[Senate Hearing 117-516]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-516
NOMINATIONS OF HON. SHALANDA D. YOUNG
AND NANI A. COLORETTI
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
NOMINATION OF HON. SHALANDA D. YOUNG TO BE
DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET, AND
NANI A. COLORETTI TO BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND
BUDGET
__________
FEBRUARY 1, 2022
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
48-699 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona RAND PAUL, Kentucky
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
ALEX PADILLA, California MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JON OSSOFF, Georgia RICK SCOTT, Florida
JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri
David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
Claudine J. Brenner, Counsel
Nikta Khani, Research Assistant
Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
Andrew Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director
Amanda N. Neely, Minority Director of Governmental Affairs
Andrew J. Hopkins, Minority Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Thomas J. Spino, Hearing Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Sinema............................................... 2
Senator Peters............................................... 3
Senator Portman.............................................. 4
Senator Padilla.............................................. 7
Senator Hassan............................................... 14
Senator Carper............................................... 17
Senator Rosen................................................ 19
Prepared statements:
Senator Peters............................................... 25
Senator Portman.............................................. 26
WITNESSES
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, a U.S. Senator from the State of
California..................................................... 1
Shalanda D. Young to be Director, Office of Management and Budget
Testimony.................................................... 5
Prepared statement........................................... 29
Biographical and professional information.................... 31
Letter from U.S. Office of Government Ethics................. 50
Responses to pre-hearing questions........................... 53
Responses to post-hearing questions.......................... 85
Letter of Support............................................ 192
Nani A. Coloretti to be Deputy Director, Office of Management and
Budget
Testimony.................................................... 8
Prepared statement........................................... 193
Biographical and professional information.................... 195
Letter from U.S. Office of Government Ethics................. 210
Responses to pre-hearing questions........................... 215
Responses to post-hearing questions.......................... 244
NOMINATIONS OF HON. SHALANDA D. YOUNG,
AND NANI A. COLORETTI
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2022
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., via
Webex and in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon.
Gary Peters, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Peters, Carper, Hassan, Sinema, Rosen,
Padilla, Ossoff, Portman, Johnson, Lankford, Scott, and Hawley.
Chairman Peters. The Committee will come to order.
Today we are considering the nominations of Shalanda Young
to be the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), and Nani Coloretti to be the Deputy Director of OMB.
Before I give my opening remarks I will defer to my
colleague, Senator Leahy, and later to Senator Sinema, both of
whom will be introducing Ms. Young.
Senator Leahy, welcome before the Committee. It is good to
see you. You are now recognized for your introduction.
OPENING STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE PATRICK J. LEAHY, A UNITED
STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Senator Leahy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and, you report
that you have two wonderful nominees here before you, but let
me speak of one whom I have known for years, Shalanda Young,
the President's nominee to be Director of the Office of
Management and Budget.
President Biden could not have chosen a finer nominee. It
was only 11 months ago that I introduced her before this
Committee when she was nominated to be Deputy Director, and
then she was confirmed for that position by a bipartisan vote
of 63-37.
Since then she has been working as Acting Director. She
helped shape the Administration's budget priorities. She has
worked closely with Congress in responding on multiple fronts
to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Under her
leadership, critical aid has been given to States after
devastating hurricanes and wildfires. She has been at the help
to help implement the bipartisan infrastructure law that is
benefiting cities and States across the Nation. In my role as
the Appropriations Chairman, I have relied on her candor and
her judgment in advancing the fiscal year 2022 bills.
Now, she has done all of that, and in between, on October
31, 2021, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Charlie,
herself, and if juggling all of that does not prove she is more
than qualified for the job, I am not sure what would.
I first got to know her when she worked for the House
Appropriations Committee, and she served on the Committee for
nearly 15 years, four of those as Staff Director, and she
helped craft all the budgets.
But let me tell you one story, that I told her when I
introduced her. She helped in the longest Federal shutdown in
U.S. history. The final deal that brought that to the end, a
35-day government shutdown, was with then-Chairman Shelby,
Chairwoman Lowey, Ranking Member Kay Granger, and myself, along
with a few specific staff, meeting in my office in the Capitol.
Shalanda Young was one of those. Over and over again, all of
us, Democrats and Republicans alike, would ask her questions
and rely on her answers. We reached an agreement and we ended
the longest shutdown in history. She knows how to work across
the aisle.
I will put my full statement in the record, if I might, Mr.
Chairman, but I was proud to be here to introduce her as Deputy
Director, and now I am proud to introduce her as a Director. I
know that my colleague is going to introduce the nominee for
Deputy Director, so I applaud you very much.
Ms. Young. Thank you, Senator.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Leahy, for the warm
introduction. Senator Sinema, I understand you also will
introduce our nominee.
OPENING STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE KYRSTEN SINEMA, A UNITED
STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF ARIZONA
Senator Sinema. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the
opportunity to introduce Shalanda Young, an exceptional nominee
to serve as the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget.
Shalanda is a dedicated public servant with a deep
appreciation for and understanding of Capitol Hill. She served
as a professional staff member, the Deputy Staff Director, and
Staff Director on the House Committee on Appropriations.
Most significantly, Mr. Chairman, Shalanda is already doing
the job. She has been working as the Acting Director for the
past 10 months, after her strong bipartisan confirmation to
Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
During her time as Acting Director I have personally seen
Shalanda marshal the resources of the OMB to provide positive
outcomes for the American people, and she has fostered a close
working relationship with Committee. She exemplifies what OMB
needs to be successful. She is accessible, transparent,
pragmatic, and focused like a laser on getting things done. No
effort better highlights these attributes than her personal and
persistent engagement with the Senate group of 10 during our
negotiations that resulted in the Bipartisan Infrastructure,
Investment, and Jobs Law.
I was honored to co-lead that group with Ranking Member
Portman. Many of the members of that group serve on this
Committee. We crafted the historic infrastructure law with a
commitment to fiscal responsibility and delivering tangible
results for the American people, and Shalanda was instrumental
in our success. She listened to our group. She helped us
problem solve. She helped us find solutions. She was incredibly
honest and never hedged or gave excuses for why something could
not be done. She placed a premium on access, working with each
Federal agency to ensure that our group made decisions based on
the best and most accurate information possible.
Shalanda's work on our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
extended beyond pay-fors and coordination with Federal
agencies. She was also instrumental in bringing different
factions of the Federal Government together to ensure the
Federal Permitting Reform and Jobs Act was included in our
final legislation. As a result, our nation has improved and
made permanent a system that shortens permitting timelines
without compromising public protections, which has further
expanded jobs and business opportunities in communities across
the country.
