[Senate Hearing 117-232]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-232
NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA D. YOUNG, OF LOUISIANA, TO BE
DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET AND THE HONORABLE NANI
A. COLORETTI, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF
MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
----------
February 1, 2022--HEARING ON THE NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA
D. YOUNG, OF LOUISIANA, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET AND THE HONORABLE NANI A. COLORETTI, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY
DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
February 9, 2022--EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING TO CONSIDER THE
NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA D. YOUNG, OF LOUISIANA, TO BE
DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET AND THE HONORABLE NANI
A. COLORETTI, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF
MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Printed for use of the Senate Budget Committee
NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA D. YOUNG, OF LOUISIANA, TO BE
DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET AND THE HONORABLE NANI
A. COLORETTI, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF
MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
S. Hrg. 117-232
NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA D. YOUNG, OF LOUISIANA, TO BE
DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET AND THE HONORABLE NANI
A. COLORETTI, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF
MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
February 1, 2022--HEARING ON THE NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA
D. YOUNG, OF LOUISIANA, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET AND THE HONORABLE NANI A. COLORETTI, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY
DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
February 9, 2022--EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING TO CONSIDER THE
NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA D. YOUNG, OF LOUISIANA, TO BE
DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET AND THE HONORABLE NANI
A. COLORETTI, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF
MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT
Printed for use of the Senate Budget Committee
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
46-924 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
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COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont, Chairman
PATTY MURRAY, Washington LINDSEY O. GRAHAM, South Carolina
RON WYDEN, Oregon CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan MIKE CRAPO, Idaho
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island PATRICK TOOMEY, Pennsylvania
MARK R. WARNER, Virginia RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
TIM KAINE, Virginia RICK SCOTT, Florida
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland BEN SASSE, Nebraska
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico MITT ROMNEY, Utah
ALEX PADILLA, California JOHN KENNEDY, Louisiana
KEVIN CRAMER, North Dakota
Warren Gunnels, Majority Staff Director
Nick Myers, Republican Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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HEARING
Page
February 1, 2022--Hearing on the Nominations of the Honorable
Shalanda D. Young, of Louisiana, to be Director of the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Honorable Nani A.
Coloretti, of California, to be Deputy Director of the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB)................................. 1
OPENING STATEMENTS BY COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Chairman Bernard Sanders......................................... 1
Ranking Member Lindsey O. Graham................................. 2
WITNESSES
Statement of the Honorable Kevin Cramer, U.S. Senator from the
State of North Dakota.......................................... 3
Statement of the Honorable Patty Murray, U.S. Senator from the
State of Washington............................................ 6
Testimony of the Honorable Shalanda D. Young, of Louisiana, to be
Director, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)................ 7
Prepared Statement of........................................ 32
Statement of the Honorable Alex Padilla, U.S. Senator from the
State of California............................................ 5
Testimony of the Honorable Nani A. Coloretti, of California, to
be Deputy Director, Office of Management and Budget (OMB)...... 8
Prepared Statement of........................................ 83
MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
Statement of Biographical and Financial Information Requested of
Presidential Nominee Shalanda D. Young To Be Director of the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB).......................... 34
Pre-Hearing Questions from Chairman Bernard Sanders with Answers
by the Honorable Shalanda D. Young............................. 44
Pre-Hearing Questions from Senator John Kennedy with Answers by
the Honorable Shalanda D. Young................................ 43
Post-Hearing Questions from Budget Committee Members with Answers
by the Honorable Shalanda D. Young............................. 49
Senator Mike Braun........................................... 52
Senator Kevin Cramer......................................... 55
Senator Mike Crapo........................................... 61
Senator Lindsey O. Graham.................................... 64
Senator Tim Kaine............................................ 66
Senator Bernard Sanders...................................... 67
Senator Rick Scott........................................... 69
Senator Patrick Toomey....................................... 70
Senator Chris Van Hollen..................................... 71
Senator Mark R. Warner....................................... 74
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse................................... 75
Senator Ron Wyden............................................ 80
Statement of Biographical and Financial Information Requested of
Presidential Nominee Nani A. Coloretti To Be Deputy Director of
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)...................... 85
Pre-Hearing Questions from Chairman Bernard Sanders with Answers
by the Honorable Nani A. Coloretti............................. 94
Post-Hearing Questions from Budget Committee Members with Answers
by the Honorable Nani A. Coloretti:............................ 99
Senator Mike Crapo........................................... 101
Senator Patrick Toomey....................................... 102
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse................................... 103
Senator Ron Wyden............................................ 108
EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING
February 9, 2022--Executive Business Meeting to Consider the
Nominations of the Honorable Shalanda D. Young, of Louisiana,
to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and
the Honorable Nani A. Coloretti, of California, to be Deputy
Director of the Office of Management and Budget................ 111
Committee Votes.................................................. 111
HEARING ON THE NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA D. YOUNG, OF
LOUISIANA, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET AND
THE HONORABLE NANI A. COLORETTI, OF CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR
OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
----------
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2022
United States Senate,
Committee on the Budget,
Washington, D.C.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:37 p.m., via
Webex and in Room SH-216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon.
Bernard Sanders, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Sanders, Murray, Stabenow, Whitehouse,
Merkley, Kaine, Van Hollen, Padilla, Graham, Grassley, Crapo,
Toomey, Braun, Scott, Romney, and Cramer.
Staff Present: Warren Gunnels, Majority Staff Director; and
Nick Myers, Republican Staff Director.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN SANDERS
Chairman Sanders. All right. Okay. Apologies for being
late, and let me thank those of you who are here for being
here.
This afternoon we will be hearing from Ms. Shalanda Young
and Ms. Nani Coloretti, who have been nominated by President
Biden to serve as the Director and Deputy Director,
respectively, of The Office of Management and Budget (OMB). And
I want to thank both Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti for appearing
before us today, and thank you both for your many years of
public service. And thank you to your friends and family
members who you have brought with you today.
As we all know, the OMB is responsible for preparing the
President's budget, reviewing Federal regulations, and
providing the proper oversight of Federal agencies. It is a
very, very important task, and I know that both of you are more
than capable of leading OMB.
Since last March, Ms. Young has been serving as Acting
Director of OMB, so she is already doing the job for which she
is nominated. So she has some real-life experience behind her
as we discuss her application today.
Prior to her start at OMB, Ms. Young served for 14 years as
a top staffer on the House Appropriations Committee, where, by
all accounts, she did an excellent job working with Democrats
and Republicans on legislation that must be passed each and
every year that impacts the lives of every American.
Ms. Coloretti has more than two decades of experience in
public service. She previously served as Deputy Secretary of
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and
several positions at the U.S. Treasury Department, where, among
other duties, she helped stand up the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau. Prior to that she was the Policy Director
and later Budget Director for the Mayor's Office in San
Francisco.
Again, the Senate has previously confirmed both of these
nominees to high-ranking positions in the past on strong
bipartisan votes, and I hope and expect we will do so again in
short order.
This is our first Budget Committee hearing of 2022, and we
are facing many challenges as a nation, as I think everybody
knows, and certainly challenges that our nominees are familiar
with. We have now entered year three of the pandemic, as
thousands of Americans continue to die from COVID every single
day and hospitals continue to be overwhelmed with patients.
In my view, we are moving toward an oligarchic form of
society where the people on top have incredible wealth and
power while most Americans are struggling to pay their bills.
We have a dysfunctional health care system which costs us more
than any other country, and yet we have over 90 million people
who are uninsured or underinsured, and we pay the highest
prices in the world for our prescription drugs. And among other
things, climate change is an existential threat to the
existence of the planet. Other than that, not much.
Bottom line, I think we can all agree, although our
solutions may be different, this country faces enormous
problems.
So with that I would say that I have been impressed by the
work that Ms. Young has done and look forward to supporting
her. And now let me give the gavel over to Senator Graham.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR GRAHAM
Senator Graham. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. To both
of our nominees, congratulations. Ms. Young, you are well known
to the Committee, particularly those of us on Appropriations,
and I have always enjoyed working with you. Ms. Coloretti--is
that right, Ms. Coloretti?
Ms. Coloretti. Coloretti.
Senator Graham. Coloretti.
Ms. Coloretti. Yeah.
Senator Graham. So I think you are both well qualified. You
might talk me out of voting for you, but I doubt it.
But I do want to talk about a few things that I think are
important to your jobs. Number one, climate change is real and
I would like to do something about it, but there are a lot of
threats out there. This is a chart of just some of the problem
areas of the world. If you are Israel, Iran is definitely an
existential threat to you. They want to kill all the Jews. I do
not know why they want to do that, but that is what they keep
talking about. And I think they would if they could. But it is
not just the Jewish state. They would go after a lot of folks
in the Muslim faith to purify the faith and make it in their
own image of their formal radial Shi'ism, and they would kill
all of us because we do not agree with them religiously.
So I just want to highlight, in this chart behind me, North
Korea, China, Russia, Ukraine, the rise of ISIS back in Syria,
the debacle in Afghanistan. I do not think I ever remember a
time this dangerous, maybe since the 1930s.
So from our point of view, we believe that President
Biden's 2022 defense budget called for 1.6 percent increase in
spending--that is well below inflation--with almost a 16
percent, I think, increase in non-defense spending. Now those
priorities are just out of sync with the world as we know it.
The number one job of the Federal Government, to me, is to
defend our nation, and the Biden budget has defense spending
below inflation, well below inflation. And the National Defense
Strategy Commission, a nonpartisan commission of defense
experts, unanimously agreed that in order to deter China and
Russia that the United States would need to increase defense
spending by 35 percent in real growth. That would be above
inflation. And failing to increase would make it necessary to
alter the expectations of the U.S. defense strategy and our
global strategic objectives, which is, I think, a bad idea.
So the budget, if adopted, would put us at 2.5 percent of
GDP on national security, which is in the historically low
arena.
