https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP00/20210629/112866/HMKP-117-AP00-20210629-SD003.pdf

"Appropriate House Offices"

Within the total, the Committee provides no less than $5,300,000 for the AOC Inspector General office. The recommendation includes request of $808,000 for four additional FTEs.

The Committee thanks the Architect for including in the Congressional budget justifications for fiscal year 2022 the description of the activities of the AOC Construction Division as requested. The Committee requests that this information identifying the number and size of projects, and the number of staff funded through Construction Division activities, and the funding provided to the Division from AOC jurisdiction accounts continue to be included in the budget justification material. The Committee continues to request that the justifications include, in each jurisdiction’s section, the appropriations bill language requested, along with any changes to be identified with brackets and italicization.

Combatting Communicable Diseases within the Capitol Complex

The Committee remains concerned about the potential effect communicable diseases can have on visitors, Members, staff, and the Capitol workforce. The AOC is directed to conduct a feasibility study as the next step in implementing the fiscal year 2021 report recommendations on necessary upgrades within the Capitol Complex facilities, including doors and elevators, to reduce the number of surfaces that are touched by staff and visitors with the goal of reducing the spread of infectious diseases while also further securing the Capitol structure to be more resilient and improve both health and safety infrastructure. To the maximum extent possible, all products used for these improvements should give preference to suppliers with domestic manufacturing capabilities. The Committee supports the requested funding of $5,000,000 for Planning and Programming and provides an increase of an additional $1,000,000 for a feasibility study in support of the combatting communicable diseases within the Capitol Complex.

The Committee included language in its fiscal year 2021 report regarding depictions of Native Americans in the Capitol Complex and is pleased that the Architect is working with interested Members and appears to be making progress on implementing those recommendations. The Committee encourages the Architect to continue these efforts.

The Committee commends the Architect for efforts to develop a safe and accessible street system to better connect all road users to the United States Capitol, Union Station and the National Mall by making cost-effective improvements to Louisiana Avenue, Constitution Avenue and 3rd Street Northwest. The AOC should coordinate with the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT), after the necessary approvals have been received, to pursue completion of this project in a timely manner. The AOC is also reminded to ensure close coordination among AOC jurisdictions to minimize impact on other campus projects and priorities.

The Committee encourages the Architect to continue to improve the hardscape and softscape of the area adjacent to the Capitol South Metro Station, with the goal of improving the surroundings. Additionally, The committee recognizes the importance of outdoor seating areas within the Capitol campus and urges the Architect’s office to repair and maintain these areas for the use of staff and visitors.

The Committee recognizes the urgent need to complete the Cannon Building renewal, which will replace outdated building systems, conserve historic aspects of the building, and optimize the functionality of Member suites, among other improvements. The Committee remains concerned that the cost of the Cannon renovation continues to increase from an initial project estimate of $752,700,000 to the current project estimate of $890,200,000. Additionally, the Committee has been made aware of potential phase three risk exposure of approximately $20,000,000 over the phase three budget of $177,400,000.

The Committee is interested in exploring opportunities to make significant progress towards lowering energy costs, increasing the use of renewable energy sources, and reducing carbon emissions on the Capitol Complex and encourages the Architect to review the potential costs and savings associated with these activities. The Committee directs the Architect to conduct an energy audit of current facilities and submit a report to the Committees no later than 120 days after enactment assessing in what way to leverage new energy technologies and maximize the integration of clean renewable and alternative energy sources throughout the Legislative Branch facilities.

The Committee is concerned by the lack of availability of single-stall restrooms throughout the House office buildings. The Committee notes that in the five House office buildings there are only 3 public single-stall washrooms, with an additional 8 with the conclusion of the Cannon ren ovation and renewal project. The Committee directs the Architect to ensure future construction and remodeling projects incorporate an appropriate number of public single-stall washrooms in each House office building.

The Committee understands there is interest in making menstrual hygiene products available at no cost to all those who use restroom facilities in House office buildings. The Committee hopes that CHA will consider making this policy change. As part of this process, the Committee directs the Architect to request resources in the FY 2023 budget to ensure these products are available at no cost in House office buildings.

The Architect of the Capitol is strongly encouraged to coordinate with the Sergeant-at-Arms and the Capitol Police to source doors that provide the best level of protection possible, make modifications that meet the highest United States Government security criteria and offer solutions that can be adapted to the Capitol environment where there are weight limitations, as well as meet the need for aesthetically compatible products that blend into the Capitol’s historical architecture. In particular, the Architect is urged to examine and consider Forced Entry/Ballistic Resistant (FEBR) wooden doors that are lightweight and historically accurate. The Architect is directed to undertake a feasibility study and to submit a report to the Committees on Appropriations, no later than 90 days after enactment of this Act, describing options that have been considered for the construction, operation, and maintenance of FEBR wooden doors, and identify options for deployment of such doors inside key nodes of the Capitol Complex, including the House and Senate Floor, leadership offices, Committee Rooms, office buildings, as well as, at key outside checkpoints and guardhouses along the perimeter of the Capitol.

The Committee commends the AOC for making tours of the Capitol available in languages other than English. Hundreds of thousands of international visitors visit the Capitol each year. Currently, translated brochures are available in twelve languages, while listening devices for tours are available in five languages. The Committee continues to encourage the AOC to make listening devices and in-person tours available in additional languages, beginning with those for which brochures have already been translated. Additionally, the Committee urges the AOC to expand its virtual offerings for those outside of Washington, either due to the pandemic or difficulty traveling, and to include language options in these virtual offerings.

