and all federal records. as we mark the 17th annual sunshine week, a nationwide initiative dedicated to educating the public about the importance of transparency in government, i look forward to discussing how congress can further strengthen federal records, processes and improve the transparencies for all americans. today i'm grateful to welcome a panel of experts who can discuss our federal records management in much greater detail, help us identify gaps in the law, as well as its implementation, and discuss what actions congress can take to better protect the public record. so thank you for being here. we look forward to a robust discussion. ranking member portman, you are now recognized for your opening comments. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to the witnesses for being here. transparency in government is obviously a pillar of our democracy. and something we should ensure continues into the digital age because it's harder and harder and something we'll talk about today. it's an area i have worked o

federal prosecutors have a role in bringing federal carjacking charges. i want to give prosecutors the tools to keep our communities safe. what has been the federal role in taking down gangs from carjackings and related rustic you should? justin: thank you, senator. carjacking is absolutely in the toolbox of any street gang in major american cities. gangs will tend to engage in shootings and other intimidation tactics. but robbers, aggravated robberies and car thefts are important because they help facilitate other crimes. when you are looking at a street gang or other violent criminal organization, it is important to identify predicate offenses those gangs are committing, because that allows investigators to build a ricoh investigation -- rico investigation. carjacking plays in a pleasing -- place an increasing role in those organizations and will form the basis for prosecutions that can take down an entire gang all at once. senator grassley: for mr. clawe, when a vehicle is carjacked, law enforcement once to find it before it can be used in another viol

very small federal agency. yes, how many cases come across sure the transit and some every year every year there are about 5,000 section 106 cases now many of them. most of them are settled at the state level under these regs that can happen only the cases where there's an adverse effect on the council feels that they can help. in this and and arrive at a good solution, are they involved? so of the 5,000 that come that 106 cases annually section 106 cases about 750 come to the advisory council either they elect to look at them or people ask for the council's assistance and of those probably about 200 a year 150 to 200 are being worked on by that team now. that's 40 people not all of them are caseworkers many of them do other jobs as they as with any federal agency. so it's a small complement that has a huge huge mandate. how large is the law area of historic preservation growing growing? it's a new area. i think because in many respects this is part of the environmental movement. and there are other statutes th

federal prosecutors have a role to play in bringing federal carjacking charges. i want to help federal prosecutors get the tools they need to keep our communities safe. do you do car jacking regularly involving conspiracies, and secondly, and lastly, whatever's been the federal role in taking down gangs from carjacking and related prosecutions? >> thank you, senator grassley. yes, i would say to echo at the other panelists have added, carjacking is absolutely in the toolbox of any street gang operating in major american cities at this point in time. they tend to gangs, and general, to engage in shootings, and other intimidation tactics. robberies, aggravated robberies, car thefts are important because they do help to facilitate other crimes. it has been addressed by other panelists as well. when you are looking at a criminal street gang, or any other kind of violent criminal organization, it's important to identify the predicate offenses that those gangs are committing. that allows federal prosecutors and investigators to build a rico investigation, or it's corol

and all federal records.we mark the 17th annual sunshine week, a nationwide initiative dedicated to educating the public about importance of transparency in government, i look forward to discussing how congress can further strengthen federal records processes and improve transparency for all americans. today i am grateful to flock a panel of experts who can discuss federal records management in greater detail and help i us identify gaps in law as well as implementation and probably discuss what actionsss congress can take to better protect the public efforts so thank you for being here and look forward to a robust discussion. recognized for opening comments. >> thank you and thanks to our witnesses for being here. transparency in government is obviously a filler of our democracy into something we should all ensure continues into the digital age. i worked on a lot, i've sponsored the beta act, access to congressional mandate reports act, regulatory accountability act and a lot of others. i put all earmarks onl

we are a federal agency. that's the major differs difference. we're a federal agency. they are a member oppression. >> but a non-profit. >> non-profit. >> ngo. >> yes, correct. and they -- they have a claritier came from the government in 1949. and their role has changed -- or their approach wsh orientation has changed a bit over the years. but they are a very important partner too in the work we are doing. and they have a number of -- actually worked for them a part of my skreer for a number of years. so i'm pretty familiar with the work they to thp they are an important member of the team. >> you mentioned early in the discussion that environmental issues are very important when it comes to historic preservation. >> yeah, yes. we consider the cultural environment part of the environmental movement. in fact, as the acting chairman of the council at this point i have set up a task force to deal with climate change. and this the -- this -- this focuses directly on our native american tricep, our native american citizens who have a connection with the natural features in

