[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                    OVERSIGHT OF OFFICE OF THE CLERK

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                           COMMITTEE ON HOUSE
                             ADMINISTRATION

                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION
                               __________

                              MAY 8, 2024
                               __________

      Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration
      
      
                  [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]      


                             www.govinfo.gov
                           www.cha.house.gov
                           
                               __________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                    
56-082                     WASHINGTON : 2024                              


                   COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION

                    BRYAN STEIL, Wisconsin, Chairman

BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia            JOSEPH MORELLE, New York,
H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia              Ranking Member
GREG MURPHY, North Carolina          TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama
STEPHANIE BICE, Oklahoma             NORMA TORRES, California
MIKE CAREY, Ohio                     DEREK KILMER, Washington
ANTHONY D'ESPOSITO, New York
LAUREL LEE, Florida

                      Mike Platt,  Staff Director 
                 Jamie Fleet,  Minority Staff Director 

                         C  O  N  T  E  N  T  S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

                           Opening Statements

Chairman Bryan Steil, Representative from the State of Wisconsin.     1
    Prepared statement of Chairman Bryan Steil...................     3
Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight Norma Torres, 
  Representative from the State of California....................     3
    Prepared statement of Ranking Member Norma Torres............     5

                                Witness

Kevin McCumber, Acting Clerk of the House of Representatives.....     6
    Prepared statement of Kevin McCumber.........................     9

                        Questions for the Record

Kevin McCumber answers to submitted questions....................    34

 
                    OVERSIGHT OF OFFICE OF THE CLERK

                              ----------                              


                              May 8, 2024

                 Committee on House Administration,
                                  House of Representatives,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:15 a.m., in 
room 1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Bryan Steil 
[Chairman of the Committee] presiding.
    Present: Representatives Steil, Loudermilk, Griffith, 
Murphy, Bice, Carey, D'Esposito, Lee, Torres, Sewell, and 
Kilmer.
    Staff present: March Bell, General Counsel and 
Parliamentarian; Annemarie Cake, Professional Staff Member and 
Deputy Clerk; Daniel Durak, Professional Staff Member; Kristen 
Monterroso, Director of Operations and Legislative Clerk; 
William Neitzel, Deputy Director of Member Services; Michael 
Platt, Staff Director; Elliot Smith, Director of Oversight; 
Khalil Abboud, Minority Deputy Staff Director; Jamie Fleet, 
Minority Staff Director; Kwame Newton, Minority Oversight 
Counsel; and Matt Schlesinger, Minority Senior Counsel.

    OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BRYAN STEIL, CHAIRMAN OF THE 
 COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM 
                           WISCONSIN

    Chairman Steil. The Committee on House Administration will 
come to order.
    I note that a quorum is present.
    Without objection, the chair may declare a recess at any 
time.
    Also, without objection, the meeting record will remain 
open for 5 legislative days so Members may submit any material 
they wish to be included therein.
    Thank you, Ranking Member Torres, and Members of the 
Committee and our witness for participating in today's hearing.
    Every 2 years, when the House organizes a new Congress, the 
majority and minority conferences nominate candidates for Clerk 
of the House. This Congress, we were a few days delayed, but we 
got the job done.
    The Clerk of the House has an incredibly important role. 
The Clerk's Office manages a wide range of responsibilities, 
with 215 staff members in 9 divisions. These roles include 
managing day-to-day operations on the House floor, managing the 
House Office of Employment Counsel, and preserving the art and 
history of the House.
    We have the privilege of having Acting Clerk of the House 
Kevin McCumber joining us today.
    Mr. McCumber and I spent a lot of time together this past 
January as we were tallying votes for Speaker, along with Mr. 
Loudermilk and Mrs. Torres and the Ranking Member of the full 
Committee, Mr. Morelle, as well. I learned more about the great 
things the Clerk's Office is doing to make our institution more 
effective and efficient.
    Today, the Committee on House Administration will have its 
first oversight hearing over the Clerk since 2019.
    Since the start of the 118th Congress, the Clerk's Office 
has worked with the Subcommittee on Modernization on 
implementing several useful tools. These include the new 
Comparative Print tool, collaborative drafting tool, and the 
lobbyist disclosure unique identifier.
    Most recently, the Clerk's Office began the process to 
create a new Committee portal, a one-stop shop to help publish 
hearings and markup details and assist our Committee clerks.
    One of the Clerk's main responsibilities includes managing 
what we refer to as the ``hopper,'' where Members of Congress 
introduce legislation.
    Over the years, there has been a steady increase in the 
number of bills introduced by Members of Congress. Over 8,000 
bills were introduced during the first session of this 
Congress. This is a 10-percent increase in what we saw from the 
first session of the last Congress.
    Recently, a new eHopper feature was created by the Clerk's 
Office in coordination with the Subcommittee on Modernization. 
This online portal will help streamline the bill introduction 
process.
    The Clerk's team processed over 100,000 cosponsorships in 
the first session of this Congress and recorded over 700 roll 
call votes. Now, the eHopper tool will help legislative staff 
and the Clerk's Office collect cosponsorships more easily and 
efficiently.
    The Clerk's team also posted over 5,500 Committee actions 
on Congress.gov, and nearly 150,000 Committee meetings were 
transcribed--all during the first session of this Congress. It 
is safe to say, we keep the Clerk's Office busy.
    As we continue to see a higher volume of legislative work, 
this Committee remains committed to working with the Clerk's 
Office. We must ensure we are providing accountability and 
transparency for the American people in the legislative 
process.
    This hearing will also look at the Clerk's engagement with 
the House community, vacant-office management, and the capacity 
to meet modern legislative demands.
    From what I have seen, the Clerk's Office is an invaluable 
part of this institution and works tirelessly on behalf of the 
American people.
    I look forward to hearing from you, Mr. McCumber, in your 
testimony today.
    I now yield 5 minutes to the Ranking Member for an opening 
statement.
    [The prepared statement of Chairman Steil follows:]

   PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOUSE 
                   ADMINISTRATION BRYAN STEIL

    Every 2 years, when the House organizes a new Congress, the 
majority and minority conferences nominate candidates for Clerk 
of the House. This Congress, we were a few days delayed, but we 
got the job done.
    The Clerk of the House has an incredibly important role. 
The Clerk's Office manages a wide range of responsibilities, 
with 215 staff members in 9 divisions. These roles include 
managing day-to-day operations on the House floor, managing the 
House Office of Employment Counsel, and preserving the art and 
history of the House.
    We have the privilege of having Acting Clerk of the House 
Kevin McCumber joining us today.
    Mr. McCumber and I spent a lot of time together this past 
January as we were tallying votes for Speaker, along with Mr. 
Loudermilk and Mrs. Torres and the Ranking Member of the full 
Committee, Mr. Morelle, as well. I learned more about the great 
things the Clerk's Office is doing to make our institution more 
effective and efficient.
    Today, the Committee on House Administration will have its 
first oversight hearing over the Clerk since 2019.
    Since the start of the 118th Congress, the Clerk's Office 
has worked with the Subcommittee on Modernization on 
implementing several useful tools. These include the new 
Comparative Print tool, collaborative drafting tool, and the 
lobbyist disclosure unique identifier.
    Most recently, the Clerk's Office began the process to 
create a new Committee portal, a one-stop shop to help publish 
hearings and markup details and assist our Committee clerks.
    One of the Clerk's main responsibilities includes managing 
what we refer to as the ``hopper,'' where Members of Congress 
introduce legislation.
    Over the years, there has been a steady increase in the 
number of bills introduced by Members of Congress. Over 8,000 
bills were introduced during the first session of this 
Congress. This is a 10-percent increase in what we saw from the 
first session of the last Congress.
    Recently, a new eHopper feature was created by the Clerk's 
Office in coordination with the Subcommittee on Modernization. 
This online portal will help streamline the bill introduction 
process.
    The Clerk's team processed over 100,000 cosponsorships in 
the first session of this Congress and recorded over 700 roll 
call votes. Now, the eHopper tool will help legislative staff 
and the Clerk's Office collect cosponsorships more easily and 
efficiently.
    The Clerk's team also posted over 5,500 Committee actions 
on Congress.gov, and nearly 150,000 Committee meetings were 
transcribed--all during the first session of this Congress. It 
is safe to say, we keep the Clerk's Office busy.
    As we continue to see a higher volume of legislative work, 
this Committee remains committed to working with the Clerk's 
Office. We must ensure we are providing accountability and 
transparency for the American people in the legislative 
process.
    This hearing will also look at the Clerk's engagement with 
the House community, vacant-office management, and the capacity 
to meet modern legislative demands.
    From what I have seen, the Clerk's Office is an invaluable 
part of this institution and works tirelessly on behalf of the 
American people.

 OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. NORMA TORRES, RANKING MEMBER OF THE 
     SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM 
                           CALIFORNIA

    Mrs. Torres. Thank you, Chairman.
    Thank you, Mr. McCumber, for being here with us today. The 
Office of the Clerk ensures the efficiency and effectiveness of 
legislative operations in the House, and we appreciate the hard 
work that you have shown and the hard work of all of your 
employees.
    We are here today to conduct oversight of the Office of the 
Clerk and discuss the operational changes and modernization 
initiatives underway to enhance the services provided to 
Members, staff, and the American people. It is our 
responsibility to ensure that the Clerk's Office has the 
authorities and support to carry out its duties effectively.
    To start, I would like to highlight the Clerk's commendable 
efforts in supporting the House through the disruptions that 
Congress and the country have faced in the last few years. The 
institution endured a once-in-a-generation pandemic that 
prevented us from physically gathering in large numbers, not to 
mention the major disturbance of the January 6th insurrection.
    Through it all, the dedicated staff within the Office of 
the Clerk worked with grace, resilience, and professionalism. I 
thank you for that.
    Thank you for your direction and that of your predecessor, 
Cheryl Johnson. Under the most difficult circumstances, the 
legislative process continued and Members continued to perform 
their duties on behalf of their constituents back home.
    As is often the case, from these challenges came lots of 
innovations. For instance, the launch of the eHopper system 
allows Members and our staffs to electronically submit 
legislative documents for the first time, making our 
legislative process more resilient and efficient.
    Mr. McCumber, as a fellow former 911 dispatcher, I know 
that you understand the importance of a reliable, robust 
information-sharing environment. This mentality is evident in 
the solutions your office brings to the House operations, and 
it is crucial that we build upon lessons learned by your office 
and continue to improve accessibility and efficiency.
    The Office of the Clerk has also made significant strides 
in enhancing day-to-day House operations through projects like 
the Comparative Print Suite. By leveraging smart AI policies 
and machine learning to display language changes and 
differences between bills, this tool empowers staff to rapidly 
understand and analyze critical details in the legislative 
process so that we here are able to better connect the changes 
that happen and what goes on and we are able to discuss that 
information back with our folks in the district.
    Looking ahead, the development of the collaborative 
drafting tool and the Committee-votes portal holds great 
promise for streamlining legislative workflows and improving 
access to critical information. As these projects progress, it 
is essential that the Clerk's Office collaborates closely with 
key stakeholders to ensure compatibility, security, and user-
friendliness.
    Finally, as we discuss the funding of modernization 
initiatives through the dedicated account, we should recognize 
the progress that has been made on a range of the Modernization 
Committee's recommendations. Streamlining bill drafting/
amending/tracking, electronic access to Committee reports, and 
a lobbying disclosure tool are just among the few things--or, 
many things of the recommendations that the Clerk's Office has 
advanced during your time.
    While we celebrate the innovations that the Clerk's Office 
has helped deliver to the House, we recognize that the office 
must be strategic in identifying projects that yield the 
greatest benefits to the House while mitigating potential risks 
to the House operations and our service to the American people.
    I look forward to hearing from Acting Clerk McCumber about 
the progress his office has made and his plans for the 
continued modernization and improvement of legislative 
operations. I am sure that, together, working with this 
Committee, we will advance the work of all 215 employees.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
    [The prepared statement of Ranking Member Torres follows:]

  PREPARED STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON 
                     OVERSIGHT NORMA TORRES

    The Office of the Clerk ensures the efficiency and 
effectiveness of legislative operations in the House, and we 
appreciate the hard work that you have shown and the hard work 
of all of your employees.
    We are here today to conduct oversight of the Office of the 
Clerk and discuss the operational changes and modernization 
initiatives underway to enhance the services provided to 
Members, staff, and the American people. It is our 
responsibility to ensure that the Clerk's Office has the 
authorities and support to carry out its duties effectively.
    To start, I would like to highlight the Clerk's commendable 
efforts in supporting the House through the disruptions that 
Congress and the country have faced in the last few years. The 
institution endured a once-in-a-generation pandemic that 
prevented us from physically gathering in large numbers, not to 
mention the major disturbance of the January 6th insurrection.
    Through it all, the dedicated staff within the Office of 
the Clerk worked with grace, resilience, and professionalism. I 
thank you for that.
    Thank you for your direction and that of your predecessor, 
Cheryl Johnson. Under the most difficult circumstances, the 
legislative process continued and Members continued to perform 
their duties on behalf of their constituents back home.
    As is often the case, from these challenges came lots of 
innovations. For instance, the launch of the eHopper system 
allows Members and our staffs to electronically submit 
legislative documents for the first time, making our 
legislative process more resilient and efficient.
    Mr. McCumber, as a fellow former 911 dispatcher, I know 
that you understand the importance of a reliable, robust 
information-sharing environment. This mentality is evident in 
the solutions your office brings to the House operations, and 
it is crucial that we build upon lessons learned by your office 
and continue to improve accessibility and efficiency.
    The Office of the Clerk has also made significant strides 
in enhancing day-to-day House operations through projects like 
the Comparative Print Suite. By leveraging smart AI policies 
and machine learning to display language changes and 
differences between bills, this tool empowers staff to rapidly 
understand and analyze critical details in the legislative 
process so that we here are able to better connect the changes 
that happen and what goes on and we are able to discuss that 
information back with our folks in the district.
    Looking ahead, the development of the collaborative 
drafting tool and the Committee-votes portal holds great 
promise for streamlining legislative workflows and improving 
access to critical information. As these projects progress, it 
is essential that the Clerk's Office collaborates closely with 
key stakeholders to ensure compatibility, security, and user-
friendliness.
    Finally, as we discuss the funding of modernization 
initiatives through the dedicated account, we should recognize 
the progress that has been made on a range of the Modernization 
Committee's recommendations. Streamlining bill drafting/
amending/tracking, electronic access to Committee reports, and 
a lobbying disclosure tool are just among the few things--or, 
many things of the recommendations that the Clerk's Office has 
advanced during your time.
    While we celebrate the innovations that the Clerk's Office 
has helped deliver to the House, we recognize that the office 
must be strategic in identifying projects that yield the 
greatest benefits to the House while mitigating potential risks 
to the House operations and our service to the American people.
    I look forward to hearing from Acting Clerk McCumber about 
the progress his office has made and his plans for the 
continued modernization and improvement of legislative 
operations. I am sure that, together, working with this 
Committee, we will advance the work of all 215 employees.

