Subcommittee will come to order. The terror is authorized to declare recess at anytime. The subcommittee is convening a hearing on the document production efforts on the opposite office of personnel management. I regret that we need to have this hearing. We are here because the fbi has not substantially complied with the committees request for documents from several months ago. Have witnessed a stunning lack of cooperation across the administration in response to multiple congressional investigations. For this committee to perform its important constitutional we must havesion, documents and information requested from agencies. That in turn requires cooperation. When the committee or a subcommittee sends a request for documents or a written response for answers, we expect meaningful and timely compliance and not stall tactics. It is because of a breakdown in that process you three are here today. Today we will be asking each of you to justify your respective productionoublesome track record in to identify those hurdles preventing full compliance. Tangible solutions of the committee can fulfill its constitutionally mandated oversight duties. This morning, we will examine the status of responses to three committee and subcommittee investigations. The committee is investigating the administrations plan to abolish the office of personnel management. It is ave on our side reckless proposal that lacks merit, justification, or a coherent rationale. Frankly, doubt have been raised about it on a bipartisan basis. The subcommittee has requested basic documents from opm, an agency that runs programs for government employees. More than 2. 5 federal retirees and 8 million family members. We requested documents that any project manager would have required for even a simple restructuring of an organization. Ofasked for a legal analysis the administrations authority to eliminate obm, a costbenefit analysis, and a timeline. These arent intrusive requests. We wanted to know whether this work and whether the administration had done its homework such that it could persuade us as to the merits. We have concluded it wont and they havent. We have received next to nothing in response to this straightforward document request. No information provided demonstrates how this plan would improve services to current federal employees and their families. If we have been unclear thus far, let me take the opportunity to clarify that from our point of view, this halfbaked proposal is going to be dead on arrival in capitol hill. The ministrations intention to dismantle opm is reckless. Opms acting director has boasted about planning to play chicken with congress. Hostageughing or taking 150 employees of opm. Theongress did not provide administration with authority to illuminate the agency by october 1. This is not a game. These are real lives at stake. Opms blanket refusal to provide the information the committee has requested is unacceptable. Opm offers additional records just this week. It is ironic that the new records make reference to the documents we have been asking for without providing them. The latest documents convinced us even more that the toinistration is attempting eliminate more than 130 years of meritbased nonpartisan civil service. Is investigating the abrupt decision to abandon the longterm plan to move the fbi headquarters to a suburban with an and replace it more costly plan to keep pennsylvania avenue location, demolish the existing building, and construct a new facility in the same site. Pivot, the make that administration had to abandon some of the compelling criteria that had dominated for well over eight years. That included consolidation of ,he workforce, modernization and dna research, and getting setbacks which cannot be achieved in the Current Location which has inherently urban setbacks that are insecure. 2018, i requested an investigation of the gsas decisionmaking role in influencing this decision. In august, the Inspector General issued a report that noted in accuracies in the cost estimates presented to congress to the tune of more than half 1 billion. It revealed that the president was personally participating in discussions regarding this revised plan and there are pictures to prove it. Despite all parties within the administration claiming the fbi alone made the decision, the fbi has turnover just 1300 pages in the last 3. 5 months and that includes the last letter from last night. In talking to the fbi, i was assured that they had gone through and filtered 1. 5 million documents. Conversation,at we were in possession of 490 of them. While we can admire the production going on at the fbi, we are not sure we admire the responsiveness to this committees request. To say that Congress Continues to have questions about the abrupt and rest reversal in the fbis plan and that the change of heart involved direct communications with the chief executive of the country is an understatement. Third, the committee is actively investigating the Federal Post Office building. President trump refused to completely invest himself of his global web of business interests, he is both the landlord and tenant of what is now called the Trump International hotel. To date, gsa has refused to turn over financial documents relevant to the committees investigation that would shed light on any potential conflicts of interest or constitutional concerns with respect to the a monument clause. I want to address a Troubling Development across several committee and subcommittee investigations. All three agencies represented suggested that they are withholding the documents because they have draft on documents regarding decisionmaking. Theres a problem. That decisionmaking is exactly the focus of the committee and subcommittee investigations. Its not a new thing to this congress. Whether it is the decision to , alish the federal agency multibilliondollar construction decision affecting thousands of fbi staff and the security and safety of the country, or the decision to allow a president to serve as landlord and tenant of his own hotel which is on , suchment owned property decisionmaking documents are critical to our examination and investigation. Week, the a few by fbi Deputy Director called me personally to discuss the agencys compliance or lack thereof. Well i think him for the outreach and the 1. 