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

             LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2022

                                  ----------

                           WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2021

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

        The subcommittee met at 2:00 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen
    Senate Office Building, Hon. Jack Reed (Chairman) presiding.
        Present: Senators Reed, Murphy, Heinrich, Braun, Shelby,
    and Rubio.

    CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, AND THE
                             LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS

                     OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JACK REED

        Senator Reed. Good afternoon. The subcommittee will come to
    order. I'd like to welcome everyone to the second of our fiscal
    year 2022 budget hearings for the Legislative Branch
    Appropriations Subcommittee. And I'm joined by my Ranking
    Member, Senator Braun and Senator Heinrich, and we're delighted
    to welcome our witnesses. Today, we have with us the Librarian
    of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden; the Comptroller General of the
    US Government Accountability Office, Gene Dodaro; and the
    Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Dr. Phillip
    Swagel.
        Welcome, and thank you all for joining us here today to
    testify. The roles that the Library, CBO, and GAO all play are
    critically important to making sure that Congress can serve the
    American people well. Your agencies help Congress, supporting
    us on our basic responsibilities to be informed and educated on
    behalf of our constituents.
        Let me begin by thanking the women and men of your
    agencies. The past year has been difficult from the COVID-19
    pandemic to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. You have had
    to spend regular appropriations beyond what we provided last
    year on the CAREs Act on unanticipated IT enhancements, PPE,
    cleaning, and security course. Because the Senate and the House
    continue to meet, the already heavy workloads of CRS, GAO, and
    the CBO have increased to meet congressional requests for
    reports, analysis, and orders to inform legislative responding
    to the pandemic.
        The Library, for example, has delayed the construction of a
    needed storage module at Fort Meade so we could use the $40
    million to cover Emergency Capitol Campus Security and COVID-19
    course. And as I mentioned the support to Congress, I'd like to
    think the GAO for letting Elizabeth Field come and testify
    before the Armed Service Committee on Tuesday, another example
    of your contribution to our efforts.
        But as I said, these challenges didn't stop the Library,
    the CBO, and GAO from delivering for Congress and the American
    people. CBO has turned out reports. GAO is auditing the
    trillions of dollars provided by Congress for the Government
    Live Response to COVID-19 and continues its important oversight
    role to make sure those funds are spent responsibly.
        CRS increased its science and technology, analytical
    capacity to repair and update more than 1,000 new products on
    COVID-19 related issues. And the Library ramped up 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.
        As our Nation gradually opens and your agencies responsibly
    resume in-person operations, we owe it to your employees not
    only to provide the resources they need to do the job, but also
    to meeting any new demands or innovations identified in the
    pandemic. I hope we can soon deliver on our promise to make you
    whole with an emergency supplemental. Meanwhile, I want to know
    how those unanticipated course have impacted your missions.
        Our public libraries serve the common good and are
    destinations and catalysts for advancement. So, Dr. Hayden,
    we'll want to hear from you on the progress of the Library's
    Visitor Experience Project. 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 Capitol for generations to come. The Library's fiscal
    year 2022 requests also include critical investments to cover
    gaps in security and communications that came to light on
    January 6.
        Finally, it continues a common thread across all Library
    components: IT, modernization, and cyber security. We need to
    make sure the Library can provide access to its collections in
    order to better serve the public; but also, able to protect
    sensitive information from CRS, the Copyright Office, and the
    Law Library; and guard against cyber criminals using Library
    assets as a gateway to hack the Congress.
        Comptroller General Dodaro, GAO serves as Congress'
    independent and non-partisan watchdog. We provided $107 million
    for GAO to conduct oversight of the trillions of dollars
    provided by the Federal Government beginning more than a year
    ago for Coronavirus Response and Recovery efforts. You spent
    roughly a third of that funding on dozens of pandemic-focused
    engagements already. I'm interested in learning more about
    GAO's current and future work, evaluating how we can improve
    decisions in our national response to ongoing pandemic
    challenges. It's good to know that GAO can and will continue to
    provide an eye on the ground for us. We owe it to the American
    people to get recovery funds out the door quickly and ensure
    that they are spent effectively and efficiently. Your COVID-19
    oversight duties are on top of GAO's ongoing efforts to improve
    Government efficiency and effectiveness, and root out waste,
    fraud, and abuse.
        Director Swagel, Congress relies on CBO to offer expert and
    non-partisan analysis to inform budget decisions and economic
    deliberations essential to the legislative process. CBO's
    budget request seeks to make CBO's work even more transparent
    and responsive to Congress. The bills you analyze only grow in
    complexity and demands for your cost and this estimates have
    increased. Your budget continues to reflect your priority to
    get it right and to quickly and effectively inform Congress of
    your findings. For fiscal year 2022, CBO request adding four
    new staff to respond more quickly to questions related to your
    models and during times of high demand, particularly with an
    eye toward more analysis of infrastructure, energy, and climate
    change issues.
        In this subcommittee, we want to make sure the Library,
    CBO, and GAO can help keep Congress informed and educated so we
    can make good decisions on behalf of the American people. We
    should not skimp on these investments, because in the end, they
    help us better serve our constituents, yet, we will have to
    balance the needs of all of the legislative agencies against
    our resources. That includes supporting your agencies while
    also making sure other priorities are protected in our bill.
        Now, I want to thank you all, again, for coming; and I look
    forward to our discussion today. Now, let me turn it over to
    Ranking Member, Braun.

                    OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MIKE BRAUN

        Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Hayden, Mr.
    Dodaro, and Dr. Swagel, welcome. Thanks for being here. Each of
    your agencies plays an important role in supporting the work of
    Congress.
        Dr. Hayden, we spoke earlier this month about the Library
    of Congress' valuable service; both in support of legislative
    function and in making the congressional process more
    transparent for the American people. The Library provides
    information and expert research on a wide range of topics both
    to members and staff, and to the public at large, and it
    delivers an incredible resource as you preserve our national
    history.
        The GAO and the Congressional Budget Office both serve
    critical roles in ensuring Congress can make informed
    decisions, particularly with respect to evaluating the
    budgetary impact of new laws.
        I am particularly concerned by Congress' seeming inability
    to address the slow-moving national debt crisis. In CBO's most
    recent long-term budget outlook, the agency writes that
    persistently rising debt as a percentage of the GDP poses
    significant risks to the Nation's fiscal and economic outlook.
    CBO further notes that Congress' inability to balance its
    budget weakens the American economy by crowding out private
    investment and increasing the risk of a financial crisis. GAO
    has made similar warnings, writing in its fiscal year 2020
    Financial Audit that Congress should consider including fiscal
    rules and targets, such as debt-to-GDP targets as part of a
    long-term fiscal plan. I know we've talked about that a lot.
    I've only been here a little over 2 years; and I know it's been
    discussed long before that. It seems to be a subject few are
    interested in. I support this approach, and have introduced
    bicameral legislation called The MAPP Act, which would attach
    spending targets to GDP. Even though the Legislative Branch
    Appropriations bill is only a small part of Federal spending,
    our debt crisis threatens every congressional priority.
        We must remain diligent to ensure that every taxpayer
    dollar advances the interests of the Nation. Each day we wait,
    the economic consequences increase, making the problem harder
    to solve, pushing it on to our kids and our grandkids; and to
    run a place like this, and borrow 23 percent of our annual
    budget, let alone the debt we've added on here recently to me
    is cause for concern.
        Thank you, again, to our witnesses for being here. I look
    forward to your testimony.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator Braun. Are any of my other
    colleagues wishing to make a statement? Thank you. At this
    time, I'll recognize, beginning with Dr. Hayden, all of our
    witnesses, to give brief opening statements, approximately 5
    minutes. Dr. Hayden, you can begin, and then we'll go to Mr.
    Dodaro.
    STATEMENT OF DR. CARLA HAYDEN, LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
        Dr. Hayden. Thank you, Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun,
    and Members of the subcommittee for this opportunity to testify
    in support of the Library's fiscal 2022 budget.
        And a little over a year ago, we had to close the Library's
    doors to everyone as the pandemic began. We opened other
    avenues that allowed us to serve Congress and the American
    people in new and innovative ways. And thanks to your support
    and investments in the Library's IT infrastructure, the network
    was able to handle an 800 percent increase in the remote
    workforce and essential services, including the CRS and the
    Copyright Office were able to operate largely as normal. We
    transformed the Library's public outreach by moving events
    online. We created new digital programs, and we even reimagined
    others, developing new audiences for the Library beyond those
    who couldn't visit us in person. And with congressional support
    and private philanthropy, we are on schedule to unveil the
    Visitor Experience in phases, beginning in late calendar 2022.
        Worthy of special note during this time is the National
    Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, NLS, with its network
    of State and local library circulated more than 20 million
    copies of braille, audio, and large print items. And I'd like
    to take this opportunity to recognize NLS director, Karen
    Kininger, who joined the Library in 2012, and will retire at
    the end of May. Her priorities were to leverage advancing
    technology and expand content for all print disabled person.
    She accomplished these goals and so much more for the NLS.
        I'd also like to express my gratitude for your support in
    the fiscal year 2021 funding bill for high-priority needs, such
    as cyber security enhancements, state of the art shelving for
    the Law Library, and enhanced science and technology capacity
    for CRS. And thank you, as well, for your support for the
    Library's new preservation strategy and collection storaging
    modules at Fort Meade as part of the Architect of the Capitol's
    budget.
        I would like to note that the funding from the AOC's budget
    designated for Storage Module 7 was reprogrammed for the
    fencing surrounding the Capitol Campus after January 6; and we
    would ask that this vital funding be restored to the AOC's
    budget as part of any Security Supplemental Bill that the
    committee may consider.
        I come before you today to discuss the Library of Congress'
    fiscal year 2022 appropriations request for approximately 846
    million, a 5.5 percent increase over the Library's fiscal year
    2021 enacted appropriation. This request includes 24.2 million
    in mandatory pay and price level increases. The balance of the
    increase represents critical program investments necessary to
    fulfill the Library's role, continue modernization efforts, and
    ensure the safety and security of the Library's collections and
    work force.
        The budget request seeks to replace the Legacy Integrated
    Library System that was installed in 1999 in preparation for
    Y2K with a modern Library Collections Access Platform that will
    be the heart of the Library's collection management, physical
    and digital, for the next generation.
        We're requesting funding to continue to modernize and
    optimize our financial management and planning by establishing
    a new Enterprise Planning and Management Program, and the
    budget seeks to modernize the Library's nearly 20-year-old
    Integrated Electronic Security System that's used both by the
    Library and the U.S. Capitol Police for physical security
    monitoring of Library facilities and collections.
        We're asking for funding to replace the Library's End of
    Life 3G Cellular System that provides connectivity for only
    about 50 percent of the Library's facilities.
        And I'd like to note that these two requests were very
    important, and continue to be important, for life, safety, and
    security, and would be good candidates for any Supplemental
    Security Bills as well.
        We also want to have funding to implement the same level of
    IT security across both the Library's data centers and the
    cloud-hosting environments. And then, in addition to supporting
    Library employees with advanced, virtual collaboration tools
    that were highlighted this year, we are requesting funding to
    expedite the transition from Microsoft Office to Microsoft 365.
        So finally, I'd like to acknowledge our new Register of
    Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, and this budget request funds the
    implementation of the Copyright Alternative and Small Claims
    Act, or the CASE Act, with the creation of a small claims
    court.
        So, in closing, the Library's 2022 congressional budget
    continues a sequence of strategically planned modernization
    efforts across the Library, supports the security of our vast
    collections, and enhances the safety of our workforce and
    visitors.