    Chairman Steil. The gentlewoman yields back.
    Without objection, all other Members' opening statements 
will be made part of the hearing record if they are submitted 
to the Committee clerk by 5 p.m. today.
    Chairman Steil. Today we have one witness. We welcome Mr. 
Kevin McCumber, the Acting Clerk of the House.
    Mr. McCumber began his long tenure with the Office of the 
Clerk starting as a House page in 1996 and becoming Deputy 
Clerk in 2021.
    Mr. McCumber was sworn in as Acting Clerk of the U.S. House 
of Representatives by Speaker Kevin McCarthy in 2023.
    We appreciate you being with us today and look forward to 
your testimony.
    Pursuant to paragraph (b) of Committee rule 6, the witness 
will please stand and raise his right hand.
    Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony that you 
are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
but the truth, so help you God?
    Mr. McCumber. I do.
    Chairman Steil. Let the record show the witness answered in 
the affirmative.
    We appreciate you being here today and look forward to your 
testimony.
    I will remind the witness that we have read your written 
statement and it will appear in full in the hearing record.
    I will now recognize you, Mr. McCumber, for 5 minutes for 
the purpose of giving an opening statement.

   STATEMENT OF KEVIN MCCUMBER, ACTING CLERK OF THE HOUSE OF 
                        REPRESENTATIVES

    Mr. McCumber. Thank you, Chairman Steil, Ranking Member 
Torres, Members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity 
to appear before you today.
    My written testimony details our work supporting the House, 
so today I would like to focus on two themes I think are front 
of mind for all of us: first, our support for the House's 
modernization efforts; and, second, how our forward-thinking 
and mission-driven staff meet increasing legislative demands.
    I am especially proud of our team's work with this 
Committee and the former Select Committee on the Modernization 
of Congress to modernize processes and create new products 
while maintaining the traditions and practices of the 
institution. To that end, I would like to update the Committee 
on the status of some of our major modernization efforts.
    We are working with the Secretary of the Senate's Office to 
modernize the lobby disclosure system, including creating 
unique lobbyist ID capabilities based on identity verification, 
a recommendation by the former Select Committee. We decided to 
build the system on top of the Senate's recently revamped 
portion of the system, creating cost savings and efficiencies. 
This work is a top priority for us and the Senate, and 
development work is underway.
    We also look forward to the upcoming launch of an extensive 
legislative drafting study examining the nature of 
collaboration, the effectiveness of current tools, and 
reviewing potential alternative tools in the marketplace. We 
are excited to partner with the Office of Legislative Counsel 
to create a truly collaborative drafting tool and plan to issue 
an RFP midsummer.
    We are extremely proud of the success of the Comparative 
Print Suite, which was recognized internationally just last 
week for its transformative and innovative additions to the 
House's existing legislative tools. We are currently creating 
additional features, such as an upload feature to the Bill to 
Bill Differences tool in the basic edition to enable all staff 
to compare different versions of drafts provided by legislative 
counsel. We also plan to expand staff access in the 
Congressional Budget Office, ideally reducing the time needed 
to produce cost estimates.
    Additionally, the Committee recently approved a procurement 
abstract we submitted at the end of April to begin work on a 
centralized Committee portal. The portal will feature several 
modules, the first being a referral management module which 
will enable Committees to more easily track the bills referred 
to them.
    In addition to these ongoing projects, we are considering 
options to use existing technology to assist offices with 
gathering cosponsors. We look forward to working with the 
Committee as we continue developing creative solutions for 
modernizing the legislative process.
    Now I would like to turn to our staff, our most important 
resource. They provide the support for our modernization 
efforts and the House's day-to-day operations, and we recruit 
and retain mission-driven, public-service-oriented individuals 
for our team.
    We remain flexible to be able to fully support both the 
House and Senate's legislative schedules. For example, the 
House has not adjourned for more than 3 days since 2016. While 
pro forma sessions are only a few minutes long, the generated 
workload routinely matches that of a full legislative day. 
Additional flexibility is required to support late-night 
legislating in the Senate, requiring numerous Clerk staff 
onsite to facilitate the enrollment of legislation and delivery 
to the White House well after the House has adjourned for the 
day.
    The volume of legislative work has also increased. 11,252 
measures have been introduced as of May 1st, and we have 
supported 55 Committee field assignments so far this Congress, 
with 10 more scheduled through May. We are on pace to see more 
measures introduced this Congress than last Congress, which 
also surpassed the 116th Congress, which was a milestone that 
had not been achieved since 1978, the last year before 
unlimited additional cosponsors were allowed.
    Increased field Committee assignments, bill introductions, 
and late-night floor activity requires us to reprioritize our 
resources away from other projects, but also offers us 
opportunities to modernize our processes, like eHopper workflow 
management, and cross-train staff in heavily affected 
divisions. Cross-training also allows us to offer staff 
opportunities to grow within our organization and pursue long-
term careers with us.
    Given this workload, we strive to offer staff work-life 
balance without sacrificing the quality of service and high 
standards we hold ourselves to in supporting the House. Doing 
so has helped us successfully recruit top-level talent, 
particularly in the technology field.
    I want to thank our legislative-branch partners and Clerk 
staff. We are especially appreciative of our close 
collaboration with GPO, the Office of Legislative Counsel, the 
Secretary of the Senate, and the other House officers, and 
certainly the excellent work of Clerk staff, whose work across 
divisions exemplifies their shared commitment to our mission.
    Chairman Steil, Ranking Member Torres, Members of the 
Committee, we are committed to service in support of this great 
institution. Thank you again for your continued support and for 
the opportunity to testify, and I welcome your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. McCumber follows:]