5 million documents that have been examined, i did give him a specific direction in terms of what we did would satisfy the committees inquiry. Unfortunately, those conditions have not been met. It is my hope that todays hearing will provide some answers. With that, i turn it over to my distinguished Ranking Member. Thank you. Thank you for your leadership. Thank all of you for being here this morning. Document production is something that i know a little bit about. I guess i have expressed more than a little frustration with some document production. Instead of doing a prepared remark, let me perhaps getting to where the chairman and i agree. Today to you are here say that it is part of a deliberate process that somehow congress cant see the documents , i would urge you strongly not to go there. The full force of both republicans and democrats coming together to it knowledge that that is not a legitimate reason. Secondly, if you think that the lack of giving documents to this committee is serving a greater purpose, i would assure you that it is not. Ms. Tyson, you have been very helpful and i want to say thank you for your help in trying to get through some of the documents to address some of the concerns. With regards to the fbi building, working with mr. Say, iand gsa, let me dont agree that we should be building the fbi building and tearing it down and doing it there. I can tell you that i have been vocal about that. I think its the wrong decision from a real estate perspective. I think its the wrong decision in terms of efficiency. That being said, its not my call. What is my call is understanding the parameters that went into that decision. Administrationhe at the highest levels, they are agnostic on whether it gets orlt in d. C. Or virginia maryland or wherever it needs to go. I think most of this was more of anfbi decision that it was executive branch decision. Documents would allude to nefarious purposes that dont exist. Be more that you can. Ransparent on the democrat side, they will have a concern over whether the fbi goes in d. C. Or somewhere else. Im not divided. I think what you do is keep a small footprint for the fbi headquarters to allow them to work with the doj and move the gym majority of the fbi folks to a more efficient location. Thats my take. Again, we have to have the documents to do that. Hotelrelates to the trump and some of those documents, they are in the custody of gsa or others, let me just tell you. Everybody wouldve had to have believed that this president was going to get elected when he started those negotiations and nobody believed it. Onding back documents potentially nefarious purposes for the trump hotel we were all celebrating the fact that the Old Post Office was going to be renovated and used for something other than a food court and a museum. Everybody was applauding that including the mayor of d. C. Until the president became the president. Giving us documents that allow us to get to the bottom of this is key. From an opm standpoint, heres one of the areas that im very troubled. I dont agree with the decision to take the security clearances and move them to dod. I think i have been open about that. Heres the problem. Congress voted for that and now what we have is a situation where, over the objection of mr. Connolly, they voted to move the security clearances to dod. Now we are implementing that. We are coming up with all kinds of problems. At the i. T. Roubled capacity of opm. We have got to do something. Whether that is consolidation or moving the gsa. We have a third world computing system for opm. No wonder we got hacked. Maybe we are not as honorable the hacks because we have a third world computing system. All the hackers are on a much more complicated system. I just want to say, thank you to the opm folks for allowing me to really see firsthand what is there. We have to find a solution. This is not about downsizing jobs or getting rid of jobs. I want the opm folks to know that that is very clear from my standpoint. We want to make sure that their jobs are protected. At the same time, we cannot continue to do business the way we are doing business from a computing standpoint that opm. Im using that to say, the more documents that you give us in a transparent fashion, even if you think that it gives the wrong thanssion, it is better the impression of us not getting the documents, believing there are bad things that you are keeping from us. As you have your testimony today, if you do not go to the deliberative process and that you dont have a right to it, youll find a unified push back. With that, yield back. I thank the distinguished Ranking Member. I want to thank him and express my admiration. Whether it is a democratic or republican administration, all of us have a state in the integrity of document requests. In all of us need to be consistent in insisting on compliance with those requests. Thank you very much, chairman, for holding the steering. And i want to commend the Ranking Member not only for his faith but for his spirit of cooperation. Under this administration, we are witnessing a stunning lack of cooperation. That is hampering multiple investigations. Appears to be part of a largescale, coordinated pattern of attraction. I do not say that of instruction of obstruction. I do not say that lightly. Us from doing our job and literally takes away power from the congress of the United States of america. Cleares away our power. And simple. The documents we seek and the discuss arens we documents we would have recieved in previous administrations, many without reductions or without a fight. Many are types that we did recieve at the beginning of the administration before trump and his administration were quote fighting all subpoenas. Come on now. This is the United States of america. All subpoenas . Has a duty to conduct oversight over decisions that have been made in the executive branch, especially regarding leases or contracts that impact taxpayers. Job to ensure that these decisions are being made in the most costeffective and efficient