So we are negotiating, Democrats and Republicans, about
trying to use the appropriations process, not the continuing
resolution process, to fund the government. I think people on
our side are going to be very insistent that the defense number
meet the reality that we face, as a world and as a nation.
So having said that, your job at OMB will be to kind of
ride herd over the regulatory side of government, will be to
advise the President and run the office, and I think you are
both very capable people. Whatever differences we have, you
know, will be honestly held, and I just want to use my time,
Mr. Chairman, to focus on trying to get us, as a body, working
with the Administration to top-line numbers for budget
purposes, to appropriate rather than a continuing resolution,
that is just a terrible way to run the Department of Defense.
And I hope that the two ladies in front of us, if they get
these jobs, can help us in that process.
So with that I will yield back.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you very much.
Is Senator Murray available for an introduction for Ms.
Young?
Okay. If not, Senator Cramer, do you want to introduce Ms.
Young?
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE KEVIN CRAMER, A UNITED STATES
SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA
Senator Cramer. Well, I would be honored to. I hope I am
not stepping on Senator Murray's toes by going ahead of her,
but what the heck. Senator Kennedy is not even here and he is
from Louisiana, and I am from little old North Dakota. But I
think it speaks volumes to what relationship means. It is not
geographic. It is relationship.
And I want to say, first of all, Mr. Chairman, you did an
excellent job with Ms. Young's credentials. You did not mention
that she is a new mom, which is probably the greatest
credential of all time, and congratulations on that.
I just want to add a couple of insights, having worked with
Director Young in this last year. As you pointed out, she has
been confirmed to be the Deputy but has served as the Acting
Director. And that, in and of itself, is challenging enough,
but on top of that, of course, we have this other thing going
on, this pandemic, and all these other issues, workforce
scattered about, working as best they can remotely. All big
challenges, and she has met them all.
I have found Shalanda to be smart, extremely witty. In
fact, I would suspect, in a witty-off, you would beat the
Ranking Member, I am pretty sure. But hopefully he will still
vote for you.
She is classy, and here is what I love as much as anything.
Mr. Chairman, you talked about her role as a staff lead in the
House, in the Appropriations Committee, and that is where I
first, of course, learned about her good work.
What has impressed me so much and what I have seen in
practice as well as in words is that she has not just an
understanding of the legislative process but a real respect for
the institution. And that means a lot. That makes all of us
better at our jobs, including the folks at OMB.
I can tell you, from first-hand experience, that in my now
10 years, roughly, in Congress, I have never worked with a
budget director that was as attentive, that was as
understanding, that could drill down as deeply on specific
issues, and actually took the time to do it, as Director Young
has. We have a couple of major water infrastructure projects in
North Dakota that have been authorized many times but never
really dealt with appropriately by OMB, and they have now, and
I thank you for that.
She immediately responded to our concerns about
metropolitan statistical area definitions, something that, you
know, when you come from a small state with small cities,
really matters. Even on manufacturing regulations, when we had
a question or concern that was raised, her and her staff got
right on it.
And I do not know that you could ask for anything more or
anything better from somebody who directs an agency as large
and as important as OMB. And for those reasons and a whole
bunch of others I am, first of all, greatly touched and honored
that you would ask me to introduce you, Shalanda, and it is my
great pleasure to do that.
And, Senator Graham, there is nothing she could do today to
get me to vote against her.
Senator Graham. She may withdraw her nomination, actually.
Senator Cramer. She is very witty. I warn you. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you very much, Senator Cramer.
I think Senator Murray is not yet available so we are going
to go to Senator Padilla for his introduction of Ms. Coloretti.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ALEX PADILLA, A UNITED STATES
SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Senator Padilla. Thank you, Chairman Sanders and Ranking
Member Graham. I am proud to introduce President Biden's
outstanding nominee to be the Deputy Director of OMB. Nani
Coloretti is a lifelong advocate for economic opportunity and
the needs of working families. She spent more than a decade of
her career as a public servant in the city and county of San
Francisco, rising to become San Francisco's Budget Director in
the office of then-Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Ms. Coloretti is an experienced leader in the Federal
Government as well. She joined the Treasury Department in 2009,
as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget. In
that role she helped to shape the newly created Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau. Her record of success led to her
appointment as an Assistant Secretary for Management at the
Treasury Department, where she oversaw and modernized a
workforce of hundreds of public servants managing our economic
recovery.
In 2014, President Obama nominated Ms. Coloretti to serve
as Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. She drew
on her long experience and relationships in local government to
not only improve public housing but to do so through community
partnerships, while prioritizing equity at the same time.
Currently Senior Vice President at the Urban Institute, Ms.
Coloretti is an insightful advocate for public policies that
will help more families achieve their American dreams. She is a
proven skillful manager and empathetic leader. She is highly
qualified to support the critical work of the Executive branch
of our Federal Government as Deputy Director of OMB, and I urge
the Committee to support her swift confirmation. Thank you.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you, Senator, and you had eight
seconds remaining.
I believe that Senator Murray is now available for an
introduction of Ms. Young. Senator Murray, are you there?
[No response.]
Chairman Sanders. Senator Murray? Ah, there you are.
You are on mute. Mute, mute, mute. How many times in the
last two years have people said that, ``You are on mute''? All
right. I say it one more time.
Senator Graham. You need to say it louder.
Chairman Sanders. You are on mute. Sign language. Mute.
[Laughter.]
Chairman Sanders. We cannot hear you.
[Pause.]
Chairman Sanders. All right. See, this is one of the many
reasons we all hope to God this pandemic is behind us.
All right. Senator Murray will, I am sure, be back. But why
don't we, in the meantime, swear our two nominees in.
Under the rules of the Committee, nominees are required to
testify under oath. Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti, please rise.
Do you swear the testimony that will give before the Senate
Budget Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth?
Ms. Young. I do.
Ms. Coloretti. Yes.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you. And will you also agree to
appear before this Committee in the future and answer any
questions that the members of this Committee might have?
Ms. Young. I do.
Ms. Coloretti. Yes.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you. Please be seated.
One last try for Senator Murray.
Senator Murray. Can you hear me yet?
Chairman Sanders. We hear you very loudly.
Senator Murray. Okay. For the record it was not me. It was
the Committee staff. Bless their souls.
Chairman Sanders. All right. You are actually now too loud.
Tone it down a little bit.
Senator Murray. Yeah. I was using my preschool yell at you
boys, but okay. Can you hear me now?
Chairman Sanders. That is great. Okay.
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE PATTY MURRAY, A UNITED STATES
SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
Senator Murray. Well thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I am
really glad to be here today to provide a brief introduction of
Shalanda Young and to express my strong support for her swift
confirmation as OMB Director, a role she has filled already on
an acting basis for the past year.
I have actually known Ms. Young for many years, many of us
have. And we know Ms. Young for her expertise, her unmatched
work ethic, and maybe, most importantly, a willingness and
proven track record of bringing both sides, Republican and
Democrat, together to get things done for the American people.
When we talk about appointing good people in government,
people who will do the work, we are all talking about Shalanda
Young. Any Senator who has worked on any major spending bill
during Ms. Young's tenure on the House Appropriations Committee
have seen she knows the budget process inside and out.
Ms. Young would also make history as the first Black woman
to lead the Office of Management and Budget, bringing a really
important perspective as we work to build an economy that
really works for everyone in this country.
And on that note I think it is important to mention that
Ms. Young is a brand-new mom. Working moms have felt some of
the worst of this pandemic. At a time when a full-blown
childcare crisis is happening and the lack of a strong national
paid leave policy, it has been especially hard for our working
moms, forcing many of them to turn down extra hours or
promotions, or even quit entirely. I cannot think of anything
more appropriate than putting a working mom in charge of
America's budget.
Mr. Chairman, we are facing more challenges than almost any
time I can remember--COVID-19, an ongoing threat to our public
health and our economy. The pandemic has shone a light and
worsened so many longstanding challenges like childcare and the
cost of housing. And we are seeing the effects and costs of the
climate crisis in every part of this country.
We need a steady hand to help guide our economic recovery,
and that person is Shalanda Young. Few people understand the
Federal budget or appropriations process like Ms. Young, and
even fewer have the benefit of her years of experience
negotiating tough deals with both Republicans and Democrats.
Let's waste no time in confirming her so she can keep working
for the American people.
Thank you.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you very much, Senator Murray. And
now let us hear from Ms. Young.
TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA D. YOUNG, NOMINATED TO BE
DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Ms. Young. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First I would like to
thank Senator Murray and Senator Cramer for those wonderful
words of introduction. You know, I will not promise you lunch
other than the Senate dining room, but the two who introduced
me today are testaments to relationships that can be built in
this institution. Senator Cramer and I have gotten to know each
other very well over the last year, working together, and the
same with Senator Murray. So thank you both very much.
My family has found a new star, my daughter, so they are
mostly home looking at her sleep and maybe watching me. But I
want to thank my dad for escorting me here today as the lone
person who drew the short stick, actually. She really is much
cuter than watching me do this today. But I still want to thank
my family, who has been a big support.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today as President
Biden's nominee for Director of the Office of Management and
Budget. It has been my honor to serve the last 10 months as the
Acting Director. I am grateful to the President for the trust
he has put in me as his nominee.
When I first came before this Committee last March, I told
you a little bit about my experience growing up in rural
Louisiana. I talked about my years leading the House
Appropriations Committee as its top staffer, serving this
institution I care about so deeply, and I mean that. And I made
a commitment to you that I would focus my service at OMB on
restoring regular order, partnering with Congress in a spirit
of bipartisanship and mutual respect, and delivering results
for the American people.
Over the past 10 months, I have kept that commitment,
working alongside the extraordinary team at OMB, and with
members of this Committee from both sides of the aisle. I would
like to briefly highlight just five of OMB's achievements that
showcase what our team is capable of with the partnership of
the Senate, and this Committee in particular.
