[Senate Hearing 117-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


 
         LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023

                              ----------                              


                        WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
           Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                    Washington, DC.

    The subcommittee met at 4:15 p.m., in room SD-138, Dirksen 
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jack Reed, (Chairman) presiding.
    Present: Senators Reed and Braun.

                  GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE AND
                          LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

                 OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JACK REED

    Senator Reed. I call the hearing to order. Good afternoon. 
The subcommittee will continue its efforts for the fiscal year 
2023 budget for the Legislative Branch Appropriations. I am 
joined by our Ranking Member, Senator Braun. I look forward to 
working with him and the distinguished Members of the 
Subcommittee in crafting a responsible fiscal year 2023 funding 
legislation that supports the Legislative Branch.
    Today we have with us the Library of Congress, Dr. Carla 
Hayden, and the Comptroller General of the United States, Gene 
Dodaro. Welcome, and I thank you for joining us today. The 
Library and GAO are critical to making sure that Congress 
serves the American people well. They help Congress, supporting 
us in our basic responsibilities to be informed and educated on 
behalf of our constituents.
    So I want to begin by thanking the women and men of your 
agencies who work very hard every day to make sure that 
Congress can perform its Constitutional duties and that we use 
taxpayer dollars responsibly. The past few years have been 
difficult. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has 
continued to meet. This means we have asked your employees to 
show up for work, either in personal or remotely, to help us do 
our jobs.
    Then the January 6 attack on the Capitol happened, changing 
how we must think about and approach security while maintaining 
an open campus environment so that all people can visit and 
share this special place. But these challenges didn't stop the 
Library and its agencies, and the GAO from delivering for 
Congress and for the American people. CRS ramped up its science 
and technology analysis capacity to prepare and update 
thousands of new products to inform Congress on COVID-19 
related Details.
    GAO has been hard at work auditing the trillions of dollars 
provided by Congress, the Government wide response to the 
pandemic, including the American Rescue Plan Act, and the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. And GAO has churned out 
numerous flash reports in response to the January 6 attack on 
the Capitol. The agency worked tirelessly to respond to 
Congressional inquiries, conduct oversight, and provide 
valuable recommendations to the United States Capitol Police, 
the Architect of the Capitol, and the Capitol Police Board on 
much needed reforms and security upgrades.
    The Library intensified its public outreach to include a 
variety of virtual events, webinars, and workshops so that 
researchers, teachers, parents, and especially our children 
could still access and learn from its rich and diverse 
collections. The Library also sacrificed a major collection 
storage construction project so that we could cover 
unanticipated and unmet costs from the pandemic and the January 
6 attack on the Capitol campus.
    We need to make good on our promises and make it a priority 
to refund that project in our fiscal year 2023 bill. We want to 
make sure that your agencies have the tools needed to gradually 
reopen and responsibly resume normal operations. Congress owes 
it to your employees not only to provide the resources needed 
to do their jobs, but also to meet any new demands or 
innovations identified in the pandemic.
    That means continuing to make critical investments in IT 
modernization, cybersecurity, and collections, and staffing up 
your science and technology analysis and auditing teams. As 
Congress's independent and nonpartisan watchdog, our demands on 
GAO for audits and evaluations of Federal agencies to root out 
waste, fraud, and abuse while improving governance efficiently 
only grow greater and more complex.
    Your request reflects a return to optimal pre-sequester 
staffing levels and is the result of multiple years of careful 
investment and prioritizing by both your agency and Congress. I 
look forward to hearing from Comptroller Dodaro on how we can 
continue to build on the progress in fiscal year 2023, and how 
GAO aims to recruit and retain a talented and diverse 
workforce.
    And as we welcome back visitors and look to a brighter 
future, I want to hear from Dr. Hayden on the progress of the 
Library's visitor experience initiative. This is an exciting 
public, private partnership that will make the Library's 
treasures more accessible to students, researchers, and 
visitors to the nation's capital for generations to come.
    We do not yet have a broader budget agreement of fiscal 
year 2203, but I hope in the coming months this committee can 
unveil a strong appropriations bill that will support the needs 
of your agencies and the rest of the Legislative Branch. And 
now let me turn it over to my Ranking Member, Senator Braun. 
Senator Braun, please.

                OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MIKE BRAUN

    Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Dr. 
Hayden and Mr. Dodaro, for being here. It is our second 
Legislative Branch hearing. Look forward to working with the 
Chairman to get things fleshed out. Dr. Hayden, I participated 
in the Veterans History Project Workshop with you in April, 
where we discussed how veterans and their families can engage 
with the Library of Congress.
    The Library is doing important work to preserve the 
personal stories of American veterans. I think that is 
important. As we discussed a few weeks ago, I am pleased with 
the progress you have made in opening the Library of Congress 
back up to the public. Frankly, you have made a lot more 
progress and we have had here in the Senate, and for that you 
should be commended. Reopening the buildings on and around 
Capitol Hill to the public must be a top priority to the 
Committee.
    The Senate has lagged behind virtually all of America in 
reopening and getting back to normal. When we shut our economy 
down a couple of years ago, we are now dealing with the ripple 
effects from that in terms of high inflation and other things. 
We ought to at least get the buildings of the people back open 
to the people.
    Dr. Hayden, you are asking for $871 million in change, a 
3.9 percent increase over the fiscal year 2022 enacted level. 
That is definitely more sober than most of the requests I have 
seen come in from other parts of the Government. Remember, an 
economy, when it is robust, grows maybe 2 to 3 percent. We 
should never be growing this place with the results that we 
produce for more than what the economy is growing. That ends up 
with unsustainable debt and it is not a good long term business 
plan.
    We will look at your request very carefully. Mr. Dodaro, we 
have had the chance to talk many times about how the Federal 
Government works in terms of spending more than we take in. 
Mentioned just a little bit ago we were around $18 trillion in 
debt when I got here a little over 3 years ago and now we are 
$30 trillion in debt. We have got a blueprint for our country, 
for our kids, let's look at it that way, to live by that puts 
us $45 trillion in debt. We have become a country of consumers 
and spenders.
    And many of our geopolitical opponents out there or 
otherwise--you know, they believe in things, were investing and 
saving. And as a result, they probably don't run chronic 
deficits like we do. We have got to be careful. You can get 
beyond the point of no return. And when the budget that we have 
got as a blueprint in 10 years shows that we are spending as 
much on interest, and we are underestimating inflation and 
interest in that budget, as we will either on domestic 
discretionary spending or defense spending, look out, 
Americans, that is going to be a rough ride.
    This is a small part of what we do, the smallest 
appropriations category. But I think it needs to be consistent 
with what it is going to take, I think, to turn this juggernaut 
around, from running into the ditch very hard and it has got to 
start somewhere. You can at least show where we are getting 
some type of return on our investment. I think in 2021 alone, 
GAO's work yielded $66.2 billion in financial benefits.
    Hardly any other part of the Government where what you do, 
you can say, is actually saving money. Not a lot when you look 
at the big scheme of things, but it is at least doing the right 
thing. It is the right dynamic. You are asking, I think, for a 
12 to 13 percent increase. If there is one place where we ought 
to be spending more, it ought to be in a place where we get a 
decent return on investment.
    I trust that whatever we do give to you, it will be spent 
well. I would like just even symbolically to see that be reined 
in a little bit because we need to practice what we preach. I, 
again, look forward to working with the Chairman to get through 
this and hopefully to get it done on a timely basis. The 
American public deserves it.
    Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Senator Braun. Now I 
will ask the witnesses, beginning with Dr. Hayden, to give a 
brief opening statement of approximately 5 minutes to allow 
adequate time for questions. The written testimony of each 
witness will be printed in full in the hearing record. Dr. 
Hayden, you are recognized, please.
STATEMENT OF DR. CARLA HAYDEN, LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
    Dr. Hayden. Thank you. Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, 
for this opportunity to provide testimony in support of the 
Library's fiscal year 2023 budget. Yes, 2 years ago, the 
Library had to close its doors as the pandemic began. However, 
we moved quickly and successfully to adopt new and innovative 
approaches to serving Congress and the American people 
virtually under unprecedented conditions.
    And in fact, the pandemic accelerated our ongoing efforts 
to engage the public virtually and share our collections and 
services in new and exciting ways and allowing us to reach more 
people across the nation. And thanks to the dedication and 
innovation of our workforce during the past year, mission 
critical services, including the Congressional Research Service 
and the United States Copyright Office, were able to operate 
largely as normal.
    The Library did produce a full year of exciting virtual and 
hybrid programing, including the 21st National Book Festival. 
And with the Congressional support and private philanthropy, we 
continued to work toward unveiling the Library's enhanced 
visitor experience in phases, beginning with the opening of a 
treasures gallery in late 2023. I would like to express my 
gratitude for the ongoing support that this Committee and the 
entire Congress provides to the Library.
    In particular, our high priority needs in fiscal year 2022, 
such as the new Library collections access platform, L-CAP. 
That is the heart of our Library operations. Replacements for 
the Library's outmoded electronic security system and the 3G 
cellular system. And a cloud based office productivity suite 
for all Library employees. I come before you today to discuss 
the Library's fiscal year 2023 request of $871.8 million, an 
increase of 3.9 percent over the enacted fiscal year 2022 
appropriation.
    This request includes $30.8 million in mandatory pay and 
price level increases, and the balance of the increase 
represents critical program investments necessary to meet our 
mission. With new and modern IT infrastructure in place, thanks 
to your support, we are now using continuous innovation and 
delivery to ensure that we are constantly optimizing and 
modernizing the technology used to meet the Library's mission.
    The cloud has become an important part of IT planning at 
the Library and the fiscal year 2023 request seeks to establish 
a dedicated cloud management program that will enable us to 
integrate our cloud solutions with our traditional IT 
infrastructure. The Congressional Research Service needs to 
adapt and optimize its integrated research and information 
system, IRIS, using commercially available cloud based tools.
    And this request is critical to enable CRS to track 
Congressional requests, manage data and analysis, and 
facilitate the development and distribution of CRS products to 
Congress. We are also seeking funding to continue stabilizing 
and optimizing our financial infrastructure, which is essential 
to all of our Library operations.
    And this includes funds for increased Legislative Branch 
financial management system hosting and application management 
costs. This is a request made by the Library on behalf of eight 
Legislative Branch agencies that all benefit from this valuable 
and cost effective shared service.
    The 2023 request also includes funding for phase two of the 
Enterprise Planning and Management Program and for the 
Library's Cost Management Center of Excellence. To modernize 
and optimize payroll operations, we are requesting funds to 
implement a new integrated personnel and payroll processing 
system managed by the Department of the Interior's Integrated 
Business Center.
    The Copyright Office seeks to expand its data analysis 
capacities in economic research, fee, and cost analysis, and 
statistics in order to make better informed decisions about its 
fees. This request is fully funded with Copyright Office's 
offsetting collections. And as we prepare to unveil the 
Library's enhanced visitor experience, we are requesting funds 
to add additional visitor engagement staff, which will support 
the expanded public spaces in the Jefferson Building.
    We expect to see a significant increase in visitors in the 
next 3 to 5 years, and this additional staff will ensure that 
everyone has the best possible experience. So in closing, the 
Library's 2023 Congressional budget justification continues a 
sequence of strategically planned modernization efforts 
throughout the institution.
    And with the support of Congress, we will continue to 
strengthen our capacity to carry out our mission. Thank you, 
and we look forward to your questions.

    [The statement follows:]
 Prepared Statement of Hon. Dr. Carla Hayden, The Librarian of Congress
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the Subcommittee,

