[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 63 (Monday, May 7, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H2296-H2297]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2012

  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 4097) to amend the John F. Kennedy Center Act to authorize 
appropriations for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 
and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4097

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``John F. Kennedy Center 
     Reauthorization Act of 2012''.

     SEC. 2. EXPANSION PROJECT FOR JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE 
                   PERFORMING ARTS.

       Section 3 of the John F. Kennedy Center Act (20 U.S.C. 76i) 
     is amended by adding at the end the following:
       ``(c) Expansion Project.--
       ``(1) Authority to construct.--
       ``(A) In general.--Subject to the requirements of this 
     subsection, the Board may undertake such activities as may be 
     necessary to construct the expansion project.
       ``(B) Responsibilities of the board.--The Board may 
     construct the expansion project, and shall be responsible for 
     the planning, design, engineering, and construction of the 
     expansion project.
       ``(C) Limitations.--
       ``(i) Mission.--All activities carried out under this 
     paragraph shall be within the mission of the John F. Kennedy 
     Center for the Performing Arts to serve as the national 
     center for the performing arts.
       ``(ii) Funding.--The costs of planning, design, 
     engineering, and construction of the expansion project shall 
     be paid for using nonappropriated funds.
       ``(2) Annual operations and maintenance costs.--
       ``(A) Estimates.--Before awarding a contract for 
     construction of the expansion project, the Board shall 
     estimate any additional annual operations and maintenance 
     costs (or savings) associated with the project.
       ``(B) Budget requests.--The Board shall account for any 
     additional costs identified under subparagraph (A) in making 
     a budget request for fiscal year 2014 and each fiscal year 
     thereafter.
       ``(C) Budget priorities.--The Board shall base a final 
     determination on whether to proceed with the expansion 
     project on the ability of the Board to accommodate any 
     additional costs identified under subparagraph (A) within the 
     other budget priorities of the Board.
       ``(3) Acknowledgments.--The Board may acknowledge private 
     contributions used in carrying out the expansion project in 
     the interior of the project, but may not acknowledge such 
     private contributions on the exterior of the project. Any 
     acknowledgment of private contributions under this paragraph 
     shall be consistent with the requirements of section 4(b).
       ``(4) Expansion project defined.--In this subsection, the 
     term `expansion project' means an addition to the south end 
     of the building of the John F. Kennedy Center for the 
     Performing Arts that--
       ``(A) is less than 100,000 square feet;
       ``(B) will improve the existing (as of the date of 
     enactment of this subsection) accessibility and education 
     functions of the Center; and
       ``(C) will become part of the existing (as of the date of 
     enactment of this subsection) structure of the Center.''.

     SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       Section 13 of the John F. Kennedy Center Act (20 U.S.C. 
     76r) is amended by striking subsections (a) and (b) and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(a) Maintenance, Repair, and Security.--There is 
     authorized to be appropriated to the Board to carry out 
     section 4(a)(1)(H) $22,379,000 for each of fiscal years 2013 
     and 2014.
       ``(b) Capital Projects.--There is authorized to be 
     appropriated to the Board to carry out subparagraphs (F) and 
     (G) of section 4(a)(1) $13,588,000 for each of fiscal years 
     2013 and 2014.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Mica) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia 
(Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 4097.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, today I am pleased to stand before you 
and offer for consideration of the House H.R. 4097, which would 
reauthorize the John F. Kennedy Center through 2014.
  Everyone knows the Kennedy Center. It is one of the most outstanding 
national and cultural treasures that we have in our Capital City. I am 
pleased to be the sponsor of what I consider important legislation for 
several reasons.
  First of all, in Congress, we get to do some exciting things. As 
chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, within our 
committee we have six subcommittees, and one does oversee public 
buildings. We've had a lot of public consternation--and rightfully so--
with some of our public buildings programs under the General Services 
Administration. I was home last week, and everybody in America recalls 
the guy in the hot tub thumbing his nose at Congress and the taxpayers. 
That's a bad example of behavior and wasteful expenditures of 
taxpayers' dollars. But I'm pleased to be here to say that there are 
many in government that do have programs that are very beneficial for 
the country, and one is the Kennedy Center. What an incredible 
institution.
  As the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I 
get to sit on their board of trustees. Actually, I've gone to their 
meetings and see how they operate. Most people don't know, but most of 
their programs are funded through private donations, not public 
donations, although the building does stay under the responsibility of 
the Federal Government.
  A lot of folks don't know a lot about the history of the Kennedy 
Center. The Kennedy Center--and I learned this being on the board--was 
actually an idea of a Republican President. Dwight David Eisenhower, in 
the 1950s, was determined to create a national cultural center in our 
Nation's Capital. This center was the idea and the genesis of one of 
our Presidents. Probably most people don't know that. I learned that in 
the rededication of the Eisenhower Theater within the Kennedy Center. 
After many years, it was renovated, again, mostly through private funds 
and donations.