              PREPARED STATEMENT OF KEVIN MCCUMBER

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Chairman Steil. Thank you, Mr. McCumber.
    I will begin our questions today, followed by the Ranking 
Member. We will then alternate between parties.
    I will now recognize myself for the purpose of asking 
questions.
    Off the cuff, first, to say thank you to all of your staff. 
I know you have over 200 men and women on your staff who work 
diligently every day. Sometimes people toiling in the weeds 
here do not get enough appreciation, and so if you would share 
my and I think the entire Committee's appreciation for everyone 
that's working so diligently.
    You spoke, I think very eloquently, about the volume of 
work that is being done by the Clerk's Office to keep the House 
of Representatives open and operational and transparent to the 
American people.
    I want to dive in just a little bit where Congress, time 
and again, seems to push right up to deadlines. Not a surprise 
to anybody, the institution has challenges. You have to 
navigate that.
    You commented a little bit about the late nights. Could you 
just add a little more color about what is going on behind the 
scenes when legislation comes right up to that deadline and 
then there is a push to get that legislation either over to the 
Senate or, if it is from the Senate to us, over to the White 
House for signature, what that looks like, provide a little 
color there?
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly.
    As you mentioned, there are a lot of, especially recently, 
legislation going right up to the deadline. We are in regular 
communication with the leadership staff, Committee staff, of 
tracking the progress not only through the House Chamber but 
through the Senate Chamber, trying to prepare enrollments, the 
enrollment on parchment, to head down to the White House, 
assuming it does not get amended over in the Senate.
    There is just a lot of tracking involved outside of the 
regular day-to-day legislative processing of regular introduced 
bills and cosponsors.
    Once the enrollment--once we get the papers back from the 
Senate that it is passed clean, the enrollment's prepared, and 
we send it around for signature and----
    Chairman Steil. Provide a little color on that enrollment 
process, because I think sometimes the American people are----
    Dr. Murphy.
    [Inaudible.]
    Chairman Steil. Thank you, Dr. Murphy.
    Provide a little more information, maybe, or a little 
color, as I just said, on what that actually looks like. 
Because I know sometimes the American people look and say, the 
House passed it or the Senate passed it, why is it not law 3 
minutes later?
    Mr. McCumber. We have four very talented enrolling clerks 
in the Clerk's Office. They take the bill as it is passed, both 
the House and Senate, print it on parchment, and then they read 
it character by character to ensure complete accuracy, down to 
the dashes and the commas and the semicolons. Once that is 
matched up, then it is released and sent around for signature.
    We also--for the big, big bills, GPO will do team-reading. 
We will prepare the enrollment to send down to GPO for them to 
team-read overnight, most of the time, and have it back by 9 
a.m. the next day so that it is ready to move the minute the 
Senate takes action and we have the final, final bill.
    Chairman Steil. Thank you.
    Let me jump back out from that into another area where I 
think we have done some actually great work on the 
modernization side. I know Mr. Kilmer and Mrs. Bice have done 
great work on modernization. A little bit, as you described 
that, it makes me think that we have a moment there where we 
could look at a little bit of modernization there.
    Let me come back to where I think we have done some great 
modernization to the Clerk's Office--in particular, the 
eHopper, bill introduction. Can you just provide a little more 
information as to the work that the Clerk's Office has done in 
the modernization of that process?
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly.
    We took it out of the email-based, where you would send an 
email to a dedicated email address; we moved it to an online 
application, where it is a lot easier. There is step-by-step 
processing.
    In February of this year, we introduced the ability for 
Members and staff to add cosponsors electronically.
    Then, just this past Friday, which will certainly improve 
the bill clerk and our internal efficiencies, we have supplied 
the ability for the system to automatically ingest cosponsors 
as they are added by you.
    Pre-Friday, we would have to hand-enter all of the 
cosponsors that were submitted--so upwards of nearly 200,000 
this Congress, we are anticipating. We would have to hand-key 
those entries into LIMS for that to be processed. Now, we print 
it out. There is a little code at the bottom. We put the code 
in the system, and it paints the screen with all the 
cosponsors.
    That is a huge win for us, which will certainly speed up 
the processing and efficiencies.
    Chairman Steil. Appreciate that.
    I think we have continued room for improvement in the 
modernization and efficiency of how the institution works. I 
appreciate the steps you have taken, appreciate the work Mr. 
Kilmer and Mrs. Bice have done on the Subcommittee on 
Modernization.
    I think there are still areas where we could look to 
improve, and appreciate your willingness to be innovative in 
that space. Because we have a real opportunity, I think, both 
to not only cut cost, to improve transparency, but mostly, I 
think, to improve the speed of the throughput on some of the 
processes that we see ongoing here on a regular basis.
    Final question: You referenced the work that is being done 
in a pro forma session. Sometimes, a pro forma session, people 
do not even--maybe, in the broader public, do not even 
recognize it is going on, because they feel like it is going on 
in the background. You said the workload is similar. Briefly, 
could you explain why? Is there an area for improvement there?
    Mr. McCumber. The pro forma sessions usually are 2 to 3 
minutes long. The eHopper, as you know, makes it a lot easier 
for bills to be introduced, and so we are seeing 30, 40 bills 
introduced during a pro forma session, where previously we 
would see a handful.
    That takes time to enter, for the parliamentarians to refer 
them, and then for us to finish the processing. It is Members' 
ability to do that, and we process them as received, so----
    Chairman Steil. Thank you for your testimony today.
    Again, I know there are over 200 people that do a lot of 
great work behind the scenes. We appreciate--for any of them 
here or who are listening, we appreciate the work you do. If 
you would share our appreciation with them, that would be 
appreciated by me.
    Again, on the modernization side, I think we have done some 
great work. I think there is more work to be done. Mostly, 
appreciate your willingness to engage to find areas to improve 
efficiency.
    I yield back.
    I will now recognize the Ranking Member, Mrs. Torres, for 5 
minutes for the purpose of asking questions.
    Mrs. Torres. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. McCumber, our offices have had a lot of challenges in 
the 118th Congress, including 15 vacancies, 2 Speaker votes.
    Can you talk a little bit about the challenges that your 
office faces in having to oversee those offices, given the lack 
of staff, often, left in that office and the large number of 
correspondence that comes through from constituents, as well as 
casework? How is your office able to manage all of that?
    Mr. McCumber. Thank you for the question.
    Currently, we have three Clerk staff who support vacant 
offices. As you know, we can have upwards of 10 offices at a 
time; right now, we have 6--5.
    We work with the existing staff in the offices to ensure 
both they are supported as well as the constituents receive the 
casework assistance that they deserve and that they require. We 
interact with the staff to fulfill anything from regular office 
supplies to constituents emailing me directly looking for 
assistance, and we get them in touch with the right folks.
    Right now, our staff is adequate to support the needs of 
the vacant offices. Again, we just provide the assistance and 
support that the vacant offices need in order to do their work. 
We rely a lot on the existing staff to continue their day-to-
day services. We do not come in and take over. It is--the same 
policies that were in place at the time of the vacancy remain 
in place. We just offer the assistance that they need to be 
able to continue their service.
    Mrs. Torres. Quite a few of us on this Committee are 
authorizers as well as appropriators. Are there any changes or 
additional support--you said that the three staff is 
sufficient, but is there anything else that we can help provide 
so that, you know, the constituents back home for those offices 
do not see a big change in a vacant office?
    Mr. McCumber. I do not think so, in terms of vacant 
offices. Certainly in the modernization area, there is 
opportunities there.
    Mrs. Torres. OK.
    Then, how does the office handle the records, the 
transition records from one--from the outgoing office to the 
incoming new Member that gets sworn in, like the one that was 
sworn in last night?
    Mr. McCumber. At the time of the vacancy, we communicate 
with the existing casework to see if they would like that 
casework to remain with the vacant office, to be turned over to 
the successor, or if they would like the case closed and 
returned to them. The casework is up to the constituent as to 
how they would like that to proceed.
    Then the Member's papers are up to them as to how they 
would like to, you know----
    Mrs. Torres. Who communicates with the constituent? Is it 
the staff that is left in that vacant office or your office 
directly?
    Mr. McCumber. It is a letter from our office, but it is 
sent through the vacant office.
    Mrs. Torres. OK.
