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Legislative Branch Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2009 Hearing

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Legislative Branch Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2009 Hearing S. HRG. 110–742 LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009 HEARING BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION Architect of the Capitol (except House items) Government Accountability Office Government Printing Office Library of Congress Office of Compliance United States Capitol Police U.S. Senate Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 41–263 PDF WASHINGTON : 2009 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont TED STEVENS, Alaska TOM HARKIN, Iowa ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri PATTY MURRAY, Washington MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota LARRY CRAIG, Idaho MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JACK REED, Rhode Island SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado BEN NELSON, Nebraska LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee CHARLES KIEFFER, Staff Director BRUCE EVANS, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana, Chairman RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee BEN NELSON, Nebraska WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi (ex officio) (ex officio) Professional Staff NANCY OLKEWICZ CAROLYN E. APOSTOLOU (Minority) SARAH WILSON (Minority) Administrative Support TERI CURTIN (II) CONTENTS Page WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008 Architect of the Capitol ........................................................................................... 1 United States Capitol Police ................................................................................... 15 Library of Congress ................................................................................................. 25 MATERIAL SUBMITTED SUBSEQUENT TO THE HEARING U.S. Senate: Office of the Secretary ...................................................................................... 79 Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper .................................................................. 140 Government Accountability Office .......................................................................... 162 Government Printing Office .................................................................................... 171 Office of Compliance ................................................................................................ 182 (III) LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 3:33 p.m., in room SD–138, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Mary L. Landrieu (chairman) pre- siding. Present: Senators Landrieu, Alexander, and Allard. ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL STATEMENT OF STEPHEN T. AYERS, ACTING ARCHITECT OF THE CAP- ITOL OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MARY L. LANDRIEU Senator LANDRIEU. Good afternoon. Our subcommittee will come to order. We meet today to take testimony on the fiscal year 2009 budget requests for the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Library of Congress. I want to welcome my good friend, Senator Lamar Alexander, now our new ranking member of the subcommittee, along with Senator Allard, the former chairman and ranking member of our subcommittee, and to thank Senator Allard again for his out- standing work in those capacities in the previous years. I look for- ward to working very closely with Senator Alexander as we have on several other subcommittees. The legislative branch budget request is a total of $4.7 billion. This is an increase of nearly $700 million, or a 17.4 percent in- crease over the current year. Last year the subcommittee received an overall increase of only 3 percent. So as you can imagine, a 17 percent budget request will make it very difficult. Part of the goal of this hearing is to establish some potential priorities and to allow you to explain the request be- fore us. We will need to look very closely at this. I want to welcome our witnesses today, our Acting Architect of the Capitol, Stephen Ayers; Chief of the Capitol Police, Phillip Morse; and Librarian of Congress, James Billington. Stephen, I would like to begin by commending you for a job well done taking over as Acting Architect of the Capitol nearly 15 months ago. (1) 2 We in the Senate are grateful for your leadership and steadfast commitment to the many issues that face us in the Capitol com- plex, especially our Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) as it comes on line. I look forward to hearing an update from you on this extraor- dinary facility. Since our last meeting, dozens of Senators and House Members have had a chance to tour the facility. Their gen- eral reactions have been very enthusiastic. AOC FISCAL YEAR 2009 BUDGET REQUEST The fiscal year 2009 budget request for your office totals $643 million, an increase of $228 million, or 55 percent. You explained this to me earlier this week and I am looking forward to your ex- plaining it here. This is an enormous increase, perhaps justified, and that is part of what this hearing will be about because I know there are a number of maintenance projects, health and safety vio- lations that need to be corrected, but we will have to work very closely see what is possible. I understand that most of what is pushing this is a $1.4 billion backlog of deferred maintenance and capital improvement projects, including many critical life safety projects in our complex. There are a large number of items in your request that contribute signifi- cantly to this increase, such as $127 million for ongoing repair work in the utility tunnels, which are quite extensive, that connect and lay under many of the buildings in the Capitol complex. This is a project of critical importance to our complex and, of course, to the safety of our workers. With a commitment to the Office of Com- pliance to complete this project totaling nearly $300 million in the next 5 years, I realize that this puts some constrictions on your budget. Finally, before I move ahead, I would like to extend my personal gratitude to your entire staff for their hard work in maintaining our Capitol complex on a daily basis. You have a very dedicated workforce and I appreciate it. UNITED STATES CAPITAL POLICE FISCAL YEAR 2009 BUDGET REQUEST Chief Morse, welcome. I want to commend you for a job well done over the last 18 months. The pressures on your police force have been exceptional during this time of uncertainty, and the men and women who put their lives on the line each day are to be com- mended. I also want to thank you for sharing the story with me, in my office, about your officers showing up on a day they did not have to to protect our complex, and I hope to share the details of that story so people can really appreciate all that you do. I also want to welcome your Assistant Chief, Dan Nichols, and your recently hired Chief Administrative Officer, Gloria Jarmon. Your budget request totals $334 million. This is an 18 percent in- crease over current year. I realize the challenges your Department will face with the opening of the Capitol Visitor Center, the Li- brary’s New Visitor Experience, and the merging of the Library of Congress police department with yours. We will have some ques- tions about that a little later. 3 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS FISCAL YEAR 2009 BUDGET REQUEST And last, let me welcome our Librarian, Dr. James Billington. It is always good to see you. I want to congratulate you on the open- ing of the New Visitor Experience. I had family from Louisiana vis- iting just last week and they thoroughly enjoyed seeing the refur- bishment of the Thomas Jefferson Library. I understand this was done primarily with private contributions, but with the great over- sight of the Library. It truly is a gift to the Nation that the project turned out so beautifully, and I cannot wait to see it myself. The Library’s budget request totals $646 million, 5 percent above current year. I commend you and your staff for submitting a budg- et that is in line with what is normally done. It makes our jobs a little bit easier. I want to acknowledge your continuing commitment to the digital talking book project, which is also a priority of mine. Many people here in the room today are advocates for the extension and expan- sion of that project, and I want to recognize them. LIBRARY PARTNERSHIP APPRECIATION I would also like to express my appreciation to you and the Li- brary for your partnership with several of our universities around the country through Teaching with Primary Sources, and in par- ticular, Southeastern University in Louisiana. It has been a great opportunity for them, as well as the resource established with the Middle Tennessee University and several others around the coun- try. Finally, I would like to acknowledge your position as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Open World Leadership
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