The Committee recognizes that since its opening, the Capitol Visitors Center has welcomed millions of visitors from around the world who through their visit learn about our capitol’s history. The Committee also recog nizes the significant contributions to the prosperity of the United States made by Black, Latino, Native America, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities throughout American history and since its founding. As such the Committee recognizes the

Collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

The Committee recognizes the value of the USBG supporting the evolution of urban agriculture. The Committee recommendation includes additional funding for urban agriculture initiatives and urges program expansion. The Committee encourages USBG to continue to collaborate with USDA to support the USBG’s efforts to host and serve as an educational and training location for local and national audiences, and to explore reviving the Victory Gardens concept for community agriculture programming. Additionally, the Committee encourages the USBG to consider climate zones, to include tropical and subtropical climate zones, when making future awards.

The Committee notes that the CAO is charged with combatting cyberattacks that could disrupt the House’s ability to perform its constitutional duties. Accordingly, the recommendation includes funding in fiscal year 2022 to continue to strengthen cyber defenses from sophisticated actors and encourages the CAO to explore a Zero Trust security model based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology standards as one of the tools to use against novel threat actors.

The Committee encourages the CAO to prioritize offering staff certifications. Staff certifications strengthen and expand educational and professional development opportunities and assist in retaining staff. The program should offer certificates for the following roles: Staff Assistant, Legislative Correspondent (LC), Legislative Assistant (LA), Legislative Director (LD), Scheduler, Press Assistant, Communications Director, Administrative Assistant (AA), Chief of Staff (COS), and District Staff roles. In addition, the Committee is interested in how the Staff Academy’s content and classes can assist Member offices to better onboard new staff. The Committee requests a report, no later than 120 days after the official posting of this report, examining the feasibility, costs and requirements for offering course content geared towards new staff.

The Committee recognizes that the use of digital workspace technologies in Member offices can increase user productivity, enhance cybersecurity, and allow work force flexibility for both Congressional staff and Members of Congress. The Committee continues to encourage the exploration of multi-factor authentication solutions to strengthen the cybersecurity posture of all legislative offices, including strategies and programs that reduce the total life cycle costs of traditional legacy workspace infrastructure.

The House Wellness Center has contracted with the Life Care program to provide House staff with technical assistance in a variety of areas, from childcare planning to financial planning, legal aid, senior care, and caregiving. This service is an important mechanism to help promote staff retention for employees facing everyday life challenges. However, the current contract for Life Care excludes backup care and is thus inconsistent with comparable benefits offered by many Federal agencies. Backup care of fers staff temporary, alternative coverage for a dependent child when primary coverage falters. The Committee is interested in providing backup care as an option for Hill staff and requests the Wellness Center to provide information to the Committee on what additional resources would be needed to provide this benefit or an equivalent alternative to make backup care available.

The Committee is aware of the ongoing pilot to support Member offices with their casework business processes via a casework privacy release app. The Committee supports the CAO’s efforts to investigate these technologies that will provide electronic document management, accessibility, and the creation of constituent forms that can be viewed, edited, and electronically signed. This type of technology is widely used by businesses and will improve Member office efficiency, workflow, and provide cost savings. Implementation of this technology will help Member of fices implement new constituent electronic consent authorities granted under the House-passed H.R. 1079: Creating Advanced Streamlined Electronic Services for Constituent Act of 2021 or the "CASE Act".

The Committee is concerned about diversity among interns. The Committee notes that Congressional intern ships are often prerequisites to full-time staff positions. Therefore, the Committee directs the CAO, working with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) to examine and administer regular studies of demographic and pay information for interns and provide these reports concurrently with future budget submissions.

The CAO is urged to use the mechanisms of the new task force to examine the feasibility of a Housewide paid family and medical leave policy for House employees and provide a report and briefing to the Committee on its findings no later 120 days after the official posting of this report.

The Committee appreciates the effort to implement the first ever Congressional Staff Salary report as requested in the fiscal year 2019 report. Given existing realities of gender and racial pay gaps in America, the Committee is concerned the data collected and findings asserted in the salaries report, where the report details an approximate 50 percent participation rate fails to adequately capture the necessary bench-mark data of which was the goal of the survey. The Committee directs the CAO to explore options, working through the new task force, to mandate participation and to re-implement the survey expeditiously. The Committee directs the CAO to provide a briefing to update the Committee on the status of a new survey no later than 120 days after the official posting of this report.

The Committee recognizes that to maintain an equitable and diverse workforce, the House of Representatives needs to ensure there are significant efforts made to compete with private sector benefits to recruit and retain staff. The Committee directs the CAO, using the mechanisms of the new task force, to conduct a feasibility study on benefits and efforts to retain staff in the House. This should include a list of known benefits and a review of potential benefits including: (1) tuition credits, (2) authority and resources to establish matching contributions to 529 qualified education plans for employees of the House, (3) House-wide paid time off system and (4) child daycare credits. The CAO should complete this report within 120 days of the official posting of this report.

The Committee has received requests and suggestions from Members and other interested parties for various proposals that warrant further study and consideration, including lifting the cap on the number of full-time staff a Member of the House is able to employ. The Committee recognizes that each Member office has its own plans for staff and personnel organization and that the Members of the Senate have no such cap on full time staff. The Committee directs the CAO, in coordination with the new task force and appropriate House offices, to report to Committee on Appropriations not later than 120 days after official posting of the Committee Report. In addition, this study should also address additional staff capacity for a district that has been impacted by a federally declared natural disaster.

Workplace harassment and discrimination are an abuse of power and perpetrators must be held accountable to promote a safe and dignified work environment. While there is more work to be done, Congress took positive action by overhauling its reporting and dispute resolution process, requiring regular and anonymous climate surveys and anti-harassment training, and mandating annual reporting to Congress. Another positive step was establishing the Office of Employee Advocacy. To continue support of this office, the Committee recommends $1,541,000 for the Office to cover additional full-time employees, staff travel to district offices to litigate cases if necessary, and contractor support for court reporters to transcribe hearings and depositions.

