[House Hearing, 119 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
OVERSIGHT OF THE ARCHITECT OF
THE CAPITOL: A REVIEW OF THE
THIRTEENTH ARCHITECT'S FIRST YEAR
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE
ADMINISTRATION
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JUNE 25, 2025
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on House Administration
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
www.govinfo.gov
www.cha.house.gov
______
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
60-838 WASHINGTON : 2026
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE ADMINISTRATION
BRYAN STEIL, Wisconsin, Chairman
LAUREL LEE, Florida, Vice Chair JOSEPH MORELLE, New York,
BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia Ranking Member
H. MORGAN GRIFFITH, Virginia TERRI A. SEWELL, Alabama
GREG MURPHY, North Carolina NORMA TORRES, California
STEPHANIE BICE, Oklahoma JULIE JOHNSON, Texas
MARY MILLER, Illinois
MIKE CAREY, Ohio
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
Norma Torres, Representative from the State of California........ 4
Prepared statement of Norma Torres........................... 6
Witness
Thomas E. Austin, Architect of the Capitol....................... 7
Prepared statement of Thomas E. Austin....................... 10
Questions for the Record
Architect of the Capitol answers to submitted questions.......... 27
OVERSIGHT OF THE ARCHITECT OF
THE CAPITOL: A REVIEW OF THE
THIRTEENTH ARCHITECT'S FIRST YEAR
----------
June 25, 2025
Committee on House Administration,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:04 p.m., in
room 1310, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Bryan Steil
[Chairman of the Committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Steil, Loudermilk, Murphy, Bice,
Carey, Miller, Morelle, and Torres.
Staff present: Mike Platt, Staff Director; Rachel Collins,
General Counsel; Abby Salter, Deputy General Counsel; Jordan
Wilson, Director of Member Services; Kristen Monterroso,
Director of Operations; Elliot Smith, Director of Oversight;
Phillip Pinegar, Professional Staff; Annemarie Cake,
Professional Staff and Deputy Clerk; Jamie Fleet, Minority
Staff Director; Khalil Abboud, Minority Deputy Staff Director;
Sean Wright, Minority Chief Counsel; and Kwame Newton, Minority
Oversight 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.
The title of today's hearing is ``Oversight of the
Architect of the Capitol: A Review of the Thirteenth
Architect's First Year.''
I note a quorum is present, and, without objection, the
chair may declare a recess at any time.
Also without objection, the hearing record will remain open
for 5 legislative days so Members may submit any material they
wish to be included therein.
Thank you, Representative Torres, as well as Ranking Member
Morelle, who will be joining us in a little bit, and Members of
the Committee for joining us here today.
Today, the Committee on House Administration is continuing
our oversight of the Architect of the Capitol.
I want to welcome you, Mr. Architect, to the hearing today
for your first appearance before the Committee on House
Administration. I would like to also congratulate you on
completing your first year as Architect of the Capitol.
As we both know, the Architect of the Capitol oversees
facilities maintenance and operations of the historic U.S.
Capitol and over 18 million square feet of buildings. That is
in addition to the care and improvement of more than 570 acres
of ground.
The Architect is responsible for the care of all works of
art in the U.S. Capitol as well as maintenance and restoration
of murals, outdoor sculptures, and other architectural elements
throughout the Capitol campus.
In total, the Architect manages a workforce of
approximately 2,500 employees. You also serve on a variety of
boards and commissions, including, importantly, the Capitol
Police Board.
Throughout this past year, the AOC has been addressing
staffing shortfalls and reducing vacancies, from 11 percent to
just over 6 percent. At this time last year, over one-third of
the executive-level positions were acting or interim staff.
Today, nearly all executive-level positions have been
permanently filled.
Over the past year, the AOC completed organizational
restructuring to clarify the responsibilities of each office
and avoid unnecessary redundancies.
Additionally, the CVC welcomed its 30 millionth visitor
since opening in 2008--an impressive number.
Keeping the Capitol campus both completely open to the
public and safe at all times is no easy task. The U.S. House is
actually one of the few legislative bodies in the world that is
fully open and accessible to the public.
I greatly appreciate the work that you and, in particular,
I know, a lot of the members of your team, the work that they
do every day to make this a reality for the American people.
Under your leadership, the AOC has launched a substantial
update to the Capitol Complex Master Plan, or CCMP. The CCMP is
a document intended to be completed every 10 years as a 10-year
look-ahead for physical campus and project development. The
AOC, though, had not updated the CCMP in over 20 years. The
previous Architect failed to deliver a substantive update on
the CCMP in his 3 years. I hope to discuss the details of your
update today.
An ongoing project that impacts almost everyone on the
campus, in particular on the House side of the campus, is the
Cannon House Office Building Renewal Project. The renewal
project has been ongoing since 2015, and it has included
extensive renovation on the interior of each wing and a partial
facelift of the building's historic exterior.
Once renewal is completed later this year, late 2025, the
Cannon Building courtyard will become usable green space for
the first time since the garage was built below it in the
1950's.
I would like to note that the initial cost estimate for
this project was $752 million and the total estimated cost
today is $971 million, being over $200 million over budget or
29 percent over the initial cost estimate. We can have a bit of
a conversation on that as well.
Initially, the project was scheduled to be completed at the
end of 2024. It is now scheduled to be completed at the end of
2025.
Large projects like this, I think, require oversight not
only from the AOC Inspector General but also from Congress and
us on this Committee.
The Committee was excited to see the selection of a new AOC
Inspector General, announced last week, Mr. Luiz Santos. Today,
the AOC has 37 open recommendations from the Inspector
General's Office. Six months ago, I will note, there were 89
open recommendations, so significant improvement in that
regard.
I look forward to your testimony on the status of the open
recommendations and your plans to proactively work alongside
the Inspector General to continue the AOC's improvement and
growth when he starts next month.
In a hearing last month, the Committee discussed the
Library of Congress's Visitor Experience Master Plan, or VEMP.
The project is a vast renovation of public space in the
Library's Jefferson Building, and while the project is managed
by the Library, the implementation of construction is handled
by you, the Architect of the Capitol.
The VEMP has experienced serious setbacks, internal and
external, causing severe cutbacks to the project and large
increases in its costs. If we look at this, since 2019, VEMP's
budget has increased by $31 million, and its completion date
has been delayed past the congressional deadline of July 2026.
It is a result of numerous failures of the project
management coordination, I think, between the Library and the
AOC in years past, and I hope to discuss with you the AOC's
role in this project during today's hearing.
In Fiscal Year 2025, the AOC's combined appropriation was
$820 million. For Fiscal Year 2026, you have requested $1.28
billion, and the House Appropriations Committee has recommended
$701 million, so a bit of a discrepancy.
Given the size and scope of the agency, we have to make
sure we are effectively and responsibly using taxpayer dollars.
We hope to explore all these items I discussed in my remarks
today with you.
Before I close my remarks, I would like to highlight that
we will be test-piloting new closed-caption technology again
during today's hearing. This technology was approved by the
Subcommittee on Modernization and Innovation and will soon to
be available to all House committees.
