[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
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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
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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.]
[all]