Without Shalanda's dedication to our effort the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law would not be providing historic investments
in Arizona and all of our States that we are seeing today.
Shalanda is a proven leader. She is the right person for
the job, and I look forward to supporting her and moving her
nomination forward.
Mr. Chairman and other Members of the Committee, I strongly
recommend Shalanda for this position, and thank you again, Mr.
Chairman, for allowing me the opportunity to participate in
introducing my friend, Shalanda Young.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Sinema, for the
introduction.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN PETERS\1\
Chairman Peters. Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti, welcome to
each of you and to your friends and to your families who are
joining us here today for this hearing. Congratulations on your
nominations, and I am grateful for your previous service to the
American people and for your willingness to take on these new,
very critical roles.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Senator Peters appears in the
Appendix on page 25.
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I am pleased that President Biden has chosen these two
highly qualified nominees for these roles. Once confirmed, Ms.
Young will be the first African-American woman to serve as the
OMB Director, and Ms. Coloretti will be one of the highest-
ranking Asian-American women serving in the Federal Government.
There is no question that both of these nominees are extremely
well prepared to meet the needs of the American people.
Our nation has seen significant challenges in recent years.
The two nominees before us today will be critical to the Biden
administration's ongoing efforts to improve the lives of
Americans all across our Nation, by developing and implementing
the President's policy agenda and budget across every single
part of the Federal Government.
You will not only be instrumental in coordinating and
implementing actions to overcome the ongoing public health
crisis but also aiding the administration's efforts to tackle
other looming challenges such a cyberattacks and climate
change, all while supporting the Federal workforce who will be
executing these policies. You will also help ensure that the
Federal Government is effectively and efficiently using
taxpayer dollars.
There is no question the roles that you have chosen are
challenging. However, I am confident that both of you have the
expertise, the dedication, and public service experience to
successfully serve the American people.
Ms. Young, I have enjoyed working with you over this past
year to help move our nation forward, and I am eager to hear
more about how you and Ms. Coloretti will continue working with
this Committee to take on the remaining challenges that we
face.
With that I will turn it over to Ranking Member Portman for
your opening comments.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PORTMAN\1\
Senator Portman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it.
To Ms. Young, to have the Senate President Pro Tem and
Appropriations Chair, Senator Leahy, introduce you was a good
move. High stature. Then Senator Sinema's comments I, of
course, respect greatly because we did work closely together on
the infrastructure legislation, and we do appreciate the work
you did sometimes to knock heads and be sure that Federal
agencies worked with us to come up with better policies,
including on permitting reform.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Senator Portman appears in the
Appendix on page 26.
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I appreciate both of you for your willingness to serve.
These are critical roles. As a former OMB Director I have a
particular soft spot for OMB and its importance, not just
within the Federal Government but in terms of its external role
as well. I think it is really important that the OMB Director
and Deputy Director have the ability to work with Members of
Congress. It is so tightly connected to the congressional
appropriations process and authorizing committees like ours. In
fact, no more important than the Homeland Security and
Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC).
It is also important that you have an understanding and
appreciation of a multiple range of issues, because OMB gets
involves in every single policy issue and obviously plays a
huge role in the regulatory environment, and through the Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) plays a huge role
in, again, working with Congress on regulations.
This is an important one. We want to have a thorough
vetting today and be sure that we are getting into all the
issues. It is also a really important time for us to come
together as a country. We have plenty of crises facing us, what
is going on on the border. We just heard about some immigration
challenges this morning in an earlier hearing. But with regard
to COVID, everything including the raising inflation we are now
facing, obviously to the health care crisis, it creates my
concerns about what it is doing in terms of the opioid crisis,
which is worse than ever in terms of overdose deaths, mental
health challenges. There are lots of issues right now where OMB
is going to play a critical role.
On the continuing resolution (CR) deadline, which is
looming just a few weeks from now, again OMB is going to play a
key role in the Administration to figure out how we move
forward with Senator Leahy and Senator Shelby and others. I
hope that we can get beyond these CRs and get into actual
appropriations. We will talk about that today, I am sure.
Ms. Young, you and I have gotten to know each other. I
appreciate the conversations we have had over the course of the
last year, since you last appeared before this Committee. As
the Acting Director and Deputy Director, simultaneously, you
have had plenty on your plate.
Ms. Coloretti, I look forward to talking with you today
regarding your qualifications for the Deputy Director slot. I
am interested to hear how your time as Deputy Secretary of the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and
Assistant Secretary for Management at the U.S. Department
Treasury have prepared you to tackle some of these challenges
that we talked about a minute ago, that OMB faces.
Mr. Chairman, I hope that we can work together to address
many of these challenges, to get this inflation under control
and get folks safely back to work, back to school. If
confirmed, the two of you would play an important part of that
effort.
Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti, I look forward to hearing your
thoughts today and the critical role that OMB is going to play.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ranking Member Portman.
It is the practice of the Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee to swear in witnesses, so if
both of you would please stand and raise your right hands.
Do you swear that the testimony that you will give before
this Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help you, God?
Ms. Young. I do.
Ms. Coloretti. I do.
Chairman Peters. Thank you. You may be seated.
Ms. Young, you have already been very efficiently and
effectively introduced by two of my colleagues, so you may now
proceed with your opening remarks.
TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE SHALANDA D. YOUNG,\1\ NOMINATED TO
BE DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Ms. Young. Thank you, Chairman Peters, Ranking Member
Portman, and members of the Committee. I would like to begin by
thanking Senator Leahy and Senator Sinema for the kind remarks.
The great thing about getting to do this job over the last year
is getting to know Senators on both sides of the aisle and
strengthening the bonds that I started in the House for my
nearly 15-year career. I really want to thank both of them for
those remarks, and I will promise to live up to those, if
confirmed, so I really appreciate it.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Young appears in the Appendix on
page 29.
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I also want to thank my family. My father is here with me.
The rest of my family has decided there is a new star in the
family, my 3-month-old daughter, so they are home looking at
her instead of looking at this, which I think is a good choice
for them. But thanks to my dad for escorting me here today. I
appreciate it.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify as President
Biden's nominee for Director of the Office of Management and
Budget. It has been my honor to serve as the Acting Director
over the last 10 months. I am grateful to the President for
putting his trust in me as his nominee for this important job.
When I first came before the 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 that I care about so deeply. 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 accomplishments
and 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 (DRF) 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 Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), we announced nearly $5 billion last
year to help communities prepare for and respond to extreme
weather events. With the help of Congress, we secured another
$4.5 billion through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to build
community resilience.