I go back, though, and say once again, I offer my
congratulations on completing your first year as Architect of
the Capitol, and I look forward to our conversation today.
With that, I will yield to Representative Torres for an
opening statement.
[The prepared statement of Chairman Steil follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOUSE
ADMINISTRATION BRYAN STEIL
Today, the Committee on House Administration is continuing
its oversight of the Architect of the Capitol. I want to
welcome you to our hearing today, and your first appearance
before the Committee on House Administration. I would also like
to congratulate you on completing your first year as Architect
of the Capitol.
The Architect of the Capitol oversees facilities
maintenance and operations of the historic U.S. Capitol and
over 18 million square feet of buildings. This is in addition
to the care and improvement of more than 570 acres of grounds.
The Architect is responsible for the care of all works of art
in the U.S. Capitol as well as the maintenance and restoration
of murals, outdoor sculptures, and other architectural elements
throughout the Capitol complex. In total, the Architect manages
a workforce of approximately 2,500 employees. The Architect
also serves on a variety of boards and commissions, including
the Capitol Police Board.
Throughout this past year, the AOC has been addressing
staffing shortfalls and reduced vacancies from 11 percent to
6.6 percent. At this time last year, over one third of
executive-level positions were acting or interim staff. Today,
nearly all executive level positions have been permanently
filled. Over the past year, the AOC completed organizational
restructuring to clarify the responsibilities of each office
and avoid unnecessary redundancies. Additionally, the CVC
welcomed its 30 millionth visitor since opening in 2008.
Keeping the Capitol campus both completely open to the
public and safe at all times is no easy task. The U.S. House is
one of the few legislative bodies in the world that is fully
open. I greatly appreciate the work that you and your team do
every day to make this a reality for the American people.
Under your leadership, the AOC has launched a substantial
update to the Capitol Complex Master Plan, or CCMP. The CCMP is
a document intended to be completed every 10 years as a 10-year
look ahead for physical campus and project development. The AOC
has not updated its CCMP in over 20 years. The previous
Architect failed to deliver a substantive update to the CCMP in
three years. I hope to discuss the details of this update
today. An ongoing project that impacts almost everyone on
campus is the Cannon House Office Building Renewal project. The
renewal project has been ongoing since 2015 and has included
extensive renovation of the interior of each wing and a partial
facelift of the building's historic exterior.
Once renewal is complete in late 2025, the Cannon Building
courtyard will become usable green space for the first time
since the garage below it was built in the 1950s. I would like
to note that the initial cost estimate for this project was
$752.7 million. The total estimated cost today is $971.2
million. This is $218.5 million, or 29 percent over the initial
cost estimate. Initially, the project was scheduled to be
completed by December 31, 2024. It is now scheduled to be
completed on December 1, 2025. Large projects like this require
oversight from Congress and the AOC Inspector General. The
Committee was excited to see the selection of a new AOC IG
announced last week, Mr. Luiz [Luis] Santos.
Today, the AOC has 37 open recommendations from the
Inspector General's Office. Six months ago, there were 89 open
recommendations. I look forward to your testimony on the status
of the open recommendations, and your plans to proactively work
alongside Inspector General Santos to continue AOC's
improvement and growth when he starts next month. In a hearing
last month, this Committee discussed the Library of Congress'
Visitor Experience Master Plan, or VEMP.
This project is a vast renovation of public spaces in the
Library's Jefferson Building. While the project is managed by
the Library, the implementation of construction is handled by
the Architect of the Capitol. VEMP has experienced serious
setbacks, internal and external, causing severe cutbacks to the
project and large increases to its cost.
Since 2019, VEMP's budget has increased by $31.5 million,
and its completion date has been delayed past the congressional
deadline of July 2026. This is the result of numerous failures
of project management and coordination between the Library and
AOC in years past. I hope to discuss the AOC's role in this
project in today's hearing.
In Fiscal Year 2025, the AOC's combined appropriation was
$820.3 million. For Fiscal Year 2026, the AOC has requested
$1.28 billion, while the Appropriations Committee has
recommended only $701 million. Given size and scope of this
agency, it must effectively and responsibly use taxpayer
dollars. We hope to explore all of these items discussed in my
remarks with you today.
Before I close my remarks, I would like highlight that we
will be test-piloting new closed caption technology again
during today's hearing. This technology was approved by the
Subcommittee on Modernization and Innovation, and will soon be
available to all House Committees.
OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. NORMA TORRES, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
FROM CALIFORNIA
Mrs. Torres. Thank you, Chairman Steil.
Mr. Austin, thank you for being here today, and, also,
congratulations on your 1-year anniversary.
Members of Congress could not perform their constitutional
duties without you and the AOC's dedicated 2,500-person
workforce, including skilled tradespeople who maintain our
historic buildings, conservation experts who preserve our
priceless art, groundskeepers who tend 570 acres of lawns and
gardens, facilities personnel who keep our offices clean, and
Capitol guides who educate millions of visitors each year.
The AOC's mission extends beyond facilities maintenance and
preservation to include other critical duties like
congressional security--tragically, now more relevant than
ever. The agency is responsible for the Capitol's campus
physical security and has led many of the security upgrades
necessitated by the January 6th attack.
As one of three voting members of the Capitol Police Board,
the Architect helps oversee the Capitol Police and the
protection of Members wherever they are, whether here in D.C.,
their districts, or traveling in between.
We are less than 2 weeks removed from the horrific series
of political assassinations and attempted assassinations in
Minnesota that killed one State lawmaker and her spouse and
critically injured another and his spouse.
We have since then learned that the alleged perpetrator had
a hit list that included multiple Members of Congress and
writings mentioning dozens more.
These acts of political violence were not isolated
incidents. Threats against Members of Congress have surged
almost 1,000 percent since 2016.
Political violence has changed the lives and careers of
Members in both parties, harmed their families, and driven good
people from public service while deterring the next generation
of leaders from entering it.
Given this backdrop, I am interested in hearing today, to
the extent appropriate in a public setting, about progress on
hardening the Capitol Complex, development of exterior
screening, and other campus security upgrades. Of course, these
upgrades require funding, and I want to hear your frank
assessment of whether Congress is giving you the resources that
you need to accomplish this.
I have said many times, we must invest significantly more
in legislative branch, yet the Fiscal Year 2025 continuing
resolution represents a 12-percent reduction from Fiscal Year
2024 enacted levels for the AOC. Just days ago, House
Republicans released their Fiscal Year 2026 legislative branch
appropriations bill, which funds the AOC an astounding $411.9
million below its budget request.
How have these draconian budgets already affected security
projects? I want to know what will happen to these projects if
the Fiscal Year 2026 House bill becomes law. Beyond security,
what other essential AOC work will suffer? Will elevators fail
more frequently? Will more pipes begin to burst? Will repairs
that should be resolved in days end up taking months or years?
This hearing is also taking place amid the President's
extraordinary assault on Congress and legislative-branch
independence. Just months ago, and days after receiving
bipartisan praise while sitting in that very chair, President
Trump arbitrarily fired the Librarian of Congress.