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of 
the Library's fiscal year 2023 budget.
    The Library of Congress has built one of the largest collections of 
human knowledge ever assembled in support of our mission to engage, 
inspire, and inform the Congress and the American people with a 
universal and enduring source of information and creativity. My top 
priority as Librarian of Congress remains expanded user access to the 
Library's resources and services. We are an authoritative source of 
knowledge that enriches the American people in countless ways. We 
constantly strive to find new ways to share our extraordinary riches 
with the nation.
    Two years ago, the Library had to close its doors as the pandemic 
began. We moved quickly and successfully to adopt new and innovative 
approaches to serving the Congress and the American people. I am 
pleased to report that we continued to make progress in sharing more of 
the Library's collections, programming, and staff expertise beyond the 
four walls of the Library. In fact, the pandemic accelerated our 
efforts to engage the public virtually and share our collections and 
services in new and exciting ways, allowing us to reach even more 
people across the nation. In fiscal year 2021, with the support of the 
Congress, the Library continued to build the collections and engage 
users. The Library reduced the cataloging arrearage by 1.2 million 
items, created online resources, reopened reading rooms, welcomed 
visitors and researchers, and resumed the Surplus Books Program, among 
many other activities. The Library's Center for Learning and Engagement 
produced a year full of exciting virtual and hybrid programming, 
including the 21st National Book Festival. Essential services, 
including the Congressional Research Service and the United States 
Copyright Office, were able to operate largely as normal. The National 
Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled implemented a long-
awaited change that made it easier for people with reading disabilities 
to enroll for services. With congressional support and private 
philanthropy, we continued to work toward unveiling the Library's 
enhanced Visitor Experience in phases, beginning with the Treasures 
Gallery in late 2023. The Library also reached an important milestone 
during the pandemic, with over 7.5 million items under inventory 
control in its preservation facility at Fort Meade and a new collection 
storage module completed. In another significant marker, for the first 
time, the Library's production information technology foundation exists 
fully outside of the Capitol Hill campus. With the completion of the 
Library's Data Center Transformation effort, the Office of the Chief 
Information Officer (OCIO) is now hosting the Library's more than 100 
production IT systems and nearly 90 petabytes of data across a modern 
hybrid hosting environment.
    Today, the Library holds nearly 174 million physical items, 
including special collections consisting of audio materials, maps, 
moving images, sheet music and much more. A single copy of our digital 
collections requires 26 petabytes of storage--that is roughly the 
equivalent of 13 trillion pages of printed text. If you piled up that 
many pages, you could reach the moon more than three times with these 
stacks of stored knowledge. The material on the Library's websites 
alone totals five petabytes.
    Over the last year, approximately 2.2 million Preservation actions 
were performed on items in the Library's physical collections, with a 
further 3.4 million pages of materials prepared and shipped to vendors 
for preservation reformatting services. The Library responded to 
730,562 reference requests from Congress, the public, and other Federal 
agencies, including direct use of CRS reports. The Copyright Office 
issued over 403,771 copyright registrations and recorded 8,252 
documents containing 961,291 titles. Library web sites recorded more 
than 178 million visits and nearly 618 million page views. We 
circulated more than 21.5 million copies of braille, audio and large 
print items to patrons, via the National Library Service for the Blind 
and Print Disabled and its network of State and local libraries. 
Moreover, even with pandemic restrictions, the Library welcomed nearly 
30,000 in-person visitors.
    The Library also continued direct services to the public with 
programs like the Veterans History Project which collects the stories 
of our Nation's veterans and Teaching with Primary Sources, which 
allows teachers in local school districts to create curricula and 
develop apps using the Library's digitized primary sources.
    I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the ongoing and 
remarkable support that this committee and all of Congress give to the 
Library. In particular, I appreciate the funding you have provided in 
fiscal year 2022 to meet high-priority needs such as the new L-CAP--
Library Collections Access Platform--that is the heart of Library 
operations; replacements for the Library's outmoded Integrated 
Electronic Security System and the 3G Cellular Distributed Antenna 
System; and installation of a cloud-based office productivity suite for 
all Library employees.
    I come before you today to discuss the Library's fiscal year 2023 
appropriations request. This budget request reflects the resources 
needed for us to sustain the Library's mission of service to Congress, 
access to the creative record of the United States, and stewardship of 
the cultural heritage of the American people. The budget request is 
aligned with the goals and objectives of the Library's Strategic Plan: 
Expand access, enhance services, optimize resources, and measure 
impact. To advance these strategic goals, the budget requests 
additional resources for several new or expanded programs. All of the 
requests are in support of the Library's mission and vision that all 
Americans are connected to the Library of Congress and invest in a 
vibrant future for this institution.
    The Library of Congress fiscal year 2023 budget request is for 
$871.8 million, which represents a 3.9 percent increase over the 
Library's fiscal year 2022 enacted appropriation. This request includes 
$30.8 million in mandatory pay and price level increases. The balance 
of the increase represents critical program investments necessary to 
fulfill the Library's role and to sustain continuous technology 
innovation and delivery; continue stabilization and optimization of the 
financial infrastructure; expand active engagement with visitors to the 
Library; and strengthen data analysis expertise in life cycle costing 
and cost estimating as well as data analysis for evaluating and setting 
Copyright fees.
    The fiscal year 2023 budget continues many of the strategic 
modernization and optimization efforts the Congress has supported in 
recent years for the Library. As I am sure other government agencies 
are experiencing, rapidly evolving technology and public expectations 
have required us to adjust, and in some cases expand, multiyear efforts 
that are underway to enhance the IT and operations of many of the 
Library's service units. The budget request also addresses staffing 
gaps that have arisen as a result of absorption of mandatory pay and 
price level increases. It builds staff capacity we must have to respond 
to technological advancement and addresses skills in areas such as data 
analysis and cost estimation that are required to meet the Library's 
fiduciary responsibilities.
        sustaining continuous technology innovation and delivery
    As I have reported before, at the Library, we have fundamentally 
rebuilt our technology foundation. The large investment in Library IT 
over the last few years is already paying dividends. As the Nation 
continued to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Library's more 
robust IT infrastructure allowed us to sustain remote operations for 
the majority of the Library's workforce for the entire fiscal year. It 
also paves the way for ongoing efforts to expand and enhance the major 
IT systems that support the Library's business operations and its 
digital offerings to Congress and the public.
    Most importantly, we are not merely updating existing applications 
and systems. We have completely re-envisioned how we manage and use 
technology at the Library. With new, modern IT infrastructure in place, 
we have stabilized our operations and we are moving to a model of 
carefully constructed continuous innovation and continuous delivery to 
ensure that we are constantly optimizing and modernizing the technology 
needed to meet the needs of Congress and the American people.
    As in the private sector and other government agencies, the cloud 
has become an important part of our IT planning at the Library. Its 
ability to quickly scale services to meet changing needs and its 
capacity to support accessibility and collaborations across a wide 
range of users are powerful tools that are essential as we continue our 
digital transformation. As we mature our use of the cloud at the 
Library, we are following the Federal ``Cloud Smart'' strategy, which 
calls for cloud solutions to be integrated with our traditional IT 
infrastructure to seamlessly support our business needs.
    Of course, greater use of the cloud comes with some challenges too. 
The Library requires specialized resources to properly implement and 
administer cloud services and ensure that we can make the most of our 
cloud operations. The Library's request for a dedicated Cloud 
Management Program will provide OCIO with the expertise necessary to 
ensure essential cloud management practices, monitor cloud-based 
applications for compliance and security, coordinate development of 
advanced IT solutions, and ensure maximum value from existing IT 
infrastructure.
    The Library must also continue to mature its IT planning, project 
management, and governance to sustain the pace of digital 
transformation and the growing demand for new and enhanced technology 
to support services to Congress and the Nation. Audit findings from the 
Government Accountability Office and the Office of the Inspector 
General have reinforced the need for the Library to mature its IT cost 
estimating, schedule management and quality review practices, and 
improve OCIO's ability to meet Federal standards and industry best 
practices for IT project management. The Library's fiscal year 2023 
request includes in-house expertise and contract support to respond to 
the significant volume of pre-planning project-related activities, 
project challenges, and evolving audit recommendations.
    The Congressional Research Service also seeks, in partnership with 
OCIO, to adapt and optimize its Integrated Research and Information 
System (IRIS) in a technology landscape that changed dramatically since 
its initial planning and procurement in 2018. This request is critical 
for the completion of the initial IRIS configuration using commercially 
available cloud-based tools to meet specific CRS requirements for 
authoring and publishing, content management, and congressional 
relations management, while insuring integration with CRS legacy IT 
systems and research tools. It will also establish and staff a 
sustainment and development program, using the continuous innovation 
and continuous delivery (CI/CD) model employed for major Library IT 
systems, including Congress.gov. IRIS will significantly improve the 
manner in which CRS analytical staff author and publish reports and 
memoranda, manage data and tacit knowledge, and maintain timely and 
functional analytics on products and services. CRS IT systems must be 
up-to-date to meet congressional needs.
 continuing stabilization and optimization of financial infrastructure
    A stable and optimized financial infrastructure is essential to 
everything the Library does. A necessary shift to the cloud for the 
Legislative Branch Financial Management System (LBFMS) added workload 
in financial reporting, and an unintegrated personnel and payroll 
system also need prompt attention.
    The Library's Financial Systems continues to manage hosting of the 
LBFMS as a shared service for the legislative branch. The LBFMS funding 
model, and support provided by the Congress, are essential to the 
success of the initiative. Sharing a financial system and consolidating 
some financial management tasks save the Legislative Branch more than 
$3.3 million annually, across the eight participating agencies.
    However, with the migration of the LBFMS to the cloud, funding 
challenges exist because system hosting and application management 
costs exceed the $1.06 million annually received from the Congress. The 
increased cost has been pro-rated among LBFMS agencies and covered by 
the Library's funds. At the request of the LBFMS Steering Committee, 
comprised of representatives of the partner agencies, the Library 
requests funding to cover the $700,000 increase in the cost of hosting 
and operating the system in the cloud. The Library's intention is to 
maintain consistent year-to-year funding requirements for both the 
Library and our partner LBFMS agencies cost share, so that all can 
better plan for LBFMS costs for future years. The eight Legislative 
Branch agencies cross-serviced through the LBFMS believe the most 
efficient method to address the additional costs is for Congress to 
provide the funding directly to the Library for LBFMS operations, 
rather than increase each agency's budget by a prorated amount and then 
have the Library charge each agency separately. The Library cannot 
unilaterally cover the increased costs from its budget.
    Stabilization and optimization efforts continue to meet challenges 
in financial reporting. Important improvements have been made, 
including hiring the Library's first comptroller. The Library also 
recently received its 25th consecutive unmodified audit opinion. 
However, Financial Reports (FR) now has an increased workload to 
support the Library's cross-servicing partners and to meet expanded 
Department of the Treasury reporting requirements. Continued 
stabilization and optimization of the financial reporting functions are 
important not only to fulfill the Library's external reporting 
requirements, but also to meet FR's responsibility for setting 
accounting standards and preparing Library of Congress regulations and 
process directives, which ensure that the Library has good internal 
controls that are tested and validated throughout the year. The request 
includes FTE to address additional accounting workload and reporting 
responsibilities, as well as contractor services to update and create 
essential financial reporting and financial system documentation, 
procedure guides, and training materials.
    The Library also requests funding to implement an integrated and 
optimized personnel and payroll processing system. Currently, staff 
must enter data in different legacy systems, causing leave balance 
discrepancies and issues resulting from manual payroll and personnel 
action request reconciliation, and the use of manual forms causes 
errors. It also presents challenges with retirement package tracking, 
making it difficult for retirees to get the information they need. This 
request would shift the Library's personnel and payroll processing 
service provider from the National Finance Center system to the 
Department of the Interior's Integrated Business Center (IBC). A full-
scale migration to the IBC personnel and payroll system will result in 
significant cost avoidance and mitigate the lost time currently devoted 
to correcting problems in a non- integrated and non-automated system.
        expanding active engagement with visitors to the library
    The Library is reimagining the visitor engagement model to meet the 
changing needs of audiences in a post-pandemic world. Visitor 
operations will increase dramatically with the opening of the Treasures 
Gallery, the first phase of the Visitor Experience, when it opens in 
fall 2023. The Library expects to welcome more than 2 million visitors 
annually in the next 3 to 5 years, compared to 1.6 million in 2019. The 
Visitor Experience will add 12,000 square feet of public space to the 
Library. Funding is requested to add staffing for the Library's Visitor 
Engagement Program, which will support the expanded public space and 
will enhance the active engagement and safety of visitors, including 
your constituents, and the use of the Jefferson Building and the 
collections.
 strengthening data analysis expertise in life cycle costing and cost 
     estimating as well as in evaluating and setting copyright fees
    In concert with efforts to stabilize and optimize its financial 
infrastructure, the Library requests funding for the second phase of 
the Enterprise Planning & Management (EPM) initiative, which will 
enable the strategic use of the Library's planning and operational data 
as a catalyst to drive more effective decisionmaking and improved 
performance of Library projects, programs, and investments. Phase two 
is the next step in implementing an integrated planning process and 
maturing a Cost Management Center of Excellence, which will pilot new 
cost estimating and data analytics capabilities by establishing the 
staff expertise and processes necessary to optimize cost management. 
Subsequent requests will include a new technology platform to replace 
legacy systems nearing the end of their useful lives.
    Finally, the Copyright Office seeks to expand its capabilities in 
economic research, fee and cost analysis, and statistics funded fully 
with Copyright Office offsetting collections. There is a mission-
critical need to establish expertise in economic research and analysis 
specific to issues of copyright and the impact of fee changes on 
participation in the copyright system. The Office must also improve its 
capacity to perform cost and fee analysis and to manage, validate, and 
report on the statistics and metrics that affect its costs, revenue, 
and fee analysis. These capabilities are crucial for the Office to 
manage its operations effectively and to better demonstrate to the 
Congress, its users, and other stakeholders that it is using an 
evidence-based process for evaluating and setting fees, which currently 
make up approximately 50 percent of the Office's annual budget.
    In closing, the Library's 2023 Congressional Budget Justification 
continues a sequence of strategically planned modernization efforts 
across the enterprise. With the strong support of Congress, the Library 
continues to optimize and modernize operations and technology to 
strengthen institutional capacity to carry out the mission undeterred 
by changing realities. Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members 
of the Subcommittee, thank you again for supporting the Library of 
Congress and for your consideration of our fiscal year 2023 request.