    Mr. McCumber. It is a communication from me.
    Mrs. Torres. Utilizing the staff that is left behind----
    Mr. McCumber. Exactly.
    Mrs. Torres [continuing]. in that office. OK.
    What are some of the other challenges that you are having? 
Would you say that this is a historical number of resignations 
that we have seen? Or, you know, is it feast or famine? Does it 
happen in every Congress?
    I mean, I have been here five Congresses. I have never seen 
this many vacancies happen in one Congress.
    Mr. McCumber. I would say, recently, it is pretty average.
    Mrs. Torres. OK.
    Mr. McCumber. We had none for a 24-hour period in December, 
and then within 4 months we have six, and so it really is kind 
of a feast or famine. We just roll with it as it comes.
    Mrs. Torres. Great. As a former 911 dispatcher, you 
certainly know how to balance multiple balls in the air.
    Thank you, Chairman. I am going to yield back.
    Mr. Loudermilk.
    [Presiding.] The gentlelady yields.
    I now recognize myself for 5 minutes for questions.
    Mr. Clerk, thank you for being here. We appreciate the 
time.
    It has been since 2019 that the Clerk's Office has come and 
testified to us. Since then, I know your team has been very 
busy and acted on several of the Select Committee 
recommendations and added new tools to help Member offices 
upgrade the systems used by the House community.
    Can you briefly just touch on some of the more significant 
changes that have been made to improve the legislative capacity 
of your office?
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly.
    The eHopper has been the, I think, biggest achievement, 
also the biggest change to the way the legislative process 
works in the House.
    It was designed over a weekend at the start--in April 2020. 
Those of us who are used to working full-time in the office 5 
days a week suddenly found ourselves having to learn how to use 
Teams and laptops that we were recently provided. We came up 
with the eHopper, as it was originally designed, to help meet 
the needs of the Congress to ensure that bills and cosponsors 
could be introduced when the Members wanted them.
    I think the eHopper is the biggest change that we have seen 
and certainly is a contributor to the amount of bills that we 
see introduced.
    The Comparative Print Suite I think is also a game-changer 
for those that utilize it. It was a long project, but the 
product itself is excellent and provides a much-needed 
comparative tool for both Members and staff to be able to more 
easily do their work and understand the changes in bill texts.
    Mr. Loudermilk. OK. I appreciate that.
    I want to kind of follow a little bit of the questioning of 
Mrs. Torres regarding the transition and records and all this, 
but I want to ask you--because we have run into some issues, 
and I want to get a better understanding of how you handle 
records from, let us say, one Committee or a select Committee 
on to the next Congress.
    What records are deemed that should be preserved, maybe 
hearing records or any investigative stuff, versus--you know, 
who makes the decision of what to be preserved and what is not? 
Are there guidelines for that? Can you kind of give us an idea 
of how you handle that?
    Mr. McCumber. There are House rules. There are certainly 
guidelines, recommended documents that should be preserved. 
However, we archive what the Committee decides to give us for 
recordkeeping. We are not policing anything or----
    Mr. Loudermilk. Right.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. following up on that, but----
    Mr. Loudermilk. Do you have specific guidelines that, you 
know, as a Subcommittee Chairman, that at the end of this 
Congress you would provide to the Chairman or the staff to 
specify what I should be preserving?
    Mr. McCumber. Yes. Our Office of Art and Archives will come 
and meet with you and others on what documents should be----
    Mr. Loudermilk. OK. Ultimately, it is the Chairman's 
decision on what should be preserved and what not?
    Mr. McCumber. Right.
    Mr. Loudermilk. Can you, then, tell me what happens to 
those documents that are preserved?
    Mr. McCumber. They are kept on the Hill, available for two 
Congresses, before they are sent down to the Legislative 
Archives, so they are more easily retrievable, for no----
    Mr. Loudermilk. Right.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. really, no other reason.
    Mr. Loudermilk. Is there a particular time period that you 
keep the records in-house?
    Mr. McCumber. Two Congresses, so I believe 4 years.
    Mr. Loudermilk. Oh, OK. Yes, about 4 years, they are here, 
they are easily archivable.
    If there was something that, let us say, another Member or 
a Committee Chairman was looking for, they could come to your 
office and request----
    Mr. McCumber. Correct.
    Mr. Loudermilk. Yes. OK. I appreciate that. It helps 
clarify some things.
    Back to your role, are there any particular steps that this 
Committee can take to help improve the function of your office 
that are not already being undertaken?
    Mr. McCumber. I will say that I really enjoy the close 
collaboration that we have with the staff, and we certainly 
have the support that we need to be able to continue to meet 
the needs that you guys are requesting.
    I think just the continued support for our ongoing projects 
and certainly the flexibility that we have to be able to meet 
any changing needs that you have.
    Mr. Loudermilk. OK.
    Well, thank you. I appreciate the work that you do. I know 
it is overwhelming at times, but it is very important and very 
critical.
    At this time, I recognize the gentlelady from Alabama for 5 
minutes.
    Ms. Sewell. Thank you.
    Thank you so much, the Clerk and your whole staff, for all 
the work that you do. When you think about the fact that this 
office has been around since 1789 and really has had to flow 
with the current changes that have happened over that time, I 
can only imagine that the day-in and day-out function can be 
daunting at times.
    Having served as a teller recently, I never thought 
counting votes would be so hard. I have newfound respect for 
that particular task that you all undertake.
    You know, during the first session of the 118th Congress, 
you mentioned in your testimony that the Clerk's Office 
processed 8,036 bills and hand-keyed the names of over 103,000 
cosponsors.
    How do you ensure that you are capturing accurately all of 
that information?
    Mr. McCumber. Prior to the rollout of the new feature that 
we unveiled on Friday, our staff has a thorough proofreading 
process. We trust that what Members send in to us is what they 
intend to have added to a bill as a cosponsor.
    Ms. Sewell. Uh-huh.
    Mr. McCumber. We enter it, we proof it on our side, and 
then we proof it the next morning when the record is produced 
to make sure that it was captured accurately.
    The rollout Monday was the first day of the new ingestion 
tool that we have. It is a game-changer and certainly has made 
the process a lot more efficient on our side and leaves no room 
for our human error that might enter into the mix.
    Ms. Sewell. How hard was that rollout? Any lessons learned 
of how you can improve it?
    Mr. McCumber. Our team works under a 2-week-sprint cycle, 
along with our vendor, so every 2 weeks we have improvements to 
the products that we are working on.
     Friday's release had updates to the Comparative Print 
Suite as well as the eHopper, that any sort of issues that we 
experienced, let us say, the bill clerks would have experienced 
on Monday, that can be addressed quickly and released either in 
a hot release or in the next sprint cycle.
    It is a way for us to be able to address any unintended 
consequences of a rollout----
    Ms. Sewell. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. very quickly instead of waiting 
until the product is completed.
    Ms. Sewell. Have you guys foreseen any advancements in 
eHopper that this process of reviewing every 2 weeks--have 
you--are there some ways that we can enhance the process?
    I know it has been a game-changer in a lot of ways, but I 
am sure that there are things that we could do to enhance it.
    Mr. McCumber. There are certainly additional opportunities 
we have. Right now, your staff are completing Single Subject 
Statements and Constitutional Authority Statements as separate 
documents and uploaded and submitted to the eHopper. We are 
discussing ways that we can make that an in-app-generated 
document, as well, so that you are no longer having to scan and 
upload, it is just part of the process, as if you are 
introducing a bill or adding cosponsors. Making that a little 
more seamless.
    There are endless opportunities, and certainly welcome 
feedback from you and your staff on what you would like to see 
in the tool.
    Ms. Sewell. Very good.
    Talk to us a little bit about the Committee portal and 
voting. You know, I know that you are in the midst of 
developing a Committee portal to provide a central location for 
Committee documents and tasks. Where does that process stand? 
What key features and functionalities will be included in the 
initial release?
    Mr. McCumber. Right now, we are working on--we just 
received the funding for it.
    There are a lot of opportunities within the Committee 
portal that we see to help Committee clerks do their work. All 
of the effort that went into this morning's hearing--scheduling 
the Official Reporters and the House Recording Studio--making 
that part of the Committee portal.
    The first tool out of the gate is going to be the Committee 
referral management tool, which will allow Committees to better 
track legislation that was referred to them.
    We are also preparing to do a Committee votes data base, 
which addresses one of the Select Committee's recommendations, 
where the Committee votes are then created as data and more 
accessible and easily uploaded online.
    We have goals to rewrite docs.house.gov and----