        [Statements of Dr. Carla Hayden, Shira Perlmutter, and Mary
    B. Mazanec follows:]
                  Prepared Statement of Hon. Dr. Carla Hayden
    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 2022 budget.
        The Library of Congress has built one of the largest collection of
    human knowledge ever assembled in support of its mission to engage,
    inspire, and inform Congress and the American people with a universal
    and enduring source of information and creativity. We are an
    authoritative source of knowledge to be used for a purpose. My top
    priority as Librarian of Congress remains expanded user access to the
    Library's resources and services. We constantly strive to find ways to
    share our extraordinary riches more broadly and deeply.
        When the pandemic struck a little over a year ago, the Library
    needed to move rapidly to adopt new approaches to carrying out its
    mission of serving the Congress and the American people while at the
    same time ensuring that employees and contractors were able to work in
    safety. Thanks to congressional support for investments in IT
    infrastructure over the past several years, the Library's network was
    able to handle an 800 percent increase in the remote workforce.
    Essential services including CRS and the United States Copyright Office
    were able to operate largely as normal. The Library continued to
    provide public access by creating new programs, reimagining others, and
    offering them online. The 20th National Book Festival was hosted
    entirely online. When many schools closed, the Library created teacher
    webinars, virtual student workshops, and a loc.gov/engage page with
    information about resources, activities and programs. Planned digital
    initiatives, such as the LC Collections mobile app and innovator-in-
    residence projects, moved forward quickly to provide new ways for
    Congress and the public to engage with the Library. We just launched a
    new initiative to assemble and preserve a well-balanced collection of
    archived pandemic-related web content that will fully tell the story of
    COVID-19 for researchers of tomorrow. In addition, with congressional
    support and private philanthropy, we remained on schedule to open the
    Visitor Experience in phases beginning in late calendar 2022. Although
    planning is ongoing for a phased return to in-person operations and
    reopening to visitors and onsite researchers as conditions allow, it is
    clear that the Library needs to ensure that digital innovations can be
    sustained and even accelerated to meet evolving expectations.
        This was certainly a challenging year and I am pleased to report
    that we continued to make progress in sharing more of the Library's
    collections, programming, and staff expertise. Today, the Library holds
    more than 171 million items, including special collections consisting
    of audio materials, maps, moving images, sheet music and much more.
    Over 6.8 million preservation actions were performed on the physical
    collections. The Library responded to 802,676 reference requests from
    Congress, the public, and other Federal agencies, including direct use
    of CRS reports. The Copyright Office issued over 443,911 copyright
    registrations and recorded 7,098 documents containing 233,694 titles.
    In fiscal 2020, Library web properties experienced the largest volume
    of traffic in Library history. Those properties (excluding congress.gov
    and copyright.gov) recorded more than 117 million visits and 647
    million page views--increases of 39 percent and 58 percent,
    respectively. Mobile visits made up 46 percent of those visits, an
    increase of nine percentage points over the previous fiscal year. And
    before the mid-March closing to the public, the Library welcomed
    565,388 in-person visitors.
        The Library also continued direct services to the public with the
    Veterans History Project and Teaching with Primary Sources, a program
    that allows teachers in the local districts to create curricula and
    develop apps using the Library's digitized primary sources.
        Of special note is the National Library Service for the Blind and
    Print Disabled (NLS) and its network of State and local libraries,
    which circulated more than 20.3 million copies of braille, audio and
    large print items to patrons. I would like to recognize NLS Director
    Karen Keninger, who joined the Library in 2012 after serving as
    director of the Iowa Department for the Blind and as regional librarian
    for the Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Ms.
    Keninger's priorities for NLS at the outset were to leverage advancing
    technology and expand content for all print-disabled persons. Under her
    leadership, NLS embraced innovative technology, in just one example, by
    providing braille digitally with new refreshable braille technology.
    Working with the communities, Ms. Keninger expanded eligibility for NLS
    programs and advocated for a name change to highlight service to the
    print disabled. She made a special commitment to working with veterans'
    groups. She also developed partnerships with major audiobook producers
    that doubled the output of new talking books and implemented
    international partnerships to enable the cross-border exchange of
    materials. Karen Keninger will retire at the end of May.
        I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the outstanding
    support that this committee and the entire Congress give to the
    Library. In particular, I appreciate the funding you have provided for
    our fiscal 2021 requests to meet high-priority needs such as
    cybersecurity enhancements to protect sensitive information from CRS,
    the Law Library, the Copyright Office, and other high-value assets.
    Modernization efforts funded in fiscal 2021 also supported state-of-the
    art shelving for Law Library collections in Quad B and enhanced science
    and technology research capacity in CRS.
        I also thank you for your continued support for the collections
    storage modules at Fort Meade as part of the Architect of the Capitol's
    budget. Construction is underway for Storage Module 6, the first
    double-wide unit. Although initial designs for Storage Module 7 are now
    complete, following the attack on January 6, $30 million from the AOC's
    budget designated for Storage Module 7 was diverted to pay for the
    fencing surrounding the campus. We understood the necessity to cover
    this immediate security need of the campus, and ask that this vital
    funding for Ft. Meade Storage Module 7 be restored to the AOC's budget
    as part of any security supplemental spending bill.
        I come before you today to discuss the Library's fiscal 2022
    appropriations request. The funding request aligns with the strategic
    goals set forth in the Library's Strategic Plan: expand access, enhance
    services, optimize resources, and measure impact.
        The Library of Congress fiscal 2022 budget request is for
    approximately $845.982 million, which represents a 5.5 percent increase
    over the Library's fiscal 2021 enacted appropriation. This request
    includes $24.28 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 continue to modernize
    our operations and technology, ensure the safety and security of
    Library collections and our workforce, and adjust to rapidly changing
    needs.
        The budget seeks to modernize the legacy Integrated Library System
    (ILS) and several related systems that provide access to the Library's
    collections. The existing ILS is 25-year-old technology that the
    Library put into place in 1999 in preparation for Y2K. The ILS is at
    the end of its life, with systems that cannot interface, and is likely
    to fail within the next few years. The replacement, a modern Library
    Collections Access Platform (L-CAP), used in major academic libraries,
    will be the heart of Library collections management, physical and
    digital, for the next generation. Designed to be closely integrated
    with a wide range of Library systems, L-CAP will employ the latest
    technology to manage the acquisition, description and inventory of
    Library collections and facilitate access for Library employees,
    Congress and the public. The Library is ready for the L-CAP now because
    substantial IT infrastructure improvements are in place and we have
    gained experience with other major IT modernization efforts. We will
    use continuous integration and continuous delivery development
    practices to sustain the system to allow L-CAP to meet the Library's
    evolving needs, including management of exponentially growing digital
    collections and advancements in technology.
        In another move toward modernization, in this case to take the next
    step in beginning to optimize and modernize financial management and
    planning in the Financial Services Directorate and across the Library,
    we are requesting funding to establish a new Enterprise Planning &
    Management (EPM) program. Financial modernization is an iterative
    process that must continue to stabilize current accounting activities
    and at the same time move forward to introduce new capabilities and
    principles. To meet audit findings concerning cost estimating and cost
    accounting, this initial EPM funding request will build a base of
    expertise in the Library in cost management as well as data science and
    data architecture, and develop processes necessary to optimize cost
    management practices and lay the foundation necessary for the
    implementation of more advanced financial planning capabilities and
    technology. Ultimately, the EPM program will use the Library's
    financial management and planning data to drive decisionmaking to
    improve performance in programs, projects, and activities surrounding
    the Library's investments.
        Pandemic operations, as well as heightened physical security
    threats for U.S. Government agencies, particularly legislative branch
    agencies, have focused attention on necessary enhancements to ensure
    the safety and security of the Library's workforce and its collections.
    The Library is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) and
    the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to ensure that safety and security
    measures are appropriately implemented. The most recent security
    incident on April 2nd reminded us that we will have to remain more
    vigilant for the foreseeable future.
        The budget request includes a funding request to modernize the
    Library's nearly 20-year-old Integrated Electronic Security System
    (IESS), which is used by both the Library and the USCP for physical
    security monitoring of Library facilities and access from the Library
    to the broader Capitol Complex. The system is at the center of a
    complex network of more than 10,000 cameras, motion sensors, electronic
    door locks, and other controls that regulate access to Library
    facilities and safeguard staff, visitors, collections, and high-value
    assets. The outdated analog video camera components lack the high-
    resolution necessary to fully monitor and investigate pedestrian and
    vehicle traffic in and around our buildings. The request will allow the
    Library to completely overhaul the security system components with a
    sustainable life-cycle management program, and modernize the IESS IT
    network infrastructure, bringing it into compliance with Library IT
    security standards.
        Funding is also requested to allow the Library to replace its
    outdated and inadequate 3G Cellular Distributed Antenna System. The
    current 3G system, installed in 2004, covers only about 50 percent of
    Library facilities. It is at the end of its service life and is
    incompatible with advanced 5G connectivity. On January 6, USCP and AOC
    employees reported multiple dropped cellular connections and the
    inability to initiate calls out of Library facilities, delaying time-
    critical communications and coordination. The request will allow the
    Library to implement a modern cellular solution that will ensure
    connectivity, and by extension, improve safety for the USCP, AOC and
    Library staff, and congressional and Library visitors.
        The budget requests increased funding to allow the Library to
    implement the same advanced level of IT security across both its on-
    premises data centers and Cloud hosting environments. This will ensure
    that Library data, including congressional and copyright information,
    are secured at all times, leveraging artificial intelligence to
    identify anomalous and malicious behavior.
        Remote work during the pandemic highlighted the need to better
    support Library employees with work-anywhere-anytime functionality and
    advanced virtual collaboration tools. The budget requests funding to
    expedite the transition of the Library from legacy Microsoft Office
    tools to the Microsoft 365 Government productivity platform for all
    staff. The request aligns the Library with congressional adoption of
    Microsoft 365 and ensures a smooth transition away from the Office
    suite, which Microsoft has announced will no longer be supported after
    2025.
        Finally, this budget requests the funding required to fully
    implement the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE)
    Act with the creation of a ``small claims court'' within the Copyright
    Office. The Copyright Claims Board (CCB) will work to resolve civil
    copyright claims, counterclaims, and defenses in the CCB as an
    efficient and inexpensive alternative to using the Federal courts. The
    request will support the necessary staffing for the CCB and the
    implementation of an electronic filing and case management system with
    electronic acceptance of claims filings, fees, and litigation
    pleadings.
        In closing, the 2022 Congressional Budget Justification continues a
    sequence of strategically planned modernization efforts of all types
    across the enterprise. The Library's budget request also seeks to
    support the security of the collections and the safety of our workforce
    and visitors, and to help the Library meet quickly changing needs.
    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 2022 request.
                                     ______

      Prepared Statement of Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights and
                        Director, U.S. Copyright Office
    Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the subcommittee:

        Thank you for the opportunity to submit the United States Copyright
    Office's fiscal 2022 budget request.
        As the principal Federal entity charged with administering the
    Copyright Act, the Copyright Office has many responsibilities,
    including overseeing the national copyright registration and
    recordation systems, advising Congress on copyright policy and
    legislation, working with the Department of Justice and other Federal
    agencies on copyright litigation, conducting administrative and
    regulatory activity with respect to statutory copyright licenses, and
    educating the public about copyright law. We do all of this with a lean
    staff of less than 450 employees who pursue copyright's Constitutional
    mission of ``promot[ing] the progress of science and useful arts.'' \1\
    Since I joined the Copyright Office in late October, I have been
    privileged to oversee the impressive work performed by the Office's
    dedicated staff.
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        \1\ U.S. Const. art. I, Sec. 8, cl. 8.
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                           summary of this past year
        This past year, the Office has achieved many noteworthy successes
    while addressing significant operational challenges, including those
    posed by limits on onsite operations as a result of the global
    pandemic. When the Library shut down the Madison building on March 13,
    2020, the Office quickly transitioned most staff to telework. Some of
    our work, however, involves physical materials (including paper-based
    recordation documents, paper-based registration claims, and physical
    copyright deposits). Office staff was unable to process these materials
    until June 2020, when limited in-office work resumed, as discussed
    below.
        We have accomplished a lot this past year in administering the
    national registration and recordation systems. In fiscal 2020, the
    Office registered 443,911 claims to copyright involving millions of
    works. Ninety-eight percent of registration applications closed were
    received electronically and 2 percent by mail. Even with the pandemic,
    we made significant strides in improving processing time: the average
    overall processing time for examining all copyright claims dropped from
    4.0 months in the second half of fiscal 2019 to 2.6 months in the
    second half of fiscal 2020, representing a 35 percent decrease. The
    average processing times for fully electronic claims that did not
    require correspondence (74 percent of all electronic claims) dropped
    from 3.0 months to 1.6 months, and those that did require
    correspondence (26 percent) dropped from 6.0 months to 3.6 months.
    Despite the overall reduction, however, the pandemic did negatively
    impact processing times for electronic applications that required the
    submission of physical deposits, as well as paper applications, which
    make up less than 3 percent of all registration applications the Office
    receives, as registration staff was not on-site for many months.\2\
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        \2\ Registration processing times are posted on our website at
    https://copyright.gov/registration/docs/processing-times-faqs.pdf.
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        With respect to recordation work in fiscal 2020, the Office
    recorded 7,098 documents, on paper and through the new electronic
    pilot, containing titles of 233,694 works. The average time from
    submission to generation of the public record for electronic pilot
    submissions was within weeks of receipt for most submissions. The
    average processing time for paper submissions was approximately 11.5
    months; this was an increase of 3.5 months from the average fiscal 2019
    processing times and again reflects the impact of the pandemic on
    physical operations.\3\ Recordation staff were unable to retrieve
    submissions from March 2020 until some on-site work resumed in June
    2020.
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        \3\ Recordation processing times are posted on our website at
    https://copyright.gov/
    recordation/. We are currently processing September 2019 basic
    recordation filings and April 2020 notices of termination. Also due to
    COVID-19, the Copyright Office mail unit is now processing mail
    submitted in August 2020.
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        Limited on-site operations also impacted the Office's acquisition
    of physical materials for Library collections in the third and fourth
    quarters of fiscal 2020. The Office was able, however, to maintain an
    effective e-deposit program throughout the fiscal year. E-serial and,
    in particular, e-book acquisitions made up a significant portion of the
    Office's contributions to the Library's collections. For fiscal 2020,
    the value of deposits, $40.03 million, was just shy of the previous
    year's total. The value of the access that special relief relationships
    with major e-serial and e-book publishers provided for Library staff
    and patrons increased from $69.87 million in fiscal 2019 to $75.26
    million in fiscal 2020.
        The Office was able to continue our longstanding role of providing
    expert legal and policy advice without interruption. This included
    promulgating regulations to implement various provisions of the Music
    Modernization Act (MMA),\4\ as well as to update rules to facilitate
    new practices for group registrations, deposit of electronic books for
    the Library's collections, and improved administration with respect to
    recordation of notices of termination. The Office has also commenced
    regulatory activities to implement the Copyright Alternative in Small-
    Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act), as discussed further below. On the
    policy front, the Office issued a comprehensive study on section 512 of
    the Copyright Act last May, and continues work on three other studies
    (unclaimed music royalties, sovereign immunity, and the market impact
    of termination of certain section 119 licenses), to be completed later
    in 2021. The Office also continued to provide legal advice and
    assistance across the government regarding complex and emerging areas
    of copyright law and policy, including Supreme Court and appellate
    litigation and work with executive branch agencies on international
    matters.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \4\ Orrin G. Hatch--Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, Public
    Law No. 115-264, 132 Stat. 3676 (2018).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        The Office has engaged in numerous outreach activities to provide
    accurate and unbiased information on copyright law. We continued to
    produce events to educate the public and stakeholders about copyright,
    including specifically to reach music and songwriter communities around
    the world with information about the MMA. In fiscal 2020, the Office
    answered some 170,000 public inquiries regarding copyright, helping
    people understand copyright and the Office's services. We also
    continued our effective stewardship of the over $1.4 billion in
    statutory licensing revenues; for the third consecutive year, the
    Office received an unmodified or ``clean'' audit opinion of the
    statutory licensing fiduciary asset financial statements.
        Regarding information technology (IT), fiscal 2019 marked the first
    year Congress appropriated funds specifically for IT modernization (for
    5 years, recurring). This allowed the Office and the Library of
    Congress's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to continue
    making progress on a modernized Office IT system. The Office worked
    closely with OCIO to provide the business information needed for OCIO
    to undertake the development work. In fiscal 2020, we met our
    objectives on three major IT modernization work streams: the April 2020
    launch of an electronic recordation pilot; the September 2020 release
    of an internal version and a December 2020 public version of a new
    interface for the Copyright Public Records System; and the year-end
    internal release of a clickable prototype of the planned new
    registration system. More details on our plans for fiscal 2022 follow
    below.
        To be sure, modernization involves more than just IT; it also
    involves updates to Office processes, organization, and culture. The
    Office has made significant progress in business process reengineering
    efforts--last summer we completed work with a consultant on 66 distinct
    processes for improvement. We are now reviewing those results and
    moving forward to identify processes that can benefit from IT support
    as well as those that can be implemented without it. In addition, the
    Office continues to work with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
    on organizational issues. After a review of the Office's organization
    and structural needs for modernization, OPM is now assisting us in
    devising competency models for two of our most populated occupation
    series in order to improve succession planning and talent management.
    Finally, last summer the Office completed work with a consultant on an
    organizational change initiative, which involves the development of key
    change management processes and documents, staff training, and
    strategic coaching on structuring and leading business transformation.
    The Office is pivoting to apply these skills internally, and we have
    created a community of practice to spread and better integrate them
    within our workforce.
    Adapting Operations to the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
        While fiscal 2020 brought unexpected and unprecedented adversities
    for the Office, our staff rose to the challenges. The Office
    implemented a pandemic response plan in March 2020, successfully
    transitioning 98 percent of the staff to full or partial telework
    within just a few weeks. More staff gradually returned on-site
    throughout the summer and fall, in accordance with the Library's plan
    for restored on-site operations. We currently have about 27 percent of
    our staff on-site, either full-time or on rotating schedules; the rest
    are teleworking.
        As noted above, the bulk of the Office's operations have been
    largely unaffected by the transition to telework operations, including
    all legal and policy work, registration processing of fully electronic
    claims, and ongoing modernization activities. Although processing of
    physical materials was suspended for several months after the Madison
    building was closed in March 2020, the Office issued a new rule that
    allows us to offer an electronic option for some services that
    previously required paper submission. We also adjusted practices to
    receive certain additional applications and submissions via email
    during pandemic operations.
        To further relieve the impact of constraints imposed by the
    pandemic on users of Office services, the Acting Register had
    exercised, and I am now exercising, the authority granted by Congress
    in the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES
    Act). So far, we have issued notices that temporarily adjust certain
    timing provisions and I continue to review conditions to determine
    whether further extensions are needed. The Office is also monitoring
    the impact of COVID-19 on our fee receipts. While there has not yet
    been a significant shortfall, the Office appreciates the Committee's
    support going forward if funding flexibility is needed to adjust to
    disruptions in operations or to address increased workloads when normal
    operations and backlog processing resume.
        In sum, the Office is proud to have accomplished so much during
    this challenging year, and to have continued to serve the country and
    the copyright system well. Our budget request would enable this
    important work to continue in fiscal 2022.
                 funding and overall fiscal 2022 budget request
        The recurring financial support for the Office's modernization
    efforts, initially funded as part of the fiscal 2019 budget, continues
    for fiscal 2022, and the Office is pleased to provide an update on a
    number of initiatives that are now fully underway. In addition to
    ongoing modernization, the Office and the Copyright Royalty Judges
    (CRJ) are fully engaged in addressing new responsibilities under the
    MMA. Congress provided an additional $1.6 million in fiscal 2021,
    primarily for Office and CRJ staffing. To support implementation of the
    CASE Act, enacted as part of the fiscal 2021 omnibus appropriations
    legislation on December 27, 2020, the Office is requesting $3.2 million
    in additional funding for fiscal 2022 as described further below.
        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 composed of a combination of
    appropriated dollars and authority to spend fee revenue, with fees
    constituting a majority of this funding (generally in the range of 50
    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. Although the CRJ program is
    not a part of the Office, the Office provides it with budget
    formulation and execution support on behalf of the Library of Congress.

        For fiscal 2022, the Office requests a combined total of $98.0
    million in funding and 472 FTEs, of which $45.0 million would be funded
    through offsetting collections of fees collected in fiscal 2022 and in
    prior years.

        The Office's fiscal 2022 requests are:

      --Basic Budget: $88.7 million and 439 FTEs. $38.0 million in
            offsetting fee collections (43 percent) and $50.7 million (57
            percent) in appropriated dollars. The request includes
            mandatory pay-related and price level increases of $1.209
            million and a program increase of $3.2 million for staffing,
            facilities, computer and audiovisual technology, and services
            to implement the CASE Act. Of this latter amount, $1.0 million
            is one-time funding for IT system development, audiovisual
            system acquisition, and facilities expenses, and $2.2 million
            is permanent funding for staff, operations and maintenance, and
            services.
      --Licensing Division Budget: $6.4 million and 26 FTEs, all of which
            are to be funded via filing and royalty fees. The requested
            increase includes mandatory pay-related and price level
            increases of $0.2 million.
      --Copyright Royalty Judges Budget: $2.9 million and 7 FTEs, with $0.1
            million to support mandatory pay-related and price level
            increases. Of the total, royalties and participation fees
            offset $0.5 million (for non-personnel-related expenses). The
            remainder, $2.4 million in appropriated dollars, is to cover
            the personnel and other related expenses of the judges and
            their staff.
                      our focus for fiscal 2022 activities
        The Copyright Office's fiscal 2022 funding request seeks resources
    necessary to continue the progress already underway towards
    accomplishment of the Office's strategic goals, which include focus
    areas such as providing expert law and policy advice, modernizing
    information technology, as well as to fulfilling the additional
    responsibilities entrusted to the Office by Congress as part of the MMA
    and CASE Act. To advance these goals, the Office is seeking specific
    funding: (1) implementing the CASE Act by standing up the Copyright
    Claims Board (CCB); (2) meeting the mandates of the MMA; (3)
    modernizing the Office's IT systems and applications, including the
    Office's historical records initiative. Our modernization webpage \5\
    reflects ongoing work for both IT and non-IT initiatives.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \5\ See https://www.copyright.gov/copyright-modernization/.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    CASE Act
        The CASE Act established the new CCB in the Copyright Office to
    serve as an ``alternative forum in which parties may voluntarily seek
    to resolve certain copyright claims regarding any category of
    copyrighted work.'' \6\ The Copyright Office is undertaking a number of
    work streams in support of standing up the CCB over the next several
    quarters. Last month, the Office published an educational webpage with
    FAQs about the CCB that will be regularly updated to keep the public
    informed of its progress. The Library and the Office has publicized job
    postings to recruit the three Copyright Claims Officers. The Office
    also has issued a notice of inquiry to solicit public comment regarding
    all aspects of regulatory implementation. The Office, OCIO, and other
    Library units are collaborating to identify and ready the IT
    technology, office space, and other needs for the CCB within the
    statutorily required timeframe.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \6\ Copyright Alternatives in Small Claims Act, 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1502
    (2020).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        In support of these activities, the Office's fiscal 2022 budget
    includes a program increase request of $3.2 million and 8 FTEs. This
    amount includes $1.0 million in one-time costs for office construction
    and furniture, audiovisual system acquisition, and development of an
    online case management system; and $2.2 million in recurring costs for
    the 8 FTEs ($1.7 for salary, benefits, and related costs and $500
    thousand for systems operation and maintenance, printing, and other
    services).
    MMA
        The enactment of the MMA assigned new responsibilities to both the
    Copyright Office and the CRJ. The MMA requires the Register of
    Copyrights to ``engage in public outreach and educational activities''
    regarding the amendments made to section 115 of title 17, in addition
    to a number of rulemakings.\7\ Specifically, the Register must engage
    in public education and other outreach activities to inform interested
    members of the public and songwriters about the process by which a
    copyright owner may claim ownership of musical works through the
    mechanical licensing collective (MLC), which will administer a blanket
    licensing system for digital music providers to make and distribute
    digital phonorecord deliveries (e.g., permanent downloads, interactive
    streams). The Office has produced several dozen outreach events over
    the past year to inform the public about the requirements of the MMA,
    and in fiscal 2021 the Office requested and Congress provided a program
    increase that included three additional FTEs to ensure these efforts
    are fully resourced.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \7\ Orrin G. Hatch--Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, Public
    Law No. 115-264, Sec. 102(e), 132 Stat. 3676, 3722 (2018).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        The MMA also assigned additional responsibilities to the CRJ,
    requiring it to ascertain the reasonableness of the MLC's operating
    budget and the allocation of contributions to that budget by the
    various licensees or licensee representative groups.\8\ Previously,
    under section 802(b) of the Copyright Act, the number of support staff
    authorized to support the CRJ was capped at three. A proviso in the
    fiscal 2020 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act permanently removed
    the staffing cap, allowing for the new hires requested in fiscal
    2021.\9\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \8\ Id. Sec. 102(c).
        \9\ Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Public Law No.
    116-94, Sec. 1405, 133 Stat. 2534, 3208 (2019).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Copyright IT Modernization
        The Office has a number of accomplishments to report in the third
    year of the congressionally-appropriated 5-year funding for
    modernization. OCIO is working alongside the Office on software
    development activities, which are progressing across multiple
    programmatic areas--including registration, recordation, statutory
    licensing, and access to public records. Building on our agile software
    foundation, this year the Office implemented the Scaled Agile Framework
    (SAFe) to improve collaboration across all of our projects and to
    improve our program-level view of the IT modernization work.
        We are pleased to report that we met our target of a spring launch
    for the public pilot of the new electronic recordation system, which
    went live on April 27, 2020. The pilot was initially available to a
    limited number of public users, enabling them to record documents
    related to copyright ownership that fall under section 205 of title 17.
    We are now incorporating user feedback from this pilot into iterative
    improvements, with four point releases behind us. In this continuous
    development phase, additional functionality and additional waves of
    users will be added, with this year's focus turning to recordation of
    notices of termination.
        The pilot for the new Copyright Public Records System, an endeavor
    that will eventually replace the existing Copyright Office Online
    Public Catalog, also launched this past year. The initial public
    release in late 2020 has already been supplemented by our first point
    release incorporating bug fixes and user feedback, and the process of
    point releases is expected to continue into the coming year.
        In addition, moderated user testing has begun on a limited
    prototype for the copyright registration standard application, from
    which we will gather public feedback and commence with improvements and
    a second round of user testing. Iterative development of internal
    workflows has also begun, and a second development team is expected to
    join the team working on this functionality over the summer.
        User Experience Design for licensing components begun earlier this
    year, with development against these requirements expected to begin
    later in the spring.
        As part of our historical records project and commitment to the
    preservation of and access to records, a comprehensive effort is
    underway to digitize print and microfilm records and make them
    available online; this includes the card catalog, record books, and the
    Catalogs of Copyright Entries (CCE). The Office is currently working
    with the Library's experts in digital collections management to ensure
    that the digitization of the Office's more than 26,000 physical
    copyright record books incorporates best practices and the resulting
    records can be made available for public, online viewing. These record
    books contain well over 20 million pages of records from between 1870
    and 1977, covering works as diverse as books, photographs, musical
    compositions, sound recordings, motion pictures, and more. A contract
    for the digitization of these record books has been awarded. Another
    contract is underway to perfect the metadata and improve access to the
    more than 40 million registration application and index cards that are
    already publicly viewable using the Office's Virtual Card Catalog
    (VCC). The Office also has a contract to create a data-mapping schedule
    for the historical record collections to use in the development of the
    Copyright Public Records System. These efforts will enhance the
    public's user experience by providing more accurate online search
    capability.
        As directed by the Committee, the Office has developed an
    integrated master schedule (IMS) for IT modernization activities. The
    Office brought in expert consulting services to assist in developing a
    program for IMS management that allows for continuous improvement and
    refinement of the IMS and its estimates. The consultant services were
    procured in early calendar 2020 as the first task order under the
    Library's contract for Library-wide performance planning and
    measurement services. After a slight COVID-19-related delay in the
    start of these services, the work commenced and was completed in
    February of this year.
    Consolidation of Copyright Office Storage Facilities
        The Copyright Office has made great progress in the planned
    consolidation of copyright materials from several geographically
    dispersed storage facilities into a single, modern facility. The
    collaborative warehouse construction project between the Library, the
    Office, and Architect of the Capitol was completed ahead of schedule,
    and the Copyright Office moved into the new facility in November 2020.
    This facility will allow the Office to provide faster location
    services, better tracking, and improved security of the significant
    inventory of copyright deposits. The Office is now working to bring
    copyright materials stored in other locations to Cabin Branch in order
    to fully consolidate our materials.
                          more flexible fee authority
        The Copyright Office's operations would benefit significantly from
    greater flexibility in the use of our fee collections, specifically the
    authority to use existing fee balances to provide services to the
    public in the event of a lapse in appropriations. As we have noted
    before, flexibility in management of fee balances across budget cycles
    also would provide for more efficient and cost-effective administration
    of large, non-recurring projects related to modernization and other
    capital expenditures. To that end, once authorized, the Office
    anticipates including in a future budget request two changes in
    appropriations language: (1) to make 20 percent of the balance of fees
    collected in prior years available each year, in addition to
    appropriated amounts, for obligation without fiscal year limitation,
    and (2) to allow the Office to access existing fee balances to continue
    operations during a lapse in appropriations.