Fortunately, last Congress, our good friend Chairman Steil
and the Ranking Member authored the bill that changed the
Architect from a Presidential appointment to a congressional
appointment. Now, only Congress can hire and fire the
Architect.
As my colleagues and I craft similar legislation for other
agencies, I am eager to hear how the independence you have has
helped you run the AOC, in contrast to other legislative-branch
and independent agencies like the Library of Congress and the
Smithsonian.
I am hopeful that my majority colleagues will join me in
defending our institutional prerogatives while we have a
Republican in the White House, just as we in the minority did
when we had a Democrat in the White House.
There are many other important services and functions the
AOC performs for Congress, and, frankly, I wish I was not
compelled to spend so much time today discussing political
violence and constitutional law. The AOC will soon finish the
Cannon renovation project, and planning is underway for the
badly needed Rayburn House Office Building renovation.
I am looking forward to discussing these projects as well
as your work to reset the agency's culture and leadership and
more this afternoon. Thank you again for your service to
Congress and our country.
I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Mrs. Torres follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF REPRESENTATIVE NORMA TORRES
Members of Congress could not perform their constitutional
duties without you and the AOC's dedicated 2,500 person
workforce, including skilled tradespeople who maintain our
historic buildings, conservation experts who preserve our
priceless art, groundskeepers who tend 570 acres of lawns and
gardens, facilities personnel who keep our offices clean, and
Capitol guides who educate millions of visitors each year.
The AOC's mission extends beyond facilities maintenance and
preservation to include other critical duties like
congressional security tragically, now more relevant than ever.
The agency is responsible for the Capitol's campus physical
security and has led many of the security upgrades necessitated
by the January 6th attack. As one of three voting members of
the Capitol Police Board, the Architect helps oversee the
Capitol Police and the protection of Members wherever they are,
whether here in D.C., their districts, or traveling in between.
We are less than 2 weeks removed from the horrific series
of political assassinations and attempted assassinations in
Minnesota that killed one State lawmaker and her spouse and
critically injured another and his spouse. We have since then
learned that the alleged perpetrator had a hit list that
included multiple Members of Congress and writings mentioning
dozens more.
These acts of political violence were not isolated
incidents. Threats against Members of Congress have surged
almost 1,000 percent since 2016. Political violence has changed
the lives and careers of Members in both parties, harmed their
families, and driven good people from public service while
deterring the next generation of leaders from entering it.
Given this backdrop, I am interested in hearing today, to
the extent appropriate in a public setting, about progress on
hardening the Capitol Complex, development of exterior
screening, and other campus security upgrades. Of course, these
upgrades require funding, and I want to hear your frank
assessment of whether Congress is giving you the resources that
you need to accomplish this.
I have said many times, we must invest significantly more
in legislative branch, yet the Fiscal Year 2025 continuing
resolution represents a 12-percent reduction from Fiscal Year
2024 enacted levels for the AOC. Just days ago, House
Republicans released their Fiscal Year 2026 legislative branch
appropriations bill, which funds the AOC an astounding $411.9
million below its budget request.
How have these draconian budgets already affected security
projects? I want to know what will happen to these projects if
the Fiscal Year 2026 House bill becomes law. Beyond security,
what other essential AOC work will suffer? Will elevators fail
more frequently? Will more pipes begin to burst? Will repairs
that should be resolved in days end up taking months or years?
This hearing is also taking place amid the President's
extraordinary assault on Congress and legislative branch
independence. Just months ago, and days after receiving
bipartisan praise while sitting in that very chair, President
Trump arbitrarily fired the Librarian of Congress. Fortunately,
last Congress, our good friend Chairman Steil and the Ranking
Member authored the bill that changed the Architect from a
Presidential appointment to a congressional appointment. Now,
only Congress can hire and fire the Architect. As my colleagues
and I craft similar legislation for other agencies, I am eager
to hear how the independence you have has helped you run the
AOC, in contrast to other legislative branch and independent
agencies like the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian.
I am hopeful that my majority colleagues will join me in
defending our institutional prerogatives while we have a
Republican in the White House, just as we in the minority did
when we had a Democrat in the White House. There are many other
important services and functions the AOC performs for Congress,
and, frankly, I wish I was not compelled to spend so much time
today discussing political violence and constitutional law. The
AOC will soon finish the Cannon renovation project, and
planning is underway for the badly needed Rayburn House Office
Building renovation. I am looking forward to discussing these
projects as well as your work to reset the agency's culture and
leadership and more this afternoon. Thank you again for your
service to Congress and our country.
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.
As our witness today we have Mr. Thomas Austin, the
Architect of the Capitol.
Mr. Austin, thank you for being here with us today, and you
are recognized for 5 minutes for your opening statement.
STATEMENT OF THOMAS E. AUSTIN, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL
Mr. Austin. Good afternoon, Chairman Steil, Representative
Torres, and Members of the this Committee. I am honored to
appear before you to represent the hardworking employees of the
Architect of the Capitol.
I would like to thank the members of your staff,
particularly Elliot Smith, Phillip Pinegar, Matthew
Schlesinger, and Kwame Newton, for their expertise and
consistent professionalism.
I welcome this opportunity to share more about the agency's
work in preserving the historic buildings and grounds that
inspire our Nation while serving the 30,000 daily occupants and
the more than 3 million annual visitors to the Capitol campus.
To begin, I would like to acknowledge and express my
deepest gratitude to the 2,500 dedicated Architect of the
Capitol employees for all of their hard work which makes it
possible for this agency to successfully carry out its mission
to serve Congress and the Supreme Court, preserve America's
Capitol, and inspire memorable experiences.
This mission requires around-the-clock care for the 18.5
million square feet of historic facilities, 570 acres of
grounds, and thousands of works of art that make up our iconic
campus.
As you know, I began my tenure in June 2024. It is the
greatest honor of my professional life to serve as the 13th
Architect of the Capitol. Thank you for entrusting me to serve
as a steward of the historic and vital buildings that make up
the Capitol campus, ensuring their preservation, functionality,
and safety for Members of Congress, staff, and visitors.
Throughout my first year as the Architect of the Capitol,
one of my top priorities has been consistent communication with
the AOC staff. Through multiple employee town halls, frequent
visits to the AOC workshops during day and night shifts, and
one-on-one meetings with members of my senior leadership team,
I stay up to date on the issues of the day and the
opportunities for tomorrow.
I firmly believe that modeling this level of communication
and engagement is essential to building and maintaining the
morale of the AOC workforce and confidence in our agency's
leadership.
We are dedicated to delivering exceptional services.
As part of that dedication, ensuring physical security and
life safety is always paramount. Across the agency, we
frequently commit time and attention to the safety training of
our staff, review of safety procedures, and consistent
communication with security and safety partners. I am proud to
report that our employee injury rate is significantly lower
than that of the private sector.
