[Senate Hearing 117-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2023
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2022
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 4:15 p.m., in room SD-138, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jack Reed, (Chairman) presiding.
Present: Senators Reed and Braun.
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE AND
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JACK REED
Senator Reed. I call the hearing to order. Good afternoon.
The subcommittee will continue its efforts for the fiscal year
2023 budget for the Legislative Branch Appropriations. I am
joined by our Ranking Member, Senator Braun. I look forward to
working with him and the distinguished Members of the
Subcommittee in crafting a responsible fiscal year 2023 funding
legislation that supports the Legislative Branch.
Today we have with us the Library of Congress, Dr. Carla
Hayden, and the Comptroller General of the United States, Gene
Dodaro. Welcome, and I thank you for joining us today. The
Library and GAO are critical to making sure that Congress
serves the American people well. They help Congress, supporting
us in our basic responsibilities to be informed and educated on
behalf of our constituents.
So I want to begin by thanking the women and men of your
agencies who work very hard every day to make sure that
Congress can perform its Constitutional duties and that we use
taxpayer dollars responsibly. The past few years have been
difficult. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has
continued to meet. This means we have asked your employees to
show up for work, either in personal or remotely, to help us do
our jobs.
Then the January 6 attack on the Capitol happened, changing
how we must think about and approach security while maintaining
an open campus environment so that all people can visit and
share this special place. But these challenges didn't stop the
Library and its agencies, and the GAO from delivering for
Congress and for the American people. CRS ramped up its science
and technology analysis capacity to prepare and update
thousands of new products to inform Congress on COVID-19
related Details.
GAO has been hard at work auditing the trillions of dollars
provided by Congress, the Government wide response to the
pandemic, including the American Rescue Plan Act, and the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. And GAO has churned out
numerous flash reports in response to the January 6 attack on
the Capitol. The agency worked tirelessly to respond to
Congressional inquiries, conduct oversight, and provide
valuable recommendations to the United States Capitol Police,
the Architect of the Capitol, and the Capitol Police Board on
much needed reforms and security upgrades.
The Library intensified its public outreach to include a
variety of virtual events, webinars, and workshops so that
researchers, teachers, parents, and especially our children
could still access and learn from its rich and diverse
collections. The Library also sacrificed a major collection
storage construction project so that we could cover
unanticipated and unmet costs from the pandemic and the January
6 attack on the Capitol campus.
We need to make good on our promises and make it a priority
to refund that project in our fiscal year 2023 bill. We want to
make sure that your agencies have the tools needed to gradually
reopen and responsibly resume normal operations. Congress owes
it to your employees not only to provide the resources needed
to do their jobs, but also to meet any new demands or
innovations identified in the pandemic.
That means continuing to make critical investments in IT
modernization, cybersecurity, and collections, and staffing up
your science and technology analysis and auditing teams. As
Congress's independent and nonpartisan watchdog, our demands on
GAO for audits and evaluations of Federal agencies to root out
waste, fraud, and abuse while improving governance efficiently
only grow greater and more complex.
Your request reflects a return to optimal pre-sequester
staffing levels and is the result of multiple years of careful
investment and prioritizing by both your agency and Congress. I
look forward to hearing from Comptroller Dodaro on how we can
continue to build on the progress in fiscal year 2023, and how
GAO aims to recruit and retain a talented and diverse
workforce.
And as we welcome back visitors and look to a brighter
future, I want to hear from Dr. Hayden on the progress of the
Library's visitor experience initiative. This is an exciting
public, private partnership that will make the Library's
treasures more accessible to students, researchers, and
visitors to the nation's capital for generations to come.
We do not yet have a broader budget agreement of fiscal
year 2203, but I hope in the coming months this committee can
unveil a strong appropriations bill that will support the needs
of your agencies and the rest of the Legislative Branch. And
now let me turn it over to my Ranking Member, Senator Braun.
Senator Braun, please.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MIKE BRAUN
Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Dr.
Hayden and Mr. Dodaro, for being here. It is our second
Legislative Branch hearing. Look forward to working with the
Chairman to get things fleshed out. Dr. Hayden, I participated
in the Veterans History Project Workshop with you in April,
where we discussed how veterans and their families can engage
with the Library of Congress.
The Library is doing important work to preserve the
personal stories of American veterans. I think that is
important. As we discussed a few weeks ago, I am pleased with
the progress you have made in opening the Library of Congress
back up to the public. Frankly, you have made a lot more
progress and we have had here in the Senate, and for that you
should be commended. Reopening the buildings on and around
Capitol Hill to the public must be a top priority to the
Committee.
The Senate has lagged behind virtually all of America in
reopening and getting back to normal. When we shut our economy
down a couple of years ago, we are now dealing with the ripple
effects from that in terms of high inflation and other things.
We ought to at least get the buildings of the people back open
to the people.
Dr. Hayden, you are asking for $871 million in change, a
3.9 percent increase over the fiscal year 2022 enacted level.
That is definitely more sober than most of the requests I have
seen come in from other parts of the Government. Remember, an
economy, when it is robust, grows maybe 2 to 3 percent. We
should never be growing this place with the results that we
produce for more than what the economy is growing. That ends up
with unsustainable debt and it is not a good long term business
plan.
We will look at your request very carefully. Mr. Dodaro, we
have had the chance to talk many times about how the Federal
Government works in terms of spending more than we take in.
Mentioned just a little bit ago we were around $18 trillion in
debt when I got here a little over 3 years ago and now we are
$30 trillion in debt. We have got a blueprint for our country,
for our kids, let's look at it that way, to live by that puts
us $45 trillion in debt. We have become a country of consumers
and spenders.
And many of our geopolitical opponents out there or
otherwise--you know, they believe in things, were investing and
saving. And as a result, they probably don't run chronic
deficits like we do. We have got to be careful. You can get
beyond the point of no return. And when the budget that we have
got as a blueprint in 10 years shows that we are spending as
much on interest, and we are underestimating inflation and
interest in that budget, as we will either on domestic
discretionary spending or defense spending, look out,
Americans, that is going to be a rough ride.
This is a small part of what we do, the smallest
appropriations category. But I think it needs to be consistent
with what it is going to take, I think, to turn this juggernaut
around, from running into the ditch very hard and it has got to
start somewhere. You can at least show where we are getting
some type of return on our investment. I think in 2021 alone,
GAO's work yielded $66.2 billion in financial benefits.