The committee recommendation provides $2,350,000, an additional $635,000 above the request for the Office of Employee Assistance (OEA). The Committee remains concerned with the availability of mental health resources for custodial staff and contactors who work in the Capitol Complex. The Committee directs the CAO to provide a briefing to the Committee on the availability of culturally sensitive mental health services no later than 60 days after the official posting for this report. In addition, the Committee recognizes the rising prevalence of substance use disorders and the difficulties they present for those in recovery when reentering the workforce. Therefore, the Committee encourages OEA to develop programming and to prioritize access to services for House employees in recovery from substance use disorders.

The issues of pay comparability and disparities are of continuing interest. The Committee, therefore, requests that the CAO, working with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, explore ways of providing data on salaries and benefits in the House on an annual basis including through approaches such as possible use of payroll data and/or information collected during the employee onboarding process or recurring surveys of samples of employees or offices. The CAO should report its conclusions and recommendations on that subject to the Committee and the Committee on House Administration.

The Committee is committed to reducing the use of single-use plastic products on the Capitol grounds. The Committee encourages the elimination of single-use plastic products, including lightweight plastic carryout bags, food and drinkware from expanded polystyrene, plastic stirrers, plastic utensils, and plastic straws. Such elimination shall be carried out in consultation with disability advocacy groups. Finally, the bill includes a general provision (section 210) addressing this issue as well.

The CAO is directed to study the feasibility of a tuition remission program for House of Representative employees in addition to the student loan repayment program cur rently in effect. The CAO shall share its findings with the Committee on Appropriations and Committee on House Administration (CHA) in a report no later than 90 days after official posting of the Committee Report.

Of the funds provided, the recommendation includes $500,000 for expenses pertaining to the translation of official, communication materials on behalf of constituents with Limited English Proficiency.

The Committee continues to support the comprehensive wellness program created to support and empower House staff with resources to navigate the fast pace of working on Capitol Hill while maintaining a healthy life. Providing employees with the proper tools leads to higher productivity, increased employee engagement, and a stronger workforce. These types of programs help in retaining talented staff. Technology companies that have embedded wellness programs within their charters are able to compete and think more creatively as well as manage their high stress environments. The Committee encourages the House Wellness Program to gather statistics on the short-term and long term effects on House staff who regularly utilize the program offer ings. The Committee recommends an additional $1,500,800 above the $280,000 requested in FY 2022, for a total of $1,780,800, to continue growing the program.

The Committee believes that while the CAO has done a good job of projecting the need of the Government Contributions account, there is concern that the projections are becoming more complex due to increased contributions. This account is largely calculated based on a percentage of the estimated personnel dollars for the budget request year. The requested increase in funding will support an approximate 5 percent increase in personnel dollars estimated to be earned in fiscal year 2022. Additionally, the increase will support projected increases in agency contribution rates for the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) categories. Effective October 1, 2021, the FERS agency contribution rate for the House is projected to increase from 24.3 percent to 25.8 percent and the agency contribution rate for both FERS RAE and FERS FRAE is projected to increase from 15.5 percent to 16.6 percent. These changes will result in an average increase of 6.8 percent across all three categories. To manage this account, the Committee provides CAO with the authority to contract with an actuary to help project these costs. The Committee further directs the CAO to provide written notification when this authority is used.

The Wounded Warrior program is one of the House’s most popular initiatives. The purpose of the program is to facilitate long-term employment with the House. The committee recommendation provides an increase of $5,319,000 in fiscal year 2022.

The CAO is encouraged to continue to investigate and pilot various cloud service options that will provide House offices with greater accessibility to their files, enhanced collaboration tools, and more storage. The Committee supports standardizing cloud services to strengthen the House’s security posture and provide Member offices additional support and cost savings.

The Committee remains committed to increasing accessibility services on the Capitol grounds and buildings. The Committee appreciates receiving the report requested in House Report 116–447. The Committee understands that excluding sign language interpreting services, there are two primary technology-based means by which individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing participate in the environment on Capitol Hill. These are assistive listening devices and captioning (both open and closed). The Committee urges the CAO and the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) to prioritize the incorporation of accessibility systems as the rooms in the Capitol and House and Senate Office buildings are upgraded and renovated.

The Committee supports the institution of biennial bipartisan retreats for Members and provides an additional $500,000 under Miscellaneous items for such purpose. The Committee directs the CAO to engage with the Office of the Clerk, the Sergeant at Arms and any other House office or appropriate entity as may be necessary to facilitate such retreat, subject to regulations set forth by the CHA.

The Committee believes that COVID–19 will remain a threat to the public health of Members, staff, and visitors to the Capitol. The Committee continues to be supportive of OAPs efforts to vaccinate Members and staff and understands that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that a booster shot may be necessary. To ensure the health and safety of the Capitol Complex, the Committee directs the OAP to establish a plan for booster shot distribution and to communicate this plan with Congressional offices as soon as practicable.

The Committee believes that influenza remains a threat to Members, staff, and visitors to the Capitol and is supportive of OAP efforts to provide vaccination to Members and staff.

The Committee notes that the OAP currently offers optional life-saving training for House staff on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and the Automated External Defibrillator (AED). The Committee further notes that overdose deaths from opioids continue to rise and the Capitol community is not immune to the epidemic. According to the CDC, overdose deaths from opioids increased by 38.4% in 2020. The Committee further recognizes that opioid overdose reversal medications have been highly effective at preventing overdose deaths. The Committee recommends the OAP offer optional naloxone training for House staff on the usage and administration of opioid overdose reversal medications.

The Committee directs the ODI, working in coordination with CAO, to conduct a study on the feasibility of creating a centralized House internship and fellowship office to provide support services, such as housing, training, and professional development, to Congressional interns as well as act as a resource hub for Standing Committees, Leadership Offices, and House offices. The feasibility study shall address inequities in access to congressional internships and shall include the viability of establishing an intern stipend program for interns from underrepresented backgrounds, including those who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges or Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and other Minority Serving Institutions as defined in section 371(a) of the Higher Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1067q).