Second, we worked with members of both parties to develop
and enact the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law you have heard some
of the members talk about here today, including permanently
authorizing the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act
(FAST-41) law, something I committed to helping get done during
my confirmation hearings in March. 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 that office in OMB. It will be 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
(EO) to streamline government services and improve customer
experience, as well as much-needed progress on investing in
information technology (IT) modernization across the Federal
Government, which I know means a lot to Members on this
Committee.
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 (IGs) and working with Congress to
ensure that IGs can fulfill their mandate. I know that there
are legitimate differences in this country, and 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, as you heard
from the former Director and Ranking Member of this Committee.
Chairman Peters, Ranking Member Portman, and other Members
of the Committee, thank you again for allowing me to appear
here today, and I look forward to answering your questions.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Young, for your opening
statement.
I will turn it over to Senator Padilla to welcome and to
introduce our second nominee, Ms. Coloretti. Senator Padilla.
OPENING STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE ALEX PADILLA, A UNITED
STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Senator Padilla. Thank you, Chairman Peters and Ranking
Member Portman. I am proud to introduce President Biden's
outstanding nominee for Deputy Director of the Office of
Management and budget. Nani Coloretti is a life-long 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 has experience later 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 at that time.
In 2014, President Obama nominated Ms. Coloretti to serve
as Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. She drew
on her long history in local government to improve public
housing through community partnerships, prioritizing equity at
the same time.
She currently serves as Senior Vice President at the Urban
Institute. Ms. Coloretti is an insightful advocate for public
policies that will help more families realize their American
dreams. She is a proven skillful manager and empathetic leader,
and she is highly qualified to support the critical work of the
Executive Branch as Deputy Director of OMB, and I urge the
Committee to support her swift confirmation.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Padilla. Welcome, Ms.
Coloretti. Welcome to the Committee. You may proceed with your
opening remarks.
TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE NANI A. COLORETTI,\1\ NOMINATED TO
BE DEPUTY DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Ms. Coloretti. Thank you. Chairman Peters, Ranking Member
Portman and distinguished Members of the 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. Thank you to Senator Padilla for those
kind words of introduction. I would also like to thank
President Biden for putting his confidence in me in nominating
me to this position, and it is a great honor to be sitting here
alongside my esteemed potential future colleague, Shalanda
Young. I am honored and humbled by this nomination.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Coloretti appears in the Appendix
on page 193.
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I would also like to recognize my husband of 24 years,
David Goldstein, who is here with me today, and my son Kaleo
Goldstein-Coloretti, who is supporting me virtually from
college. 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 me and my four
sisters. My mom was a preschool teacher and later 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 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 also 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 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 Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
for Treasury, focused on using data to make better decisions,
implementing new programs, and strengthening 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 $45 billion budget and approximately 8,000 employees.
As Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Management and Acting
CFO, I helped stand up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
(CFPB), 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 in
Washington D.C. affect the local government, having worked in
San Francisco 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 of 2009 (ARRA).
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.
Chairman Peters. Thank you.
Before we get started there are three questions that the
Committee asks of every nominee and for the record. Let me just
ask both of you, Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti, to respond to
each one very quickly if you would.
First, is there anything you are aware of in your
background that might present a conflict of interest with your
duties of the office for which you have been nominated?
Ms. Young. No, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Coloretti. No.
Chairman Peters. Second, do you know of anything, personal
or otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and
honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office for
which you have been nominated?
Ms. Young. No.
Ms. Coloretti. No.
Chairman Peters. Last, do you agree, without reservation,
to comply with any request or summons to appear and testify
before any duly constituted Committee of Congress if you are
confirmed?
Ms. Young. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Coloretti. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Peters. Thank you.
Over the past two years, Congress has provided literally
trillions of dollars to the Executive Branch to respond to and
recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and obviously the priority
has been to quickly get this financial relief to individuals
and various parts of the economy. However, we have also seen
that many programs, at the Federal as well as the State level
and the local level, report incredible amounts of fraud and
improper payments.
Ms. Young, my first question to you is what lessons have
you learned in your role as the Acting OMB Director regarding
stopping waste, fraud, and abuse in these important spending
programs, and if you are confirmed, what would you do to deal
with this critical issue as expeditiously as possible?
Ms. Young. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We started this
process. We understand the pandemic programs have exacerbated
issues that were around long before. One thing we have done
over the last year is provide $187 million through the
Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) that we thank the Committee
for its support in providing through the American Rescue Plan
(ARP). That effort, the $187 million, went into strengthening
login.gov.
I have found, over my last year, that to deal with improper
payments we also have to deal with identity theft. Those things
tend to go hand in hand. Those improvements through the TMF
will bring down identity theft issues which will also have an
impact on improper payments.
Before I conclude, I want to point to our work with
inspectors general. In December, OMB put out guidance to the
agencies, directing their working relationship be strengthened.
This comes from the top down. The President has made clear,
especially with regard to the Infrastructure Law, that he
expects his agencies and his agency heads to stay in lockstep
with inspectors general, and he did that during his time
running the recovery program when he was Vice President.
This is forefront on the actions we do. It comes from the
top. We have an edict from the President to do better here, and
we have those things in motion now.
Chairman Peters. Ms. Coloretti, do you have any additional
recommendations or observations from your previous experience
working at both the Federal and State level, to help reduce the
fraud and identity theft that we are dealing with now?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, thanks for that question and I
appreciate the opportunity to talk about this a little bit. I
will say that there was a lot of effort put into, post the
Recovery Act, ARRA, to strengthen our data systems. Some of
that work that I worked on led to the Data Accountability and
Transparency Act (DATA) Act, and I do think its implementation
will help, as well, sort of combat fraud.
Chairman Peters. The role the OMB plays in Safer Federal
Workforce Task Force is incredibly important, not only to
implementing measures to keep Federal employees and their
families and their communities safe in the face of this ongoing
pandemic and the challenges it presents, but also to ensure
that critical services to constituents across the country
continue to operate as effectively as possible and without
interruption.
Ms. Young, what takeaways do you have from the
Administration's response to the Omicron variant, including any
efforts you have led with the task force, and you would do to
improve responses going forward?
Ms. Young. Mr. Chairman, just like every other CEO and
company in this country there was one plan in which to bring
workers back to the office. Omicron variant definitely made us
go back to the drawing room table. The Safer Federal Workforce
puts out guidelines we expect all the agencies to work through,
but we leave the actual decisions on operations to the agencies
while providing some overarching guidance.