    Ms. Sewell. That is a very ambitious goal.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. include that as part of the 
Committee portal, which, again, will help with a lot of the 
data entry that Committee staff are doing.
    Witness management tools. Just managing all the Committees' 
needs through that portal--a one-stop shop, if you will, for 
that.
    Ms. Sewell. Well, we look forward to working with you on 
trying to make that process more efficient and getting a portal 
system that really would work.
    Again, I want to thank you and your staff for all that you 
do. Thanks.
    Mr. McCumber. Thank you. Thank you.
    Ms. Sewell. I yield back the balance of my time.
    Mr. Loudermilk. The gentlelady yields back.
    I now recognize Dr. Murphy for 5 minutes.
    Dr. Murphy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Thank you, Mr. McCumber, for coming today. You have a job 
that I do not envy anybody, trying to keep a bunch of cats 
running in the right direction, but I think it is great.
    I just want to give up some of my personal experience. I am 
not a prolific bill writer, but we try to make our substance 
quality, not quantity. I have had some problems, still, 
regarding getting bills written. One of my healthcare proposals 
took about 4 months to come back from the House Office of 
Legislative Counsel.
    It is my understanding there has been a substantial 
increase in the number of requests as in bills and stuff. Is 
that correct?
    Mr. McCumber. That is my understanding, yes, sir.
    Dr. Murphy. All right. I am going to--I would like to show 
a little--because I asked my chief and I asked my LD, what is 
going on here? Where are all these bills coming from?
    I have got a little poster here. I found out that--yes, 
bring it over here--that most of the people have just a few--I 
would say a few. It is under 50 or 60, 70 bills. We have one 
person that likes to write a bill every other day or every day. 
I won't name that person, other than it being--well, I will be 
nice. It is a Republican Member, and I am not sure why he 
thinks the whole world needs to be rewritten in time.
    I think this is an abuse of the system, personally. I would 
be very interested to know, does he have, like, a legislative 
staff or two assigned directly to him? Does he write his own 
bills or whatever?
    I would think that this person would be a major outlier and 
an extreme burden to your legislative staff. Is that fair? Is 
it--do you ever see this discrepancy?
    Mr. McCumber. That was a unique situation there. My 
understanding, if we are talking about the same instance this 
Congress, the 500 bills were introduced on 1 day, and none of 
them were used--none of those bills utilized the Office of 
Legislative Counsel.
    Dr. Murphy. He wrote his own bills?
    Mr. McCumber. Correct. Those were all submitted in Word 
documents, which then----
    Dr. Murphy. In 1 day?
    Mr. McCumber. Correct.
    Dr. Murphy. I am going to let everybody try to figure out 
who that is.
    OK, all right, thank you. I just was shaking my head, and I 
said, this is ridiculous. I am glad to hear that you guys were 
not--had to be involved.
    How many legislative staff do you guys have writing bills?
    Mr. McCumber. Just to be clear, for the Office of 
Legislative Counsel, that is outside of the Clerk's Office.
    Dr. Murphy. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber. I would defer to that team----
    Dr. Murphy. OK.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. for how many staff they have. We 
have 22, 23 folks on our Legislative Operations team who just 
process everything----
    Dr. Murphy. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. once it has been introduced or 
managed on the floor.
    Dr. Murphy. Well, you know, our job here--some people think 
the only job is to write bills. I do not. I personally think we 
have a lot of other duties to attend to.
    I would ask one other question. I think, you know, with 
Chairman Steil's and Mr. Kilmer's work on trying for efficiency 
in everything in the House, I think we are going to really need 
to--good, bad, or indifferent--really embrace artificial 
intelligence when it comes to looking at some of these 
documents.
    You were talking about how you have people that are 
literally reading word for word, dash for dash. I am not here 
to replace anybody, but, boy, adding efficiencies to the 
system. I look in medicine, and I look at pathology, I look at 
radiology; there are going to be absolute efficiencies that 
will be gained with that.
    I am just interested, do you guys have any thought about 
that? Has that been on your plate at all?
    Mr. McCumber. I think we can certainly use AI as a tool in 
our toolbox----
    Dr. Murphy. Tool. Tool.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. but the need for everything that 
we--we are producing law and sending the bill down to the 
President for signature, and so it has to be right all the 
time. There are certainly ways that we could, you know, teach 
the AI tool to be able to look for certain things, but, at the 
end of the day, the human has to be involved.
    Dr. Murphy. Yes. Absolutely.
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly, we would take baby steps with it, 
but----
    Dr. Murphy. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. me and my team, we are certainly 
open to it. We have discussions quite regularly about how we 
can utilize tools----
    Dr. Murphy. Sure.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. to make us more efficient.
    Dr. Murphy. You know, it is just literally a word-
formatting document of just looking for grammar and those kind 
of things. It is something, I think, that we are going to have 
to deal with.
    I do not like the whole term--and I have said this now a 
thousand times, and I will say it 10 million more--of the human 
``in the loop.'' I do not like that. We are holding the loop, 
and we get to control what it does for us.
    Mr. McCumber. Yes, sir.
    Dr. Murphy. Anyway, congratulations on your job. Not that I 
want this one, but I do not want yours either. Thank you.
    I will yield back.
    Mr. McCumber. Thank you.
    Mr. Loudermilk. The gentleman yields.
    I now recognize Mr. Kilmer for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Kilmer. Thank you, Chairman.
    Thank you, Mr. McCumber, for being with us.
    I really want to thank you for the work of you and your 
team in implementing a lot of the recommendations from the 
Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress: you know, 
the deconfliction tool, in hopes of making it a little bit 
easier for Members to show up and have one hearing at a time 
rather than having to invite their clone to work. The 
Comparative Print Suite to allow comparison of different draft 
pieces of legislation I think is valuable. You have talked 
about the eHopper function and what that will mean in terms of 
just ease of getting cosponsors signed on and bill 
introduction.
    Thank you for that. I think it really matters.
    I want to touch on a few other outstanding Select Committee 
recommendations in your purview. First, I want to talk about 
the work you have been doing on collaborative drafting.
    The Select Committee recommended a tool that would allow 
Members and Committees and their Senate counterparts and other 
stakeholders to jointly work on draft legislative text 
together.
    Earlier in the year, in partnership with the Clerk's Office 
and the Office of Leg. Counsel--or, I am sorry, in partnership 
with the Clerk's Office, the Office of Leg. Counsel sort of 
rolled out basically a Word document where they could use 
track-changes features to achieve some of the goals in the 
interim.
    Just, any update on where things stand with the development 
of a tool in this regard? Any feedback you have received so far 
on the Word version change?
    Mr. McCumber. Right now, we are preparing for procurement 
and to issue an RFI for that collaborative drafting tool. We 
plan to schedule a vendor day soon----
    Mr. Kilmer. OK.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. to discuss the opportunities 
that we have there.
    I have not received any direct feedback. I know Wade and 
his team appreciate the collaborative nature of the Word doc. 
It makes their final work product easier to do.
    Mr. Kilmer. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber. I will say that, when rolling out that Word 
document and locking down the PDF to further edits, that has 
saved time on the processing end. GPO is no longer having to do 
that comparison against--the PDF versus the electronic file----
    Mr. Kilmer. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. because we are sure there are no 
changes. It has all been a positive there.
    Mr. Kilmer. Good.
    I know Ms. Sewell mentioned the Committee portal, and I 
think we have high hopes that that can address several of the 
open Select Committee recommendations.
    You know, I know you touched on this already, but I am just 
curious if you can give an update both on where things stand in 
that regard, but also I think it is valuable for the Committee 
to hear some of the different features that you envision the 
portal having and explain how they will impact congressional 
Committees' work.
    Mr. McCumber. Currently, we are in the final procurement 
stages for the Committee portal. Once the vendor has been 
notified about the award and the purchase order has been cut, 
we can hold a kickoff meeting with them.
    We have a lot of ideas, as I mentioned a little bit 
earlier, about the uses of the Committee portal. Certainly, the 
list of bills that have been referred is the first module out 
of the gate that we have planned.
    Collecting Committee votes for data--we envision the portal 
to become a replacement for the data entry the Committee staff 
have to do.
    We see, long-term, it being a place for Committee staff to 
coordinate the meeting logistics and information with both our 
office and the CAO for the Recording Studio, Official 
Reporters, et cetera.