Hardly any other part of the Government where what you do,
you can say, is actually saving money. Not a lot when you look
at the big scheme of things, but it is at least doing the right
thing. It is the right dynamic. You are asking, I think, for a
12 to 13 percent increase. If there is one place where we ought
to be spending more, it ought to be in a place where we get a
decent return on investment.
I trust that whatever we do give to you, it will be spent
well. I would like just even symbolically to see that be reined
in a little bit because we need to practice what we preach. I,
again, look forward to working with the Chairman to get through
this and hopefully to get it done on a timely basis. The
American public deserves it.
Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Senator Braun. Now I
will ask the witnesses, beginning with Dr. Hayden, to give a
brief opening statement of approximately 5 minutes to allow
adequate time for questions. The written testimony of each
witness will be printed in full in the hearing record. Dr.
Hayden, you are recognized, please.
STATEMENT OF DR. CARLA HAYDEN, LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS
Dr. Hayden. Thank you. Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun,
for this opportunity to provide testimony in support of the
Library's fiscal year 2023 budget. Yes, 2 years ago, the
Library had to close its doors as the pandemic began. However,
we moved quickly and successfully to adopt new and innovative
approaches to serving Congress and the American people
virtually under unprecedented conditions.
And in fact, the pandemic accelerated our ongoing efforts
to engage the public virtually and share our collections and
services in new and exciting ways and allowing us to reach more
people across the nation. And thanks to the dedication and
innovation of our workforce during the past year, mission
critical services, including the Congressional Research Service
and the United States Copyright Office, were able to operate
largely as normal.
The Library did produce a full year of exciting virtual and
hybrid programing, including the 21st National Book Festival.
And with the Congressional support and private philanthropy, we
continued to work toward unveiling the Library's enhanced
visitor experience in phases, beginning with the opening of a
treasures gallery in late 2023. I would like to express my
gratitude for the ongoing support that this Committee and the
entire Congress provides to the Library.
In particular, our high priority needs in fiscal year 2022,
such as the new Library collections access platform, L-CAP.
That is the heart of our Library operations. Replacements for
the Library's outmoded electronic security system and the 3G
cellular system. And a cloud based office productivity suite
for all Library employees. I come before you today to discuss
the Library's fiscal year 2023 request of $871.8 million, an
increase of 3.9 percent over the enacted fiscal year 2022
appropriation.
This request includes $30.8 million in mandatory pay and
price level increases, and the balance of the increase
represents critical program investments necessary to meet our
mission. With new and modern IT infrastructure in place, thanks
to your support, we are now using continuous innovation and
delivery to ensure that we are constantly optimizing and
modernizing the technology used to meet the Library's mission.
The cloud has become an important part of IT planning at
the Library and the fiscal year 2023 request seeks to establish
a dedicated cloud management program that will enable us to
integrate our cloud solutions with our traditional IT
infrastructure. The Congressional Research Service needs to
adapt and optimize its integrated research and information
system, IRIS, using commercially available cloud based tools.
And this request is critical to enable CRS to track
Congressional requests, manage data and analysis, and
facilitate the development and distribution of CRS products to
Congress. We are also seeking funding to continue stabilizing
and optimizing our financial infrastructure, which is essential
to all of our Library operations.
And this includes funds for increased Legislative Branch
financial management system hosting and application management
costs. This is a request made by the Library on behalf of eight
Legislative Branch agencies that all benefit from this valuable
and cost effective shared service.
The 2023 request also includes funding for phase two of the
Enterprise Planning and Management Program and for the
Library's Cost Management Center of Excellence. To modernize
and optimize payroll operations, we are requesting funds to
implement a new integrated personnel and payroll processing
system managed by the Department of the Interior's Integrated
Business Center.
The Copyright Office seeks to expand its data analysis
capacities in economic research, fee, and cost analysis, and
statistics in order to make better informed decisions about its
fees. This request is fully funded with Copyright Office's
offsetting collections. And as we prepare to unveil the
Library's enhanced visitor experience, we are requesting funds
to add additional visitor engagement staff, which will support
the expanded public spaces in the Jefferson Building.
We expect to see a significant increase in visitors in the
next 3 to 5 years, and this additional staff will ensure that
everyone has the best possible experience. So in closing, the
Library's 2023 Congressional budget justification continues a
sequence of strategically planned modernization efforts
throughout the institution.
And with the support of Congress, we will continue to
strengthen our capacity to carry out our mission. Thank you,
and we look forward to your questions.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Dr. Carla Hayden, The Librarian of Congress
Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members of the Subcommittee,
Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony in support of
the Library's fiscal year 2023 budget.
The Library of Congress has built one of the largest collections of
human knowledge ever assembled in support of our mission to engage,
inspire, and inform the Congress and the American people with a
universal and enduring source of information and creativity. My top
priority as Librarian of Congress remains expanded user access to the
Library's resources and services. We are an authoritative source of
knowledge that enriches the American people in countless ways. We
constantly strive to find new ways to share our extraordinary riches
with the nation.
Two years ago, the Library had to close its doors as the pandemic
began. We moved quickly and successfully to adopt new and innovative
approaches to serving the Congress and the American people. I am
pleased to report that we continued to make progress in sharing more of
the Library's collections, programming, and staff expertise beyond the
four walls of the Library. In fact, the pandemic accelerated our
efforts to engage the public virtually and share our collections and
services in new and exciting ways, allowing us to reach even more
people across the nation. In fiscal year 2021, with the support of the
Congress, the Library continued to build the collections and engage
users. The Library reduced the cataloging arrearage by 1.2 million
items, created online resources, reopened reading rooms, welcomed
visitors and researchers, and resumed the Surplus Books Program, among
many other activities. The Library's Center for Learning and Engagement
produced a year full of exciting virtual and hybrid programming,
including the 21st National Book Festival. Essential services,
including the Congressional Research Service and the United States
Copyright Office, were able to operate largely as normal. The National
Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled implemented a long-
awaited change that made it easier for people with reading disabilities
to enroll for services. With congressional support and private
philanthropy, we continued to work toward unveiling the Library's
enhanced Visitor Experience in phases, beginning with the Treasures
Gallery in late 2023. The Library also reached an important milestone
during the pandemic, with over 7.5 million items under inventory
control in its preservation facility at Fort Meade and a new collection
storage module completed. In another significant marker, for the first
time, the Library's production information technology foundation exists
fully outside of the Capitol Hill campus. With the completion of the
Library's Data Center Transformation effort, the Office of the Chief
Information Officer (OCIO) is now hosting the Library's more than 100
production IT systems and nearly 90 petabytes of data across a modern
hybrid hosting environment.