fashion without favoritism or abuse. The committee is conducting to separate investigations involving the oversight. To a newas ordered site, suburban campers. The other is a lease for the trump hotel in the District Of Columbia. It should not be a surprise to gsa. I wrote my first letter on the trump hotel and questions about a possible breach. Shortly after the president was along withthe fall several members of congress raising questions about the fbi eight months ago. Eight months ago. After becoming the chairman, gentlemen calmly and his great lettersent new request on these topics. We saw monthly reports the trump thenization was requiring file on the District Of Columbia received those reports and its something were to happen. Without explanation, they reversed course and stuff producing them. Later. Ow two years after democrats were voted into the majority we again requested that these Monthly Financial reports be done. Now since producing these documents, the gsa questioned the committee and i quote a legitimate legislative purpose. End of quote. At some point, this is the kind of language that becomes very frustrating. Several done this very issue. That language sounds familiar but it is because it is the same language in the same baseless line of obstruction that the president s personal attorneys have been using to challenge congresss authority to conduct oversight in other areas. Alreadyral courts have rejected this decisively. Case. Tight i have been practicing law for 40 years and have never seen any case the state. He wrote this. And this is a quote. As long as congress investigates on a subject matter upon which legislation could be had, Congress Acts as contemplated by article one of the constitution, and of quote. End of quote. Any other executive branch that may be watched, we watched the message to be abundantly clear and have no doubt about it. Congress must obtain documents necessary to fulfill our constitutional responsibilities. Stop obstructing us, stop blocking us from doing the job that the voters sent us here to do and to do the job that we swore we would do. If you will not provide those documents openly, women, we will issue subpoenas. Openly, we will issue subpoenas. Closing, i know you have made some Movement Towards compliance and anticipation of todays hearing. What youffered have offered is simply not enough. Offered to provide us with the unredacted documents that explain your decisions. , again, ihairman thank you for the cooperative spirit that we have on the subcommittee. , when i to tell you listen to meadows and connolly, they are bending over backwards to work with you all. But at some point, you feel like you are getting slapped in the face. I do not have a feel, but thats how i feel i do not know how they feel, but thats how i feel. We have got to do better than that. Last point. A lot of times, people would do things and they assume. Oh, i did this, will you are supposed to the. Well you are supposed to do that. You dont get any brownie points for doing what you are supposed to do. If our employees are not doing the things they are supposed to do, they are fired. Period. And we have got to get back to what is normal. I know there are going to be debates. , dont throws said stuff out there that just goes against court decisions, things that you know is basically rope and ropeadoping. I think the distinguished chairman for his guidance on the subject. It is a widely shared view, certainly in this subcommittee. I wanted to now turn to the testimony of our witnesses. , stephenhree witnesses billy, deputy chief of staff and personal management. The assistant director of the federal bureau of investigation. Robert gordon, chief of staff of the general services. If the three if the three of you would rise and raise your right hand. It is the tradition of our committee to swear in witnesses. Do you swear or affirmed that the testimony you are about to get is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth . So help you god. But the record show that all three answers and affirmative. Your written statements will be entered into the record in full. We will now give you five minutes to summarize that testimony. Chairman, Ranking Members, thank you for the opportunity to discuss with you today the administrations plan to modernize the infrastructure that supports our meritbased civilservice system. I have here before you today just weeks after the acting director testified before the subcommittee. At that hearing, the committee expressed the need for Additional Information to help provide clarity behind the proposed reforms. In our efforts to further accommodate the committee and to be as transparent as, we have redoubled efforts and are in the process of gathering and providing additional documents to the committee. The discussion during the recent hearing clarifies that brought and bipartisan agreement exists and fundamental changes are needed to ensure we are capable of meeting the responsibility entrusted to us. There is reason for optimism that now congress is willing to address the causes that will further the ability of the executive branch and advance merit system principles through approving hiring, management, and retirement. Opm is committed to working with the subcommittee and providing information. ,s the acting director stressed opium leadership fully respects the oversight function of congress. In line with chairman connellys desire with a recess on discussions, opm is dedicated to continuing to engage with members of the committee. In fact, the agency has already invited multiple members to visit our offices. We look forward to having the chairman and any other interested members participate in that brief. Pleasedng director was to host the Ranking Member just last week. The staff conveyed to us that the visit really highlighted the operational challenges facing opm. It were highly impressed by the commitment service. Opm leadership also holds this high regard for our employees. Feels there is no substitute for the hardware of federal employees hard work of federal employees. We see this briefing is a critical way to continue the dialogue. Additionally, we compiling t