we had committed federal prosecutors to bring these cases federally. so we could target and identify the most violent offenders and ensure that they were held in, confined, taken off the streets, and prosecuted federally immediately. and then third thing, obviously there was a funding component. that was very important both for morale but i think also for long term growth and coordination with federal agencies. >> thank you. >> thank you. senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much, insert durbin, senator grassley, for holding this hearing. when i was d.a. in hennepin county, we had rampant carjacking. back then it was big cars, it was more of course cars being stolen from the street, but oftentimes there were also people in them, and i'm committed to making a change here. i thought it was interesting what you talked about, mr. glawe, which makes some sense to me, everything you guys said make sense, but i want to start with the organized crime, and this idea that some of this is just, you know, people doing this for the fun of it, with people dead as a

we raised federal spending by 50% and that is excess stimulus. in the oil embargo and the quadrupling with usage cost shop and a very weak economy. we had the supply chain challenges and it's always reminded me the most of the aftermath of september 11 which was a cost shock to figure out how to operate the economy. then there's the demand shock that comes from the cares act and the rescue plan with $1.9 trillion at the time the economy is growing at 6.5% and the income gap was a third of the 1.9 trillion in the economy and you could just look at sort of europe's inflation with the percentage point it goes from zero to 4% and in the u.s. it goes one present in the first quarter and jumps to three times that. over time it's going to take some of that stimulus. >> i work for the senator and the ranking member. it is obviously we all learned the last couple of months it imposes a cost and people don't like it. that's pretty clear. the fiscal dangerous interest rates. and good news for the fiscal trajectory. and the slow ramp-up to drive but the chal

the federal vacancies reform act allows the president to feel vacant -- to fill vacant federal positions. there is a 210 day. later when the president decides who they will nominate. if each of you can share about what happens when the time runs out and the impact it has on the agency and congressional oversight. ms. simmons? ms. simmons: what happens is often not transparent to congress or the public. we did some research on this and found a variety of titles that were put in place. it seems like a position to spend on filled altogether. it other people will fill it with titles up principal, performing the duty of, there are deputies that step in. it is a patchwork of ways in which administrations respond. the work needs to get done. this is why we are encouraging a fresh look at the vacancy act to fix some of the ambiguities in the law. one of the things we strongly recommend is to allow someone who has been nominated to also serve as the acting leader of that agency. this is something that professor o'connell mentioned. we think there are opportunities to fix some of the places where

curry brings almost 20 years of federal experience, and his expertise includes the evaluation of federal efforts and programs to prevent, plan for, and respond to both natural and man-made disasters. welcome back, mr. curry. you may proceed with your opening remarks. >> thank you very much, chairman peters. i appreciate the opportunity to discuss doj's work on bio security. today i would like to focus on two key areas. first is how we can strengthen efforts across the federal government and the steps the department of homeland security can take to strengthen bio security. well before the pandemic we have been concerned about our preparedness for a large-scale biological event and difficult for better strategies. this committee has held many hearings over the years on this issue as well. we were concerned about offenses too fragmented and uncoordinated across all levels of government and the private sector. covid-19 showed that these gaps were real. the 2018 defense strategy laid the foundation for the type of coordination needed to better prepare for events like covid-19, but the bad new

the nominee, she has experience as a career federal employee working on federal form programs as a cattle rancher in nevada. she's a nevadan, regional appointments like these are uncertain, especially in the western states, local economy, climate challenges are not going to be familiar to federal government workers here in washington d.c. and again, i understand the regional appointments aren't the subject of senate confirmation. why is it that it can take so long to fill these critical roles in administrations and what effect is the senate confirmation process in general have on these appointments even when it's not required for particular positions? >> thank you for that question. and this speaks to something that professor o'connell raised. which is the value of reaching outside of washington for candidates and filling these important positions with people who bring diverse perspectives from around the country and can really bring their personal expertise and experience to bear in service to the public. when there are so many positions subject to senate confirmation, it's almost essent

