T he Office of the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) is responsible "for the operations and care of more than 18.4 million square feet of facilities, 570 acres of grounds and thousands of works of art." This includes the House and Senate office buildings, the Capitol, the Capitol Visitor Center, the Library of Congress buildings, the Supreme Court building, the U.S. Botanic Garden, the Capitol Power Plant, and other facilities. The AOC carries out its bicameral, nonpartisan responsibilities using both its own staff and contracting authority for architectural, engineering, and other professional services. Since 1989, the Architect has been filled through appointment by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, following the forwarding of recommendations to the President from a bicameral commission consisting of Members of Congress. The Architect is appointed for a 10-year term and may be reappointed. The position was vacant for more than three years following the retirement of Alan Hantman on February 4, 2007. On February 24, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Stephen T. Ayers, who had been serving in an acting capacity during the vacancy, to a 10-year term. The nomination was referred to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, which held a hearing on April 15, 2010. The Senators in attendance at the hearing praised Mr. Ayers and congratulated him on the nomination. Mr. Ayers was confirmed by voice vote in the Senate on May 12, 2010. Mr. Ayers announced his intention to retire on November 23, 2018. Upon his retirement, Christine Merdon, the Deputy Architect of the Capitol/Chief Operating Officer, became the Acting Architect of the Capitol. The appointment of the Architect has been a subject of periodic consideration for at least 60 years. It is a topic that has received increased attention during periods in which there has been a vacancy in the position and periods of congressional dissatisfaction with either the work of the incumbent or the involvement of the President in what some Members view as an internal legislative branch matter. This report discusses the history of the selection of the Architect and recent legislation. For additional information and a comparison of appointments in the legislative branch, see CRS Report R42072, Legislative Branch Agency Appointments: History, Processes, and Recent Actions , by Ida A. Brudnick. The Architect is "appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate for a term of 10 years." This procedure was established by the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 1990, which also created a congressional commission responsible for recommending at least three individuals to the President for the position of Architect of the Capitol. The commission originally consisted of 10 Members (including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore of the Senate, the majority and minority leaders o f the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the chairs and the ranking minority members of the Committee on House Administration of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate). In considering the FY1990 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, the Senate Appropriations Committee proposed revising the process by having the President nominate the Architect for a 10-year term, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate. Previously, the position did not require Senate confirmation. In the report accompanying H.R. 3014 , the Senate Appropriations Committee stated the following: These changes will conform the process of the appointment of the Architect more closely to the appointment procedure followed for other officers of similar stature. The Committee believes this will accord proper recognition to the importance of the functions of this office and help to promote greater accountability in their performance. During the brief Senate debate on the provision, Senator Harry Reid, then-chairman of the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, declared that the committee's amendment "better reflects the institutional status of the Architect as an officer of the legislative branch and should make the lines of accountability in the performance of his duties much less ambiguous." Senator Don Nickles, then-ranking member of the subcommittee, noted the fixed term of the Architect would be similar to that of the Comptroller General, who is appointed for a single 15-year term. The legislative history does not appear to indicate why the shorter term was chosen for the Architect. In conference, House and Senate negotiators agreed to a compromise that reflected the absence in the Senate proposal of any formal role for the House in the selection of a future Architect. The compromise expanded the Senate's language by providing for a bicameral congressional advisory commission. The conference report does not provide additional information on this decision or any other options considered. The compromise was accepted in both houses without debate and the measure was signed into law on November 21, 1989. The commission was expanded in 1995 to include the chairs and ranking minority members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. A commission process is also used for filling vacancies in the position of Comptroller General, who leads the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The commission procedure for GAO, which also calls for a recommendation to the President of at least three individuals, was established in 1980. Prior to 1989, the Architect was selected by the President for an unlimited term without any formal involvement of Congress. Paul Rundquist, congressional scholar and former specialist at the Congressional Research Service, noted in testimony before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee in 1996 that "the fact that the Architect of the Capitol was a congressional agent nominated by the President without confirmation by the Senate does not seem to have troubled Congress until recent years." Bills related to the qualifications and appointment of the Architect have been periodically introduced since at least the 1950s; however, little action was taken on these proposals until the 1980s. Appendix A provides information on these bills. Bills proposing a new appointment process have taken various approaches. Two changes ultimately enacted include requiring the advice and consent of the Senate and establishing a commission to recommend names to the President. Other bills proposed making the Architect a congressional appointee. These included proposals to make the Architect subject to a joint appointment by the Speaker and President pro tempore; alternating appointment between the Speaker and President pro tempore; and a commission of Members recommending candidates to the Speaker and President pro tempore, with ratification by the chambers. The introduced bills also varyingly addressed the term of office, eligibility for reappointment, procedure for removal, and procedures following early vacancies. Whereas some of these bills focused only on the Architect, many of the bills introduced from the early 1970s forward also addressed the appointment of the other presidential appointees in the legislative branch, including the Librarian of Congress, the Comptroller General and the Deputy Comptroller, and the Public Printer. Questions have previously been raised about the authority of Congress to vest itself, or more specifically congressional leadership, with the power to appoint the Architect. These questions generally relate to whether the AOC's nonlegislative functions—including facility responsibilities for the Supreme Court and the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building and membership on several nonlegislative governing or advisory bodies —make the Architect an "Officer of the United States" such that his or her appointment cannot be made by Congress consistent with the requirements of the Appointments Clause (Clause) of the Constitution. Under the Clause, "officers of the United States," defined primarily as officials that exercise "significant authority" in a "continuing" office, must either be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, or, in the case of "inferior officers," by the "President alone, [] the Courts of Law, or [] the Heads of Departments." Whether the functions and responsibilities exercised by a government official rise to the level of "significant authority" is not easily determined. Consistent with this ambiguity, it does not appear that Congress has adopted a uniform interpretation of the Clause's applicability to the Architect. Nonetheless, the executive branch has previously concluded that "functions simply involving the management of governmental property" are generally not considered significant for purposes of the Clause. Thus, to the extent that concerns over congressional appointment of the Architect relate to his management of nonlegislative property, it would appear that such functions may not, on their own, prevent Congress from choosing to retain the power of appointment for itself. Since the enactment of the new procedure in 1989, a few bills have been introduced to change the process of appointing the Architect. These proposals would shift the Architect appointment responsibility from the President to specified Members of Congress. As with earlier bills, statements in the Congressional Record by bill sponsors have cited an interest in using the appointment process to protect the prerogatives of, and ensure accountability to, the legislative branch. Some discussions also have addressed the appropriate role of the House of Representatives, which does not play a formal role in the confirmation of presidential nominees. The only change enacted since 1989, as stated above, occurred in 1995, when the commission charged with recommending names to the President expanded to include the chairs and ranking minority members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Table 1 compares the Members involved in appointment under current law and bills introduced since the 1989 act. During the 109 th Congress, one bill ( H.R. 4446 ) was introduced to establish a uniform appointment process and 10-year term of service for the Architect, the Comptroller General, and the Librarian of Congress. This proposal provided for joint appointment by four Members, including the Speaker, the majority leader of the Senate, and the minority leaders of the House of Representatives and Senate. No further action was taken. A bill ( H.R. 6656 ), which would provide for a 12-member congressional appointing panel, was introduced in the 110 th Congress and referred to two committees, although no further action was taken. In the 111 th Congress, two measures ( H.R. 2185 and H.R.