Today, the Library holds nearly 174 million physical items,
including special collections consisting of audio materials, maps,
moving images, sheet music and much more. A single copy of our digital
collections requires 26 petabytes of storage--that is roughly the
equivalent of 13 trillion pages of printed text. If you piled up that
many pages, you could reach the moon more than three times with these
stacks of stored knowledge. The material on the Library's websites
alone totals five petabytes.
Over the last year, approximately 2.2 million Preservation actions
were performed on items in the Library's physical collections, with a
further 3.4 million pages of materials prepared and shipped to vendors
for preservation reformatting services. The Library responded to
730,562 reference requests from Congress, the public, and other Federal
agencies, including direct use of CRS reports. The Copyright Office
issued over 403,771 copyright registrations and recorded 8,252
documents containing 961,291 titles. Library web sites recorded more
than 178 million visits and nearly 618 million page views. We
circulated more than 21.5 million copies of braille, audio and large
print items to patrons, via the National Library Service for the Blind
and Print Disabled and its network of State and local libraries.
Moreover, even with pandemic restrictions, the Library welcomed nearly
30,000 in-person visitors.
The Library also continued direct services to the public with
programs like the Veterans History Project which collects the stories
of our Nation's veterans and Teaching with Primary Sources, which
allows teachers in local school districts to create curricula and
develop apps using the Library's digitized primary sources.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the ongoing and
remarkable support that this committee and all of Congress give to the
Library. In particular, I appreciate the funding you have provided in
fiscal year 2022 to meet high-priority needs such as the new L-CAP--
Library Collections Access Platform--that is the heart of Library
operations; replacements for the Library's outmoded Integrated
Electronic Security System and the 3G Cellular Distributed Antenna
System; and installation of a cloud-based office productivity suite for
all Library employees.
I come before you today to discuss the Library's fiscal year 2023
appropriations request. This budget request reflects the resources
needed for us to sustain the Library's mission of service to Congress,
access to the creative record of the United States, and stewardship of
the cultural heritage of the American people. The budget request is
aligned with the goals and objectives of the Library's Strategic Plan:
Expand access, enhance services, optimize resources, and measure
impact. To advance these strategic goals, the budget requests
additional resources for several new or expanded programs. All of the
requests are in support of the Library's mission and vision that all
Americans are connected to the Library of Congress and invest in a
vibrant future for this institution.
The Library of Congress fiscal year 2023 budget request is for
$871.8 million, which represents a 3.9 percent increase over the
Library's fiscal year 2022 enacted appropriation. This request includes
$30.8 million in mandatory pay and price level increases. The balance
of the increase represents critical program investments necessary to
fulfill the Library's role and to sustain continuous technology
innovation and delivery; continue stabilization and optimization of the
financial infrastructure; expand active engagement with visitors to the
Library; and strengthen data analysis expertise in life cycle costing
and cost estimating as well as data analysis for evaluating and setting
Copyright fees.
The fiscal year 2023 budget continues many of the strategic
modernization and optimization efforts the Congress has supported in
recent years for the Library. As I am sure other government agencies
are experiencing, rapidly evolving technology and public expectations
have required us to adjust, and in some cases expand, multiyear efforts
that are underway to enhance the IT and operations of many of the
Library's service units. The budget request also addresses staffing
gaps that have arisen as a result of absorption of mandatory pay and
price level increases. It builds staff capacity we must have to respond
to technological advancement and addresses skills in areas such as data
analysis and cost estimation that are required to meet the Library's
fiduciary responsibilities.
sustaining continuous technology innovation and delivery
As I have reported before, at the Library, we have fundamentally
rebuilt our technology foundation. The large investment in Library IT
over the last few years is already paying dividends. As the Nation
continued to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Library's more
robust IT infrastructure allowed us to sustain remote operations for
the majority of the Library's workforce for the entire fiscal year. It
also paves the way for ongoing efforts to expand and enhance the major
IT systems that support the Library's business operations and its
digital offerings to Congress and the public.
Most importantly, we are not merely updating existing applications
and systems. We have completely re-envisioned how we manage and use
technology at the Library. With new, modern IT infrastructure in place,
we have stabilized our operations and we are moving to a model of
carefully constructed continuous innovation and continuous delivery to
ensure that we are constantly optimizing and modernizing the technology
needed to meet the needs of Congress and the American people.
As in the private sector and other government agencies, the cloud
has become an important part of our IT planning at the Library. Its
ability to quickly scale services to meet changing needs and its
capacity to support accessibility and collaborations across a wide
range of users are powerful tools that are essential as we continue our
digital transformation. As we mature our use of the cloud at the
Library, we are following the Federal ``Cloud Smart'' strategy, which
calls for cloud solutions to be integrated with our traditional IT
infrastructure to seamlessly support our business needs.
Of course, greater use of the cloud comes with some challenges too.
The Library requires specialized resources to properly implement and
administer cloud services and ensure that we can make the most of our
cloud operations. The Library's request for a dedicated Cloud
Management Program will provide OCIO with the expertise necessary to
ensure essential cloud management practices, monitor cloud-based
applications for compliance and security, coordinate development of
advanced IT solutions, and ensure maximum value from existing IT
infrastructure.
The Library must also continue to mature its IT planning, project
management, and governance to sustain the pace of digital
transformation and the growing demand for new and enhanced technology
to support services to Congress and the Nation. Audit findings from the
Government Accountability Office and the Office of the Inspector
General have reinforced the need for the Library to mature its IT cost
estimating, schedule management and quality review practices, and
improve OCIO's ability to meet Federal standards and industry best
practices for IT project management. The Library's fiscal year 2023
request includes in-house expertise and contract support to respond to
the significant volume of pre-planning project-related activities,
project challenges, and evolving audit recommendations.
The Congressional Research Service also seeks, in partnership with
OCIO, to adapt and optimize its Integrated Research and Information
System (IRIS) in a technology landscape that changed dramatically since
its initial planning and procurement in 2018. This request is critical
for the completion of the initial IRIS configuration using commercially
available cloud-based tools to meet specific CRS requirements for
authoring and publishing, content management, and congressional
relations management, while insuring integration with CRS legacy IT
systems and research tools. It will also establish and staff a
sustainment and development program, using the continuous innovation
and continuous delivery (CI/CD) model employed for major Library IT
systems, including Congress.gov. IRIS will significantly improve the
manner in which CRS analytical staff author and publish reports and
memoranda, manage data and tacit knowledge, and maintain timely and
functional analytics on products and services. CRS IT systems must be
up-to-date to meet congressional needs.
continuing stabilization and optimization of financial infrastructure
A stable and optimized financial infrastructure is essential to
everything the Library does. A necessary shift to the cloud for the
Legislative Branch Financial Management System (LBFMS) added workload
in financial reporting, and an unintegrated personnel and payroll
system also need prompt attention.