    Senator Reed. Thank you, doctor. Comptroller General, 
please.
STATEMENT OF HON. GENE DODARO, U.S. COMPTROLLER 
            GENERAL, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
    Mr. Dodaro. Good afternoon Mr. Chairman, Senator Braun. It 
is a pleasure to be here to discuss GAO's budget proposal for 
fiscal year 2023. I want to first thank the Committee for its 
past support for our work. I believe we have provided a good 
return on investment of the money you have given GAO over the 
last 5 years. We have averaged a return on investment of $158 
back to the Government for every $1 invested in GAO.
    In addition, we have averaged over 1,300 other benefits to 
the Government, such as improvements in public safety and 
better efficiency and effectiveness of Government operations 
and programs. In addition to our normal array of work that we 
do on a regular basis to support 90 percent of the committees 
of the Congress, we have undertaken some special assignments 
on, as the Chairman mentioned, the extra spending on the COVID-
19 pandemic. We have issued 10 Government-wide reports that 
examine the full breadth of the COVID experience and track the 
Federal spending. We have also issued over 100 individual GAO 
reports on specific pandemic-related areas.
    We have made about 280 recommendations, including 15 
matters for Congressional consideration. I testified before the 
Senate in March about 10 of these recommendations for improving 
transparency and accountability of not only COVID spending, but 
all Federal spending, reining in improper payments and dealing 
with a growing problem of fraud, particularly in the pandemic 
programs.
    In the high risk series, we have added two new additions.
    The last time I was here, I talked about adding drug misuse 
across Government, and a need for greater Federal leadership. 
Since then we added HHS leadership and coordination of public 
health emergencies to the high risk list. There are still not 
clear definitions of roles and responsibilities. There is 
miscommunication, challenges that haven't been fully met, and 
data collection issues, among others. I am concerned about the 
preparations to deal with future public health emergencies.
    We also recently added the unemployment insurance program. 
It has been subject to a lot of fraud, and it is also badly in 
need of transformation for the 21st century. The program needs 
to adapt to a different type of economy and workforce. The 
State systems are antiquated and are not up to the challenge.
    In addition, we do an annual report on overlap, 
duplication, and fragmentation in the Federal Government. The 
Administration and the Congress have acted on 74 percent of our 
approximate 1,300 recommendations. So far that has produced 
$552 billion of financial benefits to the Government. I expect 
that amount to continue to grow into the future.
    Now we are asking, as Senator Braun mentioned, for an 
increase in our funding and that will go to five important 
areas. One is science and technology. Science and technology is 
becoming ubiquitous to all aspects of the Federal Government's 
operations. We have been asked to take on the responsibilities 
of the former Office of Technology Assessment.
    We have done technology assessments of artificial 
intelligence in health care, one for drug development, and 
another on diagnostics, such as one on forensic algorithms. We 
also did technology assessments of Operation Warp Speed's 
development of the vaccines and defense navigation 
capabilities. We have many other assessments in the works on 
topics such as, regenerative medicine, and carbon management.
    Our second priority area for funding is cybersecurity. We 
have an expert cybersecurity team.
    We are getting inundated with requests for cybersecurity 
work, not just for evaluations of information systems, but also 
for weapon systems and critical infrastructure systems that 
span the full breadth and scope of our economy, both inside and 
outside the Federal Government.
    Our third priority area is defense or the national security 
enterprise, which include work related to threats and 
competition from China and Russia as well as the war in 
Ukraine.
    I expect many more requests in the defense arena.
    Our fourth priority area is health care. It is the fastest 
growing part of the Federal Government's budget. There is $148 
billion in improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid alone for 
2021. We have and will continue to do work on prescription drug 
pricing as well.
    The fifth priority area is infrastructure. There are 35 
mandates in the Infrastructure and Jobs Act for GAO, and 7 more 
in the fiscal year 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act. We 
need some additional funding to help us carry out those 
responsibilities.
    Mr. Chairman, you mentioned recruiting and retaining 
people. We have hired over a 1,000 people since the pandemic 
started. We are very effective in attracting and retaining 
talent.
    We are on track to meet 99 percent of our FTE goals for 
this fiscal year. Moreover, GAO was ranked number one in best 
places to work in midsize agencies last year. I am very proud 
of our record. We have no problem recruiting and retaining 
people. We just need your continued support. I know you will 
take careful consideration of our request and I appreciate the 
opportunity to be here today.