Security is always a key priority. With the support of this
Subcommittee and Appropriations Committees and in coordination
with the U.S. Capitol Police, the Architect of the Capitol has
made significant progress over the past few years and will
continue to improve the security posture across our campus. We
thank you for all of your support in this very important area.
To serve Congress effectively, the AOC also continues to
prioritize the recruitment and retention of qualified
employees. We have established an apprenticeship program to
build and maintain a pool of experienced tradespeople and
support our specialty workforce. We participate in dozens of
career fairs and events annually to promote the unique
opportunities for employment with the Architect of the Capitol.
A robust workforce is necessary for the AOC to consistently
meet the needs of the Members of the House of Representatives.
Our House Office Buildings jurisdiction receives as many as
14,000 work-order requests per month that must be addressed in
a timely and professional manner.
Another top priority for the AOC is the critical-
infrastructure needs of the Capitol campus. I recognize the
importance of a holistic, long-term approach to facilities
management focused on maintaining and preserving the Capitol
complex while also modernizing our facilities.
To effectively and efficiently address the various
challenges of aging historic infrastructure, the AOC is
implementing the Enterprise Asset Management System. This
system provides centralized asset monitoring, enabling a more
structured approach to managing asset-related activities
throughout their lifecycle, forecasting resource needs,
translating risks into asset management strategies, and
prioritizing maintenance based on conditions.
Furthermore, a robust asset management system will enhance
data-driven fiscal decisions and help prioritize our projects,
aimed at reducing our growing maintenance backlog. These
efforts will increase efficiency and further enhance the AOC's
goal of preserving the historic buildings that inspire our
Nation.
We are committed to working closely with you and your staff
to ensure the AOC meets the needs and expectations of the U.S.
House of Representatives in service to Congress and the
American people.
Chairman Steil, Representative Torres, and Members of this
Committee, thank you again for your continued support of the
Architect of the Capitol. I am honored to be here today, and I
look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Austin follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THOMAS E. AUSTIN
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Steil. Thank you very much.
We will now begin questions. I will recognize myself for 5
minutes for the purpose of asking questions.
I want to dive in out of the gates, if I can, on the
Capitol Complex Master Plan. It has been over two decades since
this has been updated. I know this has been a priority of you
and your team.
Can you give us an update as to when we might expect that
and any top-line items that you are seeing in that plan?
Mr. Austin. Sure. Thank you for the question, Chairman.
That has been the top priority for my agency and certainly in
planning and formulation of the Capitol Campus Master Plan.
We have created a subset of that, which is the Capitol
Campus Blueprint, which we are most focused on, which has four
key components, the first of which is the House Office Building
renewal, specifically the Rayburn renewal that we have been
discussing. The second component is the needs of the Senate
community, specifically their own renewal efforts as well as
capacity issues. Third is the U.S. Capitol Police Headquarters,
which we have had past legislation directing us to look into.
The fourth is our utility resiliency.
The next-biggest issue that we are addressing with this
Committee, as well as the Appropriations Committees, is the
Rayburn House Office Building Renewal. We are in the midst of
looking at how we are going to go about that.
We appreciate the meeting we had with this Committee and
Appropriations last year where you gave us a way forward, gave
us some parameters for our swing space study, which we are
finishing up right now. We expect that swing space study to be
complete next month and look forward to providing those results
to you.
That is going to kind of drive where we are going to go
next in this program as far as how we are going to plan it--
which direction we are going to go into, whether we are
renovating existing space or looking to craft new space.
Chairman Steil. What lessons learned--if we go back and
look at the Cannon Renewal Project, it was over 30 percent over
its initial estimate, over $200 million. What lessons learned,
as we look at, you know, broad, complicated projects--you
mentioned Rayburn--can we draw from that project?
Mr. Austin. Absolutely. Cannon, as you well know, has been
a 10-year renovation program--5 phases total, 2 years each,
tied to the Member move cycle. There have been certainly a lot
of lessons learned that we have been able to take from that.
After every phase, after every 2 years, we conducted an
after-actions review where those lessons were gathered and then
applied to future phases. We are certainly looking at those
top-line lessons that we are going to apply toward something
like Rayburn, the biggest of which is, we are officially--well,
go back to your point about the cost estimate.
The cost estimate for Cannon was done in the pretty early
stages of planning on this, and it had a large, you know,
margin of error; it was about plus or minus 40 percent. Even
with all of the challenges we came across with Cannon, we are
still within that plus or minus 40 percent. As you pointed out
earlier, it is about 29 percent. Not great, but given all the
challenges that particular program had to overcome, between the
pandemic and historic inflation and a large work stoppage and a
lot of things that happened artificially to that project, it is
still within that margin of error.
That is too large of a margin of error to give this
Committee, which I believe--and the Appropriations. What we
want to do with Rayburn is get to a further stage of
development in the design of it so that we have a better what
is called a ``program of requirements'' at hand.
Some of the lessons that we want to----
Chairman Steil. Let me jump in, just because we are going
to run out of time. I appreciate the robust answer. When we are
doing plus and minus, always happy to have you on the minus
side. We will discuss that further later.
Let me jump into another topic that broadly is inside this
Capitol campus plan but a little more detailed.
Congress's public accessibility is kind of one of our great
strengths of our Republic, but it also creates unique
vulnerabilities. As I noted in my opening remarks, the Capitol
campus is open and accessible to the American people, and we
task not only the Capitol Police but also the physical
infrastructure with keeping us safe.
In Fiscal Year 2023, there was a 540-percent increase in
funds dedicated to U.S. Capitol Police buildings and security
upgrades. Excluding the funds for the new security vestibule
for the Capitol Building, there is still a 400-percent
increase.
Can you speak to how the AOC is allocating those funds?
Mr. Austin. Sure.
There is a variety of initiatives that we have undertaken.
I think the most visible one, which I am sure we can go into in
more detail if you would like, was the replacement of the doors
and windows on the Capitol Building itself, to make them
hardened against intrusion.
We are happy to report that all of those doors have been
either hardened or have been replaced, as well as the frames. A
significant number of the interior doors, as well as windows,
have also been done. That was part of that project.
We have what is called a ``west front expansion,'' where we
are looking at replacement of lights, bollards, and security
cameras.
We are also looking at improvements on the Senate side.
They have some similar hardening that we are also looking to do
on the House side with additional doors and windows.
We have done proximity-card-reader installations. We have
done more security cameras in this building and others--in the
Capitol buildings, both the House Office Buildings.
Then, of course, you have already mentioned one of the
biggest ones, which is coming up at the end of this year, as
far as the acquisition, which is the south pedestrian screening
vestibule.
Chairman Steil. All right.
I appreciate you being here today. I will note that this is
a nice change of tone from our previous oversight hearing with
the Architect of the Capitol's Office, and so we appreciate and
congratulate you on your work.
I will just note, there are a lot of great men and women
who work under your leadership. We appreciate your leadership,
but we also appreciate the work of many of those great,
talented men and women, some of whom I have known for many
years.
I will now recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Morelle, for 5
minutes for questions.