[[Page H2297]]

  I actually saw an old clip of President Eisenhower when he came up 
with a plan for a national cultural center. Subsequently after that, of 
course, we had the assassination of our beloved President Kennedy. In 
1964, they began work. In 1971, they actually opened the center and 
named it the Kennedy Center in honor of our late President. But a 
little bit about the history.
  I'm also excited about this proposal because this legislation 
authorizes one of the first additions I know of. I know we've done some 
repairs and some renovations, but we're actually talking about an 
addition to the Kennedy Center, and it's going to be funded with 
private money. Only private funds will be raised for this. So it's 
exciting to see a public-private partnership and the great leadership 
of the Kennedy Center.
  I have to pay a little bit of tribute to Michael Kaiser, the 
president. This guy works day and night to make everything happen at 
the Kennedy Center. And he, of course, reports to the chairman of the 
board, who is David Rubenstein. He does a magnificent job corralling 
some of the leaders of our Nation, those in business and free 
enterprise that come in and through their donations support the Kennedy 
Center.
  It's incredible--Washington, D.C. programs. It truly has made the 
Nation's Capital a center for a whole host of cultural activities--
dance and theater and symphonic music, and the list goes on and on. And 
many people across the Nation get to see it in their own living rooms. 
They don't always get to come to our Nation's Capital, but we've seen 
those performances that are televised. So it is a rich part of our 
Nation's Capital, and certainly a rich part of our Nation's culture, 
and we are now seeing for the first time an addition.
  This addition will support the center's educational mission, and 
that's very important. It will be a benefit, again, both for 
Washington, D.C., our Nation's Capital, and for the Nation. And 
internationally they have programs today. The purpose of the expansion 
is to provide improved facilities of the Kennedy Center by adding 
approximately 56,000 square feet of space for classrooms, rehearsal 
rooms, event spaces, and offices. And for the first time, they will 
have a dedicated area for educational purposes, as I've outlined; other 
rehearsals and other functions and activities and things that don't fit 
into some of the theater and some of the existing facilities that they 
have already in the main building. So the expansion will permit the 
center to address its growing needs and provide greater accessibility 
for the center's programs and performances for the general public.
  So I'm pretty excited about this proposal. Most people don't know 
that we worked some years, 15 years, on the visitors center. We also 
were raising funds. Part of the construction of that visitors center 
was raising funds privately. Most people wouldn't know that the author 
of the visitors center was Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the 
House, who made an agreement that half the funds would be raised 
privately for that visitors center here at the Capitol, and also some 
public funds. Of course, all that changed with September 11, when the 
Capitol was attacked and our Nation was attacked, and we had to make 
some dramatic changes in that whole funding, and security issues that 
were raised there. But, like the visitors center, we're raising funds. 
This is totally, again, the private sector that is building this 
facility and great addition to the Kennedy Center.

  So with that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The Kennedy Center, a Presidential memorial, is one of the Nation's 
busiest arts facilities, presenting more than 2,000 performances 
annually and hosting thousands of theater-goers, visitors, and 
tourists. In fact, it is considered by many to be the greatest 
performing arts center in the world.
  The Kennedy Center also provides educational programs for both 
teachers and students from pre-kindergarten through college across the 
United States.
  H.R. 4097 is a bipartisan bill that authorizes the Kennedy Center for 
a total of $36 million for fiscal years 2013 and 2014 for maintenance, 
repair, and capital projects only.

                              {time}  1640

  These authorization levels are derived from the Kennedy Center's 2001 
comprehensive building plan, and the funding is being held flat for 
fiscal year 2013 and 2014.
  The bill also authorizes the Kennedy Center to construct a 100,000-
square-foot addition for educational programs, using no Federal funds, 
and with the same restrictions on naming rights as the rest of the 
building.
  In addition to the Kennedy Center's responsibility to run a national 
program promoting the arts, it is, first and foremost, a Presidential 
memorial, and we have a responsibility to fund its maintenance 
consistent with the dignity of a Presidential memorial. This memorial 
remains a fitting tribute to President John F. Kennedy, and I urge my 
colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4097.
  Mr. Speaker, I am cosponsor of this bill, but I am pleased to note 
that the Kennedy Center has gone very national, and it has taken not 
only its own programs nationally, but it aids arts programs throughout 
the United States. It raises its own funds, but of course, even if this 
weren't a Presidential memorial, it is very hard to raise private funds 
for maintenance and repair of a memorial in Washington. So I think that 
the flat funding for 2013 and '14 is more than justified.
  I'd like to commend President Michael Kaiser, yes, and the board of 
trustees, once again, on the art services, the cultural services they 
are bringing across the Nation, as well as to the Nation's Capital.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. MICA. In closing, again, I think this is a very significant piece 
of legislation that does authorize the first addition that I know of to 
the Kennedy Center. Not only does it do that, it does it with the whole 
expansion being done with private funds. But we do have to authorize 
that. Again, the Federal Government is the custodian and trustee of the 
center.
  Also, I think this bill is brought forward in a fiscally responsible 
approach for maintaining the facility, and we authorize the capital 
repair and maintenance program for the Kennedy Center at the requested 
level, and also in a reduction from current spending levels.
  So whether it's the cultural center of the Nation, the Kennedy 
Center, and all other government programs either partially funded, like 
this, or publicly funded, we've got to do more with less taxpayers' 
money in a responsible fashion. This legislation does that, and I'm 
pleased to offer it for consideration of the House.
  I urge my colleagues to support passage of this measure.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 4097.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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