                                     * * *

        The Copyright Office appreciates the subcommittee's and Committee's
    continued support of the Office's efforts to modernize both our
    technology and services, and of the work involved in the operation of
    the copyright system overall.
                                     ______

    Prepared Statement of Mary B. Mazanec, Director, Congressional Research
                                    Service
    Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the subcommittee,

        Thank you for the opportunity to present the fiscal year 2022
    budget request for the Congressional Research Service (CRS). At the
    outset, I would like to express my appreciation for the Committee's
    support of our fiscal year 2021 request. CRS has already begun efforts
    to recruit the expertise needed to strengthen CRS's science and
    technology-related analytical capacity. We also continue to work with
    the Library's Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to
    modernize CRS's IT systems.
        Fiscal year 2020 was a year like no other. The emergence and spread
    of COVID-19 exacted a toll on human life and the national economy that
    was unprecedented. And yet, despite the enormous disruption caused by
    the global pandemic, I am pleased to report that CRS continued to
    successfully carry out its mission to provide Congress with ``the
    highest quality of research, analysis, information, and confidential
    consultation, to support the exercise of its legislative,
    representational, and oversight duties.'' This would not have been
    possible but-for the resilience and dedication of CRS staff and I would
    like to thank my colleagues for their hard work in fulfilling this
    important responsibility.
        In addition to outlining CRS's budget requirements for the coming
    year, my testimony today will highlight a selection of noteworthy
    support the Service provided to Congress during fiscal year 2020. I
    will also bring you up to date on developments related to a number of
    our strategic initiatives.
                   fiscal 2022 budget request and priorities
        The CRS budget request for fiscal year 2022 is $129.6 million
    dollars, an increase of 4.1 million dollars (or 3.1 percent) from the
    amount appropriated for fiscal year 2021. As in previous years,
    approximately 90 percent of the requested amount would be dedicated to
    staff pay and benefits. CRS is requesting no additional funding beyond
    that which is necessary to cover mandatory pay and price level cost
    increases.
        During this time of national crisis, CRS's top priority is to
    ensure sufficient capacity to continue the delivery of its core
    services to meet Congress's research and analytical needs. In fiscal
    year 2022, CRS will continue to bolster analytical capacity, especially
    in the area of science and technology policy. This additional expertise
    will better enable CRS to support Congress in areas of increasing
    complexity and importance. In addition, the Service will continue to
    work closely with OCIO to meet the next milestones in modernizing its
    IT infrastructure. Moreover, CRS will build on its efforts to recruit,
    retain, and develop a diverse, professional workforce, with the skills
    and expertise necessary to provide Congress with exceptional service.
                              service to congress
        In March of 2020, as news of the impending pandemic grew
    increasingly dire, CRS worked quickly to execute the CRS pandemic plan
    to ensure that it would continue to support Congress's needs during any
    prolonged pandemic event. Within 24 hours, the Service transitioned its
    entire operation, expanding existing workplace flexibilities to enable
    staff to work remotely full-time. As a result, CRS was well positioned
    to provide Congress with timely analysis, information, and consultative
    support as it considered the plethora of issues presented by this
    public health crisis. From March through September 2020, CRS prepared
    and regularly updated over 1000 new products on COVID-19-related
    issues. To enable expedited access to these products, a COVID-19
    resource page was developed on the CRS.gov and Congress.gov websites,
    organizing CRS prepared material under 26 issue areas, covering topics
    ranging from the temporary moratorium on evictions provided under the
    Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to
    frequently asked questions regarding testing for COVID-19. Several of
    these products incorporated custom CRS graphics. In addition, CRS
    experts responded to over 8200 COVID-related inquiries and conducted
    over 80 briefings for congressional staff on COVID-related subjects.
    CRS continues to support Congress as the issues presented by the
    pandemic evolve.
        In addition to COVID-19 related issues, CRS assisted Congress in
    its consideration of many other policy and legal questions. CRS experts
    provided extensive research and analytical support as Congress explored
    the market power of large Internet based companies; environmental
    justice; Medicare and Medicaid program authorizations; asylum
    processing at the U.S. border; tax law and policy; veterans issues; and
    law enforcement reform, among others. The Service worked closely with
    lawmakers as they considered legislation to reauthorize the Older
    Americans Act, the Higher Education Act and the Family Violence
    Prevention and Services Act. In addition, analysts and attorneys
    advised Members and congressional staff on the legal and procedural
    questions associated with impeachment proceedings and supported the
    Senate's consideration of various judicial nominations, including that
    of a Supreme Court Justice.
        The Service supported Congress's examination of various foreign
    affairs, defense, and trade related matters, such as developments in
    the Middle East region, the use of delegated trade authorities, the
    national security implications of foreign investment in U.S.
    corporations and renegotiation of the North American Free Trade
    Agreement, and emerging technology in advanced weapons systems. CRS
    experts also provided guidance on the legislative process,
    congressional oversight, and the annual appropriations bills. In
    addition, CRS continued its offering of seminars and programs for
    congressional staff, including sessions on the Global Implications and
    Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic; Fiscal Year 2021 Federal Research and
    Development (R&D) Funding; and the perennially popular Federal Law
    Update series. Due to the pandemic, many of CRS's programs were
    presented virtually during the fiscal year, and the Service quickly
    transitioned its in-person institutes to webinar format.
        In total, during fiscal year 2020, CRS experts responded to over
    75,000 congressional requests; prepared over 1300 new products; updated
    over 2500 existing products; and conducted live and virtual seminars
    that were attended by approximately 8500 congressional staff. As in
    previous years, the Service provided support to almost every Member and
    committee office through the provision of its products and services.
                             strategic initiatives
        CRS remains engaged in accomplishing the goals and objectives
    identified in its 2019-2023 Directional Plan. The following is a
    summary of the Service's progress during fiscal year 2020 in advancing
    some of the key initiatives undertaken to achieve these goals.
    Gallup, Inc. Survey and Addressing the Full Range of Congressional
            Information Needs
        In fiscal year 2020, CRS contracted with Gallup, Inc., to conduct a
    survey of congressional staff designed to gauge the value and utility
    of various research products and consultative services offered by CRS,
    as well as to gather information about how such products and services
    are used by Congress. Gallup contacted over 13,700 congressional staff
    from early February through mid-March 2020 and received survey
    responses from over 1300 district, State, and DC-based staff members.
    CRS continues to evaluate and consider the results as it develops and
    delivers research products and services to Congress.
    IT Modernization/Integrated Research and Information Systems (IRIS)
        CRS continues to work with the Library's Office of the Chief
    Information Officer (OCIO) to modernize its IT infrastructure with the
    deployment of new tools and software to enhance support to
    congressional stakeholders. The Integrated Research and Information
    System (IRIS) initiative is a multi-year effort to update the Service's
    mission-specific information technology to provide CRS staff with the
    best resources to create and deliver products and services to Congress.
    CRS and OCIO are currently implementing several major work streams.
    These efforts include updating the client relationship management and
    workforce information management systems, improving the text analysis
    program to provide greater ease of conducting legislative analysis and
    comparisons, streamlining the content management system, and enhancing
    the taxonomy tool for better search results. These improvements are in
    varying stages of development and implementation.
    Congress.gov
        In fiscal year 2020, CRS and the Library continued efforts to
    enhance Congress.gov and improve congressional user support with a
    number of developments, such as offering weekly alerts of future
    committee meetings and increasing access to legislative amendments,
    committee prints, and committee hearing transcripts. CRS also conducted
    live onsite and webinar training for congressional staff from 54 Senate
    Member offices and committees, as well as supporting more than 12,000
    requests for assistance. In addition to ongoing enhancements, CRS
    partnered with OCIO and the Law Library to focus on multiple projects
    to retire legacy backend systems that, once replaced, will improve the
    functionality of Congress.gov. Other projects accomplished in fiscal
    year 2020 include modernizing the Member and committee data interchange
    between the Office of the Secretary of the Senate and the Library;
    developing tools and data standards for curating legislative data;
    exploring opportunities for efficient collaboration on bill text
    analysis; and sustaining and streamlining the CRS Bill Summary
    analysis, authoring, and publishing processes. CRS and its Library
    colleagues are appreciative of the ongoing high-performing partnership
    with Office of the Secretary of the Senate as legislative data
    workflows, tools, and standards are modernized.
    Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and
            Interpretation (CONAN) Modernization
        Known officially as the ``Constitution of the United States of
    America: Analysis and Interpretation,'' CONAN serves as the official
    record of the U.S. Constitution for Congress. In 2019, CRS collaborated
    with OCIO and the Law Library to introduce a new website for CONAN:
    constitution.congress.gov. The new site features hundreds of pages of
    updated constitutional analysis and content. In fiscal year 2020, CRS
    legislative attorneys have continued to provide comprehensive analysis
    of the Supreme Court's jurisprudence as it relates to every provision
    of the U.S. Constitution, including the implications of recently
    decided cases. Since the launch of the public website in 2019, CONAN
    has received over three million unique visitors to the site and its
    pages have been viewed over seven million times.
    Improving Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse and Productive
            Workforce
        CRS continued its efforts to recruit, retain, and professionally
    develop a highly skilled staff. For example, in fiscal year 2020, the
    Service provided training on core presentation skills for virtual
    briefings, as well as encouraged participation learning sessions on
    diversity and inclusion. In addition, the CRS Diversity and Inclusion
    Working Group continued to meet throughout fiscal year 2020, and
    discussed, among other things, outreach strategies for improving the
    diversity of applicant pools for CRS positions and fostering an
    inclusive workplace.
                                   conclusion
        Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Braun and Members of the subcommittee,
    CRS is honored to serve as a trusted and reliable resource for Congress
    during this difficult period in our Nation's history. The
    accomplishments outlined above are a testament to CRS's commitment to
    support Congress with timely, authoritative research, analysis and
    information, undeterred by the challenges that we now face. On behalf
    of my colleagues at CRS, I would like to express my appreciation to the
    Committee for your continued support and for your consideration of our
    fiscal year 2022 request.

        Senator Reed. Thank you, Madam Librarian. And now let me
    recognize Comptroller Dodaro.

    STATEMENT OF HON. GENE DODARO, U.S. COMPTROLLER

                GENERAL, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

        Mr. Dodaro. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon to you
    Ranking Member Senator Braun, Senator Heinrich. I'm pleased to
    be able to be here today to discuss GAO's budget request for
    fiscal year 2022.
        First, I want to thank the Committee very much for its
    support that's enabled us to meet our new responsibilities
    under the Pandemic Relief Legislation; and also, to continue to
    have a strong performance across the full spectrum of GAO's
    responsibilities.

                       GAO'S FISCAL YEAR 2021 PERFORMANCE

        Last year, we were able to have GAO recommendations
    implemented that resulted in financial benefits to the
    government for over $77 billion. That's $114 returned for every
    dollar invested in GAO. We also had over 1,300 other
    recommendations implemented that improve services to the
    public, improve public health and security and safety, and also
    led to a wide range of program and operational improvements
    across the full breadth of the Federal Government's
    responsibilities.