returning to the federal infrastructure plan, most of the funding is reserved to augment existing federalams, with 550 billion in spending. important to note the money from the infrastructure plan is spread over five years. competitive grant opportunities, like the contract rfps and rfqs, solicited through notice of funding opportunities which provide a description of the projects and the entities eligible to apply for funding. i mentioned earlier the infrastructure bill provides our best opportunity at obtaining federal funds of all the available programs, our best chance to win funding is through the port development infrastructure program, made available through meradd. the purpose of the funding is to improve facilities, operations, and intermodal connections to seaports. this was issued last month. over the next five years, $450 million will be made available annually. we have several projects eligible for these funds in our southern waterfront, berting and fendering, and drainage work, berth electrification and facility improvements at piers 94 and 96. a lot of the money currently m

but no federal law, no federal logs brusquely prohibits lynching, none, until today.he leading chronicles of her history of lynching is brian stevenson who happens to be for my home state. who wanted very much to be here today but he could not. he helped build the national memorial for peace and justice in montgomery, alabama america's first site dedicated to understanding the legacy of lynching. you know, his extensive research so between between 1877 and 1950, more than 4,400 black people were murdered by lynching. most of the south but some in the north as well. that's a lot of folks and silence for a long time. lynching was pure terror to enforce the lie that not everyone belonged and not everyone was created equal. the hard-fought civil rights, terror not addressed in the dark of the night but broad daylight. innocent men, women and children hung by nooses from trees, bodies burned and drowned and castrated. their crimes, trying to vote, trying to go to school, trying to own a business or preach the gospel. false accusations of murder, arson and robbery. simply b

ntia is the manager of all federal -- federal agencies rely on spectrum from systems. they must also be held accountable for efficiently using the spectrum resources and additionally as more americans rely on devices in the growth of the internet making spectrum available for commercial use is necessary for future dinner -- generations of technology. ntia has a distinct role of representing the voices of all federal agencies. this is not an easy task. we continue to seeh federal agencies ignore changes in the spectrum landscape. more frequently we see these spectrum disputes spilling out in the public. the most recent exampleum is the fcc order. rather rather engage in expert engineers at the ntia and the ftc and the public in transparent process the aviation industry and the faa engaged in modern tactics by going to the press and threatening to ground planes. as the landscape continues to evolve with the advances in the technology's ntia is essential for ensuring federal -- are prepared for developments in special landscape but it's our responsibility as members of th

ntia is also manager of all federal spectrum. federal agencies rely on critical systems and they must also be held accountable for efficiently using their spectrum resources, additionally as more americans rely on wireless devices in the growth of the internet of things, making spectrum available for virtual use is necessary for americans to lead in future generations of technology. ntia has a distinct role of balancing both interest and representing the voices of all federal agency on spectrum matters. this is not an easy task. we continue to see federal agencies circumvent ntia in the process or ignore changes in the spectrum landscape. more frequently, we see these technical spectrum disputes spilling out into the public. the most recent example is the fcc's c-band order. rather than engage with expert engineers at the ntia and fcc and participate in fcc's public and transparent process, the aviation and the faa engaged in fear mongrg tactics by threatening to ground planes. as the commercial spectrum landscape continues to ev

how we improve the federal records management the preservation of the presidential and federal recordsal to preserving transparency and assuring the federal government is working efficiently and effectively and protecting the nation's historical record as well. as we heard from the panel, the laws of the system we count on to preserve in these important documents are incredibly outdated and congress needs to take action not only to strengthen the records preservation process but also to ensure that americans get timely and appropriate access to these important resources. as i mentioned in my comments, i'm continuing to work on legislation to modernize the process. thank you to the witnesses for helping us walk down that important road to accomplish these ends and with that, the record for the hearing will remain open until 5 p.m. on march 30th of 2022 for the submission of statements and questions for the record and this hearing is now adjourned. . >> earlier today, president biden signed into law the $1.5 trilli

both federal and local agencies were involved?> yes, sir. >> thank you. we received a copy of a memorandum from the acting u.s. attorney from montana to the montana a.g., all county attorney sheriffs, the montana school boards association that included a summary of, quote, federal statutes that may serve as a basis for the prosecution of such threats and violent conduct, quote. have you drafted or sent or received or seen a memorandum like that? >> i'm not familiar with the specific memorandum that you are referencing, congressman. i did not draft or send any such similar memorandum. >> thank you. your district's main office is in seattle which was famously the home of the 2020 capitol hill autonomous zone, c.h.o.p., a police-free zone formed by activists and an artists which -- anarchists. do you know how much the crime rate rose in that area between june 2-20th of 2020 compared to the previous year? >> i do not. >> 525% according to the mayor in that area. would that surprise you? >> well, mayor during kin was previously united

experts federal representatives to address questions like bang for your buck on federal investments oninfrastructure and how do we work with federal funds to make sure public asset or private asset don't become public liabilities those are really successful offense and one in the gulf region spring because we need these examples of effective connection across science, communities and across the federal agencies. in my last 30 seconds, let me talk about the fierce urgency of now. everyone on the panel thus far has talked about the window closing but i want to emphasize if it closing, that means it's still a little open we can act and connect now. future generations depend on what we do today, they are going to know what we knew and when we know it and how we chose to act and we could wake wait and take no action start now to ensure equity and resilient for all. we have strong science, and once in a generation opportunity of infusion of resources in the collective motivation to design communities, energy, economies toward resilience for all. we want, in other words, in 100 years from peo

>> i think it has to be acknowledged that federal agencies are doing more complex work. when i was referring to thickening, i was referring to a different thickening, i was referring to the thickening of leadership positions with the group for example of assistant secretary position. >> yes. >> we have back. does not impact presidential control? that isp less clear. i think what we have seen in recent administrations on the left and on the right is a rise of what justice kagan labeled a presidential administration and we have got through increasing presidential directives whether their executive orders or presidential memoranda directing federal agencies to take various actions and i think it is counter in the last presidential control and raises certain concerns both on the left and right in terms of directing federal agencies one would think of that, congress' role in terms of what it delegates and what it wants. >> fair enough, my time -- just about expired and technically it has but one more question, i will ask this, weigh in on this in terms of the administrative s

the representative of the russian federation, once again. the floor to the russian federation. >> thank you, mr. president. what conclusion could be drawn from the discussion we have had today? as we expected, our western colleagues first and foremost, neither one of them addressed the substance of the issue we put forward. when my american colleague was throwing thunderbolts and accused us, as we expected, of propaganda, two things came to mind. first, the louder people are trying to shift the blame on us. great is our conviction that we hit the nail on the head when we were talking about their nefarious activity in ukraine. secondly, i remember another story which was mentioned many times and in many contexts about colin powell sometime ago in this room, that became the foundation for the united states going into iraq and lead to a huge level of suffering and destruction which is then reverberated in the whole region, reverberated also in the form of a terrorist organization called isil. that is what the albanian colleague mentioned today.

and even through federal law -- even though federal law requires approval of the permit on federal lands within 30 days, permits often languish at department of interior for a year or more. this government red tape is hurting families in the central valley and across the country in the form of higher gas prices. it's time for the government bureaucracy to get out of the way so we can once again become energy independent. there is no reason that streamlining the federal permitting process should be a controversial issue. rural communities like the one i represent are tired of burdensome government regulations holding them back. greater efficiency in the federal permitting process is critical for getting water to those in the central valley that need it most. and as we saw from other colleagues who spoke before us, this isn't just a california issue. and i know that the chairman here, mr. newhouse, and i have -- our districts are a lot alike. we both droaght groh a lot of different -- we both grow a lot of different commodities. water and energy make it possible. i thank you for your leade

sentencing commission in 2010, as a federal district court judge 2013, and as a federal appellate court judge in 2021. and you have done us proud. each of the three times the senate has considered your record, your experience, and your ability. senators on both sides of the aisle have determined you have the qualifications and the temperament it takes to uphold the values of our judicial branch. as i see it those values are knowledge, evenhandedness, impartiality, integrity, respect for the rule of law, and fundamental fairness to all. and your record actually shows that you exemplify these values. the supreme court is not a political institution. rather, the court stands above politics and above partisanship. and we look to federal judges to be independent and unbiased. judge jackson, in reviewing your record one thing in particular stands out to me and that is your commitment to uphold justice under the law. this is one of the ultimate responsibilities of the supreme court and your record suggests to me that you understand the weight of that responsibility. you have had several mentor

essentially they are burdened with the absence of clear federal guidance.eyond that burden communities like nevada and massachusetts, what is the cost to a national priority not to have these federal standards quick. >> thank you for the question. you are right the deployment it is a local issue with the verifications that will be affecting different communities differently and it needs to be some control at the local level and is fantastic to hear the issues around safety and labor but one of the main points that is not the only questions we really need to be working at the local level such answer your question the role of federal government what's really important it does many things we been talking about here to support them and to support cities to make sure it's not only about safety and technology itself. >> to follow on on that us can be first where we feed the leadership. we need allies or competitors and then with that federal framework if china sets the rules of the road? >> it is a critical issue. america is the birthplace and in many respects th

the only guilt is the russian federation -- the only guilty party is the russian federation. 's english delegates, russia -- distinguished delegates, russia uses its military potential to affect ukraine. -- attack ukraine. it attacks with thanks and artillery and -- tanks and artillery and marking residential buildings in preparation for the air attacks. russia's missiles are now aimed at destroying the infrastructure of the reactive waste disposal sites near kyiv. it is in a suburb. the object of logistics includes but is and water -- includes ridges and water as targets. udes bridges and water. the russian forces seized the turn noble nuclear power station and -- chernobyl nuclear power station. moving heavy militaries through the chernobyl exclusion zone, the radiation level has increased rapidly. in the black sea, russian warships attacked two civil ships approaching ukraine. it is a flagrant violation of international law of the sea. incredibly, one of the vessels had a russian crew. it was still attacked by the russians. russians keep attacking kindergartens and orphana

simply because the federal workers were held accountable. let's face it, no one likes working in a situation where you can't do anything about poor performers. where you can't do anything regarding people who simply refuse to actually do their jobs. and the consequences of that type of environment is that the actual consciencious workers have to pick up the slack. which only adds, of course, to their own work cloadz and -- work loads and creates an extremely toxic work environment. nevertheless, democrats want to continue the false narrative of an abused federal work force. they want to curry favor with the core union constituency by looking for as many ways as possible to increase pay and benefits, all under the name of making the federal government a model employer. look, model employers hold their work force accountable. model employers put the customer first. in this case the american taxpayer. we don't hear any of this from the democrats, with you you -- but do you from the republicans. so today along with a number of my republican coll

the federal resources and authorities. the base of the zipper, the part that gets it started is local communities. so the gop specifically, and science more generally, i like the slider and the pool that connects local communities to federal resources and vice versa. we did this in november 2021 a couple of months ago. we organized a serious game around federal investment on infrastructure for more resilient infrastructure in the gulf of mexico. we brought local golf experts with federal representatives to address questions like bang for your buck like federal investment infrastructure. and how do we work with federal funds to make sure public -- prized assets don't become public liabilities? those are really successful events and we will run it again in the gulf region this spring. because we need these examples of effective connection across science, communities and across the federal agencies. in my last 30 seconds, let me talk about the fierce urgency of now. everyone on the panel thus far has talked about the window c

but we have a similar situation today of several federal agencies how it impacts federal agencies ability to deliver results for americans. question for all of you three. professor of cardinal, miss simmons, mr. white. could you please take a minute to discuss how the lack of senate confirmed leadership and long standing vacancies atop federal agencies affect or force morale and the ability of agencies to execute their missions and deliver results for the public? professor hakeem, you want to lead us off? then miss simmons? then talk to white. >> thank you, senator. as you indicate, there are detrimental consequences and very briefly there are two sets of them. ? the first set, as you know, our performance related. and given your experience with the department of homeland security, and this committee, in particular, with regard to homeland security, vacancies are a problem. and they've been a problem in administrations since the department was created and got into business in 2003. so both in republican and democratic administrations, there have been vacancies in dhs that that have hurt t