Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH), Chair of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on the Architect of the Capitol's FY 2020 budget request:
I’m pleased to gavel this hearing to order. We will have two hearings this morning - first, the Architect of the Capitol, then followed by the Congressional Budget Office.
We welcome Ms. Christine Merdon, the acting Architect of the Capitol, along with her team. Ms. Merdon, this is your first time testifying before the Subcommittee - you’re pinch-hitting after the resignation of Stephen Ayers last November. But we know that you have had a distinguished tenure at the AOC, and before that, were involved in several projects near and dear to our hearts in Washington, like the Martin Luther King Memorial and the Nats baseball stadium. With all the scaffolding and cranes around the Capitol complex, I’m sure we’ll find lots to talk about today. I have to note that your budget requests a sizeable increase -- +$98 million or 13.3 percent. We know that the increase is driven by several large project commitments, and we have to hope that we will get a generous enough 302(b) allocation to address them.
Just to remind our Members, we’re luckier than the other appropriations subcommittees. We can begin our budget hearings because we have received the Leg Branch requests, while the executive branch budgets have been delayed more than a month.
Ms. Merdon, before I ask you to summarize your written statement, I’ll ask our ranking Member, Ms. Herrera Beutler, if she has any opening remarks she would like to make.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