Mr. Morelle. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I want to
thank Mrs. Torres for standing in. My apologies for being late,
but I am grateful.
Also, thank you to the Architect, Mr. Austin, on year of
service now almost, or a little over a year, I think.
I wanted to follow up on what the chair asked about and
just focus for a moment or two about the continued threats, the
threat level. I know you are working with the Capitol Police;
you are one of the three voting members of the board.
You mentioned the vestibules. I know I have asked about
this before. Can you just give me an update on the screening
vestibules for security outside the Capitol? I know that we
have been talking--the Senate side has them. Can you just give
me a sense of where we are in that and when you expect them to
be constructed?
Mr. Austin. Yes, sir.
The south screening vestibule, the one that is going to
service the House side of the Capitol Building, is fully
designed. We are going into acquisition in the fall. We expect
a contract award either at the end of this calendar year or
very shortly thereafter.
We expect to go into construction next year, with a 2-year
construction timeline, and be complete by the summer of 2028,
well in advance of the next inaugural ceremony.
Mr. Morelle. Got it. OK. Thank you.
I did want to ask about the funding constraints. I know you
are operating under pretty significant budgetary constraints,
and I apologize if you mentioned this in your testimony, but a
12-percent reduction Fiscal Year 2024 to the 2025 continuing-
resolution levels.
Can you talk a little bit about how the reduction has
affected your office and what you are doing, with sort of a
focus on the security-related projects?
Mr. Austin. Sure. Thank you for the question.
Yes, in 2024, there was a $200 million reduction from the
previous year, excluding the security issues. Then in 2025,
with the CR, that was a further 12 percent.
Where those reductions came--besides freezing the personnel
numbers, which that did--was a reduction in our long-term
capital renewal projects, things like handling some of our
mechanical systems, plumbing systems, fire-suppression systems,
things like that.
Because of the plus-up we did receive in 2023, most of our
security projects were not affected. Where they are affected is
our normal rotational maintenance, where we replace bollards,
some of the checkpoint buildings, some of those barrier systems
that we replace on a periodic basis as they work through their
lifecycle.
Those have been deferred, and we are certainly monitoring
those systems to make sure we do not have any outages. We work
very carefully with the U.S. Capitol Police, who controls that
contract, but we control other aspects of the physical
barriers.
That is where we have--I am happy to speak about some of
the facility issues if you would like some----
Mr. Morelle. No, that is helpful.
This week, my colleagues on the other side, House
Republicans, released the 2026 Fiscal Year leg. branch approps.
I serve on Appropriations. That funds the AOC I think at
approximately $412 million less than your budget request.
If enacted at those levels, how would this bill affect your
ability to keep, again, security projects--can you talk a
little about the impact it will have on security here? Because
that is doing a lot more with a significant amount less than
you had asked for.
Mr. Austin. Yes, sir.
Fortunately, most of the large projects that we requested
in the 2026 budget were not security-related. It goes back
toward my previous answer; it goes toward those regular
programmatic replacements that we do with, like, the barriers
and the vestibules and the bollards and things of that nature.
Those would be delayed.
It did not affect--because we had been previously
appropriated--the south screening vestibule as well as what we
call the West Front Expansion Project, which is a variety of
things we are doing on the west side of the Capitol--lights,
bollards, cameras, things of that nature.
It does affect us in facilities, not as much for security.
Mr. Morelle. Yes. I wanted you to talk to me about that.
The non-security. What other things are you doing that will--as
a result, what is the impact of not having the dollars you
requested? What are things that are going to change?
Mr. Austin. Sure. This is--I know we are short on your
time, sir, so I will try to abbreviate this. This is a much
longer answer, and I would very much like a chance to engage
with you further on this.
When it comes to these projects that we are deferring,
these capital renewal projects, when we are talking about these
large systems, whether it be fire-suppression systems, air-
handling units, mechanical units, et cetera, when we delay
those repairs, that increases the risk of one of those systems
failing. It could be a small failure like a leak of a pipe, or
it could be an air-handling unit that fails catastrophically
and cuts off circulated air in a building. The more those
projects get delayed, the more that risk accumulates.
Some of our projects, like with Rayburn, which we discussed
before you came, that building is over 60 years old, and many
of those mechanical components are original to the building.
Usually those components are 30-year program lifecycle, and we
are now in year 60 of those.
It is an accumulation of risk. We take more risk the more
that projects are deferred.
Mr. Morelle. Well, I do look forward to opportunities,
either in formal or informally with the chair, to continue to
consult with you. I appreciate your answers and appreciate your
service.
I yield back.
Chairman Steil. The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Loudermilk, is recognized
for 5 minutes.
Mr. Loudermilk. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Austin, thank you for being here.
Let me commend you on overcoming some significant
challenges early this year, with the last-minute moving of the
inauguration inside and, more importantly to the Members from
Georgia, also throwing in the work that came with the lying in
State of President Carter. I appreciate the flawless--seemingly
flawless efforts that you made to make sure all that happened
well.
My first question is about critical infrastructure. I know
that is one of your stated duties. What do you see as the
House's greatest physical-infrastructure need or vulnerability?
Mr. Austin. The biggest project that we are working on,
sir, is, of course, the Rayburn Renewal Project that has been
the focus of our House Office Buildings Capitol Campus Master
Plan that the Chairman spoke about earlier and which I spoke
about a moment ago.
That is the biggest one because it has multiple systems
that need to be repaired. We get leaks in the Rayburn Building
all the time--some small, some big. Some impact Member suites.
Some impact storage areas. Some are just in the garage. We had
two this past week alone.
The only way to address those kinds of things is with a
full capital renewal, which unfortunately means displacing
Members for an extended period of time so we can open up the
walls, remediate the hazardous materials that are still in
those spaces, and do the needed work to refresh and renew those
systems.
I would say, if you are looking for the largest project on
that side, it would be the Rayburn full building renewal.
The largest major component is related to that, which is
the Rayburn air-handling units. I spoke a moment ago about the
leaks. The way those pipes, especially the secondary water
system--that brings the cool, chilled water in the summertime
that provides our air conditioning and the steam in the
wintertime that provides our heat. Those pipes are, again,
original to the building, 60-year-old galvanized pipe, and we
have a lot of leaks in that system. It cannot be inspected,
because most of them are behind the walls or in crawl spaces.
What we are trying to do is bring as much of that system
offline as possible by increasing the forced air into the
suites, but the only way to do that is to upgrade those air-
handling systems.
Mr. Loudermilk. Well, I appreciate that.
Since we are talking about Rayburn, let us stay there just
for a minute.
One of the, I will say, frustrations that I have had, the 6
years I have been in Rayburn, is the escalator systems, that it
seems that you are lucky to get an escalator that is actually
going up or going down two floors. It seems to be random; you
never know which. You may have two going up; you may only have
one going up.
Can you enlighten us as to what the issues are with keeping
the escalators running, and what are we going to do about it?
Mr. Austin. Sure.
Across the House Office Building jurisdiction, we have 28
escalator systems, of which, as of today, 24 are operational,
but 4, as you pointed out, are not.
