Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR

FISCAL YEAR 1999

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1998

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS,

Washington, DC.

The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room SD-116, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Robert F. Bennett (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Bennett, Stevens, and Dorgan.

STATEMENTS OF:

U.S. CAPITOL POLICE BOARD

WILSON LIVINGOOD, HOUSE SERGEANT AT ARMS AND CHAIRMAN, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE BOARD

GREGORY S. CASEY, SERGEANT AT ARMS, U.S. SENATE AND MEMBER, CAPITOL POLICE BOARD

ALAN M. HANTMAN, AIA, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL

GARY L. ABRECHT, CHIEF, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT F. BENNETT Senator BENNETT. This hearing will come to order.

Welcome. This is the Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch.

This is the first of three hearings which will be held on the budget request for fiscal year 1999. The two other hearings are scheduled for March 12, at 9:30 a.m., and March 19, at 9 a.m., in this room, SD-116.

Last year the total appropriation for the legislative branch was approximately $2.25 billion in budget authority. That was an increase of approximately 2 percent over the fiscal year 1997 level. The budget requests for fiscal year 1999 total over $2.4 billion. That is approximately a 9.6-percent increase.

As the Congress continues to work toward a balanced budgetwhich is within our grasp this year-it is going to be difficult to provide for all of the requests made.

One issue which is of particular importance to me is the year 2000 technology conversion. I have been actively working to ensure that the agencies are prepared and that we do not have a total computer failure in our banking systems.

As the chairman of the Banking Subcommittee on Financial Services and Technology, we have held five hearings about the preparedness of the banking industry's systems. Last year I introduced Senate bill 1518, the Computer Remediation and Shareholder Protection Act [CRASH], to require publicly traded corpora

tions to disclose their computer systems' ability to operate after January 1, 2000.

We must sweep in front of our own stoop first.

The Federal Government has responsibilities both internally and externally to provide for the health, welfare, and safety of American citizens. We must be responsible and be prepared.

As chairman of this subcommittee, I plan to be as aggressive with our own agencies as I have been with the executive branch and the private sector.

That is why I have asked the General Accounting Office [GAO] to review the conversion plans of legislative branch agencies. We must deal with the conversions now to ensure that the legislative branch will be able to perform its responsibilities when the time

comes.

Before we begin, I would like to make some general observations about the testimony we are about to hear.

First, the police are to be commended for presenting the committee with a budget that more accurately reflects the actual historical spending patterns of the U.S. Capitol Police.

In addition, the work that has been done by the Board and Bob Greely to upgrade the security infrastructure of the Capitol campus has been first rate.

After the Police Board testifies, we will hear from the Secretary of the Senate, the Honorable Gary Sisco.

This is the second year in a row that the Secretary has requested flat funding except for the COLA adjustment.

Not only has the Secretary been able to keep his budget level, but the office has been aggressively pursuing a number of projects crucial to the future of the Senate-namely, the legislative information system [LIS], and the financial management information system [FMIS].

More importantly, the Secretary's office has been exemplary in responding to requests for information from this committee as well as modifying and simplifying his budget to meet the needs of this

committee.

The Congressional Budget Office [CBO] has been equally as responsive in assisting this committee in juggling the financial needs of the legislative branch.

Last year CBO requested a 1.9-percent increase in their budget from the fiscal year 1997 level. When the House and Senate were in conference and trying to find money necessary to stabilize the GAO, CBO selflessly offered to further reduce their almost modest budget.

The result was that CBO received only a 1.1-percent increase over its fiscal year 1997 level. This year CBO has requested an overall budget increase of 4.6 percent.

I would like to thank Senator Dorgan for his work on this subcommittee. Your assistance last year, and in particular with the GAO, was very, very helpful. I have come to depend on your solid understanding of the issues facing this subcommittee. And I look forward to the benefit of your counsel again this year.

I also understand that you have a new member of your staff helping with your appropriations work. I would like to welcome Shelly Feist to her first legislative branch appropriations hearing.

Senator Dorgan, would you like to make an opening statement?