We do have agencies--I am one of them--trying to bring
people back into the office. We have people who work in
sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIFs), so we
have to make sure that they are safe when they come into the
office. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has Border
Patrol agents who have never not been on the job. So each
agency has to do what is right for its particular employees.
My takeaway is this is difficult. This is a one-in-
generation event. There is no playbook. But I think we have
been able to keep up variant-specific situations, and what we
are seeing is agencies are on track to, if they have not
already, bring people in over the next months, into March.
Chairman Peters. Ms. Coloretti, how would you leverage your
role at the OMB, if confirmed, to strengthen the ongoing
response to the COVID pandemic?
Ms. Coloretti. Thank you for that question, Senator. I
would say my role would be to help support the efforts that are
already underway, both in collaboration with Acting Director
Shalanda Young, or hopefully Director Shalanda, and the Deputy
Director for Management, across all agencies to make sure that
they are putting worker safety first but also continuing to
operate the Federal Government as it needs to be operated.
Chairman Peters. Over the last year, the Administration
released two Executive Orders, one focused on information
technology modernization and cybersecurity and a second on
customer experience. Both assigned the OMB with several
important tasks that pushed Federal departments and agencies to
adopt modern IT and cybersecurity solutions that improve
citizen services at the same time.
Ms. Young, how are you working with agencies to ensure
budgets for fiscal year 2023 and beyond are going to
incorporate modern cybersecurity solutions and also help the
government recruit top digital and top cybersecurity talent
into the government?
Ms. Young. Thanks to you and your work, and many Members of
this Committee, we received $1 billion in technology
modernization funding. I worked on this issue for many years on
the appropriations side. That level of resource had not been
achieved before that historic amount.
We have, I think, a dual mandate to go fast enough to deal
with these legacy systems are at risk from cyber threats that
attack us every day, but also to get this right. We have to
show that the TMF is a model that works. We have tried to be
flexible in the repayment from agencies. Many of them have
stretched budgets. But it is important to show, so we can show
to Congress that it is deserving of additional resources.
You have seen TMF in the budget request last year. My guess
is you will see it again. But we also have to show you and your
colleagues that those are resources worth investing in, and we
cannot have these IT systems that constantly leave the American
people's information at risk. It really does degrade the trust
people have in their government.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Young, for your constant
efforts in this area.
Ranking Member Portman, you are recognized for your
questions.
Senator Portman. Thank you. Deficit reduction. Nobody wants
to talk about it much anymore, but it is incredibly important.
As a percent of our gross domestic product (GDP), our debt
continues to grow, which is very concerning to me and to a lot
of economists who look at where we are headed as a country. OMB
is where deficit reduction should start. It is supposed to say
no when Federal agencies and departments come to you for
increases in their budget, and when the entitlement programs
are at risk, you should be the ones to, in my view, be the
guardians of some fiscal restraint.
So along those lines, during COVID we had to spend a lot of
money, and there were five bills passed in the Trump
administration, and then, of course, the massive legislation,
$1.9 trillion, the largest bill ever passed by Congress,
biggest appropriation ever, roughly a year ago.
I am wondering, as we now work through COVID and we have
all these programs in place whether it is time to start
focusing on those deficits. Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
recently projected the deficits would be 13.4 percent of GDP
for fiscal year 2022. Wow. That is concerning.
What are your views about that, and Ms. Young, I will start
with you. Is it time for us to focus again on deficit reduction
now that we are getting to the point where we have put in place
huge amounts for COVID and we are making progress with regard
to the latest COVID variant?
Ms. Young. Thank you, Senator Portman. We may disagree on
some of the particulars of the President's budget sent up
earlier this year, or even future ones, but something this
President is very serious about, and I hope you take some
solace in this as we look at deficit and debt reduction, is he
showed a path to pay for and offset all of his permanent
proposals.
I worked on the other side of budgets for many years, over
several administrations. That was a novel idea that we should
offset our permanent proposals. We may not agree on those
offsets, but the President did put forward a proposal that did
that.
Senator Portman. There were no offsets in the $1.9 trillion
that was done a year ago, and not a single Republican vote, the
largest appropriation ever. You are referring to BBB and the
fact that the President wants to spend additional money on
stimulus, but in this case he has tax increases to go along
with it?
Ms. Young. Senator, a version of Build Back Better was
absolutely a part of the budget at the time, called Jobs and
Families Plan, and you are absolutely right, there were
proposals in which to pay for those efforts.
Senator Portman. I would note that I agree with former
Secretary of the Treasury, Larry Summers, and many other
economists who said at the time, a year ago, that adding that
kind of stimulus at a time when the economy was growing--which
it turns out they were right, it was growing and it has grown--
would cause inflation that would be devastating for families
across our country, and we are seeing it. It seems to me that
more stimulus is not the way to go but instead for us to figure
out how to get inflation down by expanding our economic growth
and at the same time not adding more stimulus so that the
supply can catch up.
Any thoughts about that, either one of you?
Ms. Young. I am happy to talk about the economic picture
writ large. We just saw numbers that showed last year the
largest growth since 1984, in GDP, 5.7 percent. We saw
unemployment rate at 3.9 percent, the most jobs added by a
President, over 6 million.
But you are absolutely right. These inflationary price
pressures, we have to tackle. This Administration is looking at
supply chain shortages as one way to tackle that. We are also
trying to increase competition in the marketplace. We believe
that will also bring down price pressures for the American
people.
But one thing you also references is Build Back Better. One
thing that bill, or versions of that bill do are make
investments to take down pressures like bringing down the cost
of prescription drugs.
Senator Portman. Yes. We are just going to differ, I think,
on the need for more stimulus, and I think it is obvious now,
when you look at the numbers, that Larry Summers and others
were right. A lot of us have said the economy is growing, and
dumping more stimulus on top of that is like putting fuel on a
fire, and it is going to result in huge inflationary numbers. I
do not think anybody thought the inflation would be quite as
bad as it is, but to my constituents when they go to the
grocery story, go to the gas pump, they are in shock. Yes, some
wage gains are occurring, but not keeping up with inflation.
In terms of oversight, Chairman Peters and I, as you know,
want to work with OMB. We sometimes make requests for documents
and, as you know, I am frustrated that our documents request
related to the Administration's response to COVID-19 have not
been forthcoming. Almost a year ago, in March, we sent the
request. We have received a few, mostly already public
documents in response. We have also another request in to you
for a national security-related document. That was in
September.
I know you are aware of these because we have talked about
them, Ms. Young. Can you commit to producing these documents in
the next couple of weeks?