First, together with Congress, we delivered crucial
disaster relief funding for communities across the country, not
only to respond to Hurricane Ida and last year's devastating
wildfires, but to address unmet recovery needs from Hurricanes
Laura and Delta. Working with FEMA, we announced nearly $5
billion last year to help communities prepare for and respond
to extreme weather events. And with the help of Congress, we
secured another $4.5 billion through the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law to rebuild community resilience.
Second, we worked with members of both parties to help
develop and enact the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,
permanently authorizing the FAST-41 law, something I committed
to get done during my confirmation hearings last March. And OMB
is focused on implementing this law with the highest level of
effectiveness and accountability.
Third, we stood up a new Made in America Office that has
already facilitated billions of dollars in new purchases to
support American manufacturing. The office has brought
unprecedented transparency to the waiver review process,
important progress that matters to many of us in this room. I
am grateful that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law expanded
Made-in-America requirements to all Federal infrastructure
funding and codified this important office at OMB so that it is
around for future administrations.
Fourth, we took action to make the Federal Government more
efficient, effective, and accountable to the public. Those
steps include OMB's work to implement a new Executive order to
streamline government services and improve customer experience,
as well as much-needed progress on investing in IT
modernization across the Federal Government.
And finally, in keeping with the President's longstanding
commitment to oversight, we directed agencies to focus on two
important areas: restoring the integrity and independence of
their inspectors general and working with Congress to ensure
that IGs can fulfill their mandate. I know that there are
legitimate differences in this country, in this room, that
deserve honest debate, and I have appreciated the opportunity
to speak directly with many of you about them.
If confirmed, I will continue to work closely with you and
your colleagues to deliver for the American people, and I will
continue to find common ground, to be responsive, and to
rebuild the career staff at OMB who play an essential role in
ensuring our government works for all Americans, and that is
across any administration.
Chairman Sanders, Ranking Member Graham, and other members
of the Committee, thank you so much for allowing me to be here
today. I look forward to taking your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Young appears on page 32]
Chairman Sanders. Thank you very much. Now we will hear
from Ms. Coloretti.
TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE NANI A. COLORETTI, NOMINATED TO BE
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Ms. Coloretti. Thank you. Chairman Sanders, Ranking Member
Graham, and distinguished members of this Committee, it is a
privilege to come before you as President Biden's nominee for
Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. I would
like to thank the members of the Committee for considering my
nomination and the many members who took the time to speak with
me before this hearing. And thank you to Senator Padilla for
his kind words of introduction.
I would also like to thank President Biden for putting his
confidence in me, and it is a honor to be sitting here
alongside my esteemed and hopefully potential future colleague,
Shalanda Young. I am honored and humbled by this nomination.
I would also like to recognize my husband of 24 years,
David Goldstein, who is here with me today, my son Kaleo
Goldstein-Coloretti, who is supporting me virtually from
college, and I would like to thank the many family members and
friends watching this hearing from Hawaii to the East Coast.
Finally, I would like to recognize my parents, Tony and
Marielani Coloretti, who both passed away over five years ago.
It is through their sacrifices that I am able to sit here
today.
My mom and dad both had immigrant parents who came to
America in search of a better life for themselves and for their
children. My parents worked hard to support my four sisters and
me. My mom was a preschool teacher and then a home-based
childcare provider, and my dad worked in restaurants and on
cruise ships. Later on, I would also work in restaurants,
which, along with Federal student loans and Pell grants, helped
me finance my education.
My parents taught me to focus on hard work and education as
well as the importance of curiosity and empathy. It is from
them that I developed a passion for public service and a
commitment to expanding opportunity for all.
I come before you today as a public servant and leader with
over 25 years of experience in Federal, state and local
government service and in the private and nonprofit sectors.
Much of my work has focused on helping deliver better outcomes
for people, families, and taxpayers. In fact, my first Federal
service was as a program examiner at the Office of Management
and Budget many, many years ago.
I know firsthand that OMB has a critical role to play in
the implementing the President's priorities, touching every
spending and policy decision in the Federal Government and
collaborating across agencies to deliver results effectively
and efficiently.
My work during the Obama-Biden administration, as Deputy
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and before that, as
Assistant Secretary and Acting CFO for Treasury, focused on
using data to make better decisions, implement new programs,
and strengthen the organizations that I led.
At HUD, I managed the Department's day-to-day operations,
facilitated cross-cutting policy and regulatory issues, and
oversaw a budget of $45 billion and approximately 8,000
employees. As Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Management and
Acting CFO, I helped stand up the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau, and helped create Treasury's quarterly data-driven
decision framework to prioritize projects, align resources, and
measure progress.
I also understand how budget and policy decisions made here
in Washington D.C. affect local policy, having worked in San
Francisco local government for 10 years. During the 2008
recession, I helped close a deficit worth half of San
Francisco's discretionary budget, aided in the end by the
Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
If confirmed, I would be honored to work with the President
and Congress to create and implement budgets that invest in the
American people, support our economic recovery, and reflect our
country's shared values.
Thank you again for considering my nomination and I look
forward to answering your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Coloretti appears on page
83]
Chairman Sanders. Thank you both very much.
I give enough speeches so I am not going to give one today,
but I just have a few questions that I would like to ask. As I
think Senator Murray indicated, and I think we all agree with,
although we come from different perspectives, this a very
unusual moment in American history. People are struggling. The
pandemic has wreaked havoc in so many ways, not only in terms
of illness but in isolation, in the nature of employment.
People are quitting jobs in record-breaking numbers.
So we are really in an unusual place in the modern history
of this country, and one of the issues that has concerned me,
and I think it does not get enough attention, is the growing
gap between the very, very wealthy and everybody else. You have
got two people now who own more wealth than the bottom 40
percent, and during this pandemic, billionaires have seen an
increase in their wealth by $2 trillion, just in the last few
years.
So let me ask both of you, is that issue of massive income
and wealth inequality something that concerns you, and what
ideas do you have as to how we might go forward on that issue?
Ms. Young. Senator Sanders, I was proud to put President's
budget forward, which spoke to this very issue. Four hundred
billionaires own the same amount of wealth as 150 million of
the poorest Americans. That is why you saw tax proposals from
this President that sought to not only pay for the investments
in a fiscally responsible way but also speak to this issue of
fairness in our tax policy in this country.
Chairman Sanders. Ms. Coloretti.
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, thank you for that question. I also
support the President's ideas and as he has put them forward in
his policies and in his budget. They aim to build this economy
back from the bottom up and the middle out, both in tax policy
and in investments in critical items like childcare, which we
know will not only help working mothers go back to work but
will also help increase the labor supply in this country. And
we need to grow our economy and make it more productive.
Chairman Sanders. Is it of concern to you that we are the
only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all
people as a human right, while we pay far more for health care
than any other nation, and pay the highest prices in the world
for prescription drugs? Is that an issue of concern?
Ms. Young. Senator, one of the key priorities for this
President is to bring down the cost of prescription drugs for
Americans. You saw the budget spoke to that. It is a price
issue for the American people, and it is one thing we certainly
hope to work with Congress on in the near future.
You are absolutely right. The cost of health care in this
country is unsustainable. And as we talk about our full
economic picture debt deficit, you cannot help but look at what
it costs health care-wise, in our Medicare and Medicaid system.
So we have to do something to address that.
Chairman Sanders. Ms. Coloretti.
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, I started my career in Federal
service, as I mentioned, many, many years ago working on
Medicaid and health financing issues at the Office of
Management and Budget, and I was very proud to pass a small
expansion of health care in the Children's Health Insurance
Program, obviously in partnership with Congress.
So yes, I do support looking for ways to expand health care
coverage and lower costs.
Chairman Sanders. You know, I have heard many colleagues
talk about how much they love America. Well, if you love
America it seems to me you love the children who are the future
of America. And yet for a very long time we have had the
highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country
on Earth. We have tried, through the American Rescue Plan, to
address that, with some success. Through the direct payments to
working parents we reduced childhood poverty in this country by
about 40 percent. That is no insignificant accomplishment.
What is your thought about childhood poverty and how we
might address that issue?
Ms. Young. Senator, before I had a child, now especially
maybe I am a bit sensitive to this, but as a developed country,
as the leader of the free world, there is no issue, I think,
more touching and something I hope we can all come together on
in reducing childhood poverty. And you are absolutely right.
The Child Tax Credit, by all estimation of economists, looks to
have reduced childhood poverty by 40 percent, and that was a
huge accomplishment for that program.
Chairman Sanders. Ms. Coloretti.
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, I will just add to that. Another
thing I worked on in San Francisco was providing universal
preschool to all four-year-olds. And so I support the
Administration's idea, and I think many of you support it as
well, to provide universal pre-kindergarten for every three-
and four-year-old in the country, and make childcare more
affordable for working families.
I think, as I mentioned earlier, this is critical not just
for working moms but for also--these investments, actually, are
shown to pay off over time.
Chairman Sanders. Right. Last question. We are the richest
country in the history of the world and yet millions of senior
citizens today have teeth that are rotting in their mouths,
cannot afford the outrageous cost of hearing aids, cannot
afford eyeglasses. Do you agree that hearing, vision, and
dental care are essential parts of health care and that
Medicare should be expanded to cover these basic health care
needs?
Ms. Young. Chairman Sanders, we spoke about this I believe
at last year's hearings. That is why the President's budget
supported providing hearing, vision, and dental coverage as
part of Medicare expansion, and I was proud to come here and
talk about that last year.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you. Ms. Coloretti?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, just weighing in to agree.
Chairman Sanders. Okay. Thank you. Senator Graham.
Senator Graham. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Young, as a member of the Appropriations Committee
staff, did you work on defense budgets?
Ms. Young. I happened to be Staff Director, so all of them,
defense included.
Senator Graham. Yeah. So how do you see the world in terms
of danger right now?
Ms. Young. Senator, it is hard to look at the news. It is
hard to go to the job I have and not hear about the very
changing global picture we see every day, especially with what
is going on in eastern Europe.
