Coming up this morning, Theodore Johnson of the Brennan Center will join us to talk about the africanamerican vote in campaign 2020. Of the university of Virginia Center of politics will discuss the latest news in campaign 2020. Be sure to watch washington journal live at 7 00 eastern this morning. Join the discussion. Examinest, a hearing Congress Constitutional role as a coequal branch of government. We hear about the role of earmarks and transparency and how increased funding and staffing can lead to a more effective government. This is two hours, 15 minutes. The committee will come to order without objection. Articlering is titled one, capacity and equipping congress to better serve the american people. I now recognize myself for five minutes to give an opening statement. Im excited to be here today, gaveling in the first hearing of the new year. This committee has had a productive last year, passing 45 recommendations focus on making congress more effective and efficient so it can better serve the american people. I am proud of what we have accomplished so far and equally proud of how we have accomplished our work together. Every member of this committee has been fully engaged in the committees work has taken real time to think about the issues in our mandate to share their own perspectives and to really listen and consider their colleagues perspectives. This process has worked because members of this committee are vested in the committees work and finding Collaborative Solutions to challenges that this institution faces. The keyword is invested. Whether we are talking about businesses, organizations or governments, depend on people who are invested in the work they are doing. That is fundamental. Successful institutions also invest in themselves. They invest in their employees, infrastructure and overall Work Environment and experience. They think and plan towards the future. The bottom line is that is hard for people to be invested in their work. Attract is able to staff and committees like this one and continued to be productive despite the many challenges the institution faces. Congress is fueled by people who believe strongly in the mission. Fulfilling that mission has become harder over the past several decades primarily due to decisions and choices congress has made. Today is about looking inward. It appropriately to kick off by putting article one front and center. Todays hearing will help us understand the factors that have contributed to the expansion of executive Branch Powers since world war ii and shed light on how and why congress has reduced its own capacity to fulfill its constitutional obligations. Most important the, we will consider what can be done to restore congress to its rightful place as a coequal branch of government. The framers never intended for a short an error consequential decisions to be made by one person or one branch of government. That is the beauty of our system. I look forward to hearing recommendations from our Witnesses Today for how to rebuild congress capacity and strengthen the branch. I want to quickly acknowledge we have a group of students from Virginia Tech that are learning about congressional capacity and oversight. I am biased but i think these issues are incredibly important and i think it is great people want to learn about this tough so welcome and thank you for taking an interest in our work. [applause] i even see them coming it. Welcome, students. Thank you for being here. I would like to invite our vice chair some grapes. Tom graves. Thank you. About to echo the excitement for the historic in history making year for this committee. 45 recommendations in total all bipartisan with a lead significantly piece of legislation to match. Great testament to this committee and the work we have been able to do. I am excited to see what we can accomplish in this year, this new year we have been granted and grateful for your bipartisan leadership. Weve also had some good times going on a speaking tour together. We had a great group that is interested in what were doing here, but weve learned a lot, over the last year about the way the legislative branch functions, and i think weve heard a bit more about the way it doesnt function. And the founders created legislative branch to act as a coequal branch of government. Our powers are clearly laid out and we are all familiar with our day to day duties as representatives of the american people. With these rules and regulations as vision by the founders, are not as they exist today. The american peoples first branch is not truly equal. We will hear more from our witnesses about this today, of the growing power of the executive, Branch Admissions staff capacity, and a refusal to admit yourself at times, weve got a lot of work to do. Diminished Article One Branch means a diminished government for the people we serve. And that is not the goal of this committee, our goal is to return that authority back to this body. This committee is finding ways to reinvest and have strength in our congress, so we can serve better the american people. I am very excited about todays hearing, and are witnesses that are joining us, that mr. Chairman, happy to yield back. Today, we welcome the testimony of our four witnesses,. Our first witness is rachel augustine, before becoming a political scientist, she were for several government institutions, including the White House Office of management, u. S. Accountability, office the German Federal ministry of the interior. Our next witnesses kevin costar, Vice President of Research Partnerships at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Public Policy research organization. He directs the governance department. He codirects the legislative Branch Capacity Working Group which aims to strengthen n online and establish a hub for congressional reform and scholarship. Worked for the Congressional