Ms. Young. Senator, I believe you hopefully received ARP
balances, and we absolutely commit. We should show you what
Congress has provided. The other report, I promise you I would
look into that and shake that loose. If there is another
classified report I am happy to work with your office. Whatever
we can provide, whatever counsel says is available to others, I
believe we should be providing that information.
Senator Portman. We do not have the documents we are
looking for yet with regard to COVID-19, so I will double-check
on that.
Ms. Young. OK.
Senator Portman. But if you can commit today within two
weeks to get us those documents, and with regard to the other
topic, we will follow up offline. But again, we are just
frustrated that we cannot get information. As authorizers, we
are trying to do the proper oversight and it is impossible if
we do not have the information.
Ms. Young, during your confirmation as Deputy Director of
OMB your response to the question that was posed for the record
regarding the Hyde Amendment caused me and a lot of my
Republican colleagues, all of them in fact, great concern. The
Hyde Amendment, as you know, has longstanding bipartisan
agreement not to allow Federal taxpayer dollars to be used for
abortions--by the way, something that now President but then-
Senator Biden supported when he was in the U.S. Senate.
This allows us to legislate much more productively, get
things done in the health care space, and it is critical for
respecting, in my view, the religious and ethical and moral
beliefs of so many Americans. I would like to give you an
opportunity to clarify where you stand with regard to the Hyde
Amendment.
Ms. Young. Thank you for that, Senator. One, I commit to
following the law of the land. Hyde, some version of Hyde, has
been the law and carried in appropriations bills since the late
1970s. As I have done over the last 10 months, and will
continue to do, if confirmed, follow the law, and certainly
commit to not trying to weaken the Hyde Amendment if Congress
chooses not to remove it from appropriations bills, not try to
weaken it or not follow the law in any way.
Senator Portman. Thank you. Ms. Coloretti, where do you
stand with regard to the Hyde Amendment?
Ms. Coloretti. Thanks for that question, Senator. I will
follow the law as enacted by Congress and signed by the
President.
Senator Portman. All right. My time has expired. I have a
lot of other questions and hopefully we will be able to get to
some of those. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ranking Member Portman.
Senator Hassan, you are recognized for your questions.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR HASSAN
Senator Hassan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
Portman, for holding this hearing, and I especially want to
thank Ms. Young for your willingness to continue your service
at the Office of Management and Budget, and Ms. Coloretti for
your willingness to serve as Deputy Director of the Office of
Management and Budget.
Ms. Young, let me start with a question to you. I want to
express my appreciation to you and your staff for working with
me on my bipartisan bill with Senator Braun, which seeks to
identify wasteful programs in order to streamline government
operations and save taxpayer dollars. Do you commit to
continuing to work with me on this bill and on finding ways to
better identify wasteful Federal spending and work to eliminate
it?
Ms. Young. I do, and thank you for your work on this issue.
Senator Hassan. Thank you.
Ms. Coloretti, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) operates
a 62-year-old tax processing mainframe that no longer supports
IRS's mission to process tax documents and refunds in the
timely and cost-effective way that taxpayers expect. In fact, I
have heard from many Granite Staters who are still waiting to
receive their tax refunds from 2019 and 2020. Last week I sent
a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig urging him to
swiftly address the current backlog of millions of unprocessed
tax returns.
Drawing on your experience as the former Acting Chief
Financial Officer for the Department of Treasury, if confirmed,
how will you work with IRS to prioritize investments in
technology and expedite its plans to modernize its old and
obsolete tax processing mainframe to better serve taxpayers?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, thank you for that question, and I
appreciate your leadership on this issue and just the
opportunity to talk about this issue a little bit. I do have
experience working inside of the Treasury Department, working
with the IRS on modernizing their technology. I know that it is
decades old and out of date. They did do a big push to try to
move people to become more paperless, and that was supposed to
help with this time of how long it takes to get your refund and
how long it takes to get your tax forms processed.
But certainly, if confirmed, I would look forward to
coordinating even more with Treasury and the IRS to prioritize
their technology and address some of these really difficult
problems. I also look forward to hearing more from you about
any ideas that you might have to address this.
Senator Hassan. Thank you. I will tell you that it is
probably the single largest constituent service category that
we have right now, if not the second largest. It is in the top
two. It is really frustrating for people, of course, as they
are planning. They know how much refund they are supposed to
get, for instance, and they are spending hours online trying to
reach somebody at the IRS to get clarity.
I really would look forward to working on this with you,
because I think it is a really urgent issue for the American
people.
Ms. Young, I want to kind of continue on this theme of
customer service, because Federal Government consistently ranks
among the lowest in terms of customer experience across major
industries, according to the American Consumer Satisfaction
Index.
The IRS tax return backlog that we just discussed is a good
example of why Americans are frustrated with government
services. That is why I partnered with Senator Lankford to
introduce the Federal Agency Customer Experience Act, to gain
better insight into customer interactions with the government
in order to improve customer experience overall. In addition,
as Senator Peters referenced, in December President Biden
signed an Executive Order directing agencies across the
government to improve customer service.
How is OMB working with agencies to improve customer
experience overall, and in particular, how can the Office of
Management and Budget help agencies prioritize technology
modernization as a way to meet their customer service goals?
Ms. Young. Senator Hassan, this is one of the things I am
most proud of over my last 10 months, that customer service
Executive Order was pushed directly from OMB as one of the
things we should be prioritizing. Many of these issues you
point out can find the source of problem right back to legacy
IT problems. Thank you and Senator Lankford for your work on
this, and we have tried to carry this on through this Executive
Order.
But we have designed 35 high-impact service providers that
are key to service issues in the Federal Government as part of
the EO, and we push agencies to really give us specifics on
things that are accomplishable. If you look at the EO, the
first thing I looked at was we are typically very lofty in our
aspirations. There are specific things we expect them to
deliver on. There are many things that the American people
deserve. A tax system--you are absolutely right--where they
have reliable service. We are used to Amazons now in the
private sector, so this disconnect is getting even more wide
when you go from government sites to private sector sites.
I look forward to continuing to partner with you. The
customer service EO is a good first step, but we have a lot of
work to do, including working with you and others on
legislation on this issue.
Senator Hassan. I appreciate that, and I want to follow up
a little bit on the issue of the Technology Modernization Fund,
really looking for an update. Senator Peters asked you about
it. But last Congress we allocated $1 billion to the
Modernization Fund as part of the American Rescue Plan. In
September, the Technology Modernization Fund board awarded $311
million across seven new projects. However, to date, none of
these projects have received initial funds to begin this
critical work, and the board needs to move forward on
announcements for additional projects.
