Committee. Secretary bunche outlines his priorities for the institution and efforts to reduce the maintenance backlog and comments on public, private partnerships is with sony and funding and the challenges for the National Latino museum. From earlier this month this is about 50 minutes. The committee on rules and administration will be called to order pretty good morning. I want to thank my colleagues for attending and before i can thank the secretary for bringing some of their great collection for us to look at but mr. Secretary, we are glad to have you and several people from your team here to back you up if you need it but im confident you will be able to be the man at that microphone they are. This is your First Official appearance before the Senate Rules Committee and we are grateful to have you with us. Secretary bunches appointment is historic in a number of ways in the first africanamerican secretary to lead the Smithsonian Institution as well as the first Museum Director who has been later appointed secretary and round 75 years and it is a historian and something i enjoy and he really understands so its a great commendation and this is the fourth position that the secretary bunche has had at the smithsonian and something i dont believe your predecessors could claim in 1978 secretary bunche began his smithsonian career at the national air and space museum as an education specialist. Eleven years later he joined the National Museum of American History and he most recently served as a founding director of the National Museum of africanAmerican History and culture and as a founding director he led an 11 year effort in constructing that 400,000 squarefoot museum in helping raise the matching Public Private funds and came up with the museum that tells and agreeably powerful story of that part of our history and in fact a lot of our history. Congress established the smithsonian in 1846 by a british scientist James Smithson who never visited the United States but generously left is a state the United States government to found, quote an establishment for the increase in confusion of knowledge that ends the quote from mr. Smithsons will. Now we are almost 175 years later the smithsonian encompasses 19 museum and galleries and Numerous Research and educational facilities and the national zoo and a growing collection of 155 million objects and specimens and secretary bunches years of experience at the smithsonian truly do provide the unique perspective between the future of the smithsonian and is the newly invested secretary who has inherited the response for this vast, unique en masse collection the secretary also inherited the institutions challenges and the aging facilities and the deferred maintenance and a billion dollars and that will be one of the topics we talk about today the smithsonian doubled the Square Footage and last two days will funding are meant essentially flat that will not produce a good result while doubling added incredible and what the americans count on this most sony and for added a burden we have not been willing to meet and thats one of the things we want to talk to the secondary about today and one of the things he sees as one of his great responsibilities when the secretary started his job we were in the middle of a five Year Strategic Plan or at least and implementing a fiveYear Strategic Plan greeted by his predecessor and we want to discuss with the sec. His thoughts on that plan and his vision on how it needs to change as we look now at the reality of many of the obligations and opportunities that are out there before us. Mr. Secretary, were glad youre here and i will call on todays Ranking Member my good friend senator udall for any comments you would like to make. Thank you very much, chairman blunt. Thank you for those nice words and introduction there. Great to be with you. You are a good friend and we enjoy looking at the display there, i think. I am very pleased to be here this morning to discuss the Smithsonian Institution and its programs and to welcome its new secretary, lonnie bunche. I am also proud to have the chance to oversee the institution as a member of the rules committee here and as the Ranking Member of the subcommittee. In both roles i were to make sure congress is an active partner with the Smithsonian Institution and provides the resources it needs to meet the applications to advance specific Educational Scientific and artistic life of this nation. I cant say i am here sometimes on weekends and my wife and i go to many of your museums and its a marvelous display for americans about so many important issues in American Life and issues around the world. I am proud that the Senate Interior subcommittee has worked to advance an appropriations bill to provide more than 1 million. This also includes new funding increases for security, Facilities Maintenance and 1. 7 million in new funding for the Latino Center. I look forward to producing a final bill that will give the institution a strong budget for fiscal year 2020. I welcome the chance to talk about the opportunities and the challenges of the and supporting the work of the smithsonian it is doing here this morning. We all know the smithsonian requires Real Investment to keep its existing museums operating and to expand its collections to tell the story of all americans and to support the reach of its research and Educational Programs across the country. In particular i expect we will hear this morning about the importance of congress committing the resources needed to meet the institutes institutions maintenance and capital needs. Capital requirements clearly need to be a priority and we have that opportunity to celebrate the history and Latino Community that we would recognize and celebrate our nations diverse heritage and whose authorization legislation enjoys broad bipartisan support. In my view, congress should do both things support existing infrastructure and provide an exciting opportunity for the smithsonian to expand its footprint to include these new museums and i look forward to hearing from the