Research service for more than a decade where he served as an analyst. He is coeditor of the forthcoming Book Congress overwhelmed. No pressure. , the washington codirector of the center from 1995 to 2014. Worked for u. S. Senator carl levin, including 15 years at the Permanent Committee of investigations. Director,as psi staff she handled the investigations, hearings and legislation on such matters as money laundering, corporate misconduct and tax abuse. In 2014, after senator levin retired and she joined the center to work on strengthening legislative capabilities at the federal, state, local and International Levels to conduct investigations and oversight. Last but not least is john hudak. Deputy director for the center of effective Public Management and senior fellow and governance studies at brookings. His Research Examines questions of president ial power in the context of administration, personnel and Public Policy. Demonstrates politics exist beyond the halls of congress. His work shows how institutional structures facilitates or hinders president ial power and influence. Witnesses are reminded that your oral testimony would be limited to five minutes. Without objection, your written remarks will be made for the record. Dr. Potter, you are recognized for five minutes to give an oral presentation of your testimony. Chairman, vicechairman, and numbers of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. While todays hearing focused on correctional capacity, my testimony focus on changes in the capacity of the executive branch over time. The executive branch began modestly. George washington had a small personal staff a few individuals in the cabin consisted of just three departments. Obviously thats a very different executive branch than which ise know today sophisticated, complex and large. Much of the transformation from the executive branch occurred in the period of world war ii. That is where my comments will focus. I will make three points of the growth of the executive branch. First, the federal bureaucracy has systematically expanded its policy and implementation capabilities. Second and concurrently, the powers of the office of the president have expanded. And third, numerous factors gave rise to these situations. Allow me to elaborate on each point. First with respect to the bureaucracy, there is been an inexorable increase in size and scope. Between 1946 and 1997, an average of eight new agencies was created each year. Today, there are estimated 278 agencies in the executive branch. The growth in the capacity of the executive branch is reflected in its output. Each year, federal agencies issue an average 2500 proposed rules and 3000 final rules. Many of these expand and entrench the executive branch. One notable trend in the growth of the bureaucracy is while it has amassed more and more responsibility over time, they have not been increases in staffing. Civilian employment has hovered at approximately 2 million individuals since 1950. This may seem confusing. How is it that the executive branch is accomplishing so much more, without commensurate increases in staffing . A key factor is contractors increasingly perform the work of government when estimate puts the Current Ratio of federal employees to contractors at 1 3. This means in practice, the executive Branch Workforce has grown but in the less visible way. Time thet the same federal bureaucracy has grown, the office of the president has seen a significant expansion in its ability to make policy. In at least three ways. First, president s have increasingly relied on unilateral action to accomplish policy goals. While executive orders receive the lion share of public attention, there are many ways a president can actually act unilaterally. Across this broad class of actions, the trend has been one of consistent over time growth. Second, the president has amassed increased powers with respect to war. Despite congressional attempts to limit unilateral authority in respect to war, the president remains tremendous autonomy when it comes to deploying troops abroad and conducting military operations. Additionally, the president has an increased number of emergency authorities and broad latitude. The president s policymaking advisory and supervisory capabilities have grown. It employs 2000 people. This provides the president with a sophisticated ability to develop new policy and manage the executive branch. My final point is these trends have persisted under both democratic and republican administrations. They can be attributed to numerous factors. First, domestic and International Crises have expanded the reach of the executive branch. When the country is that crisis, there is demand for coordinated National Response and the executive is policy complexity contributes to the aggrandize mint of the executive branches dealing with capable of giving sustained in that attention to heart problems. This means when new issues or problems emerge, the executive branch has often been the one to respond to them. Third, Political Polarization also magnifies the power of the executive branch. When congress does not act, problems do not go away. This means the president or the bureaucracy often steps up to the plate. Going forward, delegation to the executive branch will remain a necessary part of governance. The challenge of confronting this important committee, then, is how to conduct oversight of the executive branch, without stymieing its ability to function. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Dr. Costar, i recognize you for five minutes. Thank you. Thank you chairman kilmer, for holding this hearing and inviting. They just heard from professor potter about the growing scope of the executive branch, and to be sure, there is just no doubt it. It government is widening the expanse of its efforts. Policy is becoming ever more complicated. In my written testimony, eyesight Landmark Education act and the original education act, the education act 1965, was a mere 32 pages long, 40 years later, we have updated that in 2002, the no child left behind act was in the hundreds and hundreds of pages, one sign of government growing. Unfortunately, preponderant to the evidence indicates that capacity has not kept up with the expanse of government. Increasingly, you have an executive branch that is not much directed to the legislative branch and that creates accountability troubles. As noted in my written testimony, there are factors of congressional testimony that we dont have time to cover them all. Asked to focus on one, people. The people whose efforts produce governance, to focus on legislative staff, and support agencies. The trends since the 1980s are troubling. The number of total Congressional Staff have declined. The number of Committee Staff have declined. The percentage of personal staff working in d. C. Has gone down. Doingrcentage of staff vocational work as opposed to policy work has grown. The number of staff working for the legislative Branch Support. Gencies also has gone down governance gets bigger and bigger, but the number of people who can help out with it within the legislative branch has contracted. Trends also merit mentioning with regard to staff. Congressional staff salaries have been stagnant for many years and we know the price of living in the area has skyrocketed. The result of the stagnation has been predictable. There is significant turnover among staff, folks who are here every day of the week, trying to help you all govern. Committees in the house and senate saw an annual turnover rate of 21 in 2017. Thats a big number, and when we surveyed staff two summers ago about their plans for the future, more than two thirds said they were working to get out of congress within five years. And where are the staff going . Not surprisingly, to other more lucrative positions. One of which is lobbying. Its a second troubling trend. Percentage of congressional aides who have joined the influence industry has risen, it regularly drains expertise from the legislative branch. Behind all this, is basic fact which the professor alluded to, which is growing government. Congressional need for information to try and understand policy and the various issues you get jammed with every single, day goes up and up every day because operations get bigger, but what do you do . You just triage the situation the best you can. Sometimes you get notforprofit folks or others will who will come and help out. Frequently you have to depend on lobbyists. Lobbyist no doubt have their interests. So to conclude, let me be clear, i am a small government guy. I think our government is too big and is trying to do far too much. I would like to see it spend less, and i am alarmed by our deficits, all that. Nonetheless, i think it is penny wise and patent foolish for congress to skimp on staff. Particularly committee and legislative Branch Support staff. Congress is supposed to be the first branch of government, for governmental action, congress is also the branch of government most accountable to the public for the policy choices our nation makes, which Means Congress needs to grow its capacity to direct government, and also solve public problems. With that, i will end my remarks and i thank you for your my testimony and i would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, doctor. Thank you, chair kilmer and the members of the subcommittee for having this hearing on how to restore congress as a true partner for the executive branch and the judiciary. Im here we are part of the wayne state university, but my views are on behalf of the center itself and not necessarily on behalf of the law school or university. Weve just heard from the first two witnesses about how the executive branch has expanded, in numbers and funding and activities, at the same Time Congress has lost staff. Lost funding, and it is struggling to keep up. The particular thing i was asked to look at is oversight because that is what the senator championed. Bipartisan, factbased oversight. It is a key power of congress, because if you want government, you simply have to have good oversight. And yet when we look at the quality of oversight all the time, it is really very from committee to committee, and across issues. Part of the reason that we just heard is a staffing problem. We have staff that is underpaid, that is fewer in number. It does not have the expertise that you need so that is a real problem. But there is a bigger problem, and that is the whole issue of bipartisanship. I was an investigator for 30 years with the senator and i found if you investigate with somebody whose views match your own, it was operating in an echo chamber. It is only when you investigated with somebody that had a fundamentally different world view, that you started to ask questions. You look at different facts, you interpreted them differently, and you challenged each other about what happened and why. And it is really that important fact based bipartisan operation that has really fallen off, and the testimony that ive given you goes into some of the factors. One of the things that i wanted to mention our for bipartisan recommendations that remain not only by the 11 center but lugar center, government oversight, and american oversight. There are four suggestions on a bipartisan basis that we thought you would like to hear. First of all, legal opinions on issues having to do with oversight. For decades, the department of justice, the office of Legal Counsel has been issuing opinions, directing the federal agencies on how they should respond to requests for information from congress. And it is no surprise that those statements have favored the executive branch. Congress has no comparable from its perspective on how federal agencies oug