Can you update us on when we can expect these projects to
receive their initial funds, and when can we expect additional
awards for the Technology Modernization Fund to be announced?
Ms. Young. Thank you, Senator Hassan. It is always a
balance, and I talked about that with the Chairman, moving
faster versus getting it right. We certainly expect the
announced awards to receive obligated funding in short order. I
do not want to give a specific date, but I will get back to
you. Those decisions have been made. It is literally just the
processing. We will keep you up to date, but that should not be
a long amount of time.
The rest, the board is meeting. As I talked about earlier,
we are also looking at relaxing some of the repayment, given
the strain on the agency budgets. We are trying to move fast,
but we have to get it right or you all will not trust us with
those resources in the future.
We will get back to you on how quickly we can obligate,
press the button on the $311 million, but that should be a
short amount of time.
Senator Hassan. I appreciate that. I know I am out of time,
but I am just going to also offer to please keep in
communication with us. If there are things that the agencies
need in order for them to dig down and really do the planning
for modernization that is such a critical piece of this, please
reach out to us. Because at the end of the day, if we cannot
modernize our legacy IT, it is a customer service issue, to be
clear. It is a national security issue as well.
Ms. Young. I note you are out of time, but one of the
things we are finding is we do have to do a lot of technical
assistance with these projects to get them to a place to
receive funding.
Senator Hassan. OK. Thank you.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Hassan.
Senator Carper, you are recognized for your questions.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER
Senator Carper. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the
nominees. I am happy that you have been nominated and I am
happy to have the opportunity to spend this time with you
today.
Much of 2021, OMB issued guidance to agencies regarding the
implementation of the Payment Integrity Information Act, the
law championed by our Chair, by Senator Johnson, and by myself,
so two other former Chairs. It is intended to help agencies cut
down improper payments, as you may know.
On December 30th, OMB released updated data on agencies'
improper payments. The latest data estimates that
governmentwide improper payment rate increased from 5.6 percent
to 7.2 percent, between fiscal years 2020 and fiscal year 2021,
driven largely by the surge in emergency spending due to the
pandemic.
With that said, the longstanding issue of improper payments
has totaled nearly--get this--$2 trillion from fiscal years
2003 to 2020--$2 trillion.
Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti, could you each describe your
approach to the issue of improper payments, or your approaches
to the issue of improper payments. As Director and Deputy
Director, how would you lead our governmentwide efforts to
address payment integrity issues and curb improper payments?
Take it away. Ms. Young and Ms. Coloretti, please.
Ms. Young. Thank you. Senator Carper, it is good to see
you, even if on the screen, and good talking with you, and I
know you have been a leader on this. I want to thank you for
your work. I spoke a little with Chairman Peters about this. We
have invested some of this Technology Modernization Fund
resources to login.gov. We believe improper payments, one of
the issues is to deal with identity theft. Some of the more
nefarious actors are stealing identities of the American
people, so we have to do something with that issue in order to
bring down improper payments.
Jason Miller, who is our Deputy Director for Management,
who came before this Committee last year to be confirmed, has
been leading the efforts with our inspectors general. He is the
chair of the inspectors general group, Council of the
Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), and we
are maintaining close relationships with them, and sent out
guidance in December to agencies about our expectations as an
administration, the Executive Branch on their working
relationship with IGs. We believe that is key to bringing down
improper payments as well.
But, the work you mentioned with the other members, my
personal opinion is that there will need to be legislative
assistance. Some of these programs are just exacerbated during
the pandemic. But these are longstanding issues many of you
have worked on. I look forward to working with you as you work
on legislative fixes, to make sure that we reduce improper
payments.
One of the things I wanted to do in this job was figure out
what is an improper payment. What is counted in these figures
are not just these nefarious actors, which there are many of,
but it can also be underpayments. Those are improper payments.
It can be overpayments, and if people paid back, that amount is
not reduced from this improper payment figure.
We have a lot of work to do to make sure. I think this goes
hand in hand with the customer service issue Senator Hassan
talked about. Our IT systems have to improve. Our data-sharing
between databases has to improve.
One more concrete example is we are working with Treasury
and Social Security Administration (SSA) on death data, to make
sure we are not paying people who are deceased. That goes down
to simple database sharing, but that is not always done well.
We are committed to working with both agencies to get that
right.
Senator Carper. Thank you. I think when the first set of
payments that we sent out, when we fell into the pandemic, I
think that about $1.4 billion was sent to people who were dead.
We tried to recover that as much as we could. We did some but
not all.
Same question, if I could, for Ms. Coloretti. As Deputy
Director, how would you lead the governmentwide efforts to
address payment integrity issues and curb improper payments?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, thanks for this question and the
opportunity to talk about this and for your leadership in this
area. I do have experience working on improper payments and
reducing them at the Department of the Treasury and at Housing
and Urban Development.
Senator Carper. Good.
Ms. Coloretti. What's that?
Senator Carper. That is great news.
Ms. Coloretti. Yes. Thank you.
I think part of the challenge here is when you are trying
to implement large things this can happen. I think the
President's--as I said from the outside, the Administration is
focused in the right area here, focusing on data, data
improvement, data sharing. I believe they are also investing in
local data systems, because some of this improper payment
happens at the State and local level, because that is where the
first dollar is actually landing, so that is helpful.
I think the work that Congress has led on the DATA Act will
be helpful as well. If confirmed, I look forward to continuing
to help lead in this area across agencies, in partnership with
the Deputy Director for Management.
Senator Carper. Thank you for that response. We are talking
about $2 trillion over the last, I do not know, 15, 16, or 17
years. This has to be part of our DNA, and the Executive Branch
and Legislative Branch as well.
One last question for both of you. Ms. Young and Ms.
Coloretti, how will you work together to balance the big-
picture view of the Federal budget as a whole with the
understanding that budgetary decisions will affect Americans in
the course of their daily lives and certainly as we continue to
battle this pandemic?
Ms. Young. Senator, it is on, I think, two fronts. We have
to make sure our investments are the right ones that makes a
difference in everyday lives. I am thinking about childcare,
which I am probably thinking about that because I am a new
mother, and so it is an issue front and center in my life.
Senator Carper. Absolutely. Boy or girl?
Ms. Young. A girl, sir.
Senator Carper. First child?
Ms. Young. First and only.
Senator Carper. That is great.
Ms. Young. We need to be very deliberate in our
investments, to make sure that we are getting to these
pocketbook issues that hit hard with families and ensure that
there is full participation in the workforce, something we are
seeing that we are struggling with as an economy, making sure
that our investments encourage full participation, including
from women. Childcare and pre-K come to mind. Prescription
drugs I mentioned earlier, bringing down that cost.
