[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.
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    \4\ Orrin G. Hatch--Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, Public 
Law No. 115-264, 132 Stat. 3676 (2018).
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    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.

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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.]