Streamlining Transparency on Diversity in the House of Representatives

The Committee recognizes and supports the steps taken by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to increase diversity on Capitol Hill through surveys and comprehensive reports. The Committee supports the streamlining of these efforts by adding disaggregated demographic data collection to the official onboarding process in the House of Representatives. The Committee directs the Office of Payroll and Benefits to work with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to identify the best method for in serting a voluntary question on demographic diversity to employee onboarding paperwork for all employees. The data on race and ethnicity must be collected in a disaggregated format, and must at least include the following categories: White, African American, Hispanic, Asian American/Pacific Islander. Once the method is identified and implemented, the Committee directs the Office of Payroll and Benefits to share this data, in a manner that protects all personal identifiable information, with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion from which the Office can produce more comprehensive diversity reports as well as provide recommendations to increase diversity in the workforce and increase employee retention. The Committee directs the implementation of this additional question to employee onboarding forms by no later than 180 days after the official posting of this report.

The rules package for the 117th Congress included a requirement that the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to provide a report to the Committee on House Administration and the Committee on Rules recommending a method to survey the diversity of witness panels at committee hearings by July 1, 2021. It requires the Committees on House Administration and Rules to take any necessary steps to ensure its implementation by July 31, 2021. The diversity initiative objective is to ensure that all Committees of the House are receiving and incorporating a diversity of voices and perspectives during the deliberative process of drafting legislation that benefit the entire country. The Committee continues to strongly support this initiative and directs that the requisite House offices ensure resources are made available for these purposes.

The Committee recognizes that having a diverse Congressional workforce allows Members of Congress to better serve their diverse constituencies. Current Congressional employee recruitment methods are limited in their scope, and there fore do not effectively serve as pipelines for diverse talent. There fore, the Committee directs ODI to conduct a study on the feasibility of publishing and maintaining a centralized list of pipelines for diverse talent (including HBCUs, HSIs, other minority-serving institutions, and professional organizations) and to report to the Committee on the findings of the study within 120 days of the official posting of this report.

The Committee recognizes that internships often serve as the gateway for careers in Congressional offices or even as Members of Congress. Unpaid internships raise barriers to participating that are steepest for the economically disadvantaged and members of historically underrepresented groups. Paid internships may make the House even more representative. Progress has been made by providing paid internships in Member and Leadership offices but given the importance of committees to the legislative process, the Committee recognizes that the case for providing funding for paid internships for committees is equally as strong. To this end the recommendation includes new funding for paid internships for majority and minority staff at the committee and/or subcommittee level.

The Committee recognizes the House of Representatives (House) has made recent progress on workforce issues by launching the bipartisan Diversity and Inclusion Office, providing more pay for in terns, expanding the Office of Employee Assistance and launching the new Human Resources Hub as recommended by the Select Committee on Modernization of Congress. Despite this progress the Committee believes more work is necessary to improve how the House recruits, retains and develops a diverse and talented work force. The Committee directs the establishment of a task force composed of representatives of the Chief Administrative Officer, Office of House Employment Counsel, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, and Office of Employee Assistance and any such other House office as may be necessary, to regularly study issues related to the House workforce. The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights and the Office of Employee Advocacy shall be invited to participate on the task force as appropriate given the independent nature of those offices.

The Committee commends the efforts by the USCP and local law enforcement partners to enhance patrol coverage on the Capitol grounds with the deployment of Horse Mounted Units.

The Committee recognizes that new and expanding micro mobility options in the District of Columbia can offer alternatives to car travel. Dockless commercial scooters, or escooters, and other motorized devices for rent have grown as a commuting option for Congressional staffers, tourists, and other visitors to the District and Capitol Grounds. However, pursuant to the Traffic Regulations for the United States Capitol Grounds, commercial dockless scooters are prohibited on Capitol Grounds. The Committee notes that an agreement was reached to modify the 2021 Terms and Conditions established by the District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) for commercial dockless scooter vendors and these Terms and Conditions now require commercial dockless scooter vendors to install geofencing on their vehicles to ensure that commercial dockless scooters do not enter onto Capitol Grounds consistent with Traffic Regulations for the United States Capitol Grounds prohibitions. The Committee expects the Capitol Police to continue to expand its outreach efforts to dockless scooter and bicycle companies and the District, and to work to better educate users, including congressional staff, District residents and visitors on the appropriate operation of commercial dockless escooters and bicycles on Capitol Grounds.

The recommendation includes $165,000 above the request for the creation of a new position of a Deputy Assistant Inspector General to serve as a bridge between and assist both the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations and the Assistant Inspector General for Audits. This additional position would bring the total FTE level in the Office of Inspector General to 11.

The Committee is committed to reducing the use of single-use plastic water bottles on the Capitol grounds. The Committee encourages the Capitol Police to reduce or eliminate use of single-use plastic bottles where possible and if possible, issue reusable water bottles for Capitol Police personnel. USCP is directed to brief the Committee no later than 30 days after enactment of this Act on this matter

Provided this year’s 107% increase in threats against Congress, the Committee continues to find that ensuring the continuity of government must include protecting the physical security of Members of Congress. The recommendation provides $2,000,000 for the Department to enhance Member security outside of the Capitol campus in the NCR, as warranted by risk-based analyses. As laid out in the December 2018 report detailing the Department’s plans to enhance off-campus Member security in the NCR, the Committee expects the USCP to continue working closely with the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms and local law enforcement partners in the NCR and educating Member Offices on the USCP strategy for Members’ protection within the NCR while outside the Capitol Grounds. The Committee instructs USCP to coordinate with the House and Senate Sergeants at Arms to direct patrols to buildings or locations where the Members tend to congregate in order to fulfill its mission under 2 U.S.C. 1966.

The Committee understands the need to maintain safety and order on the Capitol grounds and commends the Capitol Police for their efforts. Given the family-style neighborhood that the Capitol shares with the surrounding community the Committee continues to instruct the Capitol Police to forebear enforcement of 2 U.S.C. 1963 (‘‘An act to protect the public property, turf, and grass of the Capitol Grounds from injury’’) and the Traffic Regulations for the United States Capitol Grounds when encountering snow sled riders on the grounds.