On the other side is to be fiscally responsible. The
President proposed offsets for his ideas, and I think that is
the right fiscal and economic way to approach these. We can
disagree about those investments in offsets, but the first step
is making sure that we offer them, and this President has done
that.
Senator Carper. Mr. Chairman, does Ms. Coloretti have a few
seconds that she can add something as well?
Ms. Coloretti. I am happy to add something. Thanks, Mr.
Chair and Senator.
I want to express my support for the efforts that have been
put forward so far from President Biden and this
Administration, particularly putting forward a budget that is
fully paid for. I think that is a good first step.
Senator Carper. Thank you both very much.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Carper.
Senator Rosen, you are recognized for your questions.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR ROSEN
Senator Rosen. Thank you, Chairman Peters, Ranking Member
Portman, for convening this hearing. For our witnesses today, I
know you have a few committees to appear before today, so we
appreciate your time and willingness to serve. Of course, Ms.
Young, congratulations on your new baby. Now starts a lifetime
of joy and, dare I say, a little bit of worries too, but all in
the best way. So congratulations there.
I also want to start by thanking you for your commitment
during your confirmation hearing last year to work with me and
the Nevada delegation on the issue of Yucca Mountain. As you
know, the Biden administration has pledged to not fund
licensing, construction, or nuclear waste storage at the Yucca
Mountain site, which my State has been fighting for nearly four
decades.
Ms. Young, as you and I discussed when we met last month,
the Navy has proposed to expand its existing footprint in
northern Nevada by approximately 800,000 acres, which is about
3.5 times the size of New Orleans and larger than, I dare say,
the State of Rhode Island, or Senator Carper before me,
certainly Delaware too.
While Nevada is the proud home of the Naval Air Station
Fallon, the Navy's current proposal lacks key mitigations needs
for the support from our State and local communities' impacted
tribes.
My colleagues in the Nevada delegation and I have been
diligently working on this issue with all affected stakeholders
for the past several years, so we were incredibly surprised
when, this past fall, OMB released a statement of
administration policy endorsing the Navy's proposal without any
modifications. In response, we wrote to you in November,
following up on a letter from Nevada's Governor, from October
26th.
I appreciate your recent response to the congressional
delegation letter, committing OMB to coordinate relevant
Federal agencies on this matter. However, our Governor has
still not received a response, and our local tribes have thus
far been unable to secure a meeting with you.
Ms. Young, can you commit to responding to the Governor's
letter and to talking with impacted tribal communities about
OMB's Statements of Administration Policy (SAP) supporting the
Fallon expansion?
Ms. Young. Senator, privately we spoke about this, and
publicly you have my commitment to bring together the affected
parties. Tribal consultation not something I take lightly. This
Administration and this President has doubled down and reminded
us of our obligations. You have my commitment, and it is
something important to me, to make sure we do more than lip
service with regard to our tribal consultation.
Like I told you before, the Navy needs to be at the table,
and as with a lot of issues, OMB sits in a place to help
coordinate those conversations, and you have my commitment to
do that.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate that because you do
have a unique ability at OMB to do that. I would like to have
convened at the meeting with the Department of Defense (DOD),
the Department of Interior (DOI), the Nevada delegation, and
key State, local, and tribal stakeholders, so we can all be in
the same room, whether it is Zoom or in person, so we can find
a path forward that addresses everyone's needs and concerns. I
look forward to working with you on that.
I would like to move on now to the Nonprofit Security Grant
Program (NSGP), because over the past few years, even in the
last few weeks, we have seen dangerous attacks, increasing
threats on houses of worship, including the deadliest attack
against a Jewish community in modern American history, the Tree
of Life synagogue, and just last month the anti-Semitic attack
at Congregation Beth Israel in Texas.
To protect synagogues and other houses of worship against
terrorist attacks and targeted violence, FEMA's Nonprofit
Security Grant Program provides grants for target hardening and
other security enhancements.
However, despite demand for grants outpacing their
availability in recent years, in the fiscal year 2022 budget,
the Administration did not request a specific funding amount
for the program. Fortunately, Congress has provided robust
funding in recent years. I am working with Senator Hillenbrand,
Chairman Peters, Ranking Member Portman, and Senator Lankford
to ensure that the NSGP is appropriately funded this year.
Ms. Young, again, if confirmed, will OMB include a specific
allocation for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program in future
budget requests and ensure that the allocation increases to
meet the growing needs of the program to keep communities of
faith secure?
Ms. Young. Senator, I have worked on this program since I
started on the Appropriations Committee, and that program with
$25 million and proud to help grow that to, I think its current
number is $180 million. You have a partner in me in that
program.
I believe the difference between what OMB does and what
Congress does is the way we display what we ask for in FEMA
grants, not a lack of commitment or reduction in amount. I am
happy to go back with the team and look to make sure what I
believe is strong support throughout the Administration, to
make sure that it is clear when we send up a budget.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate that. I am going to
ask you one last question in my remaining time. The United
States currently faces a critical cyber workforce shortage. We
have over 600,000 cyber positions open. Yet OMB has
historically viewed cybersecurity education as an activity that
is outside the Department of Homeland Security and its mission,
and it has resisted congressional support for Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA's) successful
Cybersecurity Education and Training Assistance Program
(CETAP).
As a result, OMB has repeatedly zeroed out funding for
CETAP in recent budget requests. Congress has rejected those
cuts. We have provided robust funding for CETAP in the most
recently years. Additionally, in 2020, my bipartisan
legislation to formally authorize CETAP because law as part of
the fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Again, Ms. Young, if confirmed, can you ensure, or will you
ensure that OMB includes funding in the future budget processes
for CETAP as part of CISA's cyber workforce development
efforts?
Ms. Young. Senator, I am happy to go back and look. This
one I am not as familiar with as the nonprofit grants. But you
are right. We have to do more to get proper cyber talent into
the government, and you have my commitment to work on that
issue.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate. I see, Mr.
Chairman, my time is up. Thank you.
Chairman Peters. Thank you, Senator Rosen.
Ms. Young, as you know, addressing issues surrounding
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals has been one of my
highest priorities, as both a Senator as well as Chairman of
this Committee. The Environmental Protection Agency recently
submitted a proposed rule to OMB, designating perfluorooctanoic
acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), two of the
most studied PFAS chemicals, as hazardous substances.
My question to you is will you commit to prioritizing an
expeditious and thorough review of the proposed rule so that
the EPA can act as quickly as possible to protect communities
that are being impacted by these harmful chemicals?