Three of them are in the Rayburn Building. Those are the
interior escalators, so there are elevators that can take that
load.
Certainly, those escalators are also--like I spoke about
some of the mechanical systems in that building--are original
to the building. A lot of those parts are no longer made
anymore, so my machine shops, my sheet-metal shops are
fabricating these things in order to replace them. When we can
get parts, oftentimes it is a long lead time to get those
parts.
The short answer is: They are old. The longer answer is:
When they do break, it takes longer to get those parts because
they are just not made anymore.
My team does a great job. I have walked with them at
different times and different places in order to understand
those challenges. They do regular inspections, regular
maintenance. When it comes to the escalators specifically, we
are maintaining antiques that we keep in operation nearly 24/7.
In order to save wear and tear on them, some of those are
turned off when Congress is not in session because the
personnel load is less. We do have challenges with those,
unquestionably.
Mr. Loudermilk. Are we to the point where we need to
replace those?
Mr. Austin. Yes. The short answer is, yes, we do.
Mr. Loudermilk. All right. Thank you. Please let us know
how we can help.
All right. Thank you.
Chairman Steil. The gentleman yields back.
Representative Torres is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Torres. Thank you, Chairman, again.
Good afternoon again. I am going to go right into the
questions, because I have so many and I want to make sure that
I cover everything.
After January 6th, one of the things that we heard was that
the Architect's views were often not provided the same weight
as those of other members of the Capitol Police Board.
I am curious to know, how has your experience been serving
on that Capitol Police Board so far, and do you feel like your
opinion is valued? How often do you communicate with Capitol
Police and the rest of the Board? How often do you revisit your
priorities based on evolving threats?
Mr. Austin. I am happy to say that I have a very good
relationship with both the Senate and the House Sergeant at
Arms.
We meet on a very regular basis. I have one-on-one meetings
with them monthly, but, I would say, as a group, the three of
us meet together at least weekly. Certainly, over the last
couple months, with the replacement of the U.S. Capitol Police
Chief, we have been meeting on a much more regular basis for
that.
Anytime we are having a National Special Security Event,
anytime there is a major event happening on campus, anytime the
U.S. Capitol Police wants to give us an update, we all meet.
I cannot speak for the actions of the previous Architect or
how he was or was not received as part of that panel, but I can
say, with the current configuration of the Capitol Police
Board, we are very much an equal partnership amongst the three
of us.
Mrs. Torres. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to
hear that, because we do want all of you to have a good working
relationship and to continue to evolve your security plans
based on real-time threats.
Mr. Austin, we have talked a little bit about the cut in
your budget. I am very concerned about that.
Look, in response to the multiple threats that I have
personally received, I have started once again looking into
pricing out a security gate for the front of my home. I can
tell you that, right after January 6th, when I first got a
quote, that quote that I received this last week for that same
gate is about three times as much.
The cost has gone so high because of the tariff agreements,
the instability of materials that are available, the lack of
materials that are available.
Tell me, how do you plan to manage a drastic, draconian
reduction in your budget given all of the challenges that you
have that are beyond your control?
Mr. Austin. Sure. Thank you for the question. We stand
ready to execute the mission with the funding that Congress
provides, unquestionably.
I spoke a few moments ago about, when it comes to cuts to
our budget, they have primarily come from our capital renewal--
our capital projects, the larger projects, the projects in the
anywhere from $5 million to $50 million range when we talk
about these major components inside of our facilities.
Fortunately, we have not seen--or we have not had any large
cuts to our security budget. We still have money that was
previously appropriated in the 2023 cycle for some of these
improvements we spoke about earlier.
I will talk about the major components, because our number-
one priority for the Architect of the Capitol is the life,
health, and safety of our building occupants. Our second
priority is the constitutional duty of our Members of Congress,
to make sure that you----
Mrs. Torres. You do not control the costs. I am concerned
that these costs--are they coming in much higher than
previously? Is that what your experience has been?
Mr. Austin. We have seen different costs in different
areas.
Now, the bump we had during the pandemic with the supply
chain disruptions, particularly when it came to the material
cost of steel and wood and things of that nature, those have
mostly settled out. Now, it is a higher level than it was 5
years ago, unquestionably, but those are mostly settled out.
Where we are seeing some issues that we have had is, we
have been adding 5 percent to our construction cost
contingencies across all of our projects because of that
instability in costs----
Mrs. Torres. Is 5 percent enough? I am hearing from other
local agencies that 20 percent is more of a magic number, 20 to
30 percent.
Mr. Austin. This is kind of one of those ``it depends''
answers, because----
Mrs. Torres. OK.
Mr. Austin [continuing]. it depends on the type of project
and the type of project that we are going to be doing.
Certainly, when it comes to cost estimates, we have been adding
to our contingencies.
Mrs. Torres. I do want to follow up with you in a personal
meeting with you. There are multiple issues that I want to
discuss with you, and I do not want to take the time here, nor
do I think it is appropriate for a public conversation.
Mr. Austin. I understand.
Mrs. Torres. I yield back.
Chairman Steil. The gentlewoman yields back.
I note that the clock may not be working, but we will--I
will just aggressively gavel you out, Dr. Murphy, when you hit
5 minutes.
No, on a serious note, Dr. Murphy, you are recognized for 5
minutes.
Dr. Murphy. Mr. Austin, can you fix the clock there real
quickly?
Thank you. Thank you for your service. It was unfortunate
circumstance, but we are glad that you are here. Incompetence
cannot be tolerated, especially for the taxpayers of the
American public.
I am going to finish up with Mr. Loudermilk's little
soliloquy on the escalator. You know, it is one thing to make
new materials for an escalator. It might be a little different
thing to make them for elevators. There is a little bit more at
stake there; it is called gravity.
Can you tell me--because we are doing the same kind of
things here, that the elevators are not working. Are you facing
the same problems that you are dealing with with the
escalators? Or what is the issue with the elevators being out?
Mr. Austin. Yes, sir. Thank you for the question.
Generally speaking, we have a lot of similarities with the
elevators versus the escalators.
The elevators, as of this morning--we checked before I came
in--there are 85 across the House Office Buildings
jurisdiction, and 83 of them are functional as of today. Now, I
understand----
Dr. Murphy. I think those two just follow me around.
Mr. Austin. Well, I cannot speak to the specific two you
are talking about, but there are two that are down in the
Rayburn Building at the moment, yes, sir.
Dr. Murphy. I guess I will not be going there.
Mr. Austin. The issues with some of these elevators are, in
the case of, say, the Longworth Building, they are 90 years
old. Some components have been replaced over the years, and
some have not. Certainly, anytime we are trying to maintain
those, as you pointed out, elevators have an increased risk.
I will say--and I would like to make this as a blanket
statement for both elevators and escalators--that anyone who is
riding those is safe. We do not have any issues as far as the
safety aspects of them.
As far as the functionality, some outages are mechanical
issues, which falls on the Architect of the Capitol. Some of
the outages we have had recently were the result of some of the
proximity-card readers. When those go out, they have to be
adjusted with the House Sergeant at Arms, and we work with them
to make sure that is there.
