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OPEN TO VISITORS? ASSESSING THE FEDERAL EF- FORT TO MINIMIZE THE SEQUESTER’S IMPACT ON ACCESS TO OUR NATION’S CAPITAL AND NATIONAL TREASURES HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 16, 2013 Serial No. 113–16 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov http://www.house.gov/reform U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 80–900 PDF WASHINGTON : 2013 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 VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:18 May 29, 2013 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\80900.TXT APRIL COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM DARRELL E. ISSA, California, Chairman JOHN L. MICA, Florida ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland, Ranking MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio Minority Member JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JIM JORDAN, Ohio Columbia JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts TIM WALBERG, Michigan WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts JUSTIN AMASH, Michigan JIM COOPER, Tennessee PAUL A. GOSAR, Arizona GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania JACKIE SPEIER, California SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee MATTHEW A. CARTWRIGHT, Pennsylvania TREY GOWDY, South Carolina MARK POCAN, Wisconsin BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois DOC HASTINGS, Washington ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois ROB WOODALL, Georgia PETER WELCH, Vermont THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky TONY CARDENAS, California DOUG COLLINS, Georgia STEVEN A. HORSFORD, Nevada MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM, New Mexico KERRY L. BENTIVOLIO, Michigan RON DESANTIS, Florida LAWRENCE J. BRADY, Staff Director JOHN D. CUADERES, Deputy Staff Director ROBERT BORDEN, General Counsel LINDA A. GOOD, Chief Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Staff Director (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:18 May 29, 2013 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\80900.TXT APRIL C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on April 16, 2013 .............................................................................. 1 WITNESSES The Honorable David S. Ferriero, Archivist of The United States, National Archives and Records Administration Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 7 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 9 The Honorable Jonathan B. Jarvis, Director, U.S. National Park Service Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 17 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 19 Mr. G. Wayne Clough, Ph.D., Secretary, Smithsonian Institution Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 24 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 26 APPENDIX Responses to follow-up Questions from Mr. Christopher P. Salotti, Legislative Counsel, Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Department of the Interior ........................................................................................................... 68 Responses to Questions sent to Mr. Jarvis, Director U.S. National Park Serv- ice .......................................................................................................................... 69 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:18 May 29, 2013 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\80900.TXT APRIL VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:18 May 29, 2013 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\80900.TXT APRIL OPEN TO VISITORS? ASSESSING THE FED- ERAL EFFORT TO MINIMIZE THE SEQUES- TER’S IMPACT ON ACCESS TO OUR NA- TION’S CAPITAL AND NATIONAL TREAS- URES Tuesday, April 16, 2013, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. in room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, the Hon. Darrell Issa [chair- man of the committee], presiding. Present: Representatives Issa, Mica, Jordan, Chaffetz, Walberg, Lankford, Amash, DesJarlais, Farenthold, Hastings, Woodall, Col- lins, Meadows, Bentivolio, Cummings, Maloney, Norton, Tierney, Connolly, Speier, Davis and Horsford. Staff Present: Molly Boyd, Majority Parliamentarian; Lawrence J. Brady, Majority Staff Director; Daniel Bucheli, Majority Assist- ant Clerk; Caitlin Carroll, Majority Deputy Press Secretary; Steve Castor, Majority General Counsel; Drew Colliatie, Majority Profes- sional Staff Member; John Cuaderes, Majority Deputy Staff Direc- tor; Adam P. Fromm, Majority Director of Member Services and Committee Operations; Linda Good, Majority Chief Clerk; Tyler Grimm, Majority Senior Professional Staff Member; Christopher Hixon, Majority Deputy Chief Counsel, Oversight; Michael R. Kiko, Majority Staff Assistant; Mitchell S. Kominsky, Majority Counsel; Mark D. Marin, Majority Director of Oversight; Kristin L. Nelson, Majority Counsel; James Robertson, Majority Senior Professional Staff Member; Laura L. Rush; Majority Deputy Chief Clerk; Scott Schmidt, Majority Deputy Director of Digital Strategy; Matthew Tallmer, Majority Investigator; Peter Warren, Majority Legislative Policy Director; Sang H. Yi, Majority Professional Staff Member; Jaron Bourke, Minority Director of Administration; Krista Boyd, Minority Deputy Director of Legislation/Counsel; Susanne Sachsman Grooms, Minority Chief Counsel; Jennifer Hoffman, Mi- nority Press Secretary; Chris Knauer, Minority Senior Investigator; Adam Koshkin, Minority Research Assistant; Elisa LaNier, Minor- ity Deputy Clerk; Brian Quinn, Minority Counsel; Rory Sheehan, Minority New Media Press Secretary. Chairman ISSA. Before we begin, I think it fitting that we say a few words and express our condolences and our heartfelt sorrow for the events in Boston yesterday. Regardless of how it came to hap- pen, it was a terrible tragedy, and our prayers go out to the victims (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 10:18 May 29, 2013 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\80900.TXT APRIL 2 and their families, and our thanks to the brave men and women who were first on the scene. America watched yet again an act of terror in horror yesterday at one of the icons of the American sports and recreational scene. We will not soon forget it, and I want to thank all of you for this moment of silence. [Pause.] Chairman ISSA. The committee will come to order. The Oversight Committee exists to fundamentally do two things and do them well. First, because Americans have a right to know that the money Washington takes from them is well spent, and sec- ond, America deserves an efficient, effective government that works for them. The oversight side of our committee’s responsibility is to protect these rights. Our solemn responsibility is to hold government ac- countable to taxpayers, because taxpayers have a right to know what they get from their government. Our job is to work tirelessly in partnership with citizen watchdogs to deliver the fact to the American people and bring genuine reform to the Federal bureauc- racy. With oversight comes reform, if it is done right. Today, we are continuing our oversight of, in fact, the first real down payment on reducing the size of government in my 12 plus years on the Hill. Sequestration is by definition the worst possible way to save money. Across the board cuts make no sense. However, as we now have come to know, within sequestration, within departments, sequestration is not across the board. You do not buy 2.4 percent less toilet paper. You do not turn lights on 2.4 percent less bright. The truth is that agencies have had an obliga- tion to make decisions. The decisions, as we will see today and as we have seen in previous hearings, vary widely. Our initial discovery is that independent agencies not told by Of- fice of Management and Budget to ignore the impending sequestra- tion cuts for the most part have taken steps. Those steps have con- sistently meant sequestration was less onerous than it would other- wise be. However, within agencies that were held to make their cuts later rather than sooner, it appears as though there is a wide variety of decision process. It appears to me, at least, that politics of sequestration need to be ended and ended soon. Americans deserve to know that we in fact can reduce the size of government. We can make decisions that impact Americans less or not at all. As we will hear today, some made decisions that in fact mean a win-win, not the least of which is an example of simply shipping answers or mailing more efficiently. It seems like a small thing. But it is a small thing that came from the necessity to cut a budget. Having come from the private sector, these kinds of boom and bust occur within the economic cycle regularly. Almost every com- pany has a hot season and an off season, years that are better and years that, in fact, they need to be more efficient, times in which market share is being gained at all cost and times at which, within a given amount of market share,