Ms. Young. I do, Senator, and can I also thank you for your
work on this and reminding all of us how important this issue
is. I certainly give you that commitment.
Chairman Peters. I appreciate that. thank you.
Ranking Member Portman, if you have a question or two to
wrap this up, you are recognized.
Senator Portman. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think we
have no more members here, so I just have a couple of questions
to follow up on some of the questions that have already been
posed, one with regard to the regulatory aspect of your jobs.
Again, this is critically important.
Ms. Coloretti, I want to ask you about this. You have some
experience, as I said earlier, at HUD and Treasury. How
involved were you in agencies' rulemaking processes in those
previous roles?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, thanks for that question. My role
as Deputy Secretary at Housing and Urban Development was to
really shake loose when regulations had conflicts amongst
different branches, different parts of HUD. I have experience
breaking through those log jams on the pathway to regulation. I
know that I have a deep appreciation, as I know you do, for
OIRA's role in coordinating the regulatory process, supporting
strong evidence-based analyses, and under longstanding
requirements of Executive Order 12866. I have an appreciation
for that and have done that work, both at HUD and at Treasury.
Senator Portman. You mentioned 12866 and the role that OMB
plays through OIRA with regard to rulemaking. I would say it is
more than just coordinating. It is really overseeing, and often
in conflict with the agencies. It is an incredibly important
role and sometimes a difficult role.
The Administration has proposed modernizing the rulemaking
process, as I understand it, including making changes to, since
you mentioned 12866, cost-benefit analyses. How do you
anticipate the Administration will change cost-benefit
analyses?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, thanks for that question. I am very
interested in the effort to modernize regulatory review and
have reviewed the Executive Order and am eager to see what
comes of that, and if confirmed, look forward to working with
you and your staff and with the good staff at OMB to meet those
requirements, meet those needs.
Senator Portman. Yes, I have two concerns. One is I want to
be sure OMB continues to focus on reducing the cost of
regulations, and I think that is part of your role because it
is inefficient for the economy and for our opportunities, not
just in the Federal Government but in our economy generally, to
grow. Do you regard it as OMB's responsibility to find ways to
reduce regulatory costs? Yes or no.
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, I agree with that sentiment.
Senator Portman. OK. Then second is my concern that the
Executive Order on modernizing says that we should account for,
``regulatory benefits that are difficult or impossible to
quantify.'' What does that mean?
Ms. Coloretti. Senator, I am not familiar with that
particular part of the Executive Order. If confirmed, I would
certainly want to learn more about it. My understanding,
though, as I sit here on the outside, is that though it is an
Executive Order to modernize the regulatory review process, the
basic framework and some of the concepts that we are talking
about here remain in place.
Ms. Young. Senator Portman, sorry----
Senator Portman. You were Acting during this period, and I
am concerned that we do not allow benefits to sort of be
developed out of left field and make it more difficult for us
to keep regulatory costs under control.
Ms. Young. Yes. I mean, Senator, the reason you saw a
recommitment to 12866 is we knew that would be a concern once
you start talking about modernizing and once we have statements
like that.
The example that brought this home to me is the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) law, where traditional cost-
benefit, the costs, ensuring that those living with
disabilities can access facilities and other things. We need to
make sure we are also capturing the real benefits, even if it
is a small amount of people, does not mean that the public good
is not worth the traditional cost methodology. So that really
brought it home.
This is hard work, though. You are right. It is easy to
pivot too far the other way. But we are trying to find the
sweet spot that deals with the example I just gave you on
ensuring that we have access for those in our country who I
think we all have agreement deserve that from the Federal
Government. But a traditional way of looking at cost-benefit, a
small population but high cost for infrastructure for some
public venues, for example, just may not make sense. But common
sense tells us we should be doing that for Americans living
with disabilities.
But you are right. We are trying to be cautious. You have
not seen anything come out on this because we are taking a
methodical view on this. We are not moving quickly. I want to
stay in touch with those. I know you have an interest here as
former OMB Director. I am happy to stay I contact on our
efforts here. But we are moving at a slow and deliberate pace
to try to get this right.
Senator Portman. OK. I have a strong interest in overseeing
that here in this Committee, and in particular I will be
following the benefit analysis closely and would appreciate you
staying in touch with us.
On the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, thank you,
particularly in the wake of what just happened at the Beth
Israel congregation, the synagogue in Texas, with the terrorist
act of a kidnapping. It is very important to us to make sure
that continues and that more nonprofits, including synagogues
and other places of worship, understand that that is accessible
to them for training and for security hardening.
With regard to another piece of legislation, I have
introduced along with 14 of my colleagues, the End Government
Shutdowns Act. This is to avoid the issue where we have Federal
shutdowns which cause damage always, and, by the way, ends up
costing the taxpayer more every time. Do you support the End
Government Shutdowns Act, and can we count on you to help us
get this legislation moving?
Ms. Young. Senator, I do not know the particulars of the
law but you can count me in on any effort, and it has to be a
bipartisan effort, to get out of this cycle of potential
shutdowns, threat of a shutdown, or for that matter, any threat
of debt ceiling breaches. Just the threat of any of those is
detrimental to the economy, and I look forward to working with
you on efforts to make sure we do not find ourselves in that
position.
You mentioned government funding runs out February 18th,
and I personally, given my former role, have a great interest
to make sure we do not get to the brink of that with any
fanfare.
Senator Portman. I think we are done with questions here. I
have one final one. Do you support the Bengals or the Rams in
the Super Bowl?
Ms. Young. I am Saints fan, sir. [Laughter.]
Senator Portman. That was a very good answer.
Ms. Coloretti, you were introduced by a California Senator.
I would hope that that would not mean that you were leaning
against the Bengals. [Laughter.]
Thank you, guys. I will not put you on the spot on that
one.
Chairman Peters. Great. Thank you to both of the nominees.
Again, congratulations on your nomination. These are incredibly
important jobs, and you are both highly qualified to take this
position, in my opinion, and if confirmed, I know you are going
to do an outstanding job.
Both of the nominees have made financial disclosures and
provided the required responses to biographical and pre-hearing
questions submitted by this Committee.\1\ Without objection,
this information will be made part of the hearing record,\2\
with the exception of the financial data which are on file and
available for public inspection in the Committee offices.
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\1\ The information for Ms. Young appears in the Appendix on page
31.
\2\ The information for Ms. Coloretti appears in the Appendix on
page 195.
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The hearing record will remain open until 12 p.m. tomorrow,
February 2nd, for submission of statements and questions for
the record.
This hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:32 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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