                            GAO'S PANDEMIC RESPONSE

        With regard to the Pandemic Relief Legislation, we were
    charged with looking at the use of all the funds to determine
    the impact on public health and the economy, and the impact on
    private and public sector institutions. We were required, which
    we have done, to provide monthly briefings to a set of
    congressional committees, and also bi-monthly reports to the
    Congress and the public, starting in June 2020. Since then,
    we've issued six government-wide status reports covering the
    entire Federal Government.
        We've made over 70 recommendations. Last September, for
    example, we urged the administration to put a vaccine
    distribution and communication plan in place. We urged that
    there be a strategy to address gaps in the medical supply
    chain. We made recommendations for a national testing strategy.
    A lot of the testing information wasn't complete and
    consistent. It was hard to target results. Also, we made
    recommendations to collect better data on the disparate impact
    of the pandemic on certain segments of our population,
    including racial minorities and others. We made similar
    recommendations on the vaccine strategy, to collect information
    on who's being vaccinated and whether vaccines are reaching the
    people most vulnerable to COVID-19. So, we've also had a number
    of recommendations on Program Integrity issues, and
    transparency and accountability.
        As apropos to the emergency, a lot of emphasis was placed
    on quickly distributing the money, and as a result, there were
    a lot of trade-off decisions made that resulted in the
    transparency and accountability goals and expectations that
    were not met in many cases. There was a lot of fraud in the
    Unemployment Insurance area, the Paycheck Protection Program,
    and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. We made
    recommendations that there be stronger oversight over those
    programs and activities; and gradually those recommendations
    are being addressed. But I don't think they were addressed as
    fast as we would have liked, or the Congress would have
    expected. So, there is a ways to go.
        Most of our 70-some recommendations are still being
    implemented, and they haven't been fully implemented yet; so,
    we're going to keep working with the new administration to get
    them implemented over time.
        We've issued a lot of individual, specific reports: for
    example, one we used our new science and technology team to
    look at vaccine development and ensure the public that vaccine
    development goals were being met in a lot of cases.

                               GAO HIGH RISK LIST

        We also updated our high-risk list this year, which we
    provide to the Congress. We added not only the Emergency Loan
    Programs under SBA, but also the Federal efforts to prepare
    for, respond to, and recover from drug misuse. From 2002 to
    2019, 800,000 Americans died from an overdose. From May 2019 to
    May 2020, 80,000 people died. It was the highest annual figure;
    and that rate just picked up as the pandemic began. There's not
    strong Federal leadership in this area. It needs better
    coordination among Federal agencies as well as with the State
    and local sectors.

               SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT, AND ANALYTICS TEAM

        We've done a lot of work to build our capacity, including
    in the science and technology area. I'll be happy to talk more
    about questions about this going forward.
        I appreciate your careful consideration of our request so
    we can continue this important work for the Congress. Thank
    you.

        [The statement follows:]

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        Senator Reed. Thank you, Comptroller. Now let me recognize
    the Director, Dr. Swagel.

    STATEMENT OF DR. PHILLIP SWAGEL, DIRECTOR,

                CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

        Dr. Swagel. Thank you, Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun,
    and Members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity
    to present the CBO's budget request. It's a privilege to lead
    the Congressional Budget Office, and to work with my hard-
    working and talented colleagues as we work to serve and support
    the Congress.
        The CBO is requesting an appropriation of $61 million for
    2022; and that's an increase of $3.7 million, or 6.4 percent
    from the amount provided in fiscal year 2021.
        The proposed increase would support our goal to be even
    more responsive to the Congress. Since 2019, since before I was
    Director, the Congress has increased CBO's budget to bolster
    our capacity, to make our work more responsive, and more
    transparent; and we've been working hard to accomplish those
    objectives. We've been expanding staffing in high-demand areas
    such as health care. We've been organizing our staff to work on
    broader, shared portfolios; and we've been doing more to
    document and to explain our work.
        Now, about half of the requested increase for next year
    would be for added staffing. So, this would cover a full year's
    salaries and benefits for the seven staff members hired in
    2021; and then allow us to hire four more staff members to
    support our work next year. And those people will focus on the
    areas of high interest in the Congress. This would be
    infrastructure, energy, and climate. So, the areas in which
    we--you know, we know legislation is coming at us.
        And like GAO, CBO is also working to improve our capability
    to analyze the affects of legislation on people in different
    demographic groups and different income groups.
        The remainder of the increase in our budget request would
    largely cover increases in costs for the existing personnel,
    and to a lesser extent, IT enhancements as well.
        Let me just very briefly highlight CBO's work over the last
    year and connect that to our budget request. As you can
    imagine, we've worked intensively over the past year on
    legislation related to the pandemic. We provided frequent
    updates of budget projections, of economic projections, and
    provided technical assistance and cost estimates on COVID
    Relief Packages, on the annual appropriations, and on other
    legislation. We've also produced reports on a wide range of
    issues; expansions of health insurance coverage, a variety of
    defense-related issues, you know, such as the potential cost of
    the New START Treaty had been allowed to expire. Student Loans,
    veteran incomes, immigration, climate, and so on. We had a
    report on the connection between climate and the budget, the
    ways in which climate change affects the budget that came out
    just yesterday, so just an example.
        So, looking ahead, the requested funding would allow us to
    do the following for the Congress:
        So, continue to produce the budget and economic projections
    over the coming decade as usual. We do a long-term budget
    projections, looking at 30 years. We do some analysis over
    longer terms; for Social Security, for example, 75 years and
    beyond.
        We produce about 700 formal cost estimates, most of which
    are for the authorizing committees after Bills are reported.
        And we fulfill thousands of requests for technical
    assistance from committees and from members on the potential
    budgetary impact of proposals as members are developing
    legislation. And we produce about 100 score-keeping reports and
    estimates, including account-level estimates for individual
    appropriation bills.
        And then, we do summary tables as well, showing the status
    of the discretionary appropriations and running totals on a
    year-to-date basis.
        And then, we do about 70 or so analytic reports and papers
    each year. These are generally either required by law, such as
    some of our budget outlooks, or prepared in response to
    requests from, you know, generally the Chairs or Ranking
    Members of key committees of jurisdiction.
        And then we produce a wide variety of other products.
        So, in summary, to achieve our goal to be as responsive as
    possible, CBO requests an increase of $3.7 million. With your
    support, we look forward to continuing to provide timely and
    high-quality analysis to the Congress. Thank you very much.

        [The statement follows:]

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                   LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--VISITOR'S EXPERIENCE

        Senator Reed. Well, thank you very much, Director. And let
    me first address the question to the Librarian of Congress.
        We both mentioned the Visitor Experience. This would be the
    fourth year of a request for $10 million for a total of $40
    million, which would be matched by $20 million from private
    donations. So that's a public/private partnership; and it would
    be an extraordinary way to showcase all the Library's true
    treasures. You mentioned your target date. Can you just give us
    an update on the status, Madam Librarian?
        Dr. Hayden. Visitor Experience will greatly expand access
    to the Library's collections and services, primarily in the
    iconic Thomas Jefferson Building. The three components are all
    on schedule. The first component is the Orientation Center, and
    that should open in December of 2024. First time ever
    Treasure's Gallery, the second component, on schedule to open
    in December of 2022. And the Youth Center, on schedule to open
    in the summer of 2024.
        It has been really heartening to work on this project
    during this past year because there was quite a bit of input
    from design firms. And the public/private partnership, the $20
    million that was part of the private philanthropy effort to
    match Congress' investment of $40; this year would be the last
    of the $40 million for the public part.
        To date, we have total, in pledges and commitments, firm
    commitments, of the $20, $12.5 million. And we anticipate and
    would have loved to have been able to say it exactly today, but
    within the next 6 months, we will complete the $20 million for
    the private component. And so, we are very pleased that with
    the release of last year's funding, there will be a contract
    for the Treasure's Gallery, audiovisual interactives, and the
    exhibit fabrication, meaning the exhibits will be made. And,
    we'll be able to transfer funds to the Architect of the Capitol
    for staircase and egress construction.
        So, the Architect of the Capitol, I want to take this
    opportunity to say that they have been partners from the very
    beginning, and been very, very helpful with the entire project.
    Also, the Capitol Police, in terms of safety issues with the
    new ways of the public coming in.
        And then the funding for this year, the final public
    funding, would allow the AOC to start construction of the
    Orientation Gallery and the Welcome area. And so, we're very
    excited, and we hope to have designs and plans to show this
    Committee very shortly. We look forward to that.
        Senator Reed. Thank you, Madam. Comptroller, you indicated
    that one of the major challenges of the last year for you is at
    our request, looking at the spending of the Pandemic Programs.
    There were multiple programs. You've mentioned some suggestions
    you made, but could you identify some of the key areas that you
    discovered that needed significant improvements in these
    programs?

                 KEY GAO FINDINGS RELATED TO PANDEMIC RESPONSE

        Mr. Dodaro. Yes. First, in the public health area, we
    thought there should have been a vaccine communication and
    distribution plan much earlier in the process that would have
    set better expectations. We recommended this last September,
    and it was based upon our experience looking at H1N1 vaccine
    issues. There was a problem with communication back then that
    resulted in vaccine hesitancy because the Government didn't
    deliver on time.
        And, sure enough, because there wasn't a plan, there was a
    difficult start to the COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
    Fortunately, it's picked up now that supplies are in place, and
    things are moving. I thought they should have had a vaccine
    distribution plan in place even before the Emergency Use
    Authorizations to set expectations and allow the State and
    local governments to prepare.
        The same thing happened with the medical supply chain. The
    agencies did a lot, and I don't want to detract from that. I
    think Operation Warp Speed was the biggest success story coming
    out of this whole endeavor in the vaccine area. Agencies worked
    hard on the supply chain, but there were still critical gaps,
    particularly with nitrile gloves, syringes, and other things.
        We surveyed hospitals and others, and there was a
    reluctance to get a plan in place to deal with these gaps as
    the pandemic unfolded. The government needed a plan for the
    remaining challenges of the pandemic. We raised this issue
    again with the initial vaccine distribution plans, because
    there was a lot of concern about not having enough syringes. As
    far as the National Testing Strategy, we still don't really
    have that in place.
        GAO also uncovered the painful reality of the fragility of
    the Nation's public health system and its surveillance
    capabilities. There really is not a very robust system in place
    to be able to track what's going on, to be able to target the
    Federal response, and to be able to monitor progress.
        Regarding communicating clearly to the public, there was a
    lot of confusion about wearing a mask, and when to not wear a
    mask. There was confusion about who should be tested. What
    about asymptomatic people? Guidance changed. A lot of Emergency
    Use Authorizations were granted, but we thought there could
    have been better explanations of the scientific underpinnings
    behind those authorizations to give more confidence to the
    public.
        GAO also made many recommendations in the Program Integrity
    area. For instance, SBA should have done a fraud assessment and
    a risk analysis upfront. There was too much reliance on self-
    certification. There should have been some minimum checks in
    place. But even if they didn't do that initially, I wanted them
    to quickly have an oversight plan because those loans would be
    forgiven if they are used properly and they're legitimate. It
    has not been until relatively recently that SBA has responded
    to those recommendations. I think they were too slow to act in
    that regard.
        And we have many others in the----
        Senator Reed. Just a minute. Let me ask a quick question,
    finally, before I recognize Senator Braun; and I'll, on the
    second round, get to the Director.
        Typically, these types of investigations of this scope take
    several years. Do you anticipate that you'll have work with
    respect to these issues going forward for several years and
    require additional funding?

                      OUTLOOK FOR FUTURE GAO PANDEMIC WORK

        Mr. Dodaro. Probably. Yes. Actually, I'd point out we're
    still auditing the remnants of the TARP Program back from 2008
    because the housing part of that is still in place.
        We're still auditing the Federal response to the 2017-2018
    hurricanes and issues with Puerto Rico and others. This will
    continue on for a while. We're planning at least for the next 2
    years. We've got about 100 audits underway right now. We're
    going to move the quarterly Government-wide status reports, but
    we'll issue probably another 80 reports on specific areas of
    the pandemic.
        Of course, there's new programs now under the American
    Rescue Plan. There's a lot more money going to the State and
    local level. I want to have a real-time effort to observe
    what's going on there, because a lot of money is going directly
    to localities as well as to the States.
        I'm anxious to see what Treasury is going to do with their
    reporting requirements to get some idea upfront where the money
    is going to go. I talked yesterday to Secretary Yellen and her
    team. I've been meeting with all of the Cabinet officials and
    giving them my advice on how to handle these things. That's
    part of what I normally do, anyway.
        Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Comptroller. Senator
    Braun.
        Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I've got a question
    for each witness, and I want to get them in on the first round,
    so about a minute and a half on the first two.

