
diverse array of educational organizations all over the country that
deliver primary source-based professional development opportunities for
teachers and librarians, and design curriculum and apps/online
interactives for students that also use primary sources from the
Library's collections. In recent years, the Library has granted funds
to numerous organizations that have focused their efforts specifically
on rural communities. Three in particular include: Mississippi State
University (MSU); The McComb, Mississippi, School District; and Mars
Hill University (North Carolina).
The TPS program also supports teachers nationwide through the
Library's online portal for educators, the Teachers Page (www.loc.gov/
teachers), which provides easy access to classroom-appropriate Library
of Congress primary sources, classroom materials, and online
professional development. The Teachers Page Search by Standards tool
allows educators anywhere in the United States to find resources that
meet their State requirements.
Meanwhile, the Library is leveraging the power of social media to
reach teachers and librarians wherever they are, using the ``Teaching
with the Library of Congress'' blog and Twitter account to highlight
materials, strategies, and opportunities that are available from the
library to assist schools and libraries.
The Library is also actively livestreaming, recording, and posting
on-site programs--including author programs, concerts, and monthly
story times--making them available online via the Library's You Tube
channel and Facebook page . We are promoting the programs and extending
their reach via Twitter (https://
twitter.com/librarycongress; and https://twitter.com/TeachingLC).
Both the current Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith, and the current
National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Jacqueline Woodson,
are reaching out to rural libraries and schools.
surplus book program
Question. Dr. Hayden, the Library of Congress Surplus Book Program
benefits numerous schools in Mississippi. I know there are many
organizations who are thankful for the books and other educational
materials made available to them. What is the Library of Congress doing
to ensure schools and other public entities are aware of this valuable
service offered by the Library? Does the Library intend to increase
outreach and services for this program?
Answer. The Library reaches out to schools and other public
entities about the surplus book program directly through its website,
through trusted partners, and most critically through congressional
offices. In order to communicate directly with interested organizations
the Library maintains a website on the program (https://www.loc.gov/
acq/surplus.html), including eligibility requirements and instructions
on application through or separately from a congressional office.
Information on the program is also available linked from the ALA
website (http://libguides.ala.org/book-donations/seeking-books), a
trusted resource for public libraries, school libraries, and other
educational institutions. However, the Library's most important
outreach efforts for the surplus book program are through congressional
offices, to help them spread awareness of the program among their
constituents. These efforts, primarily through the Library's
Congressional Relations Office, are multi-faceted, including: Every new
Congress scheduling appointments with new Member offices to discuss
Library services for them, their staff and constituents, including the
Surplus Books Program; Following a natural disaster, sending a notice
into the States/districts affected providing information about the
program and how it can be used in their State/district (Library staff
also liaise with FEMA on an ongoing basis to ensure awareness of
emergency needs and support for recovery efforts); Maintaining a
congressional-only facing website which includes a description of the
program (http://www.loc.gov/lcnet/constituent/); and advertising the
program through the Committee on House Administration's weekly
newsletter, as well as at district director meetings held at the
Library of Congress.
As technological opportunities allow, the Library continues to
explore ways to automate the program or provide offsite access to it.
However, as it currently structured and funded, the program is not well
poised for further expansion due to: the limited number of materials
(only those books not selected or retained by the Library), especially
in areas of particular interest to many school libraries (such as
children books or Spanish language books); the limited number of
Library staff currently available to stamp and box the selected
materials; the need for shipping costs to be covered either by the
recipient organization or through Congressional Franked mail (there are
no Library funds designated for this postage); and the need for
congressional or recipient organization staff to select the materials
on-site at the Library.
SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS
Senator Daines. The next hearing of the subcommittee will
be held on Tuesday, May 15, at 2:30 p.m., in Dirksen 138, and
we will hear testimony from the Capitol Police and the Senate
Sergeant at Arms regarding their fiscal year 2019 budget
request.
Until then, the subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:45 p.m., Tuesday, May 8, the subcommittee
was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of the Chair.]