What we are doing to try to fix this, to get ahead of this
issue----
Dr. Murphy. Yes.
Mr. Austin [continuing]. is that we are working in, kind
of, three different ways.
One, we are installing a new monitoring system for all of
the House Office Building elevators. There used to be a
monitoring system a few years back, but because of the age of
the components, it could no longer be secured against cyber
threats, and so we took that system offline. This new system is
hardened against cyber threats, and we are installing it as we
speak.
It is a multiyear contract, but what that gets us is it
gets us better real-time data so that when we have an elevator
that goes down our elevator mechanics can respond right away.
It also allows us to fix small, you know, easy issues--like, if
the door is held open too long and it makes the elevator reset,
we can reset that elevator remotely, which we cannot do right
now. That will fix part of that.
The second thing is, we have a multimillion-dollar program
where we are doing component restoration on these elevators,
similar to one that we are currently doing with the Senate, but
we will be going around and replacing major components. That
began funding in Fiscal Year 2025, and we have money set aside
for Fiscal Year 2026 and beyond to continue that program.
Beyond that, we are also ensuring we have 24-hours-a-day,
7-days-a-week coverage. When Congress is in session, that
includes an elevator mechanic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
When Congress is not in session, our elevator mechanics cannot
maintain----
Dr. Murphy. Are those in-house people?
Mr. Austin. Those are in-house mechanics. We have both in-
house and contracted mechanics.
Dr. Murphy. All right.
Mr. Austin. When Congress is out of session, we will have
someone who responds right away, but they may have to call
someone to do----
Dr. Murphy. Sure.
Mr. Austin [continuing]. the elevator-specific repairs.
Dr. Murphy. How much time have I got? Oh, 5 minutes? OK,
good.
I want to follow just up on that, because I think, you
know, especially with the escalators, if we are spending more
money fixing them, let us just do a flash dance in August, fix
them all, and, you know, people will have to do their thing. We
just need--we do not need to be spending money when we should
be just investing in fixing it. I am sure that you can get back
with us.
Real quickly, just on the cybersecurity issue, you know,
the Capitol Power Plant is just down the street. That,
obviously, in today's world of espionage and cyber attacks, is
an issue that we have to keep our place safe.
I just wondered if you could, as much as you can in detail,
talk about how you help confront any of the cybersecurity
details at the power plant.
Mr. Austin. Sure. I will preface this by saying, there are
some aspects that I do not want to give out in a public forum--
--
Dr. Murphy. Sure.
Mr. Austin [continuing]. but I would be happy to meet with
you in private and give you more details.
What I can say publicly is that, overall, the first line of
defense is that any of our systems, our computer systems, at
Capitol Power Plant is what we call ``air-gapped.'' They are
not connected to the larger internet.
We have also instituted what is called a ``zero trust
architecture'' and a closed loop. What I mean by that is,
anything that comes onto that separate system has to be, like,
physically let onto the system, be allowed to actually operate;
it cannot just automatically connect. By doing that, we reduce
the amount of systems that actually can connect to it and
reduce the threat of anything happening to that system.
We have kind of made the choice to disconnect ourselves
from the larger internet for our building control systems so
that they are not vulnerable to hackers on the outside. Then
anything that could be imported into it, again, we have that
zero trust architecture to make sure----
Dr. Murphy. Great.
Mr. Austin [continuing]. those are manually permitted
onto----
Dr. Murphy. Sadly, you know, we have to pay so much more
money into that.
Can I ask one more quick question?
Just, you had asked, requested now $200 million for the
Botanic Garden. That is, like, 10 times what was before. Can
you just elaborate on why that is a need?
Mr. Austin. Sure.
I think it is a good point to bring up, the Botanic Garden
is more than just what is here on campus. There is what we call
a production facility, which is in the District of Columbia, a
place called Blue Plains. That provides most of the plants,
does a lot of the work, you know, exchanges between what is
actually in season at the conservatory and then what is
actually being produced out at the production facility.
When we took that over about 30 years ago, that facility
was renovated from an existing one, was built for us because
there was a land exchange between us and the District of
Columbia. What this project was for, for the production
facility, was a complete renewal of that production facility--
redoing all the greenhouses, all the mechanical systems, all of
the infrastructure for that facility. That is what that program
was for.
Dr. Murphy. Great.
Mr. Austin. It is sort of similar to the challenges we have
here on campus, is that most of those mechanical and plumbing
and electrical systems are original and need to be replaced.
Dr. Murphy. Great. Thank you.
It looks like I have gone over my time, even though I think
that was manipulated, but thank you.
Chairman Steil. The gentleman yields back.
The gentlewoman from Oklahoma, Representative Bice, is
recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. Bice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Austin, for being with us this afternoon.
I want to say a special appreciation for your participation
in the tree planting of the sapling from the Oklahoma City
Memorial Tree that we were able to plant a few weeks ago. It
was, I think, a wonderful remembrance of the 30th anniversary
and a huge blessing to those who have been impacted by the
Oklahoma City bombing 30 years ago. Thank you for participating
in that.
Whew. Excuse me. I was trucking it over here to make sure I
did not miss my opportunity.
Dr. Murphy. I tried to filibuster for you.
Mrs. Bice. Thank you very much. Appreciate that.
Let me start by asking you: I know that there has been
some, I think, challenges with collaboration across agencies,
but you have really made, I think, a focused effort to try to
collaborate better with House entities. Can you talk a little
bit about collaboration--strengthening collaboration between
the CAO, AOC, and other House agencies?
Mr. Austin. Sure. It has been a focus of my time here, is
to be more collaborative in general but certainly be more
collaborative with our fellow agencies. We work very closely
with House CAO, with House Sergeant at Arms, with the Clerk's
Office. We do small get-togethers where we talk to each other
but also have regular meetings with them.
There are certainly a lot of efficiencies that we can have
in those agencies, and I look forward to discussing with this
Committee and others ways that we can clear some of the lines
of effort between, for instance, the Architect of the Capitol
and the House CAO.
We have done a lot of collaboration with them. I believe we
have a very good relationship. I actually was just down touring
the House CAO shops less than 2 weeks ago, and I was very happy
that the CAO allowed me to do so.
Mrs. Bice. I would just echo that I have heard, I think,
really positive things coming out of other House entities on
their ability to collaborate and work with your organization.
Thank you for being that conduit.
For more than a decade, the Architect of the Capitol has
carried out the Cannon Renewal Project. I would like to know
your thoughts on the operational model, and would you say that
you would replicate this model for future massive
infrastructure projects of House Office Building renovations.
Mr. Austin. Sure.
With the Cannon, we learned a lot of lessons on the best
way to go about a project at that time. I understand why they
did the Cannon in the way they did, because of the restrictions
when it came to swing space. That is something I do not think
they were ready to face at the time, and I think we need to
face it with future large programs.