The Committee is interested in USCP veteran recruitment efforts. The Committee requests a report from USCP, no later than 90 days after enactment of this Act, detailing USCP’s veteran recruitment efforts and demographic information of USCP’s police force to include veteran status.

The Committee appreciates the efforts undertaken by the United States Capitol Police to develop and implement a holistic wellness and resiliency program for its workforce, to include its partnership with the House Wellness Center. The Committee recognizes the importance that mindfulness plays in having a first responder workforce that is holistically balanced and resilient. The Committee is pleased that the new United States Capitol Police structure includes a dedicated FTE to this program. Therefore, the Committee directs the United States Capitol Police to continue this effort and to continue to collaborate with the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to expand this initiative through a pilot program, so it may be reviewed and considered for full implementation across all aspects of Federal law enforcement.

The Committee is aware that the Capitol Police does publicly share its arrest data, however, it is not available in a user-friendly format that is searchable, sortable, and downloadable, and is made available on a cumulative basis. The Committee directs USCP report to the Committees as soon as practicable, but no later than 120 days after enactment of this Act on a timetable for deploying a system that can meet these requirements.

Capitol Police officers interact with thousands of domestic and international visitors every day. Visitors have varying cultural and social needs, including but not limited to individuals with limited English proficiency, diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and disabilities. The Committee recognizes the USCP for including diversity training as a part of the current Capitol Police training sessions and encourages the Capitol Police to continue strengthening its curriculum to ensure service is provided to all visitors in a culturally competent manner. The Committee supports vigorous action to improve training for the USCP sworn officers on racial profiling, implicit bias, procedural justice, the use of force, and the duty for officers to intervene when witnessing the use of excessive force against civilians. The Committee directs the USCP to report to the Committees not later than 60 days after enactment of this Act the on breadth of training programs employed by the Department that focus on racial profiling, implicit bias, procedural justice, use of force, preventing use of excessive force. Such report shall include the number of sworn officers who have participated in training and the types of training programs.

Enhanced Leadership Development for Newly Promoted Sworn Supervisors

While the Capitol Police has an established new supervisor training program for newly appointed sergeants and lieutenants, the Committee believes that enhanced training should be developed to ensure that these newly appointed officials have the requisite experiences and knowledge to lead the officers under their command. The Committee directs the Department to provide the Committees a report within 90 days of enactment of this Act that includes a plan for developing and implementing such an enhanced, new supervisor training program. The Committee believes that this plan should include, but is not limited to, a formal rotation of the new supervisors within the core operational elements to ensure that these new supervisors have a more in-depth understanding of the operational functions of the Department, to include specialty units, civil disturbance unit functionality, division operations, and the processes specific to the sworn operations of the Department. Additionally, the plan should include the manner in which the new supervisors will learn the administrative support functions necessary for supervisors to support and lead the rank and file workforce in the performance of their duties.

The Committee is concerned that the report on Racial Profiling has not been completed as directed in House Report 116–447. The Committee repeats the text in the following paragraph, which is identical to that carried on page 21 of House Report 116–447 from July 14, 2020 and directs the Capitol Police to provide this report immediately after the official posting of this report.

The United States Capitol Police Inspector General, on March 1, 2021 issued a report titled, Review of the Events Surrounding the January 6, 2021, Takeover of the U.S. Capitol. Flash Report: Operational Planning and Intelligence (2021–I–0003–A). Among the eight recommendations the Inspector General produced was a recommendation the Department require its sworn and operational civilian employees to obtain a Top-Secret clearance and require that administrative civilian employees obtain a minimum of a Secret clearance. The Committee understands that the requirement for law enforcement officers to obtain and maintain a security clearance is common practice in the executive branch agencies such as the Department of Justice (DOJ) where all law enforcement agents and officers have a security clearance. Moreover, all DOJ employees undergo a periodic reinvestigation to ensure they remain suitable for employment and those who occupy a national security position are required to undergo a periodic reinvestigation to ensure they remain eligible to maintain the security clearance. Additionally, all DOJ agents and officers occupying a national security position of trust are subject to continuous vetting. The Committee believes the Department is a national security entity and these requirements should be included for law enforcement agents and officers of the legislative branch to ensure that the Department’s personnel are routinely reviewed for employment suitability. Therefore, the Committee directs the Department, not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act, to undertake an evaluation and provide an implementation plan to meet the recommendation by the Office of Inspector General for all Department personnel to obtain and maintain a security clearance as well as for periodic reinvestigations and continuous vetting. This plan should include a summary of legal issues regarding implementation of such a program, to include impacts on its labor agreements, as well as fiscal impacts for implementation.

While the USCP is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 USC 552), the Committee directs the USCP to develop a policy and procedure for the sharing of information that follows the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act. This policy should be consistent with, and not interfere with, USCP’s primary function of protecting the Congress.

The Committee is aware that the public does not have access to reports issued by the Capitol Police Office of Inspector General. While the Committee understands that these reports can be sensitive to law enforcement actions and Congressional security, the Committee is interested in what reports can be shared with the general public. The Committee believes that the Inspector General should try to make appropriate reports public if they do not compromise law enforcement activities, national security, or Congressional security and processes without redaction. The Committee instructs the Inspector General to institute procedures to make reports publicly available whenever practicable and to begin publishing reports on its website. The Committee directs the Inspector General to assess current practices to prevent, white supremacist and other extremist organizations infiltration of and sympathy to such groups by the Capitol Police Force and the successes or failures of these methods. The Committee encourages the Inspector General to publish this report no later than 180 days after the enactment of this Act.