Senator Graham. Is that fair to say for you, do you agree
with that, Ms. Coloretti?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, just weighing in to agree.
Senator Graham. Okay. So the point I am making is, if you
look at President Biden's budget proposal and project it out to
2031, 2.5 percent of GDP spending on defense, that will be
below what we were doing on September 10, 2001, before we were
attacked. So I just think that is a very dangerous glidepath
for our nation, and I will be working with people, you and
others, to try to change that. So I do not want to, you know,
make a bunch of speeches about defense other than we need a
budget. Do you agree, we need a budget quickly, Ms. Young?
Ms. Young. Sign me up for as quick as possible.
Senator Graham. Okay. What about emergency supplemental? Do
you think we need one of those too?
Ms. Young. Senator Graham, we are assessing everything from
COVID to our situation in eastern Europe, and we clearly will
be in contact if we think the resources are needed.
Senator Graham. Well, I got contacted by the Administration
about $3.5 billion for Afghanistan to go to U.N. agencies, not
the Taliban. Count me in for that, and I think the best way to
do that is through an emergency supplemental. The World Food
Program has been under siege because of COVID, and all kind of
problems out there. We have got problems at home and abroad. So
I think an emergency supplemental would be well utilized, and
also to help the Ukraine.
As a matter of fact, if we did have an emergency
supplemental, would you support designating foreign military
financing for Ukraine as part of that package?
Ms. Young. Senator, you are looking at someone--I have
visited Ukraine three times as a congressional staffer and know
the issues very up close, and it is troubling by what we see
there. So as you mentioned, we do not have a----
Senator Graham. Are you inclined to support that?
Ms. Young. Well, we do not have a regular appropriations
bill so somewhere in one of those packages. I will not dictate
to the appropriations leaders how they do it. We certainly
support Ukraine aid.
Senator Graham. Okay. Iron Dome. Eight months ago,
President Biden promised to provide $1 billion to replenish
Israel's Iron Dome system following the barrage from missile
attacks from Hamas in Gaza. To this point in time the
Administration has not yet formally requested the additional
Iron Dome funding.
Do you know if that is going to happen? Do you support that
happening?
Ms. Young. Senator Graham, I think the Department of
Defense has been clear with congressional leadership that they
support that backfilling of Iron Dome. The last legislative
vehicle I understand is pending in the Senate, but we
certainly----
Senator Graham [continuing]. But you have not made a formal
request of the Congress. Is that not accurate?
Ms. Young. It is one of many things we have communicated
through technical assistance to the Capitol. That is the normal
way.
Senator Graham. The sooner the better that we can get Iron
Dome replenished, because the world, and that part of the
world, is getting more dangerous. So I look forward to working
with you on that.
We just passed a bipartisan infrastructure package that I
voted for, and we had a lot of money for roads and bridges and
ports. One of the things that bothers a lot of us, just not me,
is that the Federal Highway Administration issued a memo
recently that says--that runs counter to congressional intent
by discouraging the use of Federal dollars by states for new
highway capacity projects. In South Carolina, we need all the
highways we can get.
What is your view about that memorandum?
Ms. Young. Senator, I was not involved in that memorandum,
and I am happy to take your concerns back and work with you to
address any shortcomings.
Senator Graham. Please do, because a lot of us who voted
for that bill expected the states to have the flexibility they
have had in the past to do, you know, appropriately what they
need to do. In our state we do need more roads, and I
appreciate if you could talk to people over at the highway
department about that.
Finally, when do you expect that we will get the next
budget?
Ms. Young. As you know, Senator, the State of the Union is
March 1. It is typical that the State of the Union would lead
into a budget. So that is certainly our expectation, that you
would see that normal course of interaction between the State
of the Union and the budget.
Senator Graham. And finally, do you agree with me that
continuing resolution is really harmful to the Defense
Department?
Ms. Young. What does that say behind you, ``The World is a
Dangerous Place''?
Senator Graham. Yeah.
Ms. Young. So every two-week, every three-week increment is
not the way to budget.
Senator Graham. Thank you so much.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you, Senator Graham. Senator
Murray.
Senator Murray. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Again, I
am really pleased to have this opportunity to speak with both
these great candidates today. Both of these women share a
wealth of experience that they bring to these roles and the
right skill sets that I believe we need.
I already spoke in strong support of Ms. Young's
nomination. I also want to add my support for Ms. Coloretti's
nomination. I know she brings a wealth of experience as well. I
think this is going to be a great team leading OMB for really a
critical time in our country's history.
On the COVID-19 response and economic recovery, some people
thought we went too big last year when we wrote the American
Rescue Plan, and I think it is plain to see today that is not
the case. We have seen a stronger and much faster economic
recovery because of the bill that the Democrats wrote and
passed--6.4 million jobs back into the economy since a year
ago.
But we do know there is more work to be done. We cannot
recover from this crisis if we do not, at long last, take some
bold steps to really help lower costs for families, like
finding and affording quality childcare where they live, giving
parents the opportunity to enroll their kids into preschool at
no cost, making a landmark investment in climate action and
clean energy, because we can see that that climate crisis is
here and now, and reduce the cost of prescription drugs and
housing and more.
We have proposals to address all of these that are long-
term and fully paid for, that will actually cut the deficit
over the time. So I wanted to ask both our nominees today if
you can respond. What is the economic case for these strong and
decisive proposals included in the Build Back Better, to put
money back into people's pockets and make sure our economy
works for us?
Ms. Young, I will start with you.
Ms. Young. Thank you, Senator Murray. Look, I know these
proposals are pending before Congress so I will just speak in
macro benefits of those things and not necessarily the
legislative vehicle. I will leave that to the experts here,
sitting around the table.
But when you look at our economy you are absolutely right.
It has grown the fastest clip last year since 1984, 5.7 percent
economic growth, 3.9 percent unemployment, over 6 million jobs
added.
But there is more to be done. I think people around the
table are rightfully speaking about price pressures and
people's pockets, and what better way to deal with those than
to use government investment to bring down the cost of
prescription drugs that they have to pay out of pocket to even
stay health.
Childcare cost, to help the American people not spend more
than 7 percent of their income on childcare. You cannot go to
work without adequate childcare, as I am quickly finding out
with a three-month-old. It is essential to the household.
So there is an economic case to these proposals, not just
pandemic-related, but these were things that I would argue were
deficits, that we need to come out better on the other side of
this pandemic than when we entered it.
Senator Murray. Thank you. Ms. Coloretti?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator Murray, I really appreciate this
question. I think these proposals are aimed at building this
economy--we have said it before so I will just say it again--
from the bottom up and the middle out. And the effort to grow
the economy and direct investments into people, so that they
can actually become more productive and contribute to a growing
economy. And I think that the Biden administration, as I
observe it from the outside, is directed in the right
direction.
Senator Murray. Great. Thank you.
Look, I am really concerned we have not reached a deal to
get this year's appropriations bill to the President's desk,
and the clock is ticking. Ms. Young, can you speak to the
importance of reaching a spending agreement for fiscal year
2022, and some of the consequences if we fail to do so?
Ms. Young. Sometimes I find it hard to find the words to
this question. It is so incredibly important. You just heard
Senator Graham talk about the defense needs and the uncertainty
in the world. We cannot address those by two-, three-week,
four-week increments. It is a dangerous proposition.
The same if you go talk to your state and local governments
who are waiting on critical grant funding. We do not do those
in a CR, so it delays investments by your state and local.
So it really is paramount to get an appropriations deal
done, and we stand willing, from the Administration's point of
view, to help do what we need to do to bring that to fruition.
Senator Murray. Thank you. And quickly, before I close, I
just want to raise two issues of critical importance to my home
state of Washington. We have discussed these previously, Ms.
Young, and the first is salmon recovery. And it is so important
to restore these Pacific Northwest iconic salmon runs. We have
got to continue our work on that.
And the second is the Federal Government's moral and legal
obligation to clean up the Hanford nuclear site. So I want to
tell you, I am going to be talking to you about this more, but
we have got to make sure that Hanford is on a cost-effective
trajectory, without compromising the cleanup mission. We have
got a lot of work ahead there.
With that let me thank you both for being willing to do
these. I look forward to working with the Chairman to get you
confirmed as quickly as possible. Thank you.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you, Senator Murray. Senator
Toomey.
Senator Toomey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Director Young and
Ms. Coloretti, thank you for joining us today.
At your nomination hearing back in March of last year,
Director Young, I asked you about the economic public health
justification for spending about $2 trillion in the American
Rescue Plan (ARP) bill, which was devoted mostly to programs
that had very little or nothing to do with COVID. It was really
a partisan wish list, and that is how it was passed, after $4
trillion on a bipartisan basis had been passed the previous
years.
Well, the subsequent year has proven almost everything my
Republican colleagues and I have warned about on that $2
trillion ARP bill. Just by way of a quick review, it spent $400
billion on universal government checks; $200 billion on
unemployment insurance plus-ups that paid recipients more not
to work than they made working; $126 billion to schools,
regardless of whether or not they opened; $97 billion for a
bailout of union pension plans. The list goes on and on.
But the results, according to the CBO, was zero job growth
above and beyond what they had anticipated would occur if you
never passed the ARP. Oh, and COVID cases hit record highs. Oh,
and we have the highest inflation in 40 years, and a whole lot
more Federal debt.
Now you, Ms. Young, maybe have got to get a pass on ARP. I
know you supported it and I am sure you still do. That was
proposed and passed before you were confirmed. But now I am
concerned that the policies being proposed have gotten worse. I
mean, ARP was counterproductive, but at least it was temporary.
The so-called Build Back Better bill, as proposed, would be the
single most damaging domestic legislation in generations. It is
clearly an attempt to make America's middle class dependent on
the government, with this free universal preschool, free
government-paid family leave, free government-funded childcare,
free expanded child tax credits, expanded Obamacare subsidies--
dramatic erosion of any sense of personal responsibility. Oh,
and the largest tax hike since 1968, which would end up being
paid for, to a very large degree, by American families, and
make the U.S. spend it.