    [The statement follows:]
    [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    
       LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--SECURITY COORDINATION POST JANUARY 6

    Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Comptroller General.
    Dr. Hayden, after January 6, the security situation changed 
dramatically. That is probably an understatement. How have you 
changed your--how are you collaborating with the Capitol Police 
and other agencies, and any adjustments in addition to those 
that you have made?
    Dr. Hayden. The Library has worked closely with the U.S. 
Capitol Police. And in fact, we hosted the National Guard 
personnel right after January 6. And we have been continuing 
with helping with limited entrances to our facilities so that 
they have additional personnel to take care of the things that 
they need to.
    And we also were very appreciative of the funding that we 
received in fiscal year 2022 for two major things that were in 
the work, but the need was reinforced on January the 6. One, 
cellular communications. We needed to upgrade to 5G from 3G, 
and the Capitol Police and the Architect of the Capitol staff 
had difficulty, significant trouble, maintaining communications 
in the Library buildings during the events.
    And immediately after that, funding has been appropriated, 
and we are implementing that. And the other was our physical 
security and video surveillance. The events on January 6 
reinforced the importance of that request that was funded last 
year. And Library cameras, for instance, if they had been 
sufficient and updated, they would have been able to provide 
more visibility around the perimeter, the Library's Jefferson 
Building is directly behind the Capitol, and more high 
resolution video data would have been available.
    And so with this new security system, we are replacing the 
monitors, all of the things that go with it, plus life cycle 
improvements so that we can keep up with the technology that is 
also being implemented. You did mention funding that was 
deferred for our high priority preservation in module seven was 
used for security purposes and we sincerely hope that it will 
be reinstated.
    Senator Reed. Thank you. Comptroller General, after the 
January 6 attack, you issued five reports on aspects of the 
attack from additional actions needed to better prepare a 
Capitol Police coordination with the Federal agencies. What do 
you consider to be the most important recommendation, and are 
they being implemented to your satisfaction?
    Mr. Dodaro. Not yet. All 11 recommendations we made were 
still outstanding. We received some resistance from DHS about 
updating their requirements and explanation of how to designate 
something a special event ahead of time.
    I will continue to follow up with them on this issue. The 
other recommendations draw on two areas that I think are 
equally important. One is the physical protection of the 
Capitol building and having comprehensive risk assessments 
done.
    We have heard from the US Capitol Police. We really haven't 
heard from the Capitol Police Board yet in terms of what they 
are doing. The other area of recommendations were related to 
training for the police. More realistic training and training 
on the use of force is needed. All the recommendations, I 
believe, are important, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to see 
fuller and quicker implementation.
    Senator Reed. Thank you very much. And let me direct your 
question to both you. Senator Braun touched upon it.