The Library's Financial Systems continues to manage hosting of the
LBFMS as a shared service for the legislative branch. The LBFMS funding
model, and support provided by the Congress, are essential to the
success of the initiative. Sharing a financial system and consolidating
some financial management tasks save the Legislative Branch more than
$3.3 million annually, across the eight participating agencies.
However, with the migration of the LBFMS to the cloud, funding
challenges exist because system hosting and application management
costs exceed the $1.06 million annually received from the Congress. The
increased cost has been pro-rated among LBFMS agencies and covered by
the Library's funds. At the request of the LBFMS Steering Committee,
comprised of representatives of the partner agencies, the Library
requests funding to cover the $700,000 increase in the cost of hosting
and operating the system in the cloud. The Library's intention is to
maintain consistent year-to-year funding requirements for both the
Library and our partner LBFMS agencies cost share, so that all can
better plan for LBFMS costs for future years. The eight Legislative
Branch agencies cross-serviced through the LBFMS believe the most
efficient method to address the additional costs is for Congress to
provide the funding directly to the Library for LBFMS operations,
rather than increase each agency's budget by a prorated amount and then
have the Library charge each agency separately. The Library cannot
unilaterally cover the increased costs from its budget.
Stabilization and optimization efforts continue to meet challenges
in financial reporting. Important improvements have been made,
including hiring the Library's first comptroller. The Library also
recently received its 25th consecutive unmodified audit opinion.
However, Financial Reports (FR) now has an increased workload to
support the Library's cross-servicing partners and to meet expanded
Department of the Treasury reporting requirements. Continued
stabilization and optimization of the financial reporting functions are
important not only to fulfill the Library's external reporting
requirements, but also to meet FR's responsibility for setting
accounting standards and preparing Library of Congress regulations and
process directives, which ensure that the Library has good internal
controls that are tested and validated throughout the year. The request
includes FTE to address additional accounting workload and reporting
responsibilities, as well as contractor services to update and create
essential financial reporting and financial system documentation,
procedure guides, and training materials.
The Library also requests funding to implement an integrated and
optimized personnel and payroll processing system. Currently, staff
must enter data in different legacy systems, causing leave balance
discrepancies and issues resulting from manual payroll and personnel
action request reconciliation, and the use of manual forms causes
errors. It also presents challenges with retirement package tracking,
making it difficult for retirees to get the information they need. This
request would shift the Library's personnel and payroll processing
service provider from the National Finance Center system to the
Department of the Interior's Integrated Business Center (IBC). A full-
scale migration to the IBC personnel and payroll system will result in
significant cost avoidance and mitigate the lost time currently devoted
to correcting problems in a non- integrated and non-automated system.
expanding active engagement with visitors to the library
The Library is reimagining the visitor engagement model to meet the
changing needs of audiences in a post-pandemic world. Visitor
operations will increase dramatically with the opening of the Treasures
Gallery, the first phase of the Visitor Experience, when it opens in
fall 2023. The Library expects to welcome more than 2 million visitors
annually in the next 3 to 5 years, compared to 1.6 million in 2019. The
Visitor Experience will add 12,000 square feet of public space to the
Library. Funding is requested to add staffing for the Library's Visitor
Engagement Program, which will support the expanded public space and
will enhance the active engagement and safety of visitors, including
your constituents, and the use of the Jefferson Building and the
collections.
strengthening data analysis expertise in life cycle costing and cost
estimating as well as in evaluating and setting copyright fees
In concert with efforts to stabilize and optimize its financial
infrastructure, the Library requests funding for the second phase of
the Enterprise Planning & Management (EPM) initiative, which will
enable the strategic use of the Library's planning and operational data
as a catalyst to drive more effective decisionmaking and improved
performance of Library projects, programs, and investments. Phase two
is the next step in implementing an integrated planning process and
maturing a Cost Management Center of Excellence, which will pilot new
cost estimating and data analytics capabilities by establishing the
staff expertise and processes necessary to optimize cost management.
Subsequent requests will include a new technology platform to replace
legacy systems nearing the end of their useful lives.
Finally, the Copyright Office seeks to expand its capabilities in
economic research, fee and cost analysis, and statistics funded fully
with Copyright Office offsetting collections. There is a mission-
critical need to establish expertise in economic research and analysis
specific to issues of copyright and the impact of fee changes on
participation in the copyright system. The Office must also improve its
capacity to perform cost and fee analysis and to manage, validate, and
report on the statistics and metrics that affect its costs, revenue,
and fee analysis. These capabilities are crucial for the Office to
manage its operations effectively and to better demonstrate to the
Congress, its users, and other stakeholders that it is using an
evidence-based process for evaluating and setting fees, which currently
make up approximately 50 percent of the Office's annual budget.
In closing, the Library's 2023 Congressional Budget Justification
continues a sequence of strategically planned modernization efforts
across the enterprise. With the strong support of Congress, the Library
continues to optimize and modernize operations and technology to
strengthen institutional capacity to carry out the mission undeterred
by changing realities. Chairman Reed, Ranking Member Braun, and Members
of the Subcommittee, thank you again for supporting the Library of
Congress and for your consideration of our fiscal year 2023 request.
Senator Reed. Thank you, doctor. Comptroller General,
please.
STATEMENT OF HON. GENE DODARO, U.S. COMPTROLLER
GENERAL, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE
Mr. Dodaro. Good afternoon Mr. Chairman, Senator Braun. It
is a pleasure to be here to discuss GAO's budget proposal for
fiscal year 2023. I want to first thank the Committee for its
past support for our work. I believe we have provided a good
return on investment of the money you have given GAO over the
last 5 years. We have averaged a return on investment of $158
back to the Government for every $1 invested in GAO.
In addition, we have averaged over 1,300 other benefits to
the Government, such as improvements in public safety and
better efficiency and effectiveness of Government operations
and programs. In addition to our normal array of work that we
do on a regular basis to support 90 percent of the committees
of the Congress, we have undertaken some special assignments
on, as the Chairman mentioned, the extra spending on the COVID-
19 pandemic. We have issued 10 Government-wide reports that
examine the full breadth of the COVID experience and track the
Federal spending. We have also issued over 100 individual GAO
reports on specific pandemic-related areas.