Because by doing Cannon in multiple small phases that were
tied to the congressional move cycle, that created a lot of
inefficiencies, as the contractors had to mobilize and
demobilize and we had to move the Members of Congress around
and we had to break it up into all these small chunks. It was
not very efficient.
From a large, wave-top-level perspective, we would like to
do these kind of projects in fewer but larger phases and not
tie them to the congressional move cycle.
The downside of that is, I have to enable the mission of
Congress to do their constitutional duties, which means I have
to find you swing space that meets the unique needs of Members
of Congress, and that is a challenge. We talked a little bit
earlier about the swing space study that we will be presenting
next month to this Committee and our other stakeholders. That
is certainly a challenge that we are going to have with the new
larger projects.
We have some other things that I would like to speak about
very quickly if I could, which is just: When it came to Cannon,
I think that we did not have a good handle on what we call the
``program of requirements,'' everything we wanted to do. Once
we started construction, I think we got some people's
attention, and then we had scope creep and changes.
Being able to get the design more fully and then put very
strong structure around change management is a lesson that I
would like to apply to future projects like this. Because once
you open that aperture, especially once construction has
started, costs can escalate out of control.
Mrs. Bice. Did you see that with the Cannon renewal?
Mr. Austin. Well, I only have fairly short legs with the
Cannon renewal. In fact----
Mrs. Bice. Right.
Mr. Austin [continuing]. I just, as of yesterday, came out
of my cooling-off period for Cannon, because I actually had
worked as a contractor.
Now that I can speak more fully about it, I did see that we
had some issues where, sort of, the good ideas came way late in
the project. I understand why they wanted them, but some of
these things needed to be fleshed out during the design
process, not while it was under construction. It is so much
cheaper to do this while you are in design than trying to
shoehorn it in during construction.
I saw some of this, but anecdotally and from the lessons
learned I have seen from previous phases--because we are now on
phase 4 of four, which is actually the fifth, because we had a
phase 0. I saw that certainly with the AARs from phases 1 and
2. That was an issue for those two phases.
Mrs. Bice. Certainly we are, you know, at least, you know,
doing studies on what the campus may need in the future from a
space requirement perspective, and having that insight, I
think, would be incredibly helpful as we move forward.
A quick last question, if I may. When do you expect the
scaffolding to come down, the crane, and to open up the parking
garage in Cannon?
Mr. Austin. The scaffolding--the crane is less than 60 days
from being removed right now.
The scaffolding by the end of this summer will all be down.
In fact, we have retrograded most of the scaffolding already,
but there is additional scaffolding which will come down this
summer.
Mrs. Bice. Thank you so much for everything that you have
done for the institution. We appreciate your time.
With that, Mr. Chair, I yield.
Chairman Steil. We all look forward to the scaffolding
going away.
Mr. Carey is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. Carey. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I thank the Ranking Member.
I have a deep appreciation of history and architecture, and
I have nothing but the utmost appreciation for the task that
the AOC has, believe me. It is one of the hardest roles to play
here on Capitol Hill, as you are finding out--a job that never
stops, which includes everything from House Office Building
renovations, the constant restoration of the Capitol and the
Supreme Court, to the repair of the original Longworth
furniture that actually sits in my office. I appreciate that.
I do want to say, the vital functions of the AOC make it
all the more important that the agency be proper stewards of
taxpayer dollars and properly execute the responsibility in a
timely, effective, and respectful manner.
Mr. Austin, you took over a troubling situation from the
AOC when you began your role in 2024. During the COVID-19
pandemic and up through the tenure of the former Architect,
there were major reports of poor workplace culture among AOC
employees. The situation led to the diminished work in the
product and a growing untrust of the AOC by the Members of
Congress.
Can you kind of just walk us through some of the changes
that you have already implemented and what you see moving
forward?
Mr. Austin. Sure. There have been a lot of changes.
One of the things I said when I was being interviewed for
this project--or, excuse me, when I was being interviewed for
this role was, I knew that I would need to be walking into a
lot of spaces and meeting a lot of faces and talking to a lot
of people.
I certainly have done that. I think my EA told me I have
done 65 office visits so far, 65 workshop visits, including
more than a dozen night-shift visits. In fact, my first visit
was to the night-shift custodial team on the Senate side. I was
happy to do so because I wanted to hear directly from them what
their issues were and how they saw that culture in the AOC that
you spoke about.
I will say, overall, for this agency, if we are talking
culture, I think this is a fantastic organization filled with
committed people who know that this job is more than just a
paycheck, it is a calling, it is a connection to a higher
mission. I feel so blessed to be part of them, and I kind of
pinch myself every day that I get to lead this organization.
Certainly I did a lot of engagements with the workforce,
with my senior leadership. The Chairman spoke in his comments
about the senior leaders when I first got here. Nearly a third
of my senior leadership was vacant or in temporary positions.
As of the 7th of July when I welcome my new IG, that will be
down to 1 position----
Mr. Carey. Awesome.
Mr. Austin [continuing]. so 1 of 34. In fact, that is sort
of self-imposed since I promoted--or, after a competitive
process, my deputy in the Capitol Building was promoted to the
executive director.
Engaging with the workforce, letting them know that they
had a conduit to speak to me, letting them know that we had
stability and that we were recommitted to that mission and that
they had ethical leadership was very important to me, and I
hope that I have at least taken a few steps in that direction.
I think we can see that in some empirical measures, with
our FEVS survey that came back, with the results, but also with
our attrition rate that is down more than 2\1/2\ percent since
I took this role, and we are now well below the industry
standard for that.
Mr. Carey. As I have said before, the historic preservation
of the Capitol complex is, you know, very important to me. The
effective operation of the AOC is of great importance to me as
well.
Looking forward, what are some of AOC's major opportunities
for growth?
Mr. Austin. For growth, I think--as far as for the growth
of the program----
Mr. Carey. Uh-huh.
Mr. Austin [continuing]. I have spoken a little bit about
this as far as where we are with our capital renewal, which we
have been speaking about, with the Rayburn renewal program. We
are also looking at those other pieces of our Capitol Campus
Blueprint, which is the Senate side, the Capitol Police
Headquarters, as well as utility resiliency. Those all kind of
go into enabling the mission of Congress, which is to do their
constitutional duties.
Where we have taken that is, we are focused very closely on
getting the Capitol Campus Plan in place. We are engaging with
Members of this Committee, Members of Appropriations as far as
what that is going to be.
It is a big program. It is a 15- to 25-year program,
depending on how we do it. It is going to be expensive. It is
going to be disruptive. It is also very, very much needed in
order to ensure these facilities are usable for Congress well
into the future.
Mr. Carey. I want to thank you for your time and your
testimony today.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman Steil. The gentleman yields back.
This concludes our questions.
I would like to thank our witness for appearing before us
today. It has been a great conversation.
Members of the Committee may have some additional questions
for you, and we ask that you please respond to those questions
in writing.
Without objection, each Member will have 5 legislative days
to insert additional material into the record or to revise and
extend their remarks.
If there is no further business, I thank the Members for
their participation.
Without objection, the Committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 2:58 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD
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