                            CBO TRANSPARENCY EFFORTS

        Dr. Swagel, over the last few years, there's been money put
    into your agency for transparency. I think it's so important to
    be able to be clear about what you're doing. How many
    individuals have worked specifically on transparency? Just
    explain briefly what you've been able to accomplish with that
    extra funding.
        Dr. Swagel. Okay. No. Absolutely. So, there's a couple of
    people who are specifically working on transparency: one on
    data, one in cost estimates, and then there's some others in
    our management system. And then, across the agency,
    transparency is now--you know, it's something we're working on
    across the agency, and it comes up in a variety of ways.
        So, with cost estimates, for example, we have much more
    information on the basis for the cost estimate and the sources
    of uncertainty for the cost estimate. In our budget projections
    and our economic projections, again, we have much more
    information than CBO has done in the past on the uncertainty,
    you know, both qualitatively and quantitively.
        We put data on our website. We put computer programs on our
    website. You know, with complicated subjects like, you know,
    our work on drug prices and the innovation effects of changes
    in drug prices, we've put out working papers to explain the
    technical basis for what we've done. So, there's some of the
    ways in which we've tried to answer the call for transparency.
        Senator Braun. Thank you. Comptroller, we have recently
    spent in the neighborhood of $4 to $5 trillion last year,
    particularly devoted to COVID issues. And when you look at
    what's on the table currently, $1.9 trillion I think in the
    Rescue Act; in the American Jobs Act, $2.5 trillion; and I
    think $1.5 trillion for the American Family Plan. That is a lot
    of additional spending. What in total may be $10 to $11 billion
    or trillion over the span of 2 years? Do you have the ability--
    I see there is a request for a budget increase. How can you
    possibly absorb the oversight portion when you've got that much
    spending dumped into the system?

                         GAO ABSORBING ADDITIONAL WORK

        Mr. Dodaro. Yes. We've been coordinating our work with the
    Inspector Generals. There was additional resources given to the
    Inspector General community and to the Pandemic Response
    Accountability Committee, which coordinates them and leverages
    their responsibilities. We've been doing a risk-based planning
    effort in GAO, particularly where there are new programs that
    have no prior history.
        We'll need additional resources if additional legislative
    packages are put in place regarding infrastructure, or other
    issues down the road. Our budget request was based upon what we
    knew was on the horizon last year, but a lot of developments
    have occurred. If we need more resources, I won't be shy about
    asking for them.
        Senator Braun. Well, that's good. And what is the
    capability of the agencies to actually spend this money in a
    way that would be done in a manner that it's going where it
    needs to go and is being done efficiently?

       GOVERNMENT AGENCY CAPABILITIES TO EFFICIENTLY USE PANDEMIC FUNDING

        Mr. Dodaro. There are capabilities there, but I think
    Congress has to be careful. I think SBA, quite frankly, is
    overwhelmed with their new responsibilities, plus they're
    getting two additional programs now with shuttered venues and
    the restaurant programs. And they were unable to pass an audit
    this past year, an independent financial audit, because they
    couldn't support the figures for their loan programs and other
    issues. So now, other agencies are better positioned to be able
    to do this.
        A lot depends on how funding gets distributed, whether it
    goes through the State and local governments, through
    contracting, or other means. There are a lot of well-
    established programs at the State and local level that could
    handle it without a big effort, if you will, to set up new
    systems. But it will be a challenge to be able to do it
    effectively and efficiently. But if properly planned, it can be
    executed.
        Senator Braun. I only raise that, and you don't need to
    comment further on it, but my observation is on any entity,
    well oiled, with the rigor of maybe the marketplace making you
    maybe a little more efficient than what this place might be.
    When you increase anything in categories of 5, 10 percent, or
    15 percent, which this is a lot more than that, it stretches
    and strains any organization to do things efficiently.

                   LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--MASS DEACIDIFICATION

        Last question, Dr. Hayden, I found it interesting that I
    think a year ago there was actually a request from your office
    to end funding for mass deacidification, which is a method, I
    guess, to preserve documents. You said you did not need it. You
    were given that money anyway. I think there's a company that's
    been supplying that service for a long time from Pennsylvania.
    A couple of House Cardinals were interested in seeing it
    maintained. Ended up, I think it was about $2.5 million instead
    of $5.5. You again, I think, have said that you do not need it.
    Do you think you'll be successful this time around when you get
    the forces of a place like this that ended up basically making
    you take the money when you didn't want it a year ago? What are
    your chances this year of having your request honored?
        Dr. Hayden. I want to thank the subcommittee for supporting
    the Library and rebalancing the way we care for our physical,
    and now growingly, our digital collections, and that
    rebalancing is underway and going very well.
        The deacidification process that you correctly said that it
    had been for a number of years, and it started almost 20 years
    ago, and most of the materials that require that type of
    response have been taken care of. And the rebalancing is to
    give the Library an opportunity to continue to preserve and
    conserve materials that do not require that method, and to
    focus on what is increasingly becoming something that the
    Library and most Libraries are having to plan for; and that's
    ingesting and storing digital content.
        Most of the materials, especially periodicals, and
    journals, and things are coming in. So, we were able to, in
    fact, use the contracting authority from the CAREs Act to work
    with that particular company to make sure that they were able
    to continue working at different points when there weren't many
    on-site opportunities for anyone at the Library. And we are
    using the additional funding to start with the Digital
    Conservation Program as well as to make sure that we continue
    to preserve and conserve other materials.
        Senator Braun. Thank you. And my office will be watching
    closely to see how that rebalancing act is going on, and that,
    in fact, that it is rebalanced, and not the same old thing
    occurring again because lobbyist and House Cardinals may want
    it to be. Thank you.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator Braun. Senator Heinrich,
    please.
        Senator Heinrich. Thank you, Chairman. Mr. Dodaro,
    approximately 1.6 million people live in border communities
    referred to as colonias, which are settlements along the U.S.
    side of the U.S./Mexico border, often characterized by
    inadequate housing, a lack of basic infrastructure, including
    water, electricity, and broadband in many cases. And while the
    GAO mentions colonias in a few reports on rural housing, the
    last time the GAO reported specifically on colonias was in
    1990. I believe these communities deserve more attention than
    that, and I'll be submitting a request to GAO to provide us
    with a report, and with recommendations on how to address the
    infrastructure shortfalls. Moving forward, how can we ensure
    that these communities are accounted for in GAO's reports?

                              GAO REQUEST PROTOCOL

        Mr. Dodaro. We do our work in response to three different
    types of congressional requests, Senator. The first way is
    through a provision law, a statutory requirement or a mention
    in conference or committee reports. So that's important.
        Second, we respond to requests from Chairs and Ranking
    Members of Committees of jurisdiction. We're a non-partisan
    organization. We treat both the same.
        That accounts for 95 percent of all of our work. And then I
    reserve about 5 percent of GAO work to identify areas that I
    think warrant more attention. The Comptroller General has broad
    authority to initiate work involving Federal funds or a Federal
    nexus that is of broad interest. GAO develops a long-range
    strategic plan for serving the Congress. We're updating the
    plan right now.

                         GAO'S RECENT INDIAN TRIBE WORK

        We're happy to look at this issue that you mentioned and
    identified. For example, we've done more work recently on
    Indian Tribes. In fact, we identified Indian Federal programs
    that support Indians as a high-risk area a few years ago, both
    in the education and health care area and in a lack of support
    for developing their own energy resources.

           GAO WILLINGNESS TO LOOK AT U.S./MEXICO BORDER SETTLEMENTS

        I'm happy to take a look at this issue, but we have a
    challenge at our current resource levels responding to all
    requests from Congress, in particular requests from individual
    Members. Requests from Chairs and Ranking Members, as I
    mentioned are our primary means of focusing our work.

    LETTER REQUESTING GAO RECOMMENDATIONS ON FEDERAL FIREFIGHTING WORKFORCE

        Senator Heinrich. Thank you. I'll be sure to follow up on
    that. Yesterday, several of my colleagues sent you a letter
    asking the GAO to make recommendations additionally on how
    Federal Land Management agencies can improve the Federal
    Firefighting Workforce.
        Western States are bracing for a historic wildfire season.
    Unfortunately, that season has already started in New Mexico
    with the Three Rivers Fire. And the seasons are getting longer
    on both ends each year.
        So, I just want to highlight this letter for you today and
    hope that GAO will review and report on recommendations to
    improve hiring and retention for Federal Firefighters. And I
    would ask unanimous consent to insert a copy of the letter into
    the record.
        Senator Reed. Without objection.

        [The information follows:]

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                   LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--SURPLUS BOOKS PROGRAM

        Senator Heinrich. Dr. Hayden, recently a very ambitious and
    dedicated group of interns in my office led policy workshops
    with local university students. And each of those groups
    focused on issues that were important to the community that
    they were in. One group proposed an expansion of the Federal
    definition of the word ``Library'' to include mobile libraries
    and even community centers with rooms that are devoted to
    housing library materials. First, I wanted to just take a
    moment to recognize the work that these interns did and that
    all of the students that actually participated in those policy
    workshops did, but second, I wanted to ask you, do you have
    thoughts on how can Congress work with the Library of Congress
    to get more materials out to rural communities, to expand the
    reach, in particular, of your Surplus Books Program?
        Dr. Hayden. Thank you for that, because the Surplus Books
    Program is a very effective way to provide brand new books and
    materials that are selected by congressional offices to send
    to, in particular, libraries, schools, and other entities that
    provide literacy services in cases of emergencies, especially
    hurricanes. And we've been doing that for a number of
    hurricanes, and fires, and things like that, when the
    collections in a local community are either destroyed or
    they're not available.
        And so, being able--and we've been working with
    congressional offices to make sure, even during this time, that
    we make it easier for staff members to work with communities
    and specify what types of books, what types of materials they
    could use. And we see that, as a program, we've been able to
    talk about that during virtual Town Halls this past year with
    members. And we mentioned the Surplus Books Program.
        And just, if I may, libraries in general consider their
    mobile services as extensions, and that's part of it. So, thank
    you for mentioning that.

                 CBO PROJECTIONS CONSIDERING DEMOGRAPHIC MAKEUP

        Senator Heinrich. Thank you for your focus on that. Dr.
    Swagel, in your testimony, you mentioned that CBO is working to
    improve its capability to analyze the effects of proposed
    legislation on people in different demographic and income
    groups.
        New Mexico's population is currently 49 percent Hispanic,
    11 percent Native American. Ensuring that CBO projections are
    considering demographic makeup is incredibly important to
    States like mine. Can you expand on your efforts to analyze the
    effects on people in different demographic and income groups?
        Dr. Swagel. Yes, Senator. You know, we realize it's a
    crucial topic for our analysis. We do some. So, we have long-
    standing work on income distribution and looking at the
    progressivity of the tax system that doesn't get broken down by
    racial or ethnic group. And so, we've been working hard on the
    data to be able to address that. And some of the challenge is
    that the data sources don't always include the racial or ethnic
    information we need. Our healthcare work, for example, relies
    heavily on data from the IRS. And that doesn't have race or
    ethnicity. So, we've been working to--essentially infer that,
    you know, to do our best in statistical ways to figure out how
    to analyze policies by different racial groups in addition to
    ethnic groups.
        We do a lot of work on immigration as well. The effect of
    immigration legislation, the role, and the contributions of
    immigrants to our society and our economy, so we do some of it,
    but we're working to do more.
        Senator Heinrich. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

                   CBO POLICY ON EXAMINING PREVIOUS ANALYSES

        Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator Heinrich. Dr. Swagel, as
    you pointed out in your testimony, CBO aspires to, and must
    maintain a non-partisan, independent, and reliable record on
    the Hill. One way to sort of validate or check that is go back
    and look at your work. Do you have, as a policy, returning to
    previous analyses, examining those, see if they're off and why
    they're off, and with a feedback process of improving your
    analysis? Is that something you do regularly?
        Dr. Swagel. It is. It's something we do both on our
    economic projections and in our fiscal projections of spending
    and revenue. We do it some on our cost estimates. There it's
    harder, it seems, to figure out why a cost estimate is right or
    wrong, but we try to do that as well.
        Senator Reed. And when you--are those lessons shared
    externally as well as internally within CBO?
        Dr. Swagel. Yes. They are. So, we do an annual--two annual
    reports: one on the economic side; one on the fiscal side. And
    then we engage with outsiders with--we have two panels of
    outside advisors. And then every report, we go out and ask
    outside experts to review reports and then engage with them
    afterward.