We have made about 280 recommendations, including 15
matters for Congressional consideration. I testified before the
Senate in March about 10 of these recommendations for improving
transparency and accountability of not only COVID spending, but
all Federal spending, reining in improper payments and dealing
with a growing problem of fraud, particularly in the pandemic
programs.
In the high risk series, we have added two new additions.
The last time I was here, I talked about adding drug misuse
across Government, and a need for greater Federal leadership.
Since then we added HHS leadership and coordination of public
health emergencies to the high risk list. There are still not
clear definitions of roles and responsibilities. There is
miscommunication, challenges that haven't been fully met, and
data collection issues, among others. I am concerned about the
preparations to deal with future public health emergencies.
We also recently added the unemployment insurance program.
It has been subject to a lot of fraud, and it is also badly in
need of transformation for the 21st century. The program needs
to adapt to a different type of economy and workforce. The
State systems are antiquated and are not up to the challenge.
In addition, we do an annual report on overlap,
duplication, and fragmentation in the Federal Government. The
Administration and the Congress have acted on 74 percent of our
approximate 1,300 recommendations. So far that has produced
$552 billion of financial benefits to the Government. I expect
that amount to continue to grow into the future.
Now we are asking, as Senator Braun mentioned, for an
increase in our funding and that will go to five important
areas. One is science and technology. Science and technology is
becoming ubiquitous to all aspects of the Federal Government's
operations. We have been asked to take on the responsibilities
of the former Office of Technology Assessment.
We have done technology assessments of artificial
intelligence in health care, one for drug development, and
another on diagnostics, such as one on forensic algorithms. We
also did technology assessments of Operation Warp Speed's
development of the vaccines and defense navigation
capabilities. We have many other assessments in the works on
topics such as, regenerative medicine, and carbon management.
Our second priority area for funding is cybersecurity. We
have an expert cybersecurity team.
We are getting inundated with requests for cybersecurity
work, not just for evaluations of information systems, but also
for weapon systems and critical infrastructure systems that
span the full breadth and scope of our economy, both inside and
outside the Federal Government.
Our third priority area is defense or the national security
enterprise, which include work related to threats and
competition from China and Russia as well as the war in
Ukraine.
I expect many more requests in the defense arena.
Our fourth priority area is health care. It is the fastest
growing part of the Federal Government's budget. There is $148
billion in improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid alone for
2021. We have and will continue to do work on prescription drug
pricing as well.
The fifth priority area is infrastructure. There are 35
mandates in the Infrastructure and Jobs Act for GAO, and 7 more
in the fiscal year 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act. We
need some additional funding to help us carry out those
responsibilities.
Mr. Chairman, you mentioned recruiting and retaining
people. We have hired over a 1,000 people since the pandemic
started. We are very effective in attracting and retaining
talent.
We are on track to meet 99 percent of our FTE goals for
this fiscal year. Moreover, GAO was ranked number one in best
places to work in midsize agencies last year. I am very proud
of our record. We have no problem recruiting and retaining
people. We just need your continued support. I know you will
take careful consideration of our request and I appreciate the
opportunity to be here today.
[The statement follows:]
[GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--SECURITY COORDINATION POST JANUARY 6
Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Comptroller General.
Dr. Hayden, after January 6, the security situation changed
dramatically. That is probably an understatement. How have you
changed your--how are you collaborating with the Capitol Police
and other agencies, and any adjustments in addition to those
that you have made?
Dr. Hayden. The Library has worked closely with the U.S.
Capitol Police. And in fact, we hosted the National Guard
personnel right after January 6. And we have been continuing
with helping with limited entrances to our facilities so that
they have additional personnel to take care of the things that
they need to.
And we also were very appreciative of the funding that we
received in fiscal year 2022 for two major things that were in
the work, but the need was reinforced on January the 6. One,
cellular communications. We needed to upgrade to 5G from 3G,
and the Capitol Police and the Architect of the Capitol staff
had difficulty, significant trouble, maintaining communications
in the Library buildings during the events.
And immediately after that, funding has been appropriated,
and we are implementing that. And the other was our physical
security and video surveillance. The events on January 6
reinforced the importance of that request that was funded last
year. And Library cameras, for instance, if they had been
sufficient and updated, they would have been able to provide
more visibility around the perimeter, the Library's Jefferson
Building is directly behind the Capitol, and more high
resolution video data would have been available.
And so with this new security system, we are replacing the
monitors, all of the things that go with it, plus life cycle
improvements so that we can keep up with the technology that is
also being implemented. You did mention funding that was
deferred for our high priority preservation in module seven was
used for security purposes and we sincerely hope that it will
be reinstated.
Senator Reed. Thank you. Comptroller General, after the
January 6 attack, you issued five reports on aspects of the
attack from additional actions needed to better prepare a
Capitol Police coordination with the Federal agencies. What do
you consider to be the most important recommendation, and are
they being implemented to your satisfaction?
Mr. Dodaro. Not yet. All 11 recommendations we made were
still outstanding. We received some resistance from DHS about
updating their requirements and explanation of how to designate
something a special event ahead of time.
I will continue to follow up with them on this issue. The
other recommendations draw on two areas that I think are
equally important. One is the physical protection of the
Capitol building and having comprehensive risk assessments
done.
We have heard from the US Capitol Police. We really haven't
heard from the Capitol Police Board yet in terms of what they
are doing. The other area of recommendations were related to
training for the police. More realistic training and training
on the use of force is needed. All the recommendations, I
believe, are important, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to see
fuller and quicker implementation.
Senator Reed. Thank you very much. And let me direct your
question to both you. Senator Braun touched upon it.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--LIBRARY REOPENING
Senator Reed. What are your plans, Dr. Hayden, about
reopening, fully reopening? Where are we, or where are you, I
should say?
Dr. Hayden. Well, the Library began reopening actually in
September of 2020 just for electronic research. People had to
make appointments. The reading rooms opened in June and July of
2021 and the general public in July of 2021. And we worked
closely with the Capitol Police. And we also are very fortunate
in terms of our health services staff.
So we have 98 percent of our staff members vaccinated,
there are regular health screening, and then we establish timed
entry passes for the public, and that has been very successful
because we can monitor the number of people in the buildings,
and we can also issue passes the same day.