Now I understand, thankfully, that that is at least on
pause right now, and I hope it actually goes on a permanent
hiatus.
I want to zero in, for a minute, on a topic that you and
the Ranking Member touched on briefly, and that is the
provisions in the ARP that allocated $350 billion for state and
local governments to spend on pretty much anything remotely
related to even responding to the pandemic. And what is so
shocking about that is that it occurs despite the fact that
state and local governments were not in any kind of fiscal
crisis in 2020 or 2021. In fact, in the aggregate they were
taking in all-time record high amounts of revenue, in 2020
even. I mean, we knew that in March of 2021.
And then in 2021, they shattered the record from 2020. And
the increases were quite dramatic. In 2019, state and local
governments took in a little over $11 trillion. It was well
over $12 trillion by 2020. It was about an 11 percent increase.
If you look at the first three quarters of 2019 and compare
that to the first three quarters of 2021, it is a 27.5 percent
increase in the tax revenue, which was already a record high
level of revenue.
So what has the effect of that been? Well, states are just
swimming in cash, literally. I mean, California reported a $75
billion budget surplus for 2021. And as I predicted then, state
have decided, well, they do not know really what to do with
this money so they are cutting taxes. Even virtually bankrupt
Illinois has a plan for a $1 billion tax cut, and the governor
there says that the state is in the best fiscal position it has
been in in decades.
State and local governments have also chosen to waste some
of this money, not knowing what else to do with it. We have
Syracuse, New York, spending $2 million to plant new trees.
Norwich, Connecticut building luxury apartments. The City of
Chicago has decided to spend $31 million to create a guaranteed
income program. It goes on and on.
Again, let me just recap. ARP sent $350 billion to state
and local governments after Congress had given about $650
billion of extraordinary money--this is all above and beyond
what we ordinarily send to the state and local governments--and
that is all on top of absolute, all-time, record levels of
revenue collections.
So when I hear about supplementals for more domestic
spending I just want to state for the record there is no reason
that Congress should be providing still billions more on top of
the $6 trillion it already did when there are hundreds of
billions of dollars that remain unobligated and more money than
state governments have ever even seen.
I do have a question I will send to you for the record
regarding getting Federal workers back to work in the offices
to deal with Social Security, VA, and the IRS backlog. I will
send that as a question for the record.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you, Senator Toomey. Senator
Stabenow.
Senator Whitehouse.
Senator Stabenow. Oh no. I am actually here, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sanders. All right. Senator Stabenow.
Senator Stabenow. Thank you. I am actually here. I am sorry
that the camera was turned off.
Thank you so much for the hearing. It is wonderful to see
the two nominees in front of us, such wonderful, qualified
nominees.
I do need, though, to just say something to correct the
record from my colleague and friend who just spoke about the
American Rescue Plan. I know that this was something every
Democrat voted for and every Republican voted against, and so I
understand that folks on the Republican side want to make it
seem like it was the worst thing ever.
But the reality is this, that when President Biden took
office there were 18 million people that were on unemployment
insurance and now it is 2 million--18 million to 2 million. We
helped businesses create 6 million jobs, the greatest year of
job creation in American history. We have seen the best
economic growth since 1984. We have seen the biggest single
year drop in our unemployment rate in our nation's history.
And so we know that because of COVID-related challenges and
supply chain breakdowns and so on there is so much more to do
in lowering costs for people, but the record is very clear in
terms of the robust economy and what is happening right now. We
just need to keep it going.
Ms. Young, again, welcome, and Ms. Coloretti, it is
wonderful to be speaking to you again. And I wanted to
specifically start with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs
Act, which includes a lot of provisions to ensure Federal
purchasing and infrastructure spending, to make sure it is
American-made products.
You know, we make a lot of things in Michigan. I hear a lot
about that. We make things and grow things. I happen to think
that we should be using American tax dollars to purchase those
things. We were very fortunate to get a provision that I
authored, along with Senator Braun, to solidify the Made in
America Office's role within the Federal Government, and to
have that now be law.
And so the office is now in charge of enforcing, Buy
American laws and ensuring that tax payer dollars are used to
uplift American manufacturing, hire our workers first, our
small businesses first, and shore up our domestic supply
chains, which, we know are critical, we need to be making more
things and then buying more things as a Federal Government,
made in America.
So, Ms. Young, could you talk about the Made in America
Office's role in implementing Buy American provisions from the
infrastructure bill, and what resources the office needs to
ensure that the implementation is done effectively? I know
people in my state, and believe people in the country want very
much to see this move forward aggressively and be successful.
Ms. Young. Thank you, Senator, and I want to thank you for
your help codifying that office in the Infrastructure Law. We
started that office in OMB through Executive order, and so was
very happy that the bipartisan law ensured that it will be
around for future administrations.
The President was very clear. Even before the
infrastructure law, he gave us an edict around the table that
we needed to look at the waiver process. The agencies almost,
without thinking, issue waivers for Buy American provisions
that you all worked on and passed, and this office and OMB are
meant to ride roughshod over this process. It should not be
just automatic. It needs to be justified. So we are trying to
bring some rigor to that process, not just for the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law but for all that we purchase. We talk about
appropriations bills--$1.5 trillion a year of basic annual
spending, and a lot of the waivers are done through that
process.
So our intention is to make things in America. If the
pandemic showed us nothing, supply chains are vulnerable. We
need to bring American manufacturing back, and that is one of
the things the office will focus on now--I would say during its
tenure, but now its tenure will hopefully be for the
foreseeable future, now that you have helped codify it into
law.
Senator Stabenow. Well, thank you. And I know I am just
about out of time so I want to move to a different topic that
each of you are welcome to comment on. But one of the things
that we know from the COVID pandemic is that mental health and
substance abuse issues have increased substantially, and they
are going to linger, certainly, past the pandemic. In fact,
between April of 2020 and April of 2021, more than 100,000
people died of a drug overdose, and we have so many other
numbers that relate to young people and suicides and people who
need mental health help.
And I have, as you know, been laser-focused with my
colleague, Senator Roy Blunt, creating a system where health
care above the neck is funded to help the same as health care
below the neck. And we are now on the way to doing that with
community behavioral health clinics.
And so I would ask for your support for these. I will not
go through all the pieces, but we have all kinds of information
about how this is successful in keeping people out of jail that
do not need to be there, or the emergency room who do not need
to be there, out of homeless shelters that do not need to be
there. You know, we have got this program fully operationalized
in 10 states right now, and 40 different states have startup
grants. But 10 states are fully implementing this, and we need
this across the country.
So I interested and urging you that the President's budget
do even more. His first budget proposed a $125 million increase
in the startup grants. We need additional dollars for that, and
we need to have the full expansion nationwide put in place.
So I would ask both of you if you would work with me, work
with Senator Blunt in fully operationalizing this critical part
of our health care system.
Ms. Young. We would love to work with you on any mental
health proposals.
Ms. Coloretti. Agree.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you very much, Senator Stabenow.
Senator Braun.
Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through the ARP Act
we spent $1.9 trillion, and I think 10 percent of that was
aimed particularly at COVID relief. And I am curious, with all
the money we have spent so far, it still astounds me that we
are nearly $30 trillion in debt and we are looking to borrow
more money and spend more, regardless of the merits. I think
there is a lot here that obviously we do need to address, but
not in the way that we have done it, amassing that much debt
into the system.
I would like to focus in--I have a question for Ms. Young.
How much money is still out there in terms of what you think it
is, what it really is that is unspent from what we have done
already, and is that something that we should be looking at
first before we actually tee up more money, especially when it
comes to COVID relief items like masks and testing and so
forth? I know the figure that I think has been given to the
Committee. I would like to know what you think it is out there
that is unspent funds that we could tap rather than, you know,
spending more money for things where we have got the funds
sitting, unused.
Ms. Young. Senator, we provided that information to the
Committee at the request of you and several other Senators, so
I am glad you have it. Ninety-seven percent of the funds pre-
ARP have been obligated. As you mentioned, ARP was both direct
COVID relief, the health care dollars. Most of that has been
obligated or announced. That is what helped us get through the
Omicron variant.
The money that is not obligated is something Senator Toomey
talked about, state and local funding that represents most of
the non-obligated funding. So the health care pieces is mostly
gone, given the response we have had to do for Omicron. The
other side of the table are the economic state and local money,
and that is the majority of the funding left from ARP.
Senator Braun. And is it correct that if we focus on what
the states have, that that figure is close to $340 billion?
Ms. Young. That sounds right, Senator.
Senator Braun. And then, even though that is in the states'
coffers, would it not make sense that for those states that
have unspent balances that we would ask them to spend through
that first before we would give them more money, or we do
something federally that might duplicate it?
Ms. Young. Well, Senator, the point of state and local
funding was to ensure that they could, at the state and local
level, respond to the pandemic. So I would certainly hate to
see us do that and another variant come up. We have also, while
Omicron is extremely contagious, I think we have gone through
these variants with some level of success, and state and locals
are utilizing these funds to also do mitigation efforts at
their level. So we have to be careful about pulling money back
before we know what the future twists and turns of this virus
brings.
Senator Braun. Well, I think, just for anybody in the
public that is listening, back in '08-'09, I think the total
that we spent, when it was systemically something actually
affecting the economy, not a health care crisis, in terms of
how we were going to remediate it, called for all this
spending. I think we spent $800-$900 billion. And, of course,
we have spent $4 trillion, another 2 with ARP, and then a lot
more requests for more.
I guess, in a short period of time, hundreds of billions
has become passe. And the other thing the public needs to know
is the Fed has pretty well accommodated all that by putting
that debt on their balance sheet. I think that is largely, you
know, what is driving now what is not transitory but is
somewhat of a stubborn inflation rate, 7 to 8 percent.