                 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--LIBRARY REOPENING

    Senator Reed. What are your plans, Dr. Hayden, about 
reopening, fully reopening? Where are we, or where are you, I 
should say?
    Dr. Hayden. Well, the Library began reopening actually in 
September of 2020 just for electronic research. People had to 
make appointments. The reading rooms opened in June and July of 
2021 and the general public in July of 2021. And we worked 
closely with the Capitol Police. And we also are very fortunate 
in terms of our health services staff.
    So we have 98 percent of our staff members vaccinated, 
there are regular health screening, and then we establish timed 
entry passes for the public, and that has been very successful 
because we can monitor the number of people in the buildings, 
and we can also issue passes the same day.
    These are free passes, and it helps us in case of an 
emergency, for instance, if we have to contact people and say 
that for--or anything, that we are able to do that. So we have 
expanded our information kiosks. We had virtual docents and 
volunteers that could stay at home but also give guidance and 
talk to visitors, and that we are going to continue because 
that was very successful.
    So with the staff members that were able to roam around and 
help people, but also those timed entry passes have been very, 
very helpful.
    Senator Reed. Thank you. And Comptroller General, your sort 
of quick assessment of your reopening process?
    Mr. Dodaro. For the last decade, we have had a very robust 
telework arrangement. Staff could work up to 66 hours of the 80 
hours, 2 week pay period remotely. Most information is now 
digitized in an electronic format, allowing the work to be done 
remotely, and teleworking helps us recruit and retain the 
caliber of people that we need. But we have people back now 
full time in the offices working with classified information.
    We are coming up with a future of work plan in GAO, in 
which we will continue to have a robust, telework arrangement. 
We are going to have some remote options. We found during the 
pandemic, for example, that by offering remote options we could 
recruit interns--and we recruit about 200 interns every year--
from areas across this great country of ours that weren't close 
to a GAO facility.
    And it really helped us to diversify and get a better pool 
of applicants for our positions. So we are going to have a 
remote option for our employees in the future, along with a 
telework option, and an in-person presence. But everybody will 
be here when Congress needs us to be here for meetings and 
things of that nature, and they will be on site at the agencies 
when they need to be to do the work. I think we have a proven 
track record over the last decade and also during the pandemic 
that we can operate in this way.
    To have the caliber of workforce that we need it is 
essential that we retain people. Our attrition rate is only 6 
percent. During the pandemic it was only 5 percent. We put a 
big investment in our people to train them, and we need to have 
institutional knowledge. You need to retain the people in order 
to do that.
    Senator Reed. Thank you very much. Senator Braun is 
recognized, and then we will have a second round.
    Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We talked earlier 
about the current debt that we are in as a country, around $30 
trillion. And might point out that the last time we were this 
far in debt would have been coming out of World War II. That 
was a generation that would be appalled at where we are at now. 
They were savers. They were investors. Paid all that debt off 
from World War II. And it was probably the equivalent of 
around, in today's dollars who knows? It might be more than 
what we have got.
    Nevertheless, they paid it off and built the interstate 
highway system, a very capital intensive project. That is 
reflective of how we built our status as a country across the 
world. Generous in helping rebuild our enemies into trading 
partners, and now end up doing things that just don't make 
sense in terms of a solid financial posture into the future. 
You know, they call it the modern monetary theory, where annual 
deficits and cumulative debt don't make any difference anymore.
    You seem to be the one bright spot within our Federal 
Government that, to the extent you can, reins things in. Would 
you like to comment about where you think we will be if we stay 
on that course? Even doing all of this seems to be a moot point 
if we don't get it done on a timely basis. And it still 
incorporates now with President Biden's blueprint for our 
country over the next 10 years, another $15 trillion in debt, 
averaging $1.5 trillion a year. Where does that take us?
    Mr. Dodaro. We are basically on an unsustainable long term 
fiscal path. At the end of 2021 debt held by the public was 
already about 100 percent of the GDP. Absent any fiscal change 
in policy, our simulations show that this ration could rise to 
over 200 of GDP within the next 40 years, and it will continue 
to go up absent that change. By 2035, we could be paying $1 
trillion a year just to service our debt and interest. And I 
think that is a problem.
    There are also short term issues, such as Social Security 
funding and, Medicare Part A funding, where we are going to hit 
a wall within the next decade for both of those programs. That 
is going to force us to come to grips with the size of the 
benefit levels and to deal with those programs. I am also very 
concerned about our interest rate exposure into the future.
    I have issued an annual report on the nation's fiscal year 
for the last 6 years. Even before the reports, I was talking 
about the nation's unsustainable fiscal path for a long time, 
because you could see this coming due to demographic shifts and 
the rising costs of health care, which are the main drivers of 
this issue. I have also called for a change in how we set the 
debt limit. The debt limit, right now, does nothing to control 
the debt.
    Rather it makes markets nervous about whether we are going 
to raise the limit in time to make timely payments. People 
avoid Treasury securities that might mature around that period 
of time. It disrupts the liquidity in the secondary market. It 
doesn't do anything for us, except create an opportunity to 
talk about this issue, but it rarely produces enough change to 
alter the long term trajectory. I am very concerned about how 
we set and use the debt limit.
    Senator Braun. I am going to put a budget out here in a 
couple of weeks that will do what Americans should expect of 
us, and that would balance the budget over 10 years. And it 
takes political will. It takes discipline if we are going to do 
it. And you mentioned the two programs that most would look to 
the Federal Government to be healthy, to be there would be 
Medicare and Social Security.
    And I hope the American public knows and in 4 years, we 
will have depleted every penny. We have paid into the Medicare 
trust fund. And will we do something ahead of time? We will 
probably let it run into the ditch and then borrow money to 
backfill the shortage because it be close to 15 to 18 percent 
benefit cuts.
    Social Security, we have known actuarially for decades, and 
that will be a bigger issue, and we have been paying into that 
since the Depression. All of that will be gone. It does take 
some serious consideration. We seem not to do it. I am just 
hoping that we wise up here quickly.

           LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--WELCOMING VISITORS POST COVID

    Senator Braun. Dr. Hayden, when you were talking earlier 
about the Library of Congress getting back open, what 
percentage of your normal activities would you say you are back 
to in terms of what--you mentioned, a few of them that are back 
up and running again. Where are you at pre-COVID compared to 
pre-COVID now?
    Dr. Hayden. I would have to say that we are at least 80 
percent back, and that is basically with the number of visitors 
who are coming in. Before COVID, we had approximately 2 million 
visitors per year coming physically into Library facilities. 
And so now with the timed entry, we have capacity for about 
6,000 people daily. If anyone comes up and they don't have the 
pass, we give them same day passes.
    We just left the building, the Thomas Jefferson building 
today and there were school groups and tour groups. We really 
are seeing the increase in visitors. When the Capital Visitor 
Center opens, in fact staff from the Capital Visitor Center 
have been on detail to the Library helping us with our plans 
for increased visitor attendance, and when that opens we 
anticipate that we will be very much in demand.
    Senator Braun. Well, I wish the capital and the folks in 
charge of it, you know, would be as kind of good at getting 
back to normal as what you have done in the Library of 
Congress. I get complaints often from folks not only from 
Indiana but across the country that why aren't we back closer 
to normal?
    I know that the Capitol Police, they have got some concerns 
as well as leadership currently in the House and Senate. And I 
think that that needs to be at least where we are at. You say 
you are back to 80 percent of normal. We need to be much closer 
to that than where we are. And I do have a few more questions. 
I yield back.
    Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Senator Braun. Both Dr. 
Hayden and the Comptroller General, how are you coping with 
inflation in this budget and going forward for your agencies?

               LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--MITIGATING INFLATION

    Dr. Hayden. Well, in terms of the Library, in every cycle, 
we plan for it, and we use the CBO inflation rate that is used 
by all of the Legislative Branch agencies. And that current 
inflation rate is about 8.3 percent and the Library used 4.6 
percent for pay and a CBO rate of 2.8. Our budget is 65 percent 
pay. And some units, for instance, are CRS is 90 percent pay. 
We see the costs escalating in contractual labor, with some of 
the hard to fill categories that OPM has even identified, 
contract specialists and IT.
    What we do to mitigate inflation is a combination of 
things. We slow down hiring and backfills - though sometimes 
that hinders us from ever backfilling because the costs have 
been shifted to other areas. We de-scope and delay some 
contracts when we can. And if necessary, we would consider more 
severe methods, furloughs and RIFs and we haven't had to do 
that and slowing down certain programs.
    One aspect that we are concerned about is we talk about the 
visitor experience, for instance, and the Fort Meade module. We 
have already been told by the Architect of the Capitol that we 
will probably see significant increases in costs. Supply chain, 
all of these types of things. So that is what we are watching 
very closely, working with them on value engineering, on these 
projects.
    Fort Meade, there is not much more we can value engineer 
there, but the visitor experience has more opportunities there. 
But that is our one concern that it is hard for us to control.
    Senator Reed. Thank you. Comptroller General, please.
    Mr. Dodaro. 85 percent of our costs are personnel costs. So 
we are always concerned about whether we are getting enough 
funds to cover the cost of living increases that Congress 
ultimately authorizes.
    We also have performance based pay as well, and then 
benefits go up each year as well. These increase always factor 
into what size of workforce you can have and how many people 
you can hire. Now, the other two main costs outside of pay are 
IT and building costs. For our IT, we are on pace with our 
modernization effort in which we are moving to the cloud to 
save costs over the long run.
    And we have to make sure we invest what we need to for 
computer security purposes to protect our information and all 
the information we gather from other agencies across the 
Federal Government. That is always a top priority. We also need 
to modernize our content management systems for our audit 
documentation. Our systems is over 30 years old.
    We are trying to modernize it, but the pace of that 
modernization will be dictated by how much money we receive and 
what the pace of inflation will be going forward.
    The other main cost outside of pay is our building. We own 
our headquarters building. And in the past what we have done 
due to constrained budgets is defer maintenance on the 
building.
    We have over $80 million in deferred maintenance costs 
right now. We are trying to have a plan to fix that problem 
over time. And so, what we will do is pace it with the amount 
of money that we have over the period of time. It is all we can 
do--we will prioritize the investments; for example the blast 
protections on our windows, particularly around the first 
floor, is a high priority.
    We have a daycare center on the first floor and I want to 
make sure those children are protected. So I want to make sure 
we upgrade the blast protection on the windows on that floor. 
Our building is one complete block so it is very exposed to the 
streets.
    Senator Reed. Let me follow up Comptroller. A somewhat 
related question. You have a high retention in your workforce, 
you have an extremely capable workforce. You prove it every 
day. You are talking about the challenges to our IT systems.
    Other Federal agencies have, I am--my observation is that 
workforce shortages and problems with very old IT. Have you 
been asked, or have you done an assessment of different 
agencies throughout the Federal Government? And can you give us 
sort of the worst, the best?
    Mr. Dodaro. Yes. First of all, on our high risk list, we 
have human capital management across the Federal Government. We 
have had it on that list since 2001. I am very concerned about 
the State of the Federal Government's workforce. There is a lot 
of critical skill gaps.
    Of the 36 areas we have on our high risk list, plus the two 
new areas we added this year, about 24 are on there in part 
because of critical skill gaps in those areas. So we have 
problems. I think the Defense Department does probably one of 
the better jobs of recruiting and retaining people. But even at 
DOD there are cybersecurity skill gaps and acquisition 
workforce skill gaps. NASA and Department of Interior also have 
skill gap problems; for example, Interior has problems 
retaining sufficient staff to oversee and manage oil and gas 
operations.
    Another Government wide high risk area is IT acquisition 
and management. I don't think the Federal Government gets a 
fair return on it's almost now $100 billion a year invested in 
IT. A lot of improvements need to be made in that area as well.
    And so we work every day to try to get better practices in 
place, to get a better return on our investment from the IT 
funding that is provided to agencies. I think, everybody is in 
need of improvement in that area.
    Senator Reed. And those improvements would presumably 
increase productivity significantly.
    Mr. Dodaro. Oh, absolutely. And also increase computer 
security, Senator. I mean, one of the biggest problems we have 
now is we are still carrying legacy systems that are decades 
old, that were never designed to build security into those 
systems. It is like a millstone around our neck from a computer 
security standpoint.
    Senator Reed. Well, I can recall learning basic as a plebe 
at West Point, and computer security was making sure you didn't 
drop the box of cards, and that is a program. So with that, let 
me recognize Senator Braun.
    Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You mentioned 
earlier, Comptroller, that there was fraud in our extended 
unemployment insurance benefits. I would like to point out that 
I think we spent nearly $800 to $900 billion in total in that 
neighborhood, about the same amount that we did back in 2008 
and 2009.
    So it is just to have a comparison of how much money we 
spent navigating through COVID, $4 trillion, I think, due to 
the uncertainty of the CARES Act and so forth. And then another 
$3 trillion, and I think mostly we didn't need, that generated 
a lot of what we are wrestling with now.
    On the fraud associated with the extended unemployment 
benefits, I have heard estimates anywhere from $70 billion to 
$250 billion. I mean, these are unbelievable numbers. And then 
the PPP loan program. I hear a lot about that as well. How much 
is your agency weighing in on it and what can you tell us about 
it?
    Mr. Dodaro. Yes, well, first we placed the SBA emergency 
loan programs on the High Risk List in 2021. Both the Paycheck 
Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan 
program were fraught with problems. SBA wasn't able to get an 
opinion on their financial statements because they couldn't 
support the balances on their financial statements. I had 
trouble getting the attention of the SBA early in the pandemic. 
I was very concerned about those two programs from the outset.
    On the unemployment area, there are a lot of problems. We 
have been asked the question of how much fraud has occurred? 
And of course, that won't be known for years because you got to 
go through a legal process before it is determined to be fraud 
at the end. But it is a significant amount of money. There 
are----
    Senator Braun. Over $100 billion, would you say?
    Mr. Dodaro. I hesitate to give a guess.
    Senator Braun. I think the Labor Department estimated $70 
or $80 and said it could be up to 2 to 3 times that much, so.
    Mr. Dodaro. Well, sometimes these estimates get conflated 
with improper payment estimates.
    Senator Braun. We will get to that in a moment.
    Mr. Dodaro. Yes so it is really not clear. We will be 
issuing a report that will clarify these differences between 
fraud and improper payments and give the Labor Department 
estimates of fraud and improper payments, to include estimates 
developed by the Department itself and by the Inspector 
General. We are working on this report now.
    Senator Braun. Good. And I would love to hear that amount 
when you get it fleshed out, even in the long run, when we get 
to the real figures. And I think that whenever we do something 
like this, I think the American public was appalled by that 
much. But when you spend that much and you do it that quickly, 
there is going to be some of it. But these figures are an 
abomination if they are even close to true.
    Mr. Dodaro. Yes. I was very disappointed with SBA and 
Labor. We worked with Congress on a 2016 law called the Fraud 
Reduction and Data Analytics Act. The act reflected best 
practices and a framework to prevent fraud from occurring in 
the first place. SBA and Labor were slow off the dime in 
implementing this law and weren't prepared as well as they 
should have been before the pandemic.
    So part of the legislative recommendations that I have made 
to the Congress is to put a better spotlight on how agencies 
are preparing to prevent fraud. Because if with these numbers 
being what they could be, the rule of thumb is you are only 
going to get about 10 percent back of----
    Senator Braun. It is not a good collection rate.
    Mr. Dodaro. No, it is not. And the longer it goes----
    Senator Braun. Before we run out of time because I have a 
question for Dr. Hayden as well. But while we are on the 
subject of improper payments, I about fell out of my seat when 
you told me back, I think in 2021 that there were $281 billion 
of improper payments. That, again, is a figure so large.
    How can any entity make that many improper payments and not 
be able to mitigate it somewhere along the way? And would you 
explain to me and the American public how you come up with $281 
billion worth of improper payments?
    Mr. Dodaro. Yes. Well, first of all, I want to make it 
clear, that is not a complete estimate. There are a number of 
programs that didn't even make an estimate. And I believe----
    Senator Braun. So it could be more?
    Mr. Dodaro. Oh, it definitely is more. The question is how 
much more. There are 86 programs that made estimates at 16 
different agencies. 26 of those programs had rates in excess of 
10 percent. This is----
    Senator Braun. Like wrong amounts that----
    Mr. Dodaro. Overpayments----
    Senator Braun. Wrong payee, all that kind of stuff?
    Mr. Dodaro. Yes. Some of it is underpayments, but that is 
less than about 10 percent of the total estimate.
    Senator Braun. This is netting out in terms of overpayments 
or improper pay----
    Mr. Dodaro. It counts both. These count both.
    Senator Braun. Okay.
    Mr. Dodaro. But the amount of underpayments--which is a 
problem, too, means somebody who should have been getting the 
money, wasn't getting the money. We certainly found that in the 
unemployment area. Payments weren't made in a timely manner in 
addition to the issues of fraud.
    So there are problems on both sides of the equation-that is 
over- and underpayments.
    The Medicaid program had over $98 billion in improper 
payments in 2021. Unemployment insurance had over $78 billion 
in 2021. These two programs drove the big increase between 2020 
and 2021. Regarding Medicaid, I have been concerned about the 
accuracy of the estimates, particularly for Medicaid's managed 
care portion, which is accounts for about 50 percent of 
programs spending. The estimate for managed care does not 
capture all program risks. So this problem is bigger than it 
even appears.
    Senator Braun. I need to get to Dr. Hayden. And just so the 
American public knows, we spent, back in 2021, somewhere 
between $4 and $4.5 trillion. Big numbers. $281 billion was an 
improper payment. That is a big percentage of our total 
expenditures.

             LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT

    Senator Braun. Dr. Hayden, when it comes to the Veterans 
History Project, we've been supportive of it over the past 
several years. Can you share some of the activities you have 
been working on over this past fiscal year and what you have 
planned for 2023 when it comes to the Veterans History Project?
    Dr. Hayden. Thank you for that, Senator, because we have 
been able in the last year to work with 63 Members of Congress 
directly with opportunities for workshops. In fact, you were 
part of that in your State. And training volunteers. We have 
also had promotional videos that Members of Congress have 
participated in, and we have also been able to expand our 
virtual and live programs.
    The role of veterans in farming, for instance, was very 
popular. And also how veterans cope with PTSD and using the 
power of music. So these are some of the customized programs 
and the live events. And we just signed a memorandum of 
agreement with the VA Center for Women's Veterans, and we are 
going to expand programing with that, and also capturing the 
voices of veterans who helped with disaster relief first 
responder stories, including pandemic, for instance, the USS 
Mercury and the Comfort.
    We are getting their stories from those veterans, and also 
Haitian relief and disease outbreaks like Ebola. So that is 
another area that we are really expanding and making sure that 
we work with the gold star families as well. That legislation 
was passed and that has been a real opportunity for us to use 
with our virtual programing as well.
    Senator Braun. Very good. Keep up the good work. And Mr. 
Chairman, I have one short question----
    Senator Reed. Please go ahead.
    Senator Braun. And then it will be the end of my questions 
for the day. Back in 2019, we did get across the finish line 
the Payment Information Integrity Act. And I think it was based 
upon the first conversation we had. Has that been a tool that 
has been helpful, and do we need to do more?
    Mr. Dodaro. That tool has been helpful. It has caused 
people to make better estimates. Part of this problem is that 
there are not good estimates made in a lot of cases. Some 
programs don't estimate at all. There should be estimates for 
all high risk programs.
    So it has helped quite a bit. What we need to do more is 
get the CFOs more engaged in the process. Right now it is the 
program people who make the estimates and monitor the 
corrective action plans. And to some extent that is kind of 
like monitoring your own work. There are not enough financial 
people involved.
    Secondly we need to keep the IGs involved in those areas. I 
have legislative suggestions. I will be happy to provide----
    Senator Braun. Please bring those to our office and we 
would be happy to flesh those in the legislation. We certainly 
need the effort to be made. Thank you.
    Mr. Dodaro. Yes, sure.
    Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator. Thank you very much. This 
concludes the Legislative Branch Appropriations subcommittee 
hearing regarding the fiscal year 2023 funding for the Library 
of Congress and the GAO. And I want to particularly thank Dr. 
Hayden and Comptroller General Dodaro for your, not only your 
testimony today, but your efforts every day and those of your 
colleagues at the Library of Congress and GAO.
    Thank you very, very much.

                     ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

    The 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 
Wednesday, June 29, 2022.
    [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but 
were submitted to the agencies for response subsequent to the 
hearing:]
    No questions were submitted.

                          SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

    Senator Reed. At this point, the Committee stands 
adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 5:10 p.m., Wednesday, June 22, the 
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of 
the Chair.]

                               [all]