These are free passes, and it helps us in case of an
emergency, for instance, if we have to contact people and say
that for--or anything, that we are able to do that. So we have
expanded our information kiosks. We had virtual docents and
volunteers that could stay at home but also give guidance and
talk to visitors, and that we are going to continue because
that was very successful.
So with the staff members that were able to roam around and
help people, but also those timed entry passes have been very,
very helpful.
Senator Reed. Thank you. And Comptroller General, your sort
of quick assessment of your reopening process?
Mr. Dodaro. For the last decade, we have had a very robust
telework arrangement. Staff could work up to 66 hours of the 80
hours, 2 week pay period remotely. Most information is now
digitized in an electronic format, allowing the work to be done
remotely, and teleworking helps us recruit and retain the
caliber of people that we need. But we have people back now
full time in the offices working with classified information.
We are coming up with a future of work plan in GAO, in
which we will continue to have a robust, telework arrangement.
We are going to have some remote options. We found during the
pandemic, for example, that by offering remote options we could
recruit interns--and we recruit about 200 interns every year--
from areas across this great country of ours that weren't close
to a GAO facility.
And it really helped us to diversify and get a better pool
of applicants for our positions. So we are going to have a
remote option for our employees in the future, along with a
telework option, and an in-person presence. But everybody will
be here when Congress needs us to be here for meetings and
things of that nature, and they will be on site at the agencies
when they need to be to do the work. I think we have a proven
track record over the last decade and also during the pandemic
that we can operate in this way.
To have the caliber of workforce that we need it is
essential that we retain people. Our attrition rate is only 6
percent. During the pandemic it was only 5 percent. We put a
big investment in our people to train them, and we need to have
institutional knowledge. You need to retain the people in order
to do that.
Senator Reed. Thank you very much. Senator Braun is
recognized, and then we will have a second round.
Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We talked earlier
about the current debt that we are in as a country, around $30
trillion. And might point out that the last time we were this
far in debt would have been coming out of World War II. That
was a generation that would be appalled at where we are at now.
They were savers. They were investors. Paid all that debt off
from World War II. And it was probably the equivalent of
around, in today's dollars who knows? It might be more than
what we have got.
Nevertheless, they paid it off and built the interstate
highway system, a very capital intensive project. That is
reflective of how we built our status as a country across the
world. Generous in helping rebuild our enemies into trading
partners, and now end up doing things that just don't make
sense in terms of a solid financial posture into the future.
You know, they call it the modern monetary theory, where annual
deficits and cumulative debt don't make any difference anymore.
You seem to be the one bright spot within our Federal
Government that, to the extent you can, reins things in. Would
you like to comment about where you think we will be if we stay
on that course? Even doing all of this seems to be a moot point
if we don't get it done on a timely basis. And it still
incorporates now with President Biden's blueprint for our
country over the next 10 years, another $15 trillion in debt,
averaging $1.5 trillion a year. Where does that take us?
Mr. Dodaro. We are basically on an unsustainable long term
fiscal path. At the end of 2021 debt held by the public was
already about 100 percent of the GDP. Absent any fiscal change
in policy, our simulations show that this ration could rise to
over 200 of GDP within the next 40 years, and it will continue
to go up absent that change. By 2035, we could be paying $1
trillion a year just to service our debt and interest. And I
think that is a problem.
There are also short term issues, such as Social Security
funding and, Medicare Part A funding, where we are going to hit
a wall within the next decade for both of those programs. That
is going to force us to come to grips with the size of the
benefit levels and to deal with those programs. I am also very
concerned about our interest rate exposure into the future.
I have issued an annual report on the nation's fiscal year
for the last 6 years. Even before the reports, I was talking
about the nation's unsustainable fiscal path for a long time,
because you could see this coming due to demographic shifts and
the rising costs of health care, which are the main drivers of
this issue. I have also called for a change in how we set the
debt limit. The debt limit, right now, does nothing to control
the debt.
Rather it makes markets nervous about whether we are going
to raise the limit in time to make timely payments. People
avoid Treasury securities that might mature around that period
of time. It disrupts the liquidity in the secondary market. It
doesn't do anything for us, except create an opportunity to
talk about this issue, but it rarely produces enough change to
alter the long term trajectory. I am very concerned about how
we set and use the debt limit.
Senator Braun. I am going to put a budget out here in a
couple of weeks that will do what Americans should expect of
us, and that would balance the budget over 10 years. And it
takes political will. It takes discipline if we are going to do
it. And you mentioned the two programs that most would look to
the Federal Government to be healthy, to be there would be
Medicare and Social Security.
And I hope the American public knows and in 4 years, we
will have depleted every penny. We have paid into the Medicare
trust fund. And will we do something ahead of time? We will
probably let it run into the ditch and then borrow money to
backfill the shortage because it be close to 15 to 18 percent
benefit cuts.
Social Security, we have known actuarially for decades, and
that will be a bigger issue, and we have been paying into that
since the Depression. All of that will be gone. It does take
some serious consideration. We seem not to do it. I am just
hoping that we wise up here quickly.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--WELCOMING VISITORS POST COVID
Senator Braun. Dr. Hayden, when you were talking earlier
about the Library of Congress getting back open, what
percentage of your normal activities would you say you are back
to in terms of what--you mentioned, a few of them that are back
up and running again. Where are you at pre-COVID compared to
pre-COVID now?
Dr. Hayden. I would have to say that we are at least 80
percent back, and that is basically with the number of visitors
who are coming in. Before COVID, we had approximately 2 million
visitors per year coming physically into Library facilities.
And so now with the timed entry, we have capacity for about
6,000 people daily. If anyone comes up and they don't have the
pass, we give them same day passes.
We just left the building, the Thomas Jefferson building
today and there were school groups and tour groups. We really
are seeing the increase in visitors. When the Capital Visitor
Center opens, in fact staff from the Capital Visitor Center
have been on detail to the Library helping us with our plans
for increased visitor attendance, and when that opens we
anticipate that we will be very much in demand.
Senator Braun. Well, I wish the capital and the folks in
charge of it, you know, would be as kind of good at getting
back to normal as what you have done in the Library of
Congress. I get complaints often from folks not only from
Indiana but across the country that why aren't we back closer
to normal?
I know that the Capitol Police, they have got some concerns
as well as leadership currently in the House and Senate. And I
think that that needs to be at least where we are at. You say
you are back to 80 percent of normal. We need to be much closer
to that than where we are. And I do have a few more questions.
I yield back.
Senator Reed. Thank you very much, Senator Braun. Both Dr.