             CBO CYBERSECURITY AND COORDINATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES

        Senator Reed. Thank you. And I have got a question for the
    whole panel. I'll start with Dr. Swagel, to be fair. And no
    surprise, cyber security is the issue de jure and will be, I
    think, for the rest of our lives, but how would you rate--two
    questions, starting with Dr. Swagel: How would you rate your
    cybersecurity in CBO today? And also, how is your relate or
    rate, rather--your coordination with other congressional
    agencies?
        Dr. Swagel. Okay. So, I think we're doing pretty well. And
    obviously, you know, I say that with some trepidation since
    none of us know what we don't know.
        Senator Reed. Right.
        Dr. Swagel. You know we have put a lot of effort into our
    cyber security, starting with the move to the cloud. So, you
    know, across the agency, our email servers have been long in
    the cloud, so we were instance protected from some of the, you
    know, the recent hacks based there. And other things. We have
    tax data that we work with the IRS and the Joint Committee on
    Taxation to make sure that that's secure as well. So, I think
    we're in good shape. You know, I say that cautiously.
        On coordination, so I'll highlight just very briefly two
    avenues of coordination: One is what I just hinted at with the
    IRS and JCT. You know, they have authority over particular
    data, and we work closely with them to secure it. There is also
    coordination across the Legislative Branch agencies. There is
    several councils that our Chief Information Officer
    participates in to share best practices, to share threats. And
    there's one across the government that we participate in to
    share, essentially, again information and best practices.
        Senator Reed. Thank you. Comptroller Dodaro.

                           GAO'S CYBER SECURITY FOCUS

        Mr. Dodaro. This has been an issue of mine for a long time.
    GAO first designated cyber security as a high-risk area across
    the entire Federal Government in 1997. That was the first time
    we ever said anything was government high risk. I added
    critical infrastructure protection in 2003: electricity grid,
    financial markets, telecommunications, et cetera. So, this has
    always been on my mind, and we manage GAO accordingly.
        We've had outside experts come in and take a look at our
    system. I think we're in pretty good shape, as good as anybody
    could be. I mean you're not going to be at zero risk, but we've
    been very fortunate. It's always a top priority for us.
        Part of our budget request will be to continue to update
    GAO's cyber security capacity. We have to keep working on it.
    Threats evolve and change. I still don't believe the Federal
    Government's operating at a pace commensurate with the evolving
    grave threats.
        This issue will get more complicated with artificial
    intelligence, quantum computing, et cetera. And that's what we
    have our new Science and Technology Group focused on too,
    looking at this in the future aspects of this issue.
        We also have a responsibility to look at cyber and
    electronic threats to the Congress, and to report to a number
    of committees, so we do that. From time to time, we're brought
    in to look at Congress' own operations with regard to cyber
    security to provide technical advice. We've got a great group
    of experts in cyber security.
        GAO is doing more and more work on this area. It's
    intertwined, as you say, with almost everything. People want to
    know about it. And we participate, as Phil mentioned, with the
    Legislative Branch Councils. GAO's Chief Information Officer
    and our Chief Information Security Officer participate in those
    events. We've looked at this issue in the past, at the Library,
    Copyright Office, and the Office of Congressional Workplace
    Relations, and have made some recommendations there.
        And I would add that the Library has been, particularly
    under Carla's leadership, very responsive to our
    recommendations.
        Senator Reed. But you will take this on as an important--as
    you said, you have 5 percent of sort of the responsibility--
    ability to assign. This will be at the top of your list, I
    presume?
        Mr. Dodaro. Absolutely. But I don't have to anymore. I used
    to. We built a computer lab facility in the 1990s to
    demonstrate to agencies how easy it was to hack their systems.
    At the time nobody seemed concerned. Nobody was paying
    attention to it. I said, ``Well, that's a problem.'' You could
    see this coming as we were becoming more and more reliant on
    computer networks. Nobody was building in computer security
    upfront in those days, and we're still not doing it. For
    example, we just did work, not that long ago, at the Defense
    Department showing they weren't focused enough on developing
    new weapons systems with cyber security protections. This is
    also an issue with satellites and a wide range of other issues.
    It's not just information systems.
        We're moving to an air traffic control system that's going
    to be satellite based, not radar based, which was a pretty
    self-contained system. So, there is increased risk there.
        The Internet of things also introduces risk. Anything that
    touches the Internet has the potential to become a problem.
        Senator Reed. Thank you----
        Mr. Dodaro. You're welcome.

                       LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--CYBERSECURITY

        Senator Reed [continuing]. Very much. And Madam Librarian--
    --
        Dr. Hayden. Yes. And IT----
        Senator Reed [continuing]. Your comments?
        Dr. Hayden. Yes. And IT security is very serious at the
    Library, not just for our data, but also our interactions with
    other legislative branch agencies; and we have two divisions:
    The Congressional Research Service, and the Copyright, where we
    are very concerned, and need to make sure that our cyber
    security is more than sufficient.
        And we have implemented all of the GAO recommendations
    under IT security; and we are adhering to the NIST Security
    Standards. We are part--and I'd like to say we're a very active
    part of the Legislative Branch Cyber Security Working Group.
    And we work closely, too, with the Senate Sergeant of Arms and
    all of the other technology offices as well.
        So, we definitely know that that is a major part of what we
    have to be concerned about as we modernize and work on our IT
    structures.

                        CLOSING STATEMENT--CHAIRMAN REED

        Senator Reed. Thank you very much. Senator Braun, I believe
    you have no questions? Thank you very much. Well, this will
    conclude the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee
    hearing regarding fiscal year 2022 funding for the Library of
    Congress, the Government Accountability Office, and the
    Congressional Budget Office.
        I want to thank Dr. Hayden, Comptroller Dodaro, and Dr.
    Swagel for your testimony today. I appreciate it very much.

                         ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

        The hearing record will remain open for 7 days, allowing
    Members to submit statements and/or questions for the records,
    which should be sent to the subcommittee by close of business
    on Wednesday, May 5, 2021.
        [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. Dr. Carla Hayden
                    Questions Submitted by Senator Jack Reed
           national library service for the blind and print disabled
        Question. Since 1931, the National Library Service for the Blind
    and Print Disabled (NLS) has utilized a national network of libraries
    to provide books and magazines, among other printed texts, in braille
    and recorded formats to blind and print disabled individuals in the
    United States, and to Americans living abroad. The unique services NLS
    provides helps hundreds of thousands of readers--people who may not be
    able to hold a book in their hands, or veterans who have difficulty
    reading standard print--enjoy the freedom to read in their own way.

      --Can you give an update on NLS' modernization efforts, including the
            roll-out of braille eReaders and the Braille and Audio Reading
            Download (BARD) Infrastructure Modernization?

        Answer. Now celebrating its ninetieth anniversary, the Library of
    Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled
    (NLS) continues to innovate and adapt to meet the reading needs of
    blind and print disabled Americans across the Nation and oversees.
    Given that it's institutional history traverses phonographic records,
    cassette players and tapes, digital talking book machines and flash
    memory cartridges, and the Internet, all the while continuing to supply
    hard copy braille materials, it should be no surprise that NLS again
    sits at the precipice of an exciting modernized future.
        In the last few years, NLS has updated its name, amended its laws
    and regulations, gone through an agency-wide reorganization, created a
    Modernization Program Office (MPO), and centralized and integrated its
    IT designs, resources, and business plans into a new, proactive,
    productive, and collaborative partnership with the Library's Office of
    the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), all important facets of its
    forward-thinking modernization efforts.
        Related to the eReader initiative specifically (and thanks to the
    annually requested (fiscal year 2020-fiscal year 2024) $2.375M included
    in NLS's fiscal year 2021 appropriation), NLS is particularly pleased
    with the progress it is making to provide braille content in a
    modernized format (i.e., affordable, refreshable braille devices, or
    braille eReaders) to NLS's braille patrons and in furtherance of
    implementing a digital braille program.
        In fiscal year 2021, NLS began a pilot to study all aspects of
    distribution implementation and the functionality of two prototype
    eBraille devices before a full-scale Nation-wide network distribution,
    collection of feedback from pilot patrons, and validation of
    distribution processes at network libraries, can commence. The pilot
    program with seven total libraries began in August. NLS procured 3,000
    additional eReader devices for this pilot program and instructed pilot
    libraries on the enrollment of patrons, the assistance of pilot
    participants, the execution of patron surveys for data collection and
    analysis, and the distribution of devices. NLS also continues to
    provide technical training and quality assurance support, monitor two
    active listservs for regular feedback from patrons and library staff,
    and evaluate how much training, support, and maintenance will be
    necessary to deploy devices to the network in the future.
        The initial pilot feedback has been very promising. In comparing
    braille downloads from fiscal year 2019 to fiscal year 2020, non-pilot
    libraries had a 20 percent increase while pilot libraries had a 126
    percent increase. In the first 2 months of fiscal year 2021, pilot
    libraries saw a 515 percent increase in braille downloads over fiscal
    year 2020. This distribution, evaluation and assessment work will
    continue through fiscal year 2024. In addition, as also included in
    this NEPR programming, NLS procured 460 Stop-Gap Talking Book Players
    needed to maintain necessary patron-based inventory. This particular
    commercial interim device contains additional features NLS will test as
    it moves toward some form of digital delivery.
        NLS is also pleased with the progress it is making on its Braille
    and Audio Download (BARD) infrastructure modernization. Building on
    several years' work, NLS and OCIO successfully moved BARD to the cloud
    in January 2021, more than tripling its capacity for NLS users while
    making it both faster and more stable. Work is now underway on what
    OCIO and NLS are calling BARD 2.0, which is a complete redesign of the
    system to ensure it can meet the needs of NLS's growing patron base and
    serve as the focal point for future methods of content delivery. The
    new BARD will ultimately be able to support 10 times as many people
    with a more user-friendly interface and increased IT security. Whether
    it be a refreshable braille device, smart speakers, smart phones, or a
    talking book machine that can utilize traditional cartridges but also
    connect to the Internet and allow voice user interface, a fully
    operational BARD 2.0 will be the key mechanism and centerpiece in
    getting NLS content into patrons' hands.
        At the same time, OCIO and NLS are exploring options for the next-
    generation NLS device, including testing voice navigation, cellular
    delivery, and other advanced options for user interface and content
    management. They have also jointly developed a multi-year NLS
    Technology Roadmap, setting a path forward for the replacement of out-
    of-date legacy NLS systems that manage the full array of NLS's
    functionality for its network, its patrons, its staff, and its
    connections to the rest of the Library--from content delivery services,
    to content production services, to better communications and marketing,
    to enhanced customer service, to state-of-the-art enablers to allow for
    secure and efficient use of NLS' systems.
        Finally, NLS has instituted the aforementioned Modernization
    Program Office (MPO) to assist NLS in better exhibiting modern project
    management best practices as it relates to these modernization projects
    and initiatives. The MPO will be working closely with the OCIO Project
    Management Office (PMO) on adopting the Library's Project Management
    Life Cycle (PMLC) and Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) within NLS
    to ensure full compliance with industry best practices (e.g., Project
    Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK), GAO's Cost Estimating Guide,
    GAO's Schedule Assessment Guide) while executing the new eReader
    projects. In addition, the MPO is collaborating with the OCIO to ensure
    the agile Technology Roadmap is helping to lead and guide the asset and
    resource management, procurement, and strategic timing of key
    modernization initiatives.
        In their efforts to continue to elevate digital experiences and to
    strategically enhance Library services, from digital braille
    implementation, to new modern IT systems and business practices, to new
    digital means of talking book delivery, NLS and its OCIO partners in
    the Library are continuing to move NLS into a modern, integrated,
    resource-wise and properly aligned mission That All May Read.

        Question. Can you tell us about the Marrakesh Treaty ratification
    and the role of NLS in that treaty? What impact will that have on NLS
    and the United States?