One other question. In December 2020, Congress passed the
Consolidated Appropriations Act with overwhelming bipartisan
support. The legislation included $1.375 billion for the
construction of border barriers. On the first day in office,
President Biden signed a presidential proclamation to pause
construction and funding for the border barrier.
Despite a continuing resolution, there is still an
authorization and appropriation to build out that barrier. What
will it take for the Administration to follow the law, and are
there other issues where the Administration plans to ignore
Congress?
Ms. Young. Senator, I take the Impoundment Control Act as
serious as anybody in this room. That is why GAO has found that
this Administration has acted properly within the confines of
that law and that we are obligating prudently. It may not be on
what everyone thinks it should be, but we have environmental
remediation to be done, we have gaps to be filled, we have
returned billions of dollars to the Department of Defense where
it belongs. So we are doing what we not only believe is
responsible but GAO has validated that.
Senator Braun. So do you intend to spend the $1.4 billion--
--
Ms. Young. We are spending it----
Senator Braun [continuing]. On a border barrier?
Ms. Young [continuing]. On utilized efforts. You can only
spend it on certain things. We cannot even spend it on
technology.
Senator Braun. That is what we authorized it for.
Ms. Young. Yes. So we are spending it on what we are
authorized to spend it on, and GAO has validated that.
Chairman Sanders. Okay. Thank you, Senator Braun. Senator
Whitehouse.
Senator Whitehouse. Thank you, Chairman. Good afternoon,
Director Young, Ms. Coloretti. Thanks for being here. I want to
ask you a little bit about health care costs and then, if I
have a moment, a little bit about climate costs.
On health care costs, the Budget Committee staff are going
to give you a copy of this graph, which I have used before, and
you may have seen before, and it charts that after the CBO
health care spend projection of 2010, something began to
change. Actual Federal health care spending began coming in
lower and lower and lower compared to what CBO had projected.
And even with the added spend of COVID we are still below those
projections.
And if you look forward, if you extrapolate CBO's
projection forward and extrapolate forward from the actual,
between now and the next decade, our budget period, there is $6
trillion in health care savings that we have experienced,
again, projected going forward.
And we do not exactly know why that is, but I very strongly
believe that it has to do with accountable care organizations
that we set up in Obamacare, the so-called Triple Aim delivery
system reform, trying to make health care more patient-
centered. All of those things that allow doctors to keep
patients healthier rather than stay on the fee for service
treadmill ends up saving money because a healthier patient does
not cost as much in health care expense.
So what I would like to do is to make sure that in the
years ahead you will both be keeping your eye on the ball of
how we do more of whatever it is that has saved us the $6
trillion while also providing healthier patients, happier
patients, and doctors who feel more rewarded in their practice.
Ms. Young. Senator Whitehouse, we have talked a lot about
debt and deficits here, but the main drivers are the aging
population, cost of health care. So we are looking for exactly
the types of solutions that you are bringing attention to.
These Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) created in the
Affordable Care Act (ACA) are the type of cost containment
mechanisms we need to look at and see if there is more of that
we should be doing.
Senator Whitehouse. And just one fine Rhode Island point on
it, we have been working for years in Rhode Island to bring
these principles to bear on patients who are nearing the end of
life or in what is called advanced care, and to free up doctors
to provide the care that they need without wasteful steps that
Medicare pricing policy demands, and we are seeking waivers
through the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI).
I just want to flag that for you, because we will be pursuing
this to make sure that all of the work that we have done in
Rhode Island does not come to naught at the hands of the
Federal Government.
So I will flag that for you. You do not need to respond. We
can talk more in person, but it is an important Rhode Island
priority for me.
Climate costs. Freddie Mac has warned of a coastal property
value crash that will cascade through the rest of the economy
the way the mortgage meltdown in 2008 cascaded through the
economy. Central banks around the world are warning of a carbon
bubble that could precipitate a global economic collapse when
the bubble bursts. The Fed is beginning to make similar
warnings here in the United States, and the insurance industry
is warning that risks like flooding risks and wildfire risks
are becoming so unpredictable as to be uninsurable.
With those warnings out there, do you at OMB take this
problem of climate costs coming at us seriously, and do you
have anything to say to us here in the Senate about how
seriously we should take those warnings?
Ms. Young. Senator, I think the President's budget speaks
for itself on the climate investments you see. We see it as an
existential threat to the economy, to the global economy, to
the American people. That is why you have seen young people
around the world look at climate change as an issue they should
care passionately about, given that their future is very tied
to it. You heard in my opening statements the billions of
dollars we spend, from a Federal Government, to respond to and
rebuild from these catastrophic events that have continued to
get worse.
So at OMB we take it very seriously and commit to work with
anyone who sees this as a threat, and it will take solutions
from Congress to deal with.
Senator Whitehouse. Just to put a dollar perspective on it,
if we can get ahead of the climate problem we will save
hundreds of billions, if not trillions of dollars. Correct?
Ms. Young. That is correct.
Senator Whitehouse. Thank you, Chairman. I wish you both
well. I cannot wait to be working with you, confirmed in your
positions, fully and officially.
Ms. Coloretti. Thank you.
Ms. Young. Thank you.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you very much, Senator Whitehouse.
Senator Scott.
Senator Scott. Thank you, Chairman. Director Young, it is
nice to see you again. The last time you were here I asked you
a few questions on the budget. So the first one is, what is our
Federal deficit now, or Federal debt now?
Ms. Young. The Federal debt is in the 30s of trillions.
Senator Scott. Okay. And what was our deficit last year and
what do you project the deficit to be this year?
Ms. Young. I want to make sure I get that right, Senator
Scott. I do not have the number at my fingertips.
Senator Scott. Okay. And do you know what our revenues were
last year, last fiscal year?
Ms. Young. Clearly not enough that we did not have a
deficit, but again, I will get those numbers to the Committee.
Senator Scott. Okay. The deficit last year was $2.8
billion, and the collections this last year was $4 trillion. Do
you know what our expenses were last year?
Ms. Young. Whatever delta those two numbers are.
Senator Scott. Okay. How about our interest expense on our
Federal debt?
Ms. Young. I know it is still at one of the lowest rates in
decades. We still pay very little on our debt, given that
interest rates have remained low for the last three decades.
Senator Scott. We paid $413 billion last year, which is 7
percent higher than 2020. Do you know what the duration of our
Federal debt is?
Ms. Young. I do not, sir.
Senator Scott. Okay. And do you know, off the top of your
head, what the amount of unspent COVID money is?
Ms. Young. We talked about the state and local dollars
being around $300 billion, but 97 percent of the pre-ARP COVID
funds remain obligated, and most of the direct COVID response
dollars in ARP are obligated or spoken for.
Senator Scott. Do you stay up with what the inflation rate
is and what the producer price index increases have been?
Ms. Young. I do.
Senator Scott. What are they?
Ms. Young. Seven percent.
Senator Scott. For which one? For what, CPI?
Ms. Young. For CPI.
Senator Scott. Okay. So Ms. Coloretti, can you give us
those? What is our Federal debt now?
Ms. Coloretti. I believe we said in the 30s of trillions of
dollars.
Senator Scott. Okay. And what do you think our deficit is
going to be this year?
Ms. Coloretti. I think you said our deficit last year--and
again, I am guessing here--but $4 trillion.
Senator Scott. And so if you think our debt is in the 30s,
how much debt--either or both of you--what can we have? Is
there a cap? What is the amount that you think is sustainable?
Ms. Young. Senator, there are many ways to look at debt,
many markers. One is, and what we have put forward as a theory
in the case in the budget we submitted was what is the cost of
carrying debt? And we remain----
Senator Scott. Let us assume it is where it is now. What
would be the maximum debt we should have?
Ms. Young. Our theory is it really depends on if debt
becomes so costly to carry that we cannot do other spending
that we should be doing, and the interest rates remain very low
at historic rates. So it has not crowded out other investments.
Senator Scott. So over the last 50 years, do you know what
the average interest rate for our 10-year Treasury is?
Ms. Young. I do not.
Senator Scott. So what if I said it is more--say it is over
5 percent, and we have, you said, over $30 trillion worth of
debt. So that would be $1.5 trillion of interest a year. Would
that be unsustainable?
Ms. Young. We do not think we are in an unsustainable
situation. Again, it goes to the real cost of carrying debt,
and our interest payments on the debt remain low and has now
crowded out other investments we need to make in this country.
Senator Scott. But you are not sure what the duration is.
So if interest rates move, and they moved up this year, as you
know. They have moved up since the first of the year. So if the
interest rates continue to move back to, let us say, the 50-
year average, would that be sustainable then?
Ms. Young. Senator Scott, of course we would have to re-
look at all of our assumptions if that historic nature of the
cost of debt changes, but it has not in 30 years, in any
measurable form.
Senator Scott. So, all right. I am surprised that you have
been in the job, I guess, for almost a year, and these numbers
are pretty significant. I mean, these numbers are numbers that
it seems like you ought to know. Because you ought to know the
exact debt. You ought to know what we are doing in collections
and what our expenses are, because if you were the CFO of a
company that is what the expectations are, and that is how I
think of this job.
So I think we ought to start looking at reality here--33
trillion-plus of debt, deficits that we cannot afford. It is
going to be very difficult. Thank you.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you, Senator Scott. Senator
Merkley.
Senator Merkley. Can you hear me okay?
Chairman Sanders. Actually, turn it down a little bit. You
are coming in a little bit loud.
Senator Merkley. Okay.
Chairman Sanders. That is good. That is good.
Senator Merkley. Thank you, Deputy Director Young. I have a
couple of details I would like to ask you about. One is that we
are still dealing with the horrific fires in the West, and will
be forevermore. And one thing that has been helpful has been
the funding of the National Guard to help provide fire crews
during these worst moments. And the White House touted those
investments in the National guard in a press release last
summer, but the Administration did not put this fire training
for the National Guard into their budget. And I want to ask if
you would put it in the budget for next year, because it has
become such an important additional component when we are in
those mega-fires.