Hayden and the Comptroller General, how are you coping with
inflation in this budget and going forward for your agencies?
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--MITIGATING INFLATION
Dr. Hayden. Well, in terms of the Library, in every cycle,
we plan for it, and we use the CBO inflation rate that is used
by all of the Legislative Branch agencies. And that current
inflation rate is about 8.3 percent and the Library used 4.6
percent for pay and a CBO rate of 2.8. Our budget is 65 percent
pay. And some units, for instance, are CRS is 90 percent pay.
We see the costs escalating in contractual labor, with some of
the hard to fill categories that OPM has even identified,
contract specialists and IT.
What we do to mitigate inflation is a combination of
things. We slow down hiring and backfills - though sometimes
that hinders us from ever backfilling because the costs have
been shifted to other areas. We de-scope and delay some
contracts when we can. And if necessary, we would consider more
severe methods, furloughs and RIFs and we haven't had to do
that and slowing down certain programs.
One aspect that we are concerned about is we talk about the
visitor experience, for instance, and the Fort Meade module. We
have already been told by the Architect of the Capitol that we
will probably see significant increases in costs. Supply chain,
all of these types of things. So that is what we are watching
very closely, working with them on value engineering, on these
projects.
Fort Meade, there is not much more we can value engineer
there, but the visitor experience has more opportunities there.
But that is our one concern that it is hard for us to control.
Senator Reed. Thank you. Comptroller General, please.
Mr. Dodaro. 85 percent of our costs are personnel costs. So
we are always concerned about whether we are getting enough
funds to cover the cost of living increases that Congress
ultimately authorizes.
We also have performance based pay as well, and then
benefits go up each year as well. These increase always factor
into what size of workforce you can have and how many people
you can hire. Now, the other two main costs outside of pay are
IT and building costs. For our IT, we are on pace with our
modernization effort in which we are moving to the cloud to
save costs over the long run.
And we have to make sure we invest what we need to for
computer security purposes to protect our information and all
the information we gather from other agencies across the
Federal Government. That is always a top priority. We also need
to modernize our content management systems for our audit
documentation. Our systems is over 30 years old.
We are trying to modernize it, but the pace of that
modernization will be dictated by how much money we receive and
what the pace of inflation will be going forward.
The other main cost outside of pay is our building. We own
our headquarters building. And in the past what we have done
due to constrained budgets is defer maintenance on the
building.
We have over $80 million in deferred maintenance costs
right now. We are trying to have a plan to fix that problem
over time. And so, what we will do is pace it with the amount
of money that we have over the period of time. It is all we can
do--we will prioritize the investments; for example the blast
protections on our windows, particularly around the first
floor, is a high priority.
We have a daycare center on the first floor and I want to
make sure those children are protected. So I want to make sure
we upgrade the blast protection on the windows on that floor.
Our building is one complete block so it is very exposed to the
streets.
Senator Reed. Let me follow up Comptroller. A somewhat
related question. You have a high retention in your workforce,
you have an extremely capable workforce. You prove it every
day. You are talking about the challenges to our IT systems.
Other Federal agencies have, I am--my observation is that
workforce shortages and problems with very old IT. Have you
been asked, or have you done an assessment of different
agencies throughout the Federal Government? And can you give us
sort of the worst, the best?
Mr. Dodaro. Yes. First of all, on our high risk list, we
have human capital management across the Federal Government. We
have had it on that list since 2001. I am very concerned about
the State of the Federal Government's workforce. There is a lot
of critical skill gaps.
Of the 36 areas we have on our high risk list, plus the two
new areas we added this year, about 24 are on there in part
because of critical skill gaps in those areas. So we have
problems. I think the Defense Department does probably one of
the better jobs of recruiting and retaining people. But even at
DOD there are cybersecurity skill gaps and acquisition
workforce skill gaps. NASA and Department of Interior also have
skill gap problems; for example, Interior has problems
retaining sufficient staff to oversee and manage oil and gas
operations.
Another Government wide high risk area is IT acquisition
and management. I don't think the Federal Government gets a
fair return on it's almost now $100 billion a year invested in
IT. A lot of improvements need to be made in that area as well.
And so we work every day to try to get better practices in
place, to get a better return on our investment from the IT
funding that is provided to agencies. I think, everybody is in
need of improvement in that area.
Senator Reed. And those improvements would presumably
increase productivity significantly.
Mr. Dodaro. Oh, absolutely. And also increase computer
security, Senator. I mean, one of the biggest problems we have
now is we are still carrying legacy systems that are decades
old, that were never designed to build security into those
systems. It is like a millstone around our neck from a computer
security standpoint.
Senator Reed. Well, I can recall learning basic as a plebe
at West Point, and computer security was making sure you didn't
drop the box of cards, and that is a program. So with that, let
me recognize Senator Braun.
Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You mentioned
earlier, Comptroller, that there was fraud in our extended
unemployment insurance benefits. I would like to point out that
I think we spent nearly $800 to $900 billion in total in that
neighborhood, about the same amount that we did back in 2008
and 2009.
So it is just to have a comparison of how much money we
spent navigating through COVID, $4 trillion, I think, due to
the uncertainty of the CARES Act and so forth. And then another
$3 trillion, and I think mostly we didn't need, that generated
a lot of what we are wrestling with now.
On the fraud associated with the extended unemployment
benefits, I have heard estimates anywhere from $70 billion to
$250 billion. I mean, these are unbelievable numbers. And then
the PPP loan program. I hear a lot about that as well. How much
is your agency weighing in on it and what can you tell us about
it?
Mr. Dodaro. Yes, well, first we placed the SBA emergency
loan programs on the High Risk List in 2021. Both the Paycheck
Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan
program were fraught with problems. SBA wasn't able to get an
opinion on their financial statements because they couldn't
support the balances on their financial statements. I had
trouble getting the attention of the SBA early in the pandemic.
I was very concerned about those two programs from the outset.
On the unemployment area, there are a lot of problems. We
have been asked the question of how much fraud has occurred?
And of course, that won't be known for years because you got to
go through a legal process before it is determined to be fraud
at the end. But it is a significant amount of money. There
are----
Senator Braun. Over $100 billion, would you say?
Mr. Dodaro. I hesitate to give a guess.
Senator Braun. I think the Labor Department estimated $70
or $80 and said it could be up to 2 to 3 times that much, so.
Mr. Dodaro. Well, sometimes these estimates get conflated
with improper payment estimates.