USCP communication is vital to provide accurate and timely information to Members and staff, as well as the public that often visits the Capitol Hill Complex. While the USCP does an excellent job of keeping Members and staff informed, the Committee is concerned that the public is often not aware of severe weather events and security incidents while on the complex grounds. The Committee directs the USCP to employ a community notification system that can be utilized by visitors and community members to allow a larger audience to receive USCP notifications. The Committee further directs the USCP to brief the Committees no later than 90 days after the enactment of this Act on its progress to meet this directive.

The Committee continues to expect CBO to ensure a high level of responsiveness to Committees, Leadership and Members, to the greatest extent practicable under the priorities for CBO set by law, especially when working on current pending legislation. As an agency that prides itself as being nonpartisan, CBO should be providing the same information to all stakeholders at the appropriate time when addressing legislation that has been made public.

The Committee directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to establish a prohibition on the addition of co-sponsors to a piece of legislation if such a co-sponsor support was secured only through an opt-out e-mail circulated to supporters of a piece of legislation from the prior Congress.

The Committee applauds the Clerk’s action to make Office of the Clerk functions electronic and encourages the Clerk to continue to develop more electronic systems for House processes. The Committee further directs the Clerk to provide a report detailing these actions as well as the cost of implementation, and further necessary actions to update the functions of the Office of the Clerk. This report shall be submitted no later than 90 days after the official posting of this report.

The Committee encourages the Clerk of the House to explore ways to make the publication of Legislative Branch information as data more readily available to the public. The Clerk of the House is directed to report to the Committee within 120 days after the official posting of this report the resources needed to include committee transcripts, video, votes, and legislative text on Congress.gov.

The Clerk of the House is directed to brief the Committee not later than 90 days after the official posting of this report regarding the status of a unique identifier for lobbyists and efforts to require disclosing that identifier to the public as structured data as part of the lobbying disclosure downloads.

The Committee recognizes the increasing numbers of female Members of Congress and in honor of women’s historic progress over recent years, the Committee continues to support and commend the work of the Architect, the House Curator, and the Capital Historical Society to increase images of women in public spaces in Congress. The Committee appreciates the House Curator’s work in providing the Committee a report identifying public spaces within House-controlled facilities and spaces, including but not limited to, hearing rooms, meeting spaces, points of entry and hallways, where there is space for new portraits of distinguished female members to be displayed. To further increase female representation, the Committee requests the House curator to continue to maintain and update the list of notable female historic figures not already displayed as a Capitol statue who have made remarkable contributions to society, as well as former or current female members of Congress who have set trailblazing records. These lists should provide a blueprint for the incorporation of more female images in Congressional public spaces. The images should reflect not only the increasing numbers of women serving in Congress, they should reflect the positive contributions these female Members and public leaders have made.

In the FY 2021 report (H.R. 116–447) the Committee instructed CRS to provide a report on the concept and design of a pilot program for a Congressional law program for senior Congressional staff. The recommendation includes $1,000,000 for the creation of a Legal Institute with introductory and advanced programs, geared towards senior Congressional staff who have not attended law school, which would educate participants on legal fundamentals that inform Congress’s lawmaking and oversight functions. The Committee expects CRS to present a plan on the implementation and execution of the program not later than 90 days after enactment of this Act.

The Committee notes and commends the improvements made by the GAO Appropriations Law Group (the Group) in response to concerns identified by the Committee in H. Rept. 116–447, including through the agency’s efforts to increase resources dedicated to supporting Congress’s power of the purse and oversight role. The Group plays an important support role in protecting Congress’ constitutional power of the purse and the rule of law, and the Committee encourages the Group to continue to build on these improvements. As timely decisions by GAO facilitate informed congressional action, the Committee also encourages the Group to find ways to ensure that its formal legal decisions are published in a timely manner and to prioritize the publication of decisions from outstanding requests.

The Committee includes, as part of the fiscal year 2022 appropriations process, Community Project Funding, which identifies the specific recipients of certain federal funds in most of this year’s annual appropriations acts. Community Project Funding is being included in fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills, consistent with House Rules XXI and XXIII, and the Committee highlights the public transparency and accountability that underpins the process for vetting these proposals. Consistent with those goals, the Committee directs the GAO to undertake an audit of Community Project Funding contained in fiscal year 2022 appropriations legislation, with the goal of informing the Committee’s consideration of Community Project Funding in subsequent fiscal years.

Each year, GAO identifies and reports on federal agency programs with fragmented, overlapping, or duplicative goals or activities and ways to reduce costs or enhance revenue. As of March, 2020, Congress and the executive branch agencies have full addressed or partially addressed 721 of 908 actions to improve efficiency and effectiveness of government, resulting in roughly $393,000,000,000 in financial benefits. The Committee continues to direct GAO to issue these reports and urges Congress and the executive branch to address duplicative programs.

The Committee directs the Comptroller General to conduct a study on options federal agencies could use to replace existing requirements for essential personal documents that can be used by persons experiencing homelessness or housing unstable. The Committee encourages that the GAO study include agencies such as: Health and Human Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Justice, the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and any other agency identified by the Comptroller General to be issuing essential documents. Such study should examine barriers to obtaining state-issued identification created by implementation of the REAL ID Act for people experiencing homelessness, including barriers to obtaining or replacing a stateissued drivers license. The Committee further directs that the Comptroller General shall submit any report(s) to relevant Committees of Congress and provide a copy to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The Committee is pleased with GAO’s institutional development of its technology and science function through the Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) team. The Committee is pleased with STAA’s unbiased fact-based scientific and technological expertise. The Committee encourages GAO to continue to develop new components of STAA studies by including policy recommendation options, when appropriate to the subject. STAA is also encouraged to identify new cloud data management and storage solutions for GAO’s enormous volume of data that would enhance STAA’s analytic capabilities and make the data more accessible and usable.

The Committee is concerned with the potential waste of federal tax dollars due to departments and agencies in the Federal Government not implementing GAO recommendations. The Committee directs that no later than 180 days after enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall provide the Committees with a report estimating the financial costs of unimplemented Government Accountability Office recommendations by agency.