        Answer. The Library of Congress and its National Library Service
    for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) continue to be very excited
    about the Marrakesh Treaty and its implementation.
        The Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for
    Persons Who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled
    concluded at Marrakesh, Morocco in June, 2013, and the United States
    signed the Treaty in October of that year. In June, 2018, the U.S.
    Senate ratified the Treaty and also passed the Marrakesh Treaty
    Implementation Act to amend U.S. law in accordance with the Treaty. The
    House passed the Act that September and it was signed into law in
    October 2018.
        The Treaty entered into force in the U.S. in May 2019. In addition,
    the Library of Congress Technical Corrections Act was included as part
    of the fiscal year 2020 omnibus bill passed and signed into law in
    December of 2019. That legislation incorporated the terminology of the
    Treaty into NLS's authorizing statute. It also statutorily allowed NLS
    to participate in the international exchange of digital content whereas
    NLS's services were previously restricted to U.S. citizens and
    residents. Currently, there are now 79 contracting parties to the
    Treaty, including the European Union.
        As you know, the Marrakesh Treaty seeks to increase access to
    printed materials for those who are blind, visually impaired, or
    otherwise print disabled by allowing cross-border exchange of
    accessible texts either directly or through authorized entities (AEs)
    such as libraries for the blind. Through the Treaty and the vital work
    of NLS, visually impaired Americans are gaining access to the world's
    languages, literature, and knowledge in accessible formats, primarily
    digital file exchange. On behalf of its patrons, NLS is acquiring, at
    minimal cost, thousands of titles in English and other languages from
    its counterparts around the world. Likewise, via Marrakesh, NLS, the
    Library, and the United States can contribute to substantially reducing
    the global ``book famine,'' as less than 7 percent of all the books
    published each year are available in an accessible format. This famine
    is exacerbated by the fact that 90 percent of the world's 285 million
    people who are blind or visually impaired have low incomes and live in
    developing countries. Given that NLS has one of the largest accessible
    collections in the world, sharing it with other countries can make a
    tremendous difference.
        Because of the Treaty, NLS is adding a rich array of accessible
    versions of books in foreign languages and English more inexpensively
    and more quickly than previously possible. NLS is able to immediately
    access materials in foreign languages that expand beyond our
    traditional collection to better match current demographics. NLS
    currently holds titles in at least 36 different foreign languages, but
    the majority of our foreign language collection is in Spanish. This
    makes sense given that about 70 percent of potential patrons who speak
    a language other than English speak Spanish. But we know from census
    data that they also speak French, Tagalog, German, Russian and Arabic,
    among many others. And now, NLS can work to better meet their needs.
        To these ends, NLS is developing partnerships with international
    AEs to exchange collections. Current partners include the World
    Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and their Accessible Book
    Consortium (ABC), Canada's Center for Equitable Library Access (CELA),
    the UK's Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), the Fundacion
    Chile Musica y Braille, and Germany's Deutsches Zentrum fur
    barrierefreies Lesen (DZB Lesen). As well, NLS will continue to refine
    its internal collections, conversion, and cataloging processes and
    workflows to convert and import this content into our Braille and Audio
    Download (BARD) system.
        The Library and NLS remain strongly committed to Marrakesh. Our
    efforts are already visible, impactful, and bearing important fruit for
    our patrons and blind and print disabled individuals worldwide!
        More information about NLS's implementation of the treaty can be
    found at www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/laws-regulations/marrakesh-
    treaty, www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/laws-regulations/marrakesh-
    treaty/marrakesh-treaty-
    implementation, and www.loc.gov/nls/about/organization/standards-
    guidelines/
    collection-building-policy.
        Further information about ABC can be found at www.accessiblebooks
    consortium.org/portal/en/index.html and
    www.accessiblebooksconsortium.org/global
    books/en.
        Finally, a very informative Marrakesh update from the U.S. Register
    of Copyrights earlier this year can be found at https://blogs.loc.gov/
    copyright/2021/02/the-marrakesh-treaty-in-action-exciting-progress-in-
    access-to-published-works-for-the-blind-and-print-disabled-communities.
                       library collections access platorm
        Question. The Library is requesting $6.5 million and nine FTE to
    replace its legacy Integrated Library System (ILS) that was implemented
    in 1999. I understand that the new system, the Library Collections
    Access Platform (L-CAP) will integrate multiple standalone systems.
    This is one of your top priorities in the Library's fiscal year 2022
    budget request.

      --How will this new system integrate and streamline disparate Library
            processes, and how will it positively impact the user
            experience?

        Answer. L-CAP is intended to consolidate the functions of several
    decades old systems into one modern IT system that is specifically
    designed to be both user friendly and adaptable for future technology
    advances. The transition to L-CAP can best be thought of as an
    evolutionary jump in the way the Library will be able to support the
    management, discovery and access to the millions of items in the
    Library's collections. The impact on user experience will be
    significant across a range of areas, including:

      --Consolidated Search across Library Collections

           L-CAP will provide Library users, including Congress and
    American citizens and their schools and libraries, with a consolidated
    user interface that will enable them to search across the Library's
    vast collections without specialized knowledge of the type of content
    they are searching. Today, the Library has two separate catalogs; the
    LC Catalog (catalog.loc.gov), which enables search of the Library's
    physical and some born-digital content; and the E-Resources Online
    Catalog (eresources.loc.gov), which enables access to the Library's
    licensed electronic resources. There is no universal search that will
    allow users to search all Library items in one place. L-CAP will enable
    users to search both types of content together in a single search
    interface.

      --Centralized Management of Descriptive Metadata & Support for New
            Format

           L-CAP will enable the Library to manage its descriptive metadata
    in a single system that will support multiple metadata formats. Today,
    the Library manages its collections metadata in the LC Catalog, the E-
    Resources Online Catalog and the Data Management Tool (DMT). The LC
    Catalog and E-Resources Catalog only support the aging MARC metadata
    format. The Library manages approximately 500,000 metadata records for
    born-digital items in DMT in a non-MARC format that is better suited to
    digital content. Consolidation of the Library's descriptive metadata in
    L-CAP will enable Library staff to work in a single system to acquire
    and catalog content of all types in the metadata formats that best
    support access to the Library's collections. L-CAP will also support
    the new Bibliographic Framework (BIBFRAME) metadata format that the
    Library is developing, which none of the legacy systems can
    incorporate.

      --Single Knowledgebase to Undergird Access to Electronic Resources

           The Library currently relies on three separate very large
    databases to track information about electronic resources, such as
    electronic journals and e-books and their availability and
    accessibility:

          1.  The Library's OpenURL resolver, branded as FindIt!,
    determines if an item such as a journal article or book is available
    electronically and what the appropriate copy for a user is.
          2.  A web-scale discovery product that searches across articles
    in the Library's licensed electronic resources.
          3.  A third-party metadata service that delivers bibliographic
    records and coverage data with customized links to the Library licensed
    electronic resources.

           Having that data in separate databases limits how the
    information can be leveraged and shared across systems. Under the new
    system all of that data will be managed within a single knowledgebase
    that will allow the above functionality to be combined seamlessly
    within L-CAP.

      --Full Support for Languages and Scripts

           The Library's legacy systems do not support the diverse range of
    languages and scripts represented in the Library's collections. Library
    users expect to be able to search in the languages and scripts they
    know. L-CAP will enable creation of the bibliographic and other data in
    non-Roman scripts to facilitate the user's ability to find collections
    materials by searching in those languages and scripts.

      --Integrate with Internal Digital Content Management Systems

           The Library's legacy systems are not able to incorporate new
    technological developments that are now available in the vendor
    marketplace, nor can they take advantage of technology modernization
    advances OCIO has implemented in the Library's IT infrastructure. As
    the Library modernizes its digital library services and storage, L-CAP
    will enable further integration across those services, and allow the
    Library to more easily adapt to innovative new technologies that become
    available.

        Question. What is the Library doing to ensure that no essential
    services are negatively impacted by the implementation of this new
    platform?

        Answer. The Library has been carefully planning for the next
    generation Library Collections Access Platform (L-CAP) for several
    years, with in-depth reviews of current Library systems, available
    technical solutions, and modern best practices. The effort will be
    jointly managed by the Library's Office of the Chief Information
    Officer and Library Services Service Units, bringing together deep
    technical and subject matter expertise to ensure that requirements and
    dependencies are fully understood and that the implementation of the
    new system will integrate smoothly with essential services.
        As an extra precaution, the Library intends to maintain and upgrade
    existing systems and essential services while implementing L-CAP. The
    Principal Deputy Librarian and Associate Deputy Librarian for Library
    Services have ensured that the Library will maintain 3 years of vendor
    maintenance support for the LC Integrated Library System (ILS) and
    Electronic Resource Management System (ERMS) while developing L-CAP. To
    prolong the operational life of essential systems, the Library is
    planning to upgrade ERMS in fiscal year 2021 and ILS in fiscal year 22.
    These upgrades will ensure the Library can maintain both key legacy
    systems in production until they can be safely retired. However, both
    systems are over 20 years old, cannot be expanded to incorporate modern
    technology, and present growing risks to their sustainability as the
    years go by.
        The request for additional staffing will enable the Library to
    operate and maintain its essential services while implementing L-CAP
    and ensure the time for a careful and coordinated transition. The
    actual migration to the new system will be carefully planned to
    transition from legacy platforms to L-CAP. For example, collections
    acquisition activities will close at the end of a fiscal year in the
    legacy ILS and start in the next fiscal year in the new L-CAP. This
    will ensure a full closeout and audit trail for the preceding fiscal
    year in the legacy system and population of subscription orders in the
    new system in the next fiscal year. Similarly, the Library will migrate
    patron data from the legacy ILS to the new L-CAP to ensure a seamless
    transition for our borrowers.
        The additional base funding requested as part of the L-CAP effort
    will also enable continuous development of the system and ensure
    adequate resources to support new functionality and meet users'
    evolving expectations.
                                     ______

                  Questions Submitted to Hon. Dr. Carla Hayden
                   Questions Submitted by Senator Mike Braun
                                    security
        Question. Dr. Hayden, the Library included in its fiscal year 2022
    budget request significant increases for security related projects.
    Ensuring the security of the Library's staff and public visitors,
    priceless collections, and cyber infrastructure are all important
    goals.

      --Can you describe the importance of the security enhancements
            included in your budget request? Particularly the needs that
            were identified before the events of January 6?

        Answer. We take the safety and security of the Library, both our
    employees and visitors and our collections and data, very seriously.
    Even before the events of January 6, we had identified three
    significant projects that are critical to continue safeguarding our
    workforce, our national treasures, and the information entrusted to us
    by Congress and the copyright community.
        The overhaul and modernization of the Library's nearly 20-year-old
    Integrated Electronic Security System (IESS) is critical to supporting
    the security missions of the Library of Congress and U.S. Capitol
    Police (USCP). The USCP relies on the IESS as a force multiplier, as it
    enables a robust platform for a networked electronic access control
    system, intrusion detection sensor monitoring, and campus-wide closed
    circuit camera coverage. The IESS is essential for the detection and
    prevention of criminal activity, providing critical security monitoring
    for the protection of both life and property at all Library facilities
    both on Capitol Hill and in outlying locations. The system safeguards
    the staff, public visitors, priceless collections, and high-value
    assets. Additionally, the IESS provides important security support and
    situational awareness for the Library and the entire Capitol Complex
    perimeter. The events of January 6, 2021, further underscore the
    importance of the IESS and the need to modernize the system.
        Over the last few decades, emergency services have also become
    increasingly reliant on the availability of reliable cellular
    connectivity for both internal command and control functions and to
    quickly and effectively communicate with the public and other external
    parties. Unfortunately, the Library's architecture precludes strong
    cellular connectivity without an internal antenna system, and the
    Library's cellular system is both outdated and inadequate to meet
    modern demands. The current legacy 3G system was installed in 2004 and
    is now at the end of its service life. The system is also incompatible
    with advanced 5G connectivity. The Library's Security and Emergency
    Preparedness Directorate, the USCP, and the Architect of the Capitol
    have all requested that the Library upgrade its cellular system to
    support safety and security operations. Our budget request will allow
    us to implement a modern cellular solution that will ensure
    connectivity for USCP, AOC, and Library staff, as well as congressional
    and other Library visitors. The timing for this project has become
    critical, because the major cellular providers are ending their support
    for 3G service. T-Mobile has announced plans to end 3G service on
    January 1, 2022. The other major carriers are expected to follow. If we
    do not move forward with a new cellular system quickly, we risk losing
    cellular service inside Library buildings.
        On the cybersecurity front, the threat to the Library and
    legislative branch data has escalated steadily over the last decade,
    with increasingly complex attacks regularly identified and prevented.
    The Library's IT security is constantly tested, with nearly 200,000
    attempted cyberattacks a year. We have implemented a very strong IT
    security program for the Library. However, over the last few years,
    Cloud technology has advanced rapidly, and it is now a critical part of
    our IT modernization efforts. As we mature our Cloud hosting, we also
    need to mature our IT security posture for the Cloud. To stay ahead of
    the growing sophistication of the most advanced and persistent threats,
    the Library must be able to maintain and consistently mature a
    comprehensive suite of cybersecurity tools and training. Our fiscal
    2022 request will let us expand the robust IT security protections
    we've implemented for our traditional IT operations to our Cloud hosted
    IT systems. We will be using the best tools available and leveraging
    artificial intelligence to make sure we can stay ahead of the growing
    threats coming out of places like China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
        Following the events of January 6, the Library has identified a
    number of additional smaller projects that would enhance our ability to
    respond to emergencies. The projects range from reinforcing collection
    storage facilities and internal door improvements to replacing the
    Library's emergency public address system and securing exposed
    infrastructure cabling. We are also working with the Architect of the
    Capitol to prioritize a number of significant projects, such as the
    modernization of the Madison building's over 40-year-old fire alarm
    system and the hardening of external doors and windows to prevent
    perimeter breaches.

        Question. For security generally and post-January 6, how are you
    coordinating with other Legislative Branch entities on security?

        Answer. The Library maintains close and continuous coordination
    with the U.S. Capitol Police Operations and Command and Control
    Bureaus, Physical Security Division, and the Legislative Branch
    Emergency Management Task Force. The Library's physical security is
    coordinated through the Capitol Police, with the Library's Security and
    Emergency Preparedness Directorate an active partner.
        The Library is also a very active participant in the Legislative
    Branch Cybersecurity Working Group and the Legislative Branch Chief
    Information Security Officer Council. We coordinate closely with the
    House and Senate Sergeant at Arms, as well as all of the legislative
    branch technology offices to ensure everyone is on the same page in
    regards to the threats we are seeing. Our IT security operations center
    is tied into the Senate cybersecurity threat intelligence platform, and
    routinely talks with the House, Senate, and the U.S. Capitol Police.

                             CONCLUSION OF HEARINGS

        Senator Reed. With that, the Committee will stand
    adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 28, the hearings
    were concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene
    subject to the call of the Chair.]