Senator Braun. We will get to that in a moment.
Mr. Dodaro. Yes so it is really not clear. We will be
issuing a report that will clarify these differences between
fraud and improper payments and give the Labor Department
estimates of fraud and improper payments, to include estimates
developed by the Department itself and by the Inspector
General. We are working on this report now.
Senator Braun. Good. And I would love to hear that amount
when you get it fleshed out, even in the long run, when we get
to the real figures. And I think that whenever we do something
like this, I think the American public was appalled by that
much. But when you spend that much and you do it that quickly,
there is going to be some of it. But these figures are an
abomination if they are even close to true.
Mr. Dodaro. Yes. I was very disappointed with SBA and
Labor. We worked with Congress on a 2016 law called the Fraud
Reduction and Data Analytics Act. The act reflected best
practices and a framework to prevent fraud from occurring in
the first place. SBA and Labor were slow off the dime in
implementing this law and weren't prepared as well as they
should have been before the pandemic.
So part of the legislative recommendations that I have made
to the Congress is to put a better spotlight on how agencies
are preparing to prevent fraud. Because if with these numbers
being what they could be, the rule of thumb is you are only
going to get about 10 percent back of----
Senator Braun. It is not a good collection rate.
Mr. Dodaro. No, it is not. And the longer it goes----
Senator Braun. Before we run out of time because I have a
question for Dr. Hayden as well. But while we are on the
subject of improper payments, I about fell out of my seat when
you told me back, I think in 2021 that there were $281 billion
of improper payments. That, again, is a figure so large.
How can any entity make that many improper payments and not
be able to mitigate it somewhere along the way? And would you
explain to me and the American public how you come up with $281
billion worth of improper payments?
Mr. Dodaro. Yes. Well, first of all, I want to make it
clear, that is not a complete estimate. There are a number of
programs that didn't even make an estimate. And I believe----
Senator Braun. So it could be more?
Mr. Dodaro. Oh, it definitely is more. The question is how
much more. There are 86 programs that made estimates at 16
different agencies. 26 of those programs had rates in excess of
10 percent. This is----
Senator Braun. Like wrong amounts that----
Mr. Dodaro. Overpayments----
Senator Braun. Wrong payee, all that kind of stuff?
Mr. Dodaro. Yes. Some of it is underpayments, but that is
less than about 10 percent of the total estimate.
Senator Braun. This is netting out in terms of overpayments
or improper pay----
Mr. Dodaro. It counts both. These count both.
Senator Braun. Okay.
Mr. Dodaro. But the amount of underpayments--which is a
problem, too, means somebody who should have been getting the
money, wasn't getting the money. We certainly found that in the
unemployment area. Payments weren't made in a timely manner in
addition to the issues of fraud.
So there are problems on both sides of the equation-that is
over- and underpayments.
The Medicaid program had over $98 billion in improper
payments in 2021. Unemployment insurance had over $78 billion
in 2021. These two programs drove the big increase between 2020
and 2021. Regarding Medicaid, I have been concerned about the
accuracy of the estimates, particularly for Medicaid's managed
care portion, which is accounts for about 50 percent of
programs spending. The estimate for managed care does not
capture all program risks. So this problem is bigger than it
even appears.
Senator Braun. I need to get to Dr. Hayden. And just so the
American public knows, we spent, back in 2021, somewhere
between $4 and $4.5 trillion. Big numbers. $281 billion was an
improper payment. That is a big percentage of our total
expenditures.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS--VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT
Senator Braun. Dr. Hayden, when it comes to the Veterans
History Project, we've been supportive of it over the past
several years. Can you share some of the activities you have
been working on over this past fiscal year and what you have
planned for 2023 when it comes to the Veterans History Project?
Dr. Hayden. Thank you for that, Senator, because we have
been able in the last year to work with 63 Members of Congress
directly with opportunities for workshops. In fact, you were
part of that in your State. And training volunteers. We have
also had promotional videos that Members of Congress have
participated in, and we have also been able to expand our
virtual and live programs.
The role of veterans in farming, for instance, was very
popular. And also how veterans cope with PTSD and using the
power of music. So these are some of the customized programs
and the live events. And we just signed a memorandum of
agreement with the VA Center for Women's Veterans, and we are
going to expand programing with that, and also capturing the
voices of veterans who helped with disaster relief first
responder stories, including pandemic, for instance, the USS
Mercury and the Comfort.
We are getting their stories from those veterans, and also
Haitian relief and disease outbreaks like Ebola. So that is
another area that we are really expanding and making sure that
we work with the gold star families as well. That legislation
was passed and that has been a real opportunity for us to use
with our virtual programing as well.
Senator Braun. Very good. Keep up the good work. And Mr.
Chairman, I have one short question----
Senator Reed. Please go ahead.
Senator Braun. And then it will be the end of my questions
for the day. Back in 2019, we did get across the finish line
the Payment Information Integrity Act. And I think it was based
upon the first conversation we had. Has that been a tool that
has been helpful, and do we need to do more?
Mr. Dodaro. That tool has been helpful. It has caused
people to make better estimates. Part of this problem is that
there are not good estimates made in a lot of cases. Some
programs don't estimate at all. There should be estimates for
all high risk programs.
So it has helped quite a bit. What we need to do more is
get the CFOs more engaged in the process. Right now it is the
program people who make the estimates and monitor the
corrective action plans. And to some extent that is kind of
like monitoring your own work. There are not enough financial
people involved.
Secondly we need to keep the IGs involved in those areas. I
have legislative suggestions. I will be happy to provide----
Senator Braun. Please bring those to our office and we
would be happy to flesh those in the legislation. We certainly
need the effort to be made. Thank you.
Mr. Dodaro. Yes, sure.
Senator Reed. Thank you, Senator. Thank you very much. This
concludes the Legislative Branch Appropriations subcommittee
hearing regarding the fiscal year 2023 funding for the Library
of Congress and the GAO. And I want to particularly thank Dr.
Hayden and Comptroller General Dodaro for your, not only your
testimony today, but your efforts every day and those of your
colleagues at the Library of Congress and GAO.
Thank you very, very much.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
The record will remain open for 7 days, allowing Members to
submit statements and, or questions for the record, which
should be sent to the subcommittee by close of business on
Wednesday, June 29, 2022.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the agencies for response subsequent to the
hearing:]
No questions were submitted.
SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS
Senator Reed. At this point, the Committee stands
adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 5:10 p.m., Wednesday, June 22, the
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of
the Chair.]
[all]