The Committee is taking extraordinary action to address staff pay due to prior pay freezes coupled with inflation. Over a ten-year period, House salaries have not kept pace with inflation, effectively causing a decrease in real wages as the cost of living for the NCR has risen steadily. To begin to address this situation the recommendation increases the MRA account by $134,400,000 to $774,400,000, Committee funding by $34,193,250 to $197,018,250, Leadership offices by $6,065,640 to $34,949,640 and benefits (Government Contributions) by $21,000,000 to $356,000,000. The Committee is taking this action simply to bring House salaries closer to the ten-year inflation-adjusted baseline.

Member salaries have not been increased since 2009. The Committee notes that compared to private-sector salaries, the salaries of Members of Congress are lower than many mid-level executives and managers in the private sector. Notwithstanding need, the bill includes language (section 211) that blocks the cost of living adjustment for Members of Congress for fiscal year 2022. The Committee directs the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of the House of Representatives to engage with CRS or another appropriate entity to compare Member pay with executives and managers in the private sector with similar levels of experience and responsibility. The Committee directs that the CAO provide this report no later than 120 days after the official posting of this report.

The Committee recognizes that Members of Congress and their staff frequently use social media and other digital assets to communicate with their constituents in their official capacity and in doing so, face growing threats from criminals and potentially foreign governments looking to impersonate their online personas, perpetrate fraud or conduct other malicious activity via these digital channels. The Committee encourages the Sergeant at Arms to explore technology solutions to actively protect the digital personas of Members of Congress from fraud, exploitation, and abuse.

The Committee directs the Sergeant at Arms, working in coordination with the Capitol Police, to undertake an assessment of the viability of installing an automated gunshot detection system throughout the United States Capitol Complex.

The Committee directs the office of the Sergeant at Arms (SAA) of the House of Representatives to engage with the Capitol Police, Architect of the Capitol or other appropriate entities to initiate a pilot program to acquire and deploy a rapid alert system to integrate radio, video and sensor systems across networks, and expand the security umbrella and personal protection communications for Members of Congress. Of the funds provided to the SAA the Committee directs not less than $2,000,000 should be made available for such interoperable technology, certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to address gaps in interoperability between the Capitol Police, District of Columbia Metro Police, and law enforcement agencies in the NCR. The Committee further directs the SAA to brief the Committee 120 days after the official posting of this report on the status of this pilot program.

The Committee recognizes that effective programs, projects, and activities must set transparent goals and measure progress toward those goals in tangible ways. Data-driven results should be the yardstick for measuring success. The recommendation continues to prioritize the proper management of taxpayer dollars, including strong internal controls, reduced inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and waste, fraud, or abuse, and a focus on results, and customer service for all agencies under the jurisdiction of this Act. The Committee continues its focus on reducing unnecessary expenditures and expects the agencies funded by this Act to identify cost savings and efficiencies where possible.

The Committee believes that development of organizational priority goals and outcomes, such as performance outcome measures, output measures, and efficiency measures, is important for all agencies funded under this bill. The Committee also notes the importance of implementing proper customer service standards for agencies that provide direct services to the public. Development of these service standards should include identifying and surveying target customers and tracking internal performance against those standards. In addition, the Committee understands that, as the largest advertiser in the United States, the federal government should work to ensure fair access to its advertising contracts for small disadvantaged businesses and businesses owned by minorities and women. The Committee directs each department and agency under the jurisdiction of this Act to include the following information in its fiscal year 2023 budget justification: expenditures for fiscal year 2022 and expected expenditures for fiscal year 2023, respectively, for (1) all contracts for advertising services; and (2) contracts for the advertising services of (a) socially and economically disadvantaged small business concerns (as defined in section 8(a)(4) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(a)(4)); and (b) women- and minorityowned businesses disaggregated by race and gender.

The Committee urges all agencies across the Legislative Branch to explore opportunities to provide minority-owned businesses increased access to vendor contracts.

Reprogramming, Notification, Consultation, and Reporting Requirements

The Committee further directs that notifications for the obligation of funds made available by this Act and prior Acts shall be concluded not later than 60 days prior to the expiration of such funds. Congressional notifications submitted for funds that are being reallocated prior to initial obligation or reprogrammed shall, to the maximum extent practicable, contain detailed information about the sources of the funds and why such funds are no longer intended to be used as previously justified.

The Committee continues to direct the Legislative Branch agencies to include in their budget justifications data on FTE levels that would be supported by the associated request or enacted funding levels. The Committee also continues to direct the Legislative Branch Financial Managers Council to coordinate on a plan for aligning FTE levels with the Legislative Branch agencies for consistency in reporting

While the Committee continues to direct all agencies of the Legislative Branch to develop budget requests from a zero-base, the Committee is concerned that the zero-based budget documents lack sufficient detail for making funding decisions. The Committee believes that there is room for improvement and directs all Legislative Branch agencies to continue to work with the Committees to ensure budget documents contain the necessary information for meaningful savings.

The Committee notes that the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022 directs the Attorney General to continue efforts to implement training programs to cover the use of force and de-escalation, racial profiling, implicit bias, and procedural justice, to include training on the duty of Federal law enforcement officers to intervene in cases where another law enforcement officer is using excessive force, and make such training a requirement for Federal law enforcement officers. The Committee further notes that several Departments and agencies funded by this Act employ Federal law enforcement officers and are Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers partner organizations. The Committee directs such Departments and agencies to adopt and follow the training programs implemented by the Attorney General, and to make such training a requirement for its Federal law enforcement officers. The Committee further directs such Departments and agencies to brief the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations on their efforts relating to training no later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act. In addition, the Committee directs such Departments and agencies, to the extent that such Departments and agencies have not already done so, to submit their use of force data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s National Use of Force Data Collection database. The Committee further directs such Departments and agencies to brief the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations no later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act on their current efforts to tabulate and submit their use of force data to the FBI.

