U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

35–239 WASHINGTON : 2019

S. HRG. 115–614 

OVERSIGHT OF THE ARCHITECT OF THE 

CAPITOL’S HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON RULES AND 

ADMINISTRATION 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

DECEMBER 6, 2018 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Rules and Administration 

( 

Available on http://www.govinfo.gov 


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COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION 

SECOND SESSION 

ROY BLUNT, Missouri, Chairman 

MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky 

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee 

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas 

RICHARD SHELBY, Alabama 

TED CRUZ, Texas 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

ROGER WICKER, Mississippi 

DEB FISCHER, Nebraska 

CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi 

AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

MARK R. WARNER, Virginia 

PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont 

ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine 

CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada 

FITZHUGH ELDER IV, Staff Director 

ELIZABETH PELUSO, Democratic Staff Director 


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C O N T E N T S 

Pages 

OPENING STATEMENT OF: 

Hon. Roy Blunt, Chairman, a U.S. Senator from the State of Missouri ............. 1 

Hon. Amy Klobuchar, a U.S. Senator from the State of Minnesota .................... 2 

Statement of Christine Merdon, Acting Architect of The Capitol, Washington, 

DC .......................................................................................................................... 3 

PREPARED STATEMENTS OF: 

Christine Merdon, Acting Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC ................. 17 

QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD: 

Hon. Roy Blunt, a U.S. Senator from Missouri to Christine Merdon, Acting 

Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC .......................................................... 21 


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OVERSIGHT OF THE ARCHITECT OF THE 

CAPITOL’S HUMAN RESOURCES POLICIES 

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018 

UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION, Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 11:07 a.m., in Room 

SR–301, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Roy Blunt, Chairman 

of the committee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Blunt, Capito, Wicker, Fischer, Klobuchar, 

Cortez Masto. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HONORABLE ROY BLUNT, 

CHAIRMAN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI 

Chairman BLUNT. Well, good morning. 

We have a couple of other members coming, but it does not get 

in the way of what we want to do. While my opening remarks are 

riveting, I wanted them to be—to have as many people here, Christine, to hear your opening remarks and that is what we have been 

waiting on. But we are pleased to have you with us today, Christine Merdon, the Acting Architect of the Capitol, testifying on behalf of the Architect of the Capitol. 

But before I say anything more, I would like to recognize the 

great work that the staff did over the last few days, getting ready 

for and doing a great job, administering and everything that had 

to be done with President Bush lying in state—Mark Reed, the Superintendent of the Capitol, Takis Tzamaras, the Superintendent of 

the Senate side of building. Particularly, I want to be mentioning 

the work you and your team did. It was well handled and, you 

know, the big things, I think, that we do here do not seem to cause 

some of the questions maybe of just not asking enough things over 

a long period of time about the other things that we do. 

This is the first of the series of hearings we intend to have in 

the next 2 years, particularly with the organizations like the 

Smithsonian, and the Library of the Congress, and the Copyright 

Office, that this committee has jurisdiction over. We are going to 

start today with the Architect of the Capitol. This is an agency that 

really covers a lot of ground—in fact, 270 acres of ground. The Architect of the Capitol team is responsible for 18.4 million square 

feet of buildings that the AOC is entrusted to operate and maintain 

as a place of business for the legislative branch and really a destination for millions of people each year. 

I look forward to discussing the work and management of the 

AOC as we strive to ensure the Capitol and the campus are safe, 


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secure, efficient, and welcoming. I am pleased to be joined by my 

colleague and Ranking Member, Senator Klobuchar. Senator 

Klobuchar, if you have some opening remarks, I will let you do that 

and then we will turn to Acting Architect of the Capitol Merdon. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HONORABLE AMY KLOBUCHAR, A 

UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MINNESOTA 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay, thank you very much, appreciate it. 

The United States Capitol, as we all know, is one of the most 

iconic buildings in the world. Ensuring that this building and all 

the buildings surrounding it are adequately maintained is not only 

important to the people that work here, but also to American history. As Acting Architect of the Capitol, you, Ms. Merdon and your 

staff are responsible for facilities maintenance as well as the operation of the U.S. Capitol, House and Senate office buildings, Library of Congress, U.S. Supreme Court building, and many other 

offsite facilities. 

In case anyone is counting, that adds up to exactly 18.4 million 

square feet of building space and more than 570 acres of land. The 

AOC is doing a lot more than keeping the lights on and a lot of 

this is also protecting our National Treasures, preserving the historic integrity of the Capitol, and it requires a workforce with a 

unique skill set. There are many employees that I think people 

would be surprised that we need, but when you look at the fine 

paintings, we need painters when they need to be repaired or 

touched up. 

I want to thank you for what you are doing and mention that all 

of the employees that work in your operation are very important. 

We look forward to hearing from you and learning what you are 

doing to implement the policies that best serve the AOC staff and 

the Capitol. 

Thank you. 

Chairman BLUNT. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. 

Well, after the 11th Architect of the Capitol, Stephen Ayers, retired in November, his Deputy became the Acting Architect of the 

Capitol, Christine Merdon, is really well prepared for that. In addition to her new role as the Acting Architect of the Capitol, she retains her current position as Deputy Architect and Chief Operating 

Officer, a position that she has held since 2010. 

Prior to joining the AOC in 2010, Ms. Merdon worked in private 

industry as a Project Manager and eventually became the Senior 

Vice-President of Program and Construction Management, working 

on contracts in Washington, DC, Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, 

California. She has been responsible for the successful program and 

construction management of more than $11 billion dollars in major 

project, construction efforts—Washington National Major League 

Baseball Stadium, O’Hare Airport Modernization Program, the Los 

Angeles Unified School District, the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, the Smithsonian Institute for the National Museum of African American History, the Abraham Lincoln and 

Thomas Jefferson Memorial renovations. You come to this with a 

great background of understanding all the things that need to be 

done. What you have done with projects at the White House and 


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Camp David, also an impressive part of what you bring to the role 

as the Acting Architect of the Capitol. 

You know, we are beginning that process of selecting who will be 

the next Architect of the Capitol and frankly, in that interim period 

of time, hopefully with the cooperation of this committee—you are 

in a great position, now that you are Acting you are no longer the 

Deputy, to look at the things that need to be done, that are obvious 

in their need to be done and to make as much headway in those 

issues as we can, between now and the time someone becomes the 

permanent 12th Architect of the Capitol. 

Ms. Merdon, we are glad you are here. I would like to recognize 

you for an opening statement and then we will follow that with 

questions. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF CHRISTINE MERDON, ACTING 

ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, DC 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you, Chairman Blunt. Thank you Ranking 

Member Klobuchar. 

I appreciate you recognizing the great work that the Architect of 

the Capitol team did this week in honoring late President George 

Bush. It is a pleasure to see you again Chairman Blunt and I 

thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to attend the 

freedom award ceremony, which honored the AOC employees as 

well as the CVC’s 10th Anniversary Ceremony. Your participation 

in both events meant a great deal to me and to members of our 

team. My daughter also appreciated your kind and generous 

words—from one parent to another, thank you. 

Chairman Blunt, Ranking Member Klobuchar and members of 

the committee, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you 

this morning in my new role as Acting Architect of the Capitol. 

During my time at the Architect of the Capitol, we have had 

some amazing successes—the restoration of the Dome, Grant Memorial, Russell Courtyard, Brumidi Corridors and much, much 

more. Those successes have paved the way for even greater responsibilities for our agency. We have acquired and now manage additional office space. We are building an expanded campus on Fort 

Meade for the growing library collection and we will add the 

Thurgood Marshall Building to our portfolio by 2024. Furthermore, 

we are exploring opportunities to better serve the space and support needs of the Senate. 

In my new role, I am learning even more about the needs of the 

agency, the needs of Congress and the overall Capitol campus. Let 

me be clear sir, I truly care about the protection of the people of 

our agency, our colleagues throughout the legislative branch and 

constituents from across this great nation. With your input, I plan 

to lean on my previous leadership of iconic national design and construction projects, to ensure a safe and secure Capitol campus. 

At the request of the committee, today I am going to focus on our 

most valuable agency asset, the people of the AOC. The AOC has 

some of the most talented and widely admired craftsmen, tradesmen, artists, architects, engineers and scholars. Our work touches 

almost every person in the Nation in one way or another—whether 

it is through a visit to a Member of Congress’s office in Washington, DC, submitting research questions to our agency online, 


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viewing our facilities as backdrops on the evening news, touring 

our grounds and arboretum and participating in one of our educational programs—our team does a good job of providing service 

and support that Congress and the Supreme Court needs. But 

there are areas that we need to improve. 

Every 2 years, our agency voluntarily participates in the Federal 

Employee Viewpoint Survey, FEVS, administered by the Office of 

Personnel Management. We use these results to measure staff satisfaction. We are busy analyzing the results and feedback, but in 

general, we are committed to continued progress on accountability 

as well as fairness in recognition, advancement and hiring. I look 

forward to reviewing the final analysis of FEVS with the committee 

later this month. 

Over the years, we have earned a well-deserved reputation as an 

agency that ‘‘can-do.’’ We have taken on new responsibilities and 

are committed to meeting ever-increasing workloads. I appreciate 

the committee’s interest in our efforts to attract, empower and retain the very best public servants to support the needs of Congress 

and the Supreme Court so that we can fulfill our legislatively mandated duties. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before the committee. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Merdon was submitted for the 

record.] 

Chairman BLUNT. Well, thank you again. 

I am glad you are here, and you are incredibly well prepared to 

step into the top job of the responsibilities of the Architect of the 

Capitol. Also, after 8 years of the other job, I think you really have, 

again let me say it, a great opportunity to look at what maybe did 

not become the priority. Part of that may be the lack of insistence 

in the Congress that we have the kind of partnership we need to 

have. 

You know, in things like, this week there was a Presidential executive order about when offices were going to be open. That really 

is not the directive that the Architect of the Capitol should follow, 

I think. You should wait, in my view, and decide what the Congress is going to do and that should be more of a determination of 

what the Architect of the Capitol does than what somebody at the 

White House says is the determination for Federal employees. You 

know, this is a different responsibility. I think it is a more significant reporting responsibility, maybe, than the Congress, and the 

Senate has asserted in the past. But I would like to help you make 

this interim period as meaningful as it can be, in terms of getting 

ready for whoever comes next. 

I have some questions about just the human resources—the manual. I am not sure there is one. We have not been able to find one. 

I know there are references to pages in a manual that when you 

ask to see the manual, the manual appears not to be available to 

look at page 757, or whatever other page might be referred. What 

is the status of the personnel manual, and what do you think we 

need to do to meet that requirement—that you have one that is 

available, not just to the Congress, but more importantly to all of 

the employees of the Architect of the Capitol? 


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Ms. MERDON. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much for your 

question on the Human Resources manual. 

Our employees, as I mentioned, are our most important asset. In 

1994, as a result of the Congressional Accountability Act, there was 

a requirement for the AOC to create a Human Resources manual 

and that was created. We did meet all the requirements of the 

Human Resources manual, at that time. Over time, the manual 

has been replaced with policies. The policies actually allow us to 

have more rigor than a manual will, in executing and administering the human resources. So the—— 

Chairman BLUNT. Let me be sure I have that correct. Was there 

a requirement to have a manual in 1994? 

Ms. MERDON. There was a requirement, and we met that but 

over time we have transitioned—— 

Chairman BLUNT. Has that requirement ever been eliminated? 

That you are no longer supposed to have a manual, you are now 

supposed to have policies? 

Ms. MERDON. It has never been eliminated, but we consider our 

collection of over 50 policies to be the manual now. That is available online for all of our employees. 

Chairman BLUNT. Is the manual itself, that the policies reference, available for all your employees? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes. The manual is the policies—they are the policies. 

Chairman BLUNT. There are, no manual any longer, there are 50 

policies? 

Ms. MERDON. Correct. That constitutes our manual now. 

Chairman BLUNT. Do any of those 50 policies reference a manual? 

Ms. MERDON. That is a possibility, and we have an opportunity 

to correct that. To go through those policies to ensure that all the 

appropriate references—you have previously met Theresa Bailey, 

my Chief Human Capitol Officer, and we will ask her. She has actually started looking at our policies to ensure that, number one, 

any changes are needed, and any of those references are reduced, 

or eliminated. 

Chairman BLUNT. Well, I think this is probably going to—we are 

going to have to have more discussion about this but it sounds like 

you are prepared to have that discussion. On the employees themselves, do you loan employees from like the Senate jurisdiction to 

the House jurisdiction? 

Ms. MERDON. Sir we have our opportunities. They are available 

through our Architects Mobility Program for their development opportunities, to send employees from one jurisdiction to another. 

One example of this is, we had a Supreme Court gardener who 

wanted to learn more about horticulture, so we sent that person, 

as part of the Mobility and Advancement Program, to the botanic 

garden—— 

Chairman BLUNT. Okay, I am running out of time. Let me ask 

a question—— 

Ms. MERDON. Sure. 

Chairman BLUNT.—specifically here. I mean this is the Senate 

oversight committee, the Senate Rules committee, so we should 

have particular interest in the Senate. Senator Capito used to chair 


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the legislative branch Appropriations Committee, and she and I are 

both still on the Appropriations Committee. If there are a number 

of—are there a number of employees that you say to the Congress, 

these are the number of employees we need for the Senate side of 

the building? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, sir. 

Chairman BLUNT. Are they all still working on the Senate side 

of the building? 

Ms. MERDON. We have, I think, one or two detailed, as far as the 

Development Program, detailed over to planning a project management. He was a floor care refinisher who was a nighttime worker 

and he achieved his Architect Degree during the day. We have him 

working in Planning and Project Management as a training program. We have, on a very minimal use and all in accordance with 

Appropriations law but very, very minimal—probably single digits—that other employees go to different jurisdictions for a small 

period of time. Some of those are development-training opportunities, as this one floor care refinisher, and we may have an opportunity for somebody to be over at another jurisdiction—but it is 

only for several weeks, and that jurisdiction pays for that employee. We make sure that does not harm the work from the jurisdiction were it comes from. 

Chairman BLUNT. There are not employees we would anticipate 

in the number of employees available, that would be available to 

the Senate Superintendent that are not—this is not information I 

have from the Senate Superintendent. He is sitting right behind 

you. I am giving you an example. There are not employees who we 

believe would be available to the Senate Superintendent, that those 

positions have effectively been transferred to the House side of the 

building without any sign off from either the appropriating or the 

oversight committee? 

Ms. MERDON. Not—there are—currently I do not believe there is 

anybody in the House. We did have a need for a painter, occasionally was searched, but those are very temporary. To my understanding, the oversight or appropriations does not sign off on it, but 

we are required to notify you now when that happens. 

Chairman BLUNT. There is probably time for a second round of 

questions. We do have a vote at noon, so that is probably good 

news if you are the witness. But, we will try to move along here. 

Senator Klobuchar. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Thank you very much. Thank you. Since 

2010 you have served as Deputy Architect of the Capitol, as we 

talked about. What are your top priorities as the Acting Architect 

in the coming months as we work to appoint a new Architect and 

what are the biggest opportunities you see in the short term for improvement, and then maybe in long term? 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you very much for asking that question, 

Senator. My top three priorities are people, projects and preservation—taking care of our people at the Architect of the Capitol. I 

have some of the best, most talented tradesmen, craftsmen, engineers as I mentioned here. Projects—we have quite a workload of 

projects and making sure that we are executing them on time and 

under budget, is a priority—and also making sure with preservation that we preserve these treasures for us, for our grandchildren 


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and our great-grandchildren. Those are my two top—three top priorities. I think we have some opportunity in some of our—we just 

received our FEVS survey. I think that gives us a lot of opportunity 

to say where can we make improvements, and I am looking forward to meeting with your staff to discuss those opportunities. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay, thank you. What—since you have 

taken over as Acting Architect, in the short period of time you have 

proposed some changes to personnel structure, including the addition of new senior level positions. Why do you think these are necessary, and why should they be done now instead of when a new 

Architect comes in? 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you for the question ma’am. The last—it 

took several years to get a new Architect last time, but I commend 

your staffs in working very diligently and hard. I understand they 

are moving very fast and I think that is great. I think we are facing challenges in the agency. We have more buildings. We are doubling the size of Fort Meade in the next few years with the different modules that are coming. We have expanding role, expanding campus. As I mentioned, in 2024, the Thurgood Marshall, 

which is a judicial building, will become ours. I think being able 

to address those challenges and ensure accountability, having a 

need for more people to provide that accountability. The Chief Operating Officer’s direct reports go from 14 to 17. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay. It has been more than 2 years since 

the Department of Labor determined that Restaurant Associates 

owed more than a million in unpaid wages to workers. Since then, 

the Senate’s Superintendent Office has implemented a number of 

initiatives that are designed to ensure that Restaurant Associates 

complies with the Service Contract Act and other wage and labor 

laws. Do you commit to continuing the procedures in place to ensure workers are paid the wages they earn and will you commit to 

closely monitor wage and other data to ensure compliance? 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you very much for that question. I worked 

very closely with Senator Blunt’s staff at the renewal of that contract, and I think they did a wonderful job. It was a pleasure to 

work with—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. You can say yes or no, because then—— 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, yes. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay, great. Like many Federal employers, 

the AOC hires annuitance, who are retired Federal employees covered by Federal retirement plans. AOC policy states that rehired 

annuitants can only be reemployed for 13 months at a time. As 

part of their reemployment, their pay is reduced by the amount of 

retirement annuity they receive. However, rehired annuitants can 

be granted a waiver that allows them to receive a full salary in addition to their retirement annuity. The waiver is only supposed to 

be used in emergency circumstances, as you know. Data provided 

to our committee indicates that many rehired employees stay beyond their allowed 13-month terms. 5 out of 11 employees under 

reemployed annuitance status have served for 7 years or more. Can 

you explain the AOC’s use of rehired annuitants and discuss what 

effect you think it has on employees seeking to be promoted within 

the agency? I guess you could add to this later, how many have reVerDate Mar 15 2010 10:23 May 22, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\USERS\EHRULES\DOCUMENTS\35239.TXT 35239

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ceived a waiver to be paid a full salary in addition to their retirement annuity? 

Ms. MERDON. We use rehired annuitance for emergency situations. Also for their institutional knowledge or if there is a risk to 

the agency if a loss of information—so we take a look at all those 

before we make a decision on a rehired annuitant. In 2015—I understand your concerns—we looked at the Rehired Annuitant Program because we had rehired annuitance on there for many, many 

years and that is when we instituted the temporary employee, part 

of that rehired annuitants. I do believe that there is opportunity 

to strengthen that, rehired annuitance, as well as take a look at 

our better succession planning for the agency. I am committed to 

do that in the interim because I think that is an opportunity for 

employee—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. So it is a 7 year emergency? It just seems 

like you could maybe develop an employee within the agency to 

take something over instead of saying there is a 7-year emergency 

related to a certain position. 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, ma’am. I agree, but as you noted, some of the 

employees are permanent and some of them are temporary. During 

the transition in 2015, if they were a permanent employee, it would 

have been an adverse action to convert them to a temporary employee. That is why a number of them are permanent. But I agree 

with you fully. There is opportunity to make changes and better 

succession planning. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay, thank you. 

Chairman BLUNT. Senator Cortez Masto. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking 

Member. I understand that you have 2,300 individuals working for 

you, is that FTE’s? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, ma’am. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Okay. How many of those—and I may 

be wrong, just looking at the numbers that I have seen. Senator 

Klobuchar was talking about annuitants—I count 68, is that about 

right? 

Ms. MERDON. 11. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. There are only 11 annuitants working 

for you right now? 

Ms. MERDON. Correct. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Okay. Of the 2,300 FTEs—how many, 

actually, positions do you have that are vacant right now? 

Ms. MERDON. I would have to get back to you on that ma’am. 

Ma’am I do not know the absolute answer at this time. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Okay. I am a big proponent of diversity. 

I think our government should mirror, in our workforce, the diversity we see in our community. Can you talk a little bit about maybe 

what you are doing in the recruitment and hiring when it comes 

diversity and diversity programs within the AOC? 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you. I appreciate it very much. Ma’am, diversity is also very, very important to me. It is very important to 

the agency. In the hiring, we ensure that we advertise the positions 

on USA jobs, but we also reach out to other organizations such as 

the National Society of Black Engineers, Women and Construction, 

to make sure that they are notified of the positions too. 


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Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Okay, thank you. Can I jump back just 

to your positions. Again, I noticed, it looks like in Fiscal Year ‘18 

your budget was about $712 million. In Fiscal Year ‘19, we have 

$733 million, how much of that is actual salaries and benefits? 

Ms. MERDON. I am going to have to get to you the exact number, 

but I know our Line Item Construction Program is about 250. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Okay. If you could break down for me— 

and we will pull that, and we will work with you—I am curious 

about the budget and the break down—— 

Ms. MERDON. Sure. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. How much goes to Capitol projects. How 

much goes to staff. Traditionally, I am just familiar with the budget, most of it goes to salaries and benefits—— 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, ma’am. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO.—that is the nature of how we get things 

done in our Government. With respect to the diversity piece of it, 

besides diversity, what type of developmental programs do you 

have for employees to work on, to improve, to be able to promote, 

to be able to learn new skills throughout the Capitol? 

Ms. MERDON. I appreciate the questions because I think training 

is very important. We like to grow people in the Architect of the 

Capitol. From a wage-grades perspective, say a labor position, we 

have the AMP Program, Architects Mobility Program, and ExCEL 

Program where employees can be detailed to other organizations, 

or within their own organization for a short period of time so they 

can have more exposure to a trade. AMP Program we are actually—is more of an apprentice program. As I mentioned before, we 

have taken an employee here. She was an AMP employee, and she 

became the first female mason that we have—now she works for 

the Library of Congress. We also have required training as with 

safety. All of our employees are required to have training. We have 

a standard training. We have career coaching, that we have for our 

employees and our HCMD, our Human Capital organization, and 

we also have leadership training. We partner with the Fellows Program, the Government’s Fellows Program, and send our future 

leaders to that program. We are looking at various levels of training and development. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Then, can you address sexual harassment in the workforce and how you address the need for training, 

and to stop it and prevent that from happening? 

Ms. MERDON. Absolutely. We take that training, prevention of 

sexual harassment, very seriously. In the last couple of years, we 

have moved from offering the training every other year to every 

year, and 100 percent of our employees are trained on the prevention of sexual harassment. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Okay. Then I am also curious about the 

annuitants and long-term. I completely understand that sometimes 

when you lose a position, a person in a position—they are uniquely 

qualified. They have the only area of expertise so you want to keep 

them on for a short period of time, but beyond that 13-month then 

you have got to question, what is going with your succession planning and your capacity building for the future? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, ma’am. I agree. 


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Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Whenever you are providing a background, I would be curious to see that as well, and how you are 

addressing that. 

Ms. MERDON. We will be pleased to do that. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Okay. 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you, ma’am. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Then a little bit—I know you know this 

and you were talking about the food service workers here and restaurants that we have. Unfortunately, there was a Presidential directive terminating Temporary Protective Status and a number of 

the employees that I have met here that work in our restaurants 

and food service, some of them have TPS and have concerns. Are 

you aware of that, and what are you doing, if anything, to alleviate, 

or work with them, or talk with them about their concerns every 

day? 

Ms. MERDON. We work very closely with the employees, and we 

work with the contractor Restaurant Associates, but I will be committed to doing a deeper dive on that request and looking at the 

employees concerns. 

Senator CORTEZ MASTO. Okay, thank you. I noticed my time is 

up. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman BLUNT. Thank you. Senator Capito. 

Senator CAPITO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you for being here and thank you for your service to the 

Architect or to the Capitol in general and our community—I appreciate that. I want to build on something that Senator Cortez Masto 

brought forward. She asked about sexual harassment. I think all 

the four of us who are in here, the Senators here, have worked on 

legislation that would improve the process for dealing with sexual 

harassment or harassment in general. But according to the OOC, 

which is the Office of Compliance, of the 47 newly filed requests 

for counseling that arrived in that office, 21 of those, or 45 percent 

of those, where from AOC employees—I am sure you are aware of 

this. Not all of these were workplace harassment. They were—some 

were for alleged violations of other provisions of the Congressional 

Accountability Act. Since Fiscal Year 2013, more new OOC filings 

have come from the AOC employees than from any other legislative 

branch. I was wondering how you can explain that. You sort of answered a little bit in the question moving forward in terms of training, is this—I am certain it is a red flag for you—how are you addressing this? 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you for the question Senator Capito. It is 

a concern for us, and one of the reasons we began the training 

every year, in lieu of every other year, was to focus on eliminating 

that. We also encourage our employees. If they are not getting 

something resolved in their own organization, we have avenues of 

assistance. Avenues of assistance are DIDR, Diversity Inclusion 

Dispute Resolution, is one of them. The Office of Compliance is another avenue that we encourage people, if they are not getting resolution. But we encourage them to work through us first—but if 

they choose to go to the Office of Compliance. We also are looking— 

we met recently, about 2 months ago, with the Office of Compliance 

to start discussions about how we can even do better, and we are 

committed to starting an anonymous hotline at the beginning of 


RULES-408278 with DISTILLER
11 

the year, so our employees have a safe, anonymous place to go to 

report harassment. 

Senator CAPITO. You are going to be doing that? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, ma’am. 

Senator CAPITO. Within your agency? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, ma’am. 

Senator CAPITO. Let me ask you just quickly, what kind of turnover do you have with the 2,300 employees’ Do people come and 

stay? 

Ms. MERDON. Our employees do come and stay. I’ll have to get 

back to you—— 

Senator CAPITO. Well, just generally—— 

Ms. MERDON. I mean we just celebrated our employees who have 

stayed 20, 25 years. We even had an employee that has been here 

for 45 years—— 

Senator CAPITO. Right. 

Ms. MERDON That is not uncommon. Our employees do stay. 

They like working here. They like the agency. 

Senator CAPITO. Well, yes. I mean the ones that I have had the 

privilege of meeting have been, a lot of them, a long time. I want 

to thank them because they do a lot of great work around the— 

around this—within your purview. Another question, I was the appropriator for the legislative branch. One of the things that really 

used to get under my skin, and I think the former Architect of the 

Capitol knows this, is the Reprogramming Request, where you 

would come to me, that we want to reprogram $7 million dollars 

for another project. Are you working to eliminate the Reprogramming Request because to me, I view it as a kind of a duck-andcover on the budgeting process—in other words, I am going to go 

heavy on this part, maybe it is employees or something else, when 

I know I might need it over here. What would your response be? 

Are you doing Reprogramming Requests this year or have you done 

them last year, last summer, as we were moving into the end of 

the fiscal year? 

Ms. MERDON. I would like to get back to you on that. I know we 

do Reprogramming Requests but I think we—by increasing accountability about how we spend our money in the jurisdictions, to 

ensure they are spending the money appropriately, we can reduce 

the reprogramming. 

Senator CAPITO. I would encourage that because, again, I think 

it is a bit of a duck-and-cover. The other question that I wanted 

to ask was, when I was legislating, when I was head of the legislative branch Appropriations, you were just embarking on the Russell renovation. I would like to have—can you give me a little bit 

of the status report on that. The garage and also, I know the scaffolding has been taken down on the Union Station side, which is 

my side—— 

[Laughter.] 

Senator CAPITO But where are we moving on that? 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you and I am sure you’re glad the scaffolding—— 

Senator CAPITO. Yes, I am glad. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator CAPITO. I can finally see the daylight. It is wonderful. 


RULES-408278 with DISTILLER
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Ms. MERDON. Thank you. The first phase has been completed 

and we are starting the second phase—— 

Senator CAPITO. Which—what second phase? Is it other sides of 

the building? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes. They are beginning the scaffolding on that 

phase. Regarding the Senate underground garage, if you do not 

mind, I would be happy to get back to you on the update of the—— 

Senator CAPITO. Yes, and I believe that includes the Plaza that 

is over top of the garage as well. I think the repair that is doing 

on that, on the Russell garage, had not been repaired for—— 

Ms. MERDON. Long time. 

Senator CAPITO Many, many years. 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, ma’am. 

Senator CAPITO. Yes, because you can sort of see where—but, so 

thank you for what you are doing and thank you for being here 

today. 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you for your support on this committee and 

the Appropriations, ma’am. 

Senator CAPITO. Thank you. 

Chairman BLUNT. Well, to follow-up on a couple of things that 

have been mentioned already, I would mention to my colleagues, 

Senator Klobuchar and I have sent a letter to the Inspector General asking the IG to look at the reports on harassment in the AOC 

and the high percentage of concern we have there. Also in the survey, the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, on a number of 

issues, it was of concern—the survey in 2018 was better in all categories than the survey in 2017. But in the hiring and promotion 

area, just continues to remain conspicuously low. I think less than, 

slightly less than half of your employees thought that the hiring 

promotion was something that they should not be concerned about. 

I do not know how much of that has to do with Senator Klobuchar’s 

point and others that have been made of when you keep bringing 

people back, it certainly makes it hard for the promotion part of 

that to work, as well as you would think it should. That and the 

fact—the pay scales, how many different pay scales there are? I am 

going to have some more detailed questions in writing about both 

of those issues, but they continue to be a concern to people. 

[The information referred to was submitted for the record.] 

Chairman BLUNT. Now, you know, employee surveys are sometimes just that and you have to read some things into them. But 

by comparison, there are more concerns with the AOC on these topics than there are in most other places in the Capitol Hill community. Let us see if we can figure why that is, and what kinds of 

steps are being taken to do more about that. Senator Klobuchar, 

do you have any questions? 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Yes. I had one more question. That is—so, 

when you answered the question of Senator Cortez Masto, you said 

there were 11 of these. Were those just the permanent ones? Does 

that include—— 

Ms. MERDON. Permanent and temporary. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Permanent and temporary. There is only 11 

that are getting retirement plus salaries? 

Ms. MERDON. Not all of them get the retirement plus salary. 

There is only 7 out of the 11 that get the retirement plus the salVerDate Mar 15 2010 10:23 May 22, 2019 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\USERS\EHRULES\DOCUMENTS\35239.TXT 35239

RULES-408278 with DISTILLER
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ary, the rest do not. We will potentially be bringing on just a few 

more during the Senate moves, as we typically do to handle the 

painting, and then are here for a month or two and then they 

leave. We—you know, because they know the buildings. They know 

the agency. We bring them for, you know, very short, fast—— 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Do you what in the past—was that about 

average that you had like 10 to 15 or were there more sometimes? 

Ms. MERDON. I think it is about 10 to 15. Right now it is 11, currently today, and 7 do receive the salary and the retirement, the 

rest do not. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Maybe you answered this question, but positions deemed temporary—did Senator Blunt or anyone ask you 

about this? This says they are exempted from the policies described 

in the AOC’s career staffing plan including a competitive hiring 

process. Yet no defying time limit exist for temporary positions. 

This is a little different than the annuitance, right? 

Ms. MERDON. Correct. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. When do you think a temporary position 

should no longer be considered temporary? 

Ms. MERDON. A position that is temporary should no longer be 

considered temporary—it varies. Sometime, if there is a skill set 

that is needed, say, in our construction division—like a plaster who 

is very difficult to find in these days, and especially due to the market—we may keep that person longer. But if it is a temporary person who we do not have the funding for or the work for—you know, 

we always make sure that the temporary gets paid for by funds— 

and it is a skill set that we do not need, that person will be, you 

know, notified for 2 weeks and then told that their services are not 

needed anymore. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Then how many AOC employees are currently considered to be in temporary positions? 

Ms. MERDON. I will need to be able to get back to you on the 

exact number because there are temporary employees in these jurisdictions—small numbers—but there are temporary employees 

throughout the agency. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay. Then finally, the AOC’s Career Staffing Plan says that the AOC can use supplemental methods to reach 

a diverse pool of potential applicants including posting vacancy announcements in newspapers, professional trade publications, outreach, how often are these supplemental methods utilized? 

Ms. MERDON. I believe almost all the time but I will confirm 

that. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay. 

Ms. MERDON. We also have a partnership with the Phelps High 

School in DC and we also hire some of the students at that architecture, STEM students, in our agency during the summertime 

also. 

Senator KLOBUCHAR. Okay, thank you very much. 

Ms. MERDON. You are welcome, ma’am. 

Chairman BLUNT. Just an update on a couple of projects. Senator 

Capito asked about the Russell window project, how far behind is 

that project based on where you would hope to have been by this 

point? 


RULES-408278 with DISTILLER
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Ms. MERDON. I will have to get back to you on that, sir. Right 

now, I was very engaged in it over the earlier part of the year, with 

the executives from the contractor. But I will ask the Senate Superintendent to provide me an update on that. 

[The information referred to was submitted for the record.] 

Chairman BLUNT. I would also like a sense of the additional cost 

because of that overrun of time on scaffolding and other things. 

Was the subcontractor problem there, has that been solved? Where 

the subcontractor could not handle the volume of windows that 

they were being sent? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes, sir. 

Chairman BLUNT. How was that solved? 

Ms. MERDON. That was solved by the executives from the prime 

contractor getting involved, replacing some of the staff—their own 

staff on that job—and also working with the subcontractor to develop more efficient means to prepare the windows for delivery. I 

think working with our team, subcontractor and the contractor— 

they were able to resolve that. 

Chairman BLUNT. Okay. I would like to know how far behind the 

original proposed schedule you are? 

Ms. MERDON. Sure. 

Chairman BLUNT. What the additional cost has been because of 

the scaffolding rental and all that lasted so much longer, at least 

on one side of building than anybody anticipated. Do we feel like 

we got that solved to the point that it will not happen three other 

times on the three other sides of the building that you are going 

to be working on. On the Russell garage, is there a timeline for 

that? 

Ms. MERDON. We will be able to provide that to you also. For the 

Russell garage—— 

Chairman BLUNT. Does anybody here with you know what that 

proposed timeline is? 

Ms. MERDON Will be able to provide that? 

Chairman BLUNT. Russell garage caucus, do you have—— 

Ms. MERDON. It is scheduled to be completed before inauguration. 

Chairman BLUNT. Before inauguration? 

Ms. MERDON. Yes. 

Chairman BLUNT. A little over 2 years. Well, I think—we are 

glad you are here—— 

Ms. MERDON. I am glad I am here too. 

Chairman BLUNT. Glad we started this conversation. Glad that 

both you and your team know that we are interested and it will 

not be the only one of these oversight hearings we will have. But 

I think Senator Klobuchar and I are both committed to have you 

here. To have the Smithsonian Institute here, to talk about what 

they are doing—to have the Library of Congress here. In terms of 

just impact on our daily life, it is hard to find anybody that has 

more impact on our daily life than those areas under your responsibility. I think we can do a better job as partners in that. I want 

to thank you and your colleagues for joining us today, as well as 

my colleagues that were able to be here. The record will remain 

open until Thursday, December 13th at 5 p.m. for additional questions for Senators to submit. We will get those to you as they come 


RULES-408278 with DISTILLER
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in, and I would expect you and your staff to respond to those questions by December the 20th. Thank you all and the hearing is adjourned. 

Ms. MERDON. Thank you, sir. 

[Whereupon, at 11:51 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 


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