STATEMENT OF HON. BYRON L. DORGAN

Senator DORGAN. Thank you, Senator Bennett. As you noted, the request for the Legislative Branch Subcommittee for fiscal year 1999 totals $2,466,030,600, an increase of 9.6 percent over the discretionary amount enacted in last year's bill. For the Senate items. only, the amount requested for fiscal year 1999 totals $527,292,000, an increase of $23,855.000, or 4.74 percent, from last year's enacted level.

I am glad to see that the Senate is doing its part to hold tight onto its budgetary reins. I expect that because the budgetary constraints on the domestic discretionary budget will be tight-together with the efforts to balance the budget in the next few years the 302(b) allocation to this particular subcommittee will also be tight.

Mr. Chairman, I have seen several articles stating that the House is interested in cutting President Clinton's budget request for the legislative branch. I wanted to take a minute at the start of our first hearing to remind everyone that, unlike executive branch agencies, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the President do not have their own views and ideas about levels of expenditure for the budget of the legislative branch.

Therefore, because the House seems to be making a big to-do about cutting President Clinton's budget request, I want to make sure that everyone here is aware that none of the items in the subcommittee's request are the President's request. This budget has been submitted by the legislative branch for inclusion in the President's budget and then resubmitted back to us in full. The President and OMB do not question the amounts in the budget, through these hearings, if we find that certain requests are inflated, or cannot be justified, the responsibility cannot be laid at the President's doorstep. The budget for the legislative branch is Congress' own, not President Clinton's.

Mr. Chairman, I look forward to continuing what I view to be an excellent working relationship with you on this bill, and I look forward to the testimony of each of our witnesses here today. Senator BENNETT. Thank you Senator Dorgan.

Would you like to make a statement, Senator Stevens?

STATEMENT OF HON. TED STEVENS

Senator STEVENS. I would like to thank Senator Bennett for his stewardship as chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee. Senator Bennett as well as Senator Dorgan did a good job last year of brokering a compromise with the House to keep the legislative branch spending to a minimum while also providing for some important maintenance projects.

With the substantial majority of spending in the legislative branch dedicated to salaries, spending for projects, particularly in the budget of the Architect, has been the natural place to find savings.

We have made some of those savings in the past, but we will have to be careful this year that we do not save money now at the

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Data wy, Senator Stevens.

LANA LE 28 US Capitol Police Board. The Honorhouse Sergeant at Arms is the Chairman is accompanied by the Honorable GregNitale Sergeant at Arms; the Honorable Alan Letter of the Capitol; and Chief Abrecht, the Police.

has e Board for taking the time to recess from szar to appear today.

le reveived a 2.7-percent increase over their * Me. They are requesting a 14.1-percent increase

orward to your testimony.

SUMMARY STATEMENT OF MR. LIVINGOOD

Lagoon. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I an eased to appear before you to present the fiscal year 1999 Auger quest for the U.S. Capitol Police.

As this budget request shows, we have reached an interesting t in the professional development of the U.S. Capitol Police. More than at any time in the past, the U.S. Capitol Police is undergeg a period of change in order to meet the increasing demands

us mission. Not only must we guard against new threats to the Safety and security of the Capitol complex, but the manner in which we meet these threats is evolving.

In the past, the considered proper response to new security threats was to add more police officers to the Department. That was the case following the 1954 shooting in the House gallery and the 1971 and 1983 bombings of the Senate wing of the Capitol. Today, as we prepare to enter the next century, the U.S. Capitol Police Board feels that the more effective and efficient method of better securing the Capitol complex rests with the increased use of technology. While the safety and security of the congressional community and visiting public will always primarily rely on highly qualified and highly trained police officers, the application of stateof the-art security technology can certainly be used to augment the officer in the field.

To this end, we have included five new components in the general expenses appropriation that are key to setting this initiative in motion: the hazardous materials program, information security systems, life-cycle replacement of physical security systems, physical security annual maintenance, and new physical security systems installations. Each is considered to be integral to the overall

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »