At Tuesday's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, now former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden gave her opening statement; late Thursday night, President Trump fired her.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Ms. Hayden, if you want to start.
00:03Thank you, Chairman Mullen, Ranking Member Heinrich,
00:07and this is an opportunity to provide testimony
00:11in support of the Library's Fiscal 2026 Budget Request.
00:15The mission of the Library is to engage, inspire,
00:18and inform the Congress and the American people
00:21with a universal and enduring source of knowledge and creativity.
00:26Above all, the Library exists to serve.
00:28Service to Congress remains the foundation
00:31for the Library's mission every day
00:33with analysis, policy consultations, briefings,
00:37programs, and constituent engagement.
00:39I'd like to express my sincere gratitude
00:41for the ongoing and extraordinary support
00:44that this committee and Congress gives to the Library.
00:47I especially appreciate the funding you have provided
00:50for major information, technology, IT investments
00:54that we are implementing and continuously improving
00:57to meet user expectations for greater access
01:00and new and enhanced tools.
01:03Also, special thanks for your continued support
01:06for the Library's Visitor Experience Initiative,
01:10the Library's Treasurer's Gallery,
01:11open to the public in June of 2024,
01:13and we're excited to open the Library's new Education Center,
01:17The Source, by the end of 2025,
01:20in time for the Nation's America 250 celebrations,
01:24and I'm pleased to report that construction
01:27and fabrication for the Orientation Gallery,
01:29the third element, is now underway, too.
01:34Staff are the heart of the Library of Congress,
01:36bringing unparalleled knowledge, expertise,
01:38and experience to bear for the benefit of Congress
01:41and the American people.
01:43While modernization and automation have allowed us
01:45to expand productivity in some areas
01:48and to do more with less, it is worth noting
01:51that the Library's staffing level has remained largely unchanged
01:55since fiscal 2015, and indeed,
01:58the Library's permanent workforce steadily declined
02:01from over 5,000 employees in the early 1990s
02:05to its current level of approximately 3,300.
02:10It is critical that this relatively low staff level
02:13will be adequately supported.
02:15The Library's fiscal 2026 appropriations request
02:19does include $30.9 million in mandatory pay
02:24and price level increases,
02:26and as a result of the continuing resolution,
02:29the Library has had to absorb the cost
02:31of mandatory pay and high inflationary price level increases
02:37in fiscal 2025.
02:40The need to absorb these expenses threatens our ability
02:43to execute the Library's full range of programs and services.
02:48As a result, the Library has three modest programmatic requests
02:52for fiscal 2026 that, if funded, would provide the resources we need
02:57to develop strategic initiatives that deliver greater access
03:01and enhance services, strengthen our capacity,
03:03and still foster innovation.
03:06These requests would also help us to keep pace
03:09with digital advancements, and continue to deliver exceptional service
03:13to Congress and the American people.
03:16These requests are preservation object storage upgrade,
03:21web application delivery and management improvements,
03:25continuous development of the Enterprise Copyright System, ECS.
03:30The Library is also resubmitting three requests
03:34that were not funded in fiscal 2025.
03:38These would support CRS's data and analytics capacity,
03:43digital collections processing capacity,
03:46and digital accessibility.
03:48We also revised these resubmissions to reduce overall funding
03:53and eliminate permanent staff hires where possible.
03:56So, we thank you again for supporting the Library of Congress
04:01and for your consideration of the Library's 2026 budget request.
04:06The staff of the Library of Congress, many of whom are here today,
04:10remain dedicated to our number one mission of service
04:14to the members and staff of the U.S. Congress
04:17and the people it serves.
04:19Thank you, and thanks for yielding back extra time.
04:26We'll be efficient with our time today.
04:29Mr. Austin?