Providing access to quality, affordable childcare is critical for retaining staff, and advancing women in the workplace, who are still disproportionately primary caregivers. The Committee strongly supports further investments to further reduce the waitlist, expand admissions, and ensure quality care at Capitol complex childcare centers

The Committee is concerned that many legislative branch agencies continue to store critical data on Capitol Hill and in the Alternate Computing Facility which does not meet high physical security standards or Tier III data center requirements and has had a history of system failures and outages. The Committee directs each legislative branch agency to utilize available contract vehicles to expeditiously secure agency data in facilities that have been thirdparty certified to meet Tier III standards and geographically located outside of the National Capitol Region (NCR). Additionally, the Committee directs each legislative branch agency to provide the Committees an action plan within 60 days of enactment of this Act which details a schedule, cost and implementation plan to secure agency data in a certified Tier III facility by January 31, 2022.

The Committee notes the interest among some Members during the past several years to reinstitute the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), which was de-funded in 1995. In fiscal year 2019 the Committee instructed the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) to conduct a study to determine the best way to increase Congress’s access to needed in-depth analysis of fast-breaking technology developments. The NAPA report, released in November, 2019, recommended strengthening the capacity of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Congressional Research Service (CRS) in technology assessment rather than restarting OTA. The Committee is pleased with both CRS and the GAO’s efforts to increase the depth and breadth of its capacity to provide research and policy analysis on current and emerging legislative issues related to science and technology (S&T) and Federal uses and oversight of S&T. CRS is encouraged to continue to hire additional staff for their specialized teams working on science and technology issues expanding its capacity and expertise to allow CRS to meet the growing need of Congress for timely, complex, and multidisciplinary analysis of policy issues related to these rapidly changing technologies, the effects of Federal government in oversight of such technologies, and the effects of the Federal government S&T policies across all sectors. CRS is also encouraged to increase outreach efforts to make Members and congressional staff more aware of the resources it provides related to S&T issues Congress is examining. Additionally, in 2019 the GAO established a Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) team to better address the evolving and time-sensitive needs of Congress. The Committee encourages the GAO to continue to strengthen its STAA S&T team and the Innovation Lab to increase the depth, breadth, and diversity of knowledge available to meet congressional needs. As a result, the bill provides the full request for CRS and GAO to strengthen S&I programs. The Committee will continue to review the work of CRS and the GAO to see if other steps are needed in the future.

The bill recommended by the Committee includes legislative language permitting all the Legislative Branch agencies it funds to employ ‘‘Dreamers’’ that is, residents of the United States brought to this country as children without proper immigration status who hold employment authorization under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Despite that employment authorization, use of appropriated funds to hire DACA enrollees is not currently permitted because of a government-wide provision carried annually in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act. That provision prohibits the use of funds to employ people who are not United States citizens and do not hold one of several listed types of immigration status, a list that doesn’t currently include DACA work authorization. Pending any government-wide resolution of this issue, the Committee recommends welcoming these members of the national community to seek employment in the Legislative Branch.

The bill includes language directing the Architect to remove the statues or busts in the United States Capitol that represent figures who participated in the Confederate Army or government, as well as the statues of white supremacists Charles Aycock, John C. Calhoun, and James Paul Clarke and the bust of Roger B. Taney. The Architect is instructed to work with the States who contributed Confederate statues to return them to the donor State. The placement of statues in the Capitol commemorating men who tried to overthrow the government of the United States or who were white supremacists has been controversial for years and offensive to many of the visitors who come to the Capitol each year. The Committee believes their removal is long overdue.

The Committee recognizes the Library of Congress’s role as the largest library in the world and its important work in preserving culture from around the world through books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, and manuscripts. The Committee also recognizes the significant contributions to the prosperity of the United States made by Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities, and the historic underrepresentation of these communities in our nation’s mainstream culture. The Committee encourages the Library of Congress to continue prioritizing diversity in its work especially through the National Film Registry, including in the annual addition of film titles as well as the membership of the National Film Preservation Board, and National Book Festival.

The Library has made significant progress in recent years modernizing essential Library technology and standardizing and optimizing Library operations. The recommendation will allow the Library’s flagship websites, loc.gov, congress.gov and crs.gov, to be sustained in continuous development and allowing IT infrastructure to continue to be refined and enhanced, with increased integration of IT development, IT security, and IT operations. The agency-wide modernization efforts also address major IT efforts for the Copyright Office, CRS and the National Library Service for Blind and Print Disabled (NLS). The Committee expects the LOC to continue to refine the IT Modernization and Integrated Master Schedule and encourages the LOC to consider it as an evolving document. The plan should be used to integrate schedules and cost baselines for responsible project management. In addition, the leadership of Office of the Librarian should help shape and use it as an important management tool.

The Committee continues to commend the Law Library for providing support to the time-sensitive and complex needs of the Congress, the Supreme Court, executive branch agencies, courts, practicing attorneys, State bars, State and local governments, American businesses, scholars, journalists, and those with legal research needs. The Committee urges the Law Library to continue its digitization strategy as part of the Library’s overall digitization strategy to increase online access to major parts of its collection, such as the United States Serial Sets and Supreme Court Records and Briefs.

The Committee has received requests from Members of the House for a proposal to support new digitally-enabled, user-centered initiatives of outside partners to institute comprehensive, assessable, projects-based curricula for use in secondary schools through music-driven instruction in history, civics and democracy using LOC primary resources, such as the LOC American Folklife Center, the Songs of America collection and other important LOC archives and collections. The Committee believes this initiative warrants further study and consideration and therefore directs the Librarian to explore the potential of using existing digital programs through the Center for Learning, Literacy and Engagement (CLLE) account to expand and facilitate primary-source-based learning and student research. The Committee requests the Library provide a briefing to the Committees no later than 90 days after enactment of this Act.