    Then, eventually, see it as a place for the Committees to 
manage their Subcommittee membership and other legislative 
business, such as witness management.
    The interactions that are currently taking place right now 
between the Committee staff and our Legislative Resource Center 
staff to get the Committee actions up on Congress.gov----
    Mr. Kilmer. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. eliminating that email traffic 
and just giving folks the tools to be able to do it when they 
need to to ensure that it is online and in a timely manner.
    Mr. Kilmer. Great.
    I am hoping, in the time we have left--you know, both the 
Committee portal and the collaborative drafting tool are, I 
think, really important projects, and I think you have done a 
good job of explaining why they matter.
    Can you comment on the role of the Modernization 
Initiatives Account in terms of progress on these projects and 
other things that are in your purview that you are trying to 
get done?
    We are in appropriations season, and I want to make sure we 
underscore the role that the Modernization Initiatives Account 
plays in supporting both those projects and others.
    Mr. McCumber. This specific account has been critical for 
us to be able to fund these initiatives.
    These are Member-driven projects that we are able to 
address outside of the regular budget preparation request that 
we have. That initial money to be able to get these projects 
kicked off and then build out-years into our budget going 
forward is how we approached it in this budget preparation 
cycle.
    It has been really critical for us to be able to have those 
funds available to be able to initiate these projects when we 
were able to.
    Mr. Kilmer. Thanks.
    Mr. McCumber. It has been a real positive.
    Mr. Kilmer. We will keep fighting to see that account 
populated so you can do more good for the institution.
    Thank you.
    Mr. McCumber. Thank you.
    Mr. Kilmer. I appreciate it.
    I yield back.
    Chairman Steil.
    [Presiding.] The gentleman yields back.
    Mrs. Bice is recognized for 5 minutes.
    Mrs. Bice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Following up on my colleague on Appropriations as well, we 
had a great conversation in the Leg. Branch Approps hearing 
week before last as it relates to the Modernization Initiatives 
Account, but I want to follow up.
    You mentioned in that hearing that the largest increase is 
in the line item for modernization projects, some of which have 
received that initial funding from the MIA account. What 
projects are these funds being used for, either to continue the 
projects or to maintain those projects that are currently under 
process?
    Mr. McCumber. For our LIMS work, that is a continuation of 
funding; as well as the Comparative Print Suite, that is 
sustainment and modification, user requests and other 
modification requests that we receive, the maintenance piece.
    The funding for the initial start of the project is the 
Committee portal, the collaborative drafting tool, and that is 
really where those funds are set for.
    Mrs. Bice. Perfect.
    You requested $800,000 from the MIA account to conduct 
research and analysis to determine the next steps for XMetaL.
    Can you share what an upgrade of XMetaL will provide to the 
House community? This may have sort of been touched on, but I 
would love a little bit more.
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly. It will offer the better 
collaborative tools we envision for both Members to talk to 
each other, Members and staff, Members and outside 
organizations.
    Really, XMetaL, if you have used it, it is clunky and 
outdated. We use it in the Clerk's Office, and when we are 
producing big bills, it's a time-waste and it is challenging. 
Certainly, Appropriations Committee uses it a lot when they are 
under deadlines to create big bills.
    The goal is to have a more efficient and faster system that 
will enable everybody to do their work better. It is not a big, 
shiny object project, but it will make a world of difference to 
the underlying foundation of how we do work.
    Mrs. Bice. Perfect. Thank you.
    I want to also just mention, you have done, I think, a 
tremendous amount of work already on some of the initiatives 
that the Select Committee had put forward and then certainly 
what we are looking to do this Congress and hopefully next.
    Thank you for your interest in--I think the Committee 
deconfliction tool was mentioned by my colleague Mr. Kilmer. I 
hope that clerks in other Committees will utilize this tool so 
that those of us that have several Committees and even more 
Subcommittees are not having to run from place to place to be 
able to testify and/or question witnesses in hearings. That is 
a shout-out to all the clerks out there.
    Last, I want to talk a little bit about AI and data 
governance, which is something I know that your office has been 
looking into. We both agree that we need some sort of formal 
governance framework.
    You mentioned the potential use case for AI with 
legislative drafting and management of some data sets. Can you 
share a bit more about testing that should be taking place 
before the implementation of that technology?
    Mr. McCumber. We would want to make sure that it is--
everything is thoroughly tested before it is introduced into 
the legislative process. Certainly, we do not want anything to 
be--any damage to be done based on any sort of tool.
    Like everything, we would make sure it fits into the 
legislative ecosystem appropriately and has gone through the 
thorough vetting and testing that is necessary for it to be 
able to be useful to everybody.
    Mrs. Bice. I think in a roundtable we had, one of the 
things that I think stuck out the most to me is the fact that 
it is sort of input in, input out, and the data sets that are 
being utilized need to be vetted carefully so we make sure that 
everything that is being used is factually correct, is 
accurate, has, sort of, resources to back it up. Thank you for 
mentioning that.
    The last thing I want to ask is about staff. Can you talk a 
little bit about how many staffers you believe to be maybe 5 
years out from retirement? What are you doing for, sort of, 
succession planning for those key roles that you may have 
looking for retirement in the future?
    Mr. McCumber. We have identified the mission-critical staff 
and have succession plans in place. We utilize cross-training 
and place a big emphasis on cross-training, as well as 
documentation.
    One of the projects that a former Clerk embarked on was 
making sure we had job manuals for each of our jobs so that we 
could reference them when we lose staff who have been here 35, 
40 years, if they walk out with all of that institutional 
knowledge. The ability for us to capture that and make it 
available.
    I use those manuals from time to time, especially when it 
comes to enrolling-type issues that come up. They have been 
extremely valuable and something that we place a big emphasis 
on still.
    Mrs. Bice. Acting Clerk, thank you for being with us this 
morning. I look forward to continuing to work with you on these 
modernization initiatives with my colleague across the aisle.
    With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield.
    Chairman Steil. The gentlewoman yields back.
    Mr. Carey is recognized for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Carey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and also to the 
witness.
    I want to tell you up front, your testimony--when you are 
looking at me, I am actually not crying, but the hay-fever 
season is really amongst me. You are not saying anything that 
is really disappointing me.
    I do want to transition a bit, because this is a very big 
area for me--I know your testimony touched on it--the Office of 
Art and Archives.
    Can you share a little bit about--since we are hitting the 
20th anniversary of the Oral History Program within the Office 
of House Historian, are there any actions that you are planning 
to recognize this benchmark?
    Mr. McCumber. We have talked about a recognition. We have 
not ironed out any details yet. We certainly do not want the 
opportunity to pass us by in the recognition of that.
    Mr. Carey. Maybe can you just expand on what that Oral 
History program is? Because I think it is very interesting.
    Mr. McCumber. As do I. I actually find myself--when we have 
new staff in the office, I refer them to some of those videos--
--
    Mr. Carey. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. to be able to hear from their 
colleagues of the past on what their experiences were and, 
certainly, how they can build on the work that has been done.
    The Historian and the Office of the Historian identify key 
figures from the House's history that they believe the House 
would benefit from institutionally from having their 
experiences recorded and made available. They do all of that 
preliminary work, and then they schedule interviews. They have 
the professional staff that do it and document their 
experiences. It is a----
    Mr. Carey. Can you also maybe share a little bit about what 
kind of public access there is to those resources?
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly. They are all available on the 
Historian's website, history.house.gov, under the ``Oral 
History'' project. They are available to everyone.
    Mr. Carey. I would just say to all my colleagues, if they 
have not had the opportunity to do that, it is kind of like 
voices from the past.
    With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. McCumber. I agree.
    Chairman Steil. The gentleman yields back.
    Mr. D'Esposito is recognized for 5 minutes.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Good morning, sir. Thanks for being here.
    I wanted to talk briefly about your role in vehicle 
management on the campus. What vehicles are under the 
management of your office?
    Mr. McCumber. Currently, we have eight vehicles that we 
hold the leases for. Six are under the purview of the Sergeant 
at Arms, and the Clerk's Office uses two vehicles.
    Mr. D'Esposito. OK. The use of those vehicles, the 
responsibilities of those assigned are?
    Mr. McCumber. The one vehicle is for the Clerk's daily use 
to and from campus. The other one is reserved for deliveries to 
the White House for legislation as well as the Federal Register 
for other pieces of legislation.
    Mr. D'Esposito. OK. Those are the only vehicles that you 
oversee?
    Mr. McCumber. Correct.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Eight total?
    Mr. McCumber. Two, really. We hold the leases for eight. 
Six are given to the Sergeant at Arms under his vehicle-use 
policies, and then two fall under--it is just an administrative 
management----
    Mr. D'Esposito. OK.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. holding the lease.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Just a question, because we have dealt with 
this in the past in other agencies. The vehicle policy that you 
have in your office states that they are only available for 
official use. Can you just explain exactly what official use 
is?
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly.
    For the Clerk vehicle, it is to and from the office, Monday 
through Friday.
    The other vehicle is specifically for official business 
use--going to the White House, going to the Federal Register. 
The Clerk's Office is charged with getting appraisals for 
certain foreign gifts that are received and need appraisals, 
and so the vehicle is driven to the appraiser for that purpose.
    We do have a vehicle log that captures the date, who, time, 
mileage in, mileage out. That is tracked and regularly 
recorded.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Great.
    I know that you also handle, as you just mentioned, the 
gift appraisal process. I am not sure if it was touched upon 
already.
    Members are allowed to accept gifts of up to, I believe, 
$415. The Clerk does the appraisal of the gifts, and if the 
appraisals are under, the item is then returned to the Member.
    Mr. McCumber. That is right.
    Just last year--the minimum value is assessed every 3 
years, and it is up to $480 now.
    Mr. D'Esposito. OK.
    Mr. McCumber. When Members receive a gift overseas, if they 
believe the value might be approaching that amount, we are 
available for appraisals, as you mentioned, and we provide them 
with the appraisal.
    Then it is between the Member and the Ethics Committee as 
to how they--if they want to turn it over to us for us to 
dispose of or if they want to receive permission to be able to 
display it in their office.
    Mr. D'Esposito. OK. How is that value set?
    Mr. McCumber. The $480 value?
    Mr. D'Esposito. Yes.
    Mr. McCumber. It is set by the GSA.
    Mr. D'Esposito. OK.
    Mr. McCumber. Yes.
    Mr. D'Esposito. How many--do you know offhand how many 
gifts from foreign dignitaries Members received last year?
    Mr. McCumber. I do not have that number in front of me, 
but----
    Mr. D'Esposito. OK.
    If you can, just for us to understand, can you provide what 
a--an appropriate gift for a Member overseas would--would 
accept?
    Mr. McCumber. It is not really for me to decide what----
    Mr. D'Esposito. Well, examples that you see.
    Mr. McCumber. Oh, examples? Certainly. Rugs, pottery, 
jewelry, art, plates. It kind of runs the----
    Mr. D'Esposito. Right.
    Now, the gifts that are not able to be taken by the Member, 
you guys take control of, correct?
    Mr. McCumber. If the Member wishes to dispose of them, they 
do it through us----
    Mr. D'Esposito. Right.
    Mr. McCumber [continuing]. correct.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Now, how--what is the process then for the 
Clerk's Office?
    Mr. McCumber. Then we work with GSA, and excess inventory 
or--not ``excess inventory''--but we work with GSA to drop off 
the gifts, and they take it from there.
    Mr. D'Esposito. OK.
    Have there ever been any proposals to display items that 
are of cultural or historical significance?
    Mr. McCumber. The Ethics Committee would be the ones who 
would have that exchange with the Member as to what they wish 
to do. We just simply provide the appraisal.
    Mr. D'Esposito. Excellent.
    Well, thank you very much for your service.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Steil. The gentleman yields back.
    Mrs. Bice is recognized for 5 minutes--I apologize. Ms. Lee 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. McCumber, I would like to return to a discussion about 
artificial intelligence. I serve as one of the members of the 
bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Task Force, and I am 
particularly interested in how your team is using artificial 
intelligence in the tools that you provide to the House 
community.
    I would like to start with the Comparative Print Suite. Can 
you share more with us about the guardrails you have in place 
to protect the House data that is used for the Comparative 
Print Suite?
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly.
    The only use case that we currently have for artificial 
intelligence is within the Comparative Print Suite. The Suite 
uses natural language processing, which better assists it to be 
able to do what it was intended for. That is the only use of AI 
that we currently have in practice.
    The Suite is certainly equipped with the appropriate 
guardrails to ensure that none of the data that is uploaded is 
accessible or--it is fully secure and stays within the network 
itself. That has been thoroughly tested through all the CAO's 
cybersecurity and all of the appropriate avenues there.
    Ms. Lee. Can you share with us a little bit more about the 
new features that are there and how they are helping staff?
    Mr. McCumber. Bear with me here. We did--pardon the--if I 
can find my notes here, so I can make sure I do not miss 
anything about it.
    All House staff have access to the basic edition. Then they 
can take the advanced training course to be able to get the 
advanced edition.
    It allows for how an amendment changes a bill. It allows 
staff to upload amendments drafted by HOLC, view track-changes 
of how the amendment would change the underlying bill or 
resolution.
    The Bill to Bill Differences Provision Select feature, 
which is part of the Bill to Bill Differences tool, allows 
staff to select a provision to compare across two bills, so a 
title or a division in a large bill to a standalone smaller 
bill. It allows for the isolated comparisons of the larger 
texts.
    Then, as I mentioned, we are working on adding an upload 
feature to the basic edition so that all staff have that 
ability to upload texts--draft texts that they receive from 
Legislative Counsel.
    Ms. Lee. Your office also has several ongoing projects to 
streamline internal processes, including a redesign of the 
Legislative Information Management System and an update of the 
floor Action Reporting System.
    What impact will these updates and changes have for our 
House community?
    Mr. McCumber. The LIMS project is a multiyear project which 
is modernizing a system that will allow for additional modules 
and features and requests to, what we like to say, will fall--
all be able to fall under the LIMS umbrella.
    It is built in a way that the old--or, the current LIMS 
system makes it very difficult to add new features and new 
ideas that come out of the--whether from this Committee or the 
former Select Committee or from Members themselves. It makes it 
very difficult to add new features.
    The LIMS 2.0 is built in a way that additional modules and 
features and requests can be added much more easier and, kind 
of, live all under that umbrella. It will better enable us to 
meet the Committee's requests for new products and features in 
a more timely manner.
    Ms. Lee. Do you see artificial intelligence or any other 
type of emerging technology as potentially playing a role with 
future updates for these services? Any ideas that you might 
have about how emerging technology could help improve the back-
end systems on how you deliver these types of services to the 
House?
    Mr. McCumber. Certainly.
    There is a lot of opportunity that AI presents. If the data 
set is built in a controlled way that allows us--gives us the 
tools that we need to ensure that the work is accurate, it 
increases our efficiencies, whether it is in the bill drafting 
or the bill processing end, the enrolling clerks comparing 
texts and--whatever the case may be, there are certainly 
opportunities there.
    We are in the initial stages, along with the CAO, on the AI 
Task Force, in those discussions on how we can kind of all move 
forward together and make sure that we are advancing the House 
but also protecting the vital role that is necessary for that 
legislative process to make sure that integrity stays intact.
    Ms. Lee. Thank you.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Chairman Steil. The gentlewoman yields back.
    I would like to thank our witness for appearing before us 
today. It has been very helpful.
    Members of the Committee may have some additional questions 
for you, and we ask that you please respond to those questions 
in writing.
    [The questions for the record follow:]

                    QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    Chairman Steil. Again, appreciate your willingness to 
continue to engage in the modernization of the Clerk's Office, 
and, again, share our appreciation for all the men and women 
that work with you to keep this place open and operational.
    Without objection, each Member will have 5 legislative days 
to insert additional material into the record or to revise and 
extend their remarks.
    Chairman Steil. If there is no further business, I want to 
thank the Members for their participation.
    Without objection, the Committee stands adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 11:17 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]

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