Ms. Young. Senator, the timing of the budget, and when fire
season and many of those initiatives came forward did not
align, but we are happy to support those additional efforts,
given the devastating effect of those forest fires. So I am
happy to go back and work with our agencies, DoD, USDA, and DOI
to make sure we have adequate resources to fight fires, and we
will take back that specific proposal.
Senator Merkley. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Second, I noted and appreciated President Biden's
commitment to direct 40 percent of green Federal investments
towards environmental justice communities, something that is
often greatly overlooked, and it is so important to have this
kind of equity screen to track how agencies are spending their
time and dollars to meet that commitment.
What do you see as OMB's role in targeting and tracking
those investments?
Ms. Young. We are the centerpiece of that initiative,
Senator Merkley, and it is one of the top priorities we have in
our office. So we look forward to partnering with you, keeping
you up to speed on our efforts there. But we are, I think, the
keepers of that initiative and looking forward to carrying it
out.
Senator Merkley. Thank you. Do you anticipate that you will
probably do annual reports in that regard, to help us wrestle
with how we are doing?
Ms. Young. I think that is a great suggestion. You know,
transparency here should be something that is paramount, to
make sure we are keeping the word of our value statements. So I
am happy to take that suggestion back as one way to make sure
the public understands what we are doing.
Senator Merkley. Thank you. And then I wanted to turn to
the challenge we face with each continuing resolution. At the
end of that continuing resolution the possibilities are we have
another continuing resolution or we pass the spending bills
that the appropriate committees have invested so much in, and I
know as a former staff for an Appropriations Committee you know
exactly how intense that process is. And the third option,
which we do not like to talk about much, is that neither
happens, and in that situation we have a bit of a crisis.
Do you think it is important to have contingency plans for
that third option, when a continuing resolution runs out and we
do not succeed, and immediately having another continuing
resolution and more spending bills in place?
Ms. Young. Senator, I truly believe--I have talked to you
and most of your colleagues during this process and trying to
do our part from the Administration on getting full-year bills
passed. Everything I have heard, you know, it is difficult.
Everyone wants to get there, and understands the devastating
effects any threat of a shutdown would bring.
So I am maybe, you know, maybe I will have egg on my face,
but I am optimistic that the appropriators and the rest of
Congress can reach a deal, and I think everyone understands the
devastating effects of continuing resolutions.
Senator Merkley. Well, I certainly believe that there is
bipartisan understanding of how devastating option 3, door
number 3 is, and yet my question was, is your agency planning
for how we would treat door number 3 if we should have to go
through it?
Ms. Young. We have to, Senator. It would be irresponsible
not to. And I appreciate that the Congress works by deadlines,
so we have gotten pretty close up to the line, even though we
knew Congress would come through. So even given that time frame
the last couple of CRs, we have run exercises to make sure we
know what our plans are in case a deal is not reached in time.
Senator Merkley. Well, my role on the Appropriations
Committee is as Chair of the Interior Subcommittee, and there
are many key components that we worry about a great deal behind
door number 3, when we do not succeed and we have another
continuing resolution or a spending bill, including the
National Park Service. My staff on that subcommittee has sought
to discuss the contingency plans for that situation and has not
been able to get a briefing authorized for them. Can we make
sure that that briefing happens?
Ms. Young. Senator, we are happy to provide briefings. We
are conscientious about when we talk about potential shutdowns,
given how close in timing we are to needing a deal. So we will
work something out--I know your staff well--to make sure they
have the information they need, but also not to portray a sense
that we think we are headed down a bad road. So we will balance
that.
Senator Merkley. Let's wrap the contingency planning in all
kinds of optimism, but it is important that Congress be part of
a discussion about the consequences, and hopefully increase the
absolute motivation and make sure we do not end up in that
place. This request has been in place for I think going on
three months now, and I do not really find it acceptable that
OMB has been blocking Interior from providing such a
conversation with the Interior Subcommittee staff. And so I
hope we can remedy that situation.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you very much, Senator Merkley.
Senator Romney.
Senator Romney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Young, as you
probably know I was one of those that was part of the
bipartisan negotiating team that put together the
infrastructure bill. Our largest single investment was in
highways. You can imagine our surprise when we see the
Department of Transportation indicating that the highway money
cannot be used for increasing capacity of highways. This
direction flies in the face of our intent and our needs.
I recognize there are some states that are not growing and
may not need additional capacity--New York, New Jersey,
Delaware, Rhode Island, and so forth. But there are other
states that are growing fast--South Carolina, Florida, my state
of Utah, the fastest-growing state in the nation over the last
decade. We need to increase the capacity in our highways or we
are not going to see the economic growth which we projected as
being part of this bill.
Could you please get back to me and other members of our
bipartisan group on progress on this front and what the status
will actually be?
Ms. Young. Senator, the Ranking Member has brought this to
my attention today. I will absolutely look into this, and thank
you for your work on that piece of legislation.
Senator Romney. Thank you. A broader topic, which is, I
have a six-foot chart in my office going back to 2000 BC, which
looks at the coming and going of great civilizations over time.
And there is a common characteristic of civilizations in
decline and that ultimately collapse, and that is that they end
up spending far more than they take in. They are able to do
that because other nations see them as being strong and loan
money to them. They inevitably have a massive inflation in
their economy. By doing so, they devalue their currency. At
some point their currency ceases being the reserve currency of
the world.
It is a real concern for many of us to see us, year after
year, spend more money than we take in, and it is a precursor
of economic calamity. Right now we are seeing the economic
impact being showered on the people of America that are
suffering with very high rates of inflation.
I was, frankly, alarmed that the numbers were not familiar
to you and to your Deputy Director. The national debt is $29.9
trillion. It is not in the 30s. It will be. The projected
deficits are roughly $1 trillion a year on a normal basis. If
we have COVID relief packages it kicks those numbers even
larger. This is an ongoing threat to our nation and to the
well-being of our citizens and has to be a priority for you and
for the Administration.
I would note that about one-third of Federal spending is
the portion that is part of the budget that you work on, that
we vote on. Two-thirds is automatic, so-called
nondiscretionary--Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and
interest.
Contrary to what you indicated in your testimony, our
interest rates have not been about the same over the last 30
years. They have come down dramatically and are now ticking
back up. As a matter of fact, Bill Clinton called me after I
lost my race, back in 2012, and said his biggest concern was
that interest rates going back to their normative level would
take our interest payments to be even greater than our military
spending.
So this is a major issue that you need to focus on. I would
encourage you and hope that you will include in the analysis
and reports you provide not just the one-third that we vote on
but the two-thirds that we do not vote on, and project where
that is going to be heading over the coming decade. This will
determine whether we are able to keep up with other nations in
the world and maintain our lead as the hope and guide for
democracy throughout the world.
Will you make this a priority of your effort to see what
the total spending is and to see how our entitlements are
affecting what our total debt and total deficit will be?
Ms. Young. Senator Romney, you have my commitment to do
that, and we have done that. Even off-budget items like Social
Security, our budget fully reflected what the total outlays of
the Federal Government are. We think that is the only way to
present a unified budget. We did that in the 2022 budget and we
will do that again in the 2023 budget.
Senator Romney. I very much underscore the importance of
this for all of us. We simply cannot keep going on spending
trillions of dollars more than we take in without suffering
high rates of inflation into the future and potentially losing
our lead in the world.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you, Senator Romney. Senator
Padilla.
Senator Padilla. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate
this opportunity to ask questions. As both Acting Director
Young and the nominee for Deputy Director, Coloretti, know from
an earlier hearing today at HSGAC, I had a chance to be with
them.
I wanted to raise some issues that we talked about by phone
prior to today. As a follow-up to those conversations, I wanted
to raise some questions about critical California flooding
projects to protect the shoreline in and around San Francisco
as probably the best example.
Congress passed the fiscal year 2018 Bipartisan Budget Act
in order to construct urgent flood control projects nationwide,
including San Francisco's shoreline. However, inflation, supply
chain issues, and Army Corps' initial underestimation of
project costs have delayed these projects, which are now over
budget. Easy to get over budget when the Army Corps initially
underestimates.
So I understand that the delays have been exacerbated by
the Army Corps' decisions, which is not reflected in statute.
And I would note that unless 100 percent of the project costs
are in hand they cannot move forward with any piece of the
project. The Administration has not asked for additional
funding for this project in its budget, nor did it allocate any
in the most recent work plan.
So you can understand my frustration when the Army Corps
says it cannot do the project until it has more money, yet when
Congress gives Army Corps more money it does not allocate any
to the project, and this is a project that the Army Corps
itself said was critical and urgent, which is why it was on the
disaster funding list in the first place.
So, Acting Director Young, you see the absurdity of the
situation we are in. Any thoughts on how we can resolve this?
Ms. Young. It is something I focused on. We are working
diligently with the Army Corps of Engineers on their legal
interpretations on the mixing of money, depending on what
bills. You have my personal commitment to find a working
solution here. You are absolutely right. If the Corps, the
government tells a community they are going to fund a project,
it is unacceptable to leave it not completed. So you have my
commitment to find a workable solution here.
Senator Padilla. Thank you for that. Another Army Corps
item while I have you. The Army Corps' projects are essential
to facilitating commercial navigation, mitigating disaster
risk, of course, safeguarding ecosystems, and supporting
economic growth. OMB plays an influential role in the
implementation of these projects, both clearing the
authorization of a project and once authorized by Congress,
approving both funding requests in the President's budget as
well as funding allocations to the Army Corps' work plans.
Acting Director Young, will you commit to evaluating
potential changes to budgeting policies and economic benefit
calculations that as currently structured disadvantage lower-
income communities and often communities of color, for example,
where property values are lower?
Ms. Young. This is why you see a focus and an entire
Executive order on the issue of equity. Sometimes the scores do
not give a full story on the reasons the Federal Government
should invest in communities. So you certainly have my
commitment to make sure we look at a wide breadth of things
when we look at Federal investments.
Senator Padilla. Thank you. In the time remaining a
question for Ms. Coloretti.
I do not need to tell you, from your experience at HUD and
elsewhere, the urgency with which we need to act on
homelessness and the affordable housing crisis in America that
predates the pandemic. The pandemic has underscored the need
for affordable, safe, and supportive housing. Over the past two
years, though, many have lost their housing. Others have
struggled to make rent or mortgage payments for the first time,
and these hardships disproportionately impacted homeowners of
color, lower-income families, and those with disabilities.
With your previous experience, how can you help shape or
strengthen housing programs to better serve the people of our
country?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, I appreciate that question and a
chance to talk about this a little bit. My understanding is
that the Biden administration has a strong commitment to
increasing the supply and the affordability of housing, and, in
fact, in the fiscal year 2022 budget added additional dollars
into housing choice vouchers, affordable housing supply, and
resources to prevent and address homelessness for our most
vulnerable.
One of the things I was privileged to work on when I was at
Housing and Urban Development was the issue of ending veterans'
homelessness, and the issue is a coalition of Federal, state,
and local stakeholders to really address housing needs for the
most vulnerable. And I believe the Biden administration is
pointed in the right direction on this.
Senator Padilla. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you, Senator Padilla. Senator Van
Hollen.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and it is
great to see both of you. Congratulations on your nominations.
Thank you for your service.
I know the state of the economy has been discussed a little
bit today. I just think it is important to remind people of
some figures, which is that before we enacted the American
Rescue Plan CBO projected that GDP growth in 2021 would be 4.6
percent. It turned out that real GDP growth was 5.7 percent,
ahead of projections.
And in another hearing in the Banking and Housing Committee
I asked the Chairman of the Federal Reserve about the impact of
the American Rescue Plan on unemployment, and he said,
unequivocally, that it helped to reduce unemployment. In fact,
it reduced unemployment to under 4 percent four years earlier
than CBO had projected--4 years earlier than CBO had projected.
Acting Director Young, you and I have talked about the
Federal workforce and the need to make recruitment a top
priority, and retention a top priority. I chair the Financial
Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee and
have heard from lots of Federal agencies about the concerns
about the hiring process and how long it takes. I have also
heard that from people applying for Federal jobs.
I know OPM has a major role in this area, but of course so
does OMB. Can you commit to working with us here on this
Committee and with OPM to identify solutions for improving the
merit-based hiring process?
Ms. Young. Absolutely. Look at the infrastructure law. We
think we need at least 4,000 new Federal employees just to
implement that law. So OPM, and working with us and our Deputy
Director for Management, are working on waivers and things we
can do to bring people in faster.
We do this in certain places well, but we have got to do
more to broaden. I have been a civil servant, and you need an
advanced degree, in some cases, to learn how to get through the
hiring system. So you have my commitment to work on that.
Senator Van Hollen. Well thank you. I just think we have
got to step that up in a big way, especially given the new
commitments that need to be met with the legislation that has
been passed.
It sometimes is overlooked, but the Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is, of course, a part of OMB and
serves the government as the central authority for the review
of regulations. Federal agencies submit significant proposed
and final rules to OIRA, and there are currently over 80
regulatory actions under review, such as improvements to energy
efficiency standards.
How will you prioritize these regulatory actions, if you
are confirmed?
Ms. Young. Senator, they are all important. One of the
greatest learning curves and one thing I have spent a lot of
time in the last few months is learning the OIRA process. It is
essential to making sure the President's vision is carried out
when it comes to regulatory policy and also make sure that we
are doing a consistent job around competition, equity, these
values in Executive orders that the President has put forth.
They need to be represented in our regulatory policy.
There are some things we have clear direction from the
President that are priorities that we need to move faster,
especially in the area of climate change. But there are all
important, and many of these things have been on the shelf for
many, many years. So we are working with the staff we have to
clear all of them out once they come in from agency review.
Senator Van Hollen. Well, thank you. I hope you will urge
the President to appoint an administrator for that part of OMB,
because there are lots of important actions that are awaiting
final decision.
Ms. Coloretti, during your time as Deputy Secretary of HUD,
HUD was the most improved midsized department in the
Partnership for Public Service's Best Places to Work study.
Could you talk a little bit about the steps you took to
accomplish that and about the Biden administration's plan to
improve employee engagement so that every Federal worker is
able to do the best job possible for the American people? What
lessons did you learn there that we can apply government-wide?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, thanks for that question and for
your leadership on this issue. We did use data, first and
foremost, to help us understand where our scores were when we
were at the ranked bottom, when I was the Deputy Secretary of
HUD on the Federal Employee viewpoint Survey. And so we looked
at the data, and one thing we learned was that only 51 percent
of employees had filled out the survey. And so what that served
to do was managers were not convinced that that was a real
score, even though it was low.
So one of the things we did was do an effective push to
actually increase participation in the survey, thinking that if
we really are at this low of a score we might as well find out
for sure. And we were able to get our participation rate up to
75 to 80 percent in one year, and it had been 51. That served
to get a better set of data to understand what areas and what
questions were scoring low.
And so what we learned was employee engagement, there were
several questions that are targeted at employee engagement, and
it is important for each agency to look at those and how it
applies to their agency. For HUD, what we did was we actually
did a couple of things. We worked with every SES manager and we
also did some crowdsourcing to get ideas from people about how
to improve and strengthen HUD.
And as part of that project, that set of projects and deep
dive we did, was how we were engaging with employees. And we
noticed that on those particular scores, all of those scores
went up. And as you know, and you probably know this from
looking at the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, when
employees are more engaged it actually serves to increase all
the scores.
And so that is really how we did it, but we first and
foremost used data to help us understand what was happening on
the ground.
Senator Van Hollen. Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you,
Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you, Senator Van Hollen.
Let me thank Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti for appearing
before the Committee today. This is your second committee
appearance. It has been a long day.
Your full statements will be included in the record. As
information for all Senators, questions for the record are due
by 12 noon tomorrow, with signed hard copies delivered to the
Committee clerk in Dirksen 624. Email copies will also be
accepted. Under Committee rules, Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti
will have seven days from receipt of our questions to respond
with answers.
With no further business before the Committee, this hearing
is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 4:15 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
[Prepared statements, responses to written questions, and
additional material submitted for the record follow:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
EXECUTIVE BUSINESS MEETING TO CONSIDER THE NOMINATIONS OF THE HONORABLE
SHALANDA D. YOUNG, OF LOUISIANA, TO BE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF
MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET AND THE HONORABLE NANI A. COLORETTI, OF
CALIFORNIA, TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET
----------
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022
United States Senate,
Committee on the Budget,
Washington, D.C.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:49 a.m., in
Room S-120, The Capitol, Hon. Bernard Sanders, Chairman of the
Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Sanders, Murray, Wyden, Whitehouse,
Merkley, Kaine, Van Hollen, Padilla, Graham, Grassley, Johnson,
and Braun.
Chairman Sanders. I call this Committee meeting to order.
We will be voting to report the nominations Shalanda Young
and Nani Coloretti to be Director and Deputy Director,
respectively, of the Office of Management and Budget.
The first question before the Committee is the nomination
of Shalanda Young to be Director of OMB. A quorum is present.
I support the nominee and urge a yes vote.
We will now vote that the Committee report this nomination
to the Senate with the recommendation that the nominee be
confirmed.
The Clerk will call the roll.
The Clerk. Mrs. Murray.
Senator Murray. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Wyden.
Senator Wyden. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Stabenow.
Chairman Sanders. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Whitehouse.
Senator Whitehouse. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Warner.
Chairman Sanders. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Merkley.
Senator Merkley. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Kaine.
Senator Kaine. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Van Hollen.
Senator Van Hollen. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Lujan.
Chairman Sanders. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Padilla.
Senator Padilla. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Graham.
Senator Graham. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Grassley.
Senator Grassley. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Crapo.
Senator Graham. Pass.
The Clerk. Mr. Toomey.
Senator Graham. No by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Johnson.
Senator Johnson. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Braun.
Senator Braun. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Scott.
Senator Graham. No by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Sasse.
Senator Graham. No by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Romney.
Senator Graham. No by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Kennedy.
Senator Graham. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Cramer.
Senator Graham. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sanders. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, the yeas are 15 and the nays are
six.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you.
The second question before the Committee is the nomination
of Nani Coloretti to be Deputy Director of the Office of
Management and Budget. A quorum is present.
I support the nominee and urge a yes vote.
We will now vote that the Committee report this nomination
to the Senate with the recommendation that the nominee be
confirmed.
The Clerk will call the roll.
The Clerk. Mrs. Murray.
Senator Murray. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Wyden.
Senator Wyden. Aye.
The Clerk. Ms. Stabenow.
Chairman Sanders. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Whitehouse.
Senator Whitehouse. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Warner.
Chairman Sanders. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Merkley.
Senator Merkley. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Kaine.
Senator Kaine. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Van Hollen.
Senator Van Hollen. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Lujan.
Chairman Sanders. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Padilla.
Senator Padilla. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Graham.
Senator Graham. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Grassley.
Senator Grassley. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Crapo.
Senator Graham. Pass.
The Clerk. Mr. Toomey.
Senator Graham. No by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Johnson.
Senator Johnson. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Braun.
Senator Braun. No.
The Clerk. Mr. Scott.
Senator Graham. No by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Sasse.
Senator Graham. No by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Romney.
Senator Graham. No by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Kennedy.
Senator Graham. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Cramer.
Senator Graham. Aye by proxy.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Sanders. Aye.
The Clerk. Mr. Chairman, the total yeas are 15 and the
total nays are six.
Chairman Sanders. Thank you all very much for being here.
All Senator's statements for the record are due by 12:00
noon tomorrow, with signed hardcopies delivered to the
Committee Clerk in Dirksen 624. Emailed copies will also be
accepted.
With no further business before the Committee, this meeting
is adjourned. Thank you all very much.
[Whereupon, at 11:54 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
[all]