secretary this morning as we talk about each of these priorities. Thank you for being here and i would yield back to the chairm chairman. Thank you, senator. Secretary bunche your written statement only with part of the record but i like for you to have a few minutes to talk about as much of that or all of that as you want to. Thank you very much for chairman blunts, senator udall, a result committee thank you for the opportunity to testify today and as you mentioned my tenure at the 14 secretary of the smithsonian began just this summer pete however my relationship with the smithsonian spans many generations. I am pleased and humbled to be the secretary of this institution that i love so much and the smithsonian appreciates the ongoing support of congress, administration of the American People and we take seriously the role we play in advancing the specific educational scientists and artistic life of the nation. Representing an incredible scope and depth of artistic historical cultural and scientific achievement. We are an internationally respected scientific and Cultural Institution at the cuttingedge research in many disciplines. Our 21 libraries collectively form one of the worlds greatest suppositories of knowledge. We have asked extensive array of educational material that learners of all ages can access online or in classrooms within our museums. The smithsonian buildings host millions of visitors every year. Our facilities provide the Foundation Upon which we build our programs, exhibitions, research and scholarship. We have been as successful to maintain Building Systems well beyond their intended life like we done with the air and space museum but the truth is with the deferred attendance backlog of nearly 1 million there is much work to be done. All of our sites the with the museums, research galleries, the zoo in addition to the leeds bases we must care for over 13. 9 million square feet of buildings. With the backlog of maintenance issues we have been reacting to problems instead of proactively maintaining our assets. Since becoming secretary i looked at the backlog with fresh eyes and in order to be more strategic in our approach i have asked and directed the staff to begin analyzing projects in a new way. Rather than simply seen the totalitarian of her background i want to analyze our maintenance projects building by Building System by system with this approach we are better able to mitigate our existing priorities and develop a better sense of where our limited federal dollars are best spent and find opportunity to address the maintenance needs as part of our capital revitalization projects. I believe addressing them maintenance backlog is of paramount importance to the future of the institution and in their Wisdom Congress in the have recognized the investment in longterm care of our facilities and have supported steady increases in Army Maintenance budget. Many of already museums were built in the 1960s through the 80s and made revitalization paid any Preventative Care will result in reduced overall maintenance costs causing fewer breakdowns, save energy and decrease unplanned closures. The planning and design funding requested by fy 2020 will begin to address the future of the Smithsonian Castle in the arts and industries building. These projects represent the core component of a 20 year plan for the south lawn. Between preserving collections and providing access to them. The spaces that house or cheekses are north immine from deter youration. The maintenance of the areas has been defend to the point of requiring capital investment. Our collection space framework plan outlines the strategy for improving collections facilities. The smithsonians pressing infrastructure needs and demand or immediate attention. Much of our aging infrastructure continues to be below acceptable standards. We appreciate the support of congress in addressing our most visible project, the renovation of the national air and space museum but were grateful for the ongoing support of the daytoday maintenance needs for the institution. Finally let me say a few words about my plans and what i envision to do as secretary of the smithsonian. Under my leadership, our goal is to reach at least 1 billion people worldwide. I envision a Virtual Initiative leveraging stateoftheart resources and innovative partnerships allowing domestic and International Audiences to experience our scholarship, our research, our checks, in new and exciting ways. I if youre fully to serve 21st century audiences, we need to be more inclusive, more accessible and more diverse. A advice cal part of making a museum more diverse is to true traditionalie underrate represented stories, highlighting the stories storief asian americans, lat tino is votal to fulfill are our goal. Under any leadership we resident make diversity in our collections and our archives and our exhibitions and our work force a higher priority. As you know, there are bills to establish latinoamerican and american Womens History Museums pending before congress. If deemed in the public some to move forward with this proposal it is important that any additions to the smithsonian are considered in light of our existing priorities. A new museum will need funds for both the creation and longterm operation of the facilities, the care and preservation of collections and of course the ongoing success of the museum. Our work is also to increase knowledge is never ending. As we continue to make new discoveries we plan to share them with future generations. Therefore i plan to reimagine the smithsonians role in Lifelong Learning by making the institution a leader in k through 12 education. Finally, what i want is i want people to see the smithsonian as a resource to help them better understand their lives, their universe, their history, and our shared future. It incumbent to become a more universal voice, one that earns the American Peoples trust in us and leverages the great convening power to increase our relevance and research. We want to be the place that matters for all americans. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before you today, and im happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, secretary, were so delighted youre here and look forward to the unique set of capacity and ability and understanding you bring to the smithsonian. You mentioned that congress aroundded money for maintenance and i think you were generous how you describe that. But look to go maintenance numbers in front of me we dont seem to increase that very much. Were at about the went from 751 2 million to 76 million the next year, and then a pretty good increase to 79 million in the year we just completed. Hoping to get to 851 2 million in this budget. Thats your request for this budget. Were not where we ought to be with getting the appropriations finished, but clearly thats not doing the job. Why dont you talk a little bit about your sense that going through every building, looking at the Building Systems, looking at the buildingbybuilding requirements youll how to think that will help you prioritize and am i right in believing the number youre working with in deferred maintenance is right at a bill dollars now a billion dollars now. Yes, billion dollars, and i think that we have got really several important ways to address this. One is theres always a need to increase the amount of money we have for maintenance. We do right now about 1 of what we thats walt we spend and indiana to send at least 2 to 3 to be able to not only stop the backlog but to reduce it. But in the meantime, what i realize is that by being more systemic, we cannot only understand where the needs are, we can anticipate future needs because the goal is to have the knowledge and then to really utilize the fact that the key to our success is to use both the maintenance budget and the capital budgets to be able to do things like we have dip with the air and space museum, but doing the renovation of the air and space museum we were able to reduce and address over 200 million of deferred maintenance at the air and space museum. So we want to look at bringing together the Capital Project needs and deferred maintenance. One of the keys that is clear to me is we need to spend our time focused our attention on preventive maintenance and make sure by looking more systemically we can anticipate what issues we may be able to defer based on actually doing preventive maintenance. My hope if well continue to grow our bug, be much more systemic in prioritize what we need to do and then to really just make sure that we are using every opportunity we can to leverage the resources to address that backlog. I assume where addressing one problem prevents another program. An hvac that is not working can create problem inside building, is that the kind of thing youre looking at . Exactly. If you look at the castle and the arts and industries, if if we can create essential utility system that services all that, it solve a lot of problems, makes is easier to maintain. So were looking how to be more creative, how to really use the best technology to come up with solutions to the problems well face. Am i right in the castle and the space there, the display, the space there, because of the hva system youre not able to use that space for what it was designed for . I think what we have to dive the arts and industries billing specially, a building we spent a lot of money to stabilize. The exterior is strong, the roof is good, but theres millions of dollars that need to go into turning that interest a space that is usable for the public. While we, for example, use that space for my installation, we really are going to have to do new systems, have to fit out the spaces so it works for the general public so in essence part of the challenge of the master plan is to look at both the whole notion of the castle as well as the arts and industries and have we use those better to serve not just as office space but serve our visitors and public. Great, im sure well have time for a second round of questions . Senator udall is the Ranking Member of the authorizing committee so you can get a couple of double strokes in here today by talking bolt the authorizing issues and not just looking at those as appropriating issues and center udall. We Work Together on the appropriations committee. Hes the cardinal. Im just a cardinal in waiting. But chairman blunt, with youre permission i would ask senator cortez has another hearing so ill allow her to proceed. Thank you, chairman and Ranking Member. I appreciate the opportunity. Obviously i have similar concerns about the maintenance backlog. Want to do whatever we took assist and give you the resources you need to address that. I do want to talk and ask a question about, crew talk but having 155 million ons . A million. 155 million. You talked the storage and its necessary to have a plan for that, and you mentioned a collections space framework plan. Can you talk more about that, and are there challenges that youre facing there and what we should be aware of . As somebody who was a curator, as a director of a museum, i realize that the only thing that is permanent in the smithsonian are its collections. Everything else fleeting. And so it is crucially important for us to preserve those collections but to also realize that well have to continue to build those collections, as new stories are told, new research is done. So what we have looked at is creating this collections framework document in 2015 was so important because it was the first time it gave us an accurate sense of exactly what the conditions were. In all the spaces, all the buildings, what kind of equipment we had and that has now given us the strategic opportunity to really move creatively to address this issue. Clearly its a longterm issue. Decades to do this, but because of the support we have received, we have been able to do some thing is think are really important. We have been able to look at the sites that were the worth that had greatday tier youre racing, decontamination, in the gasher center and have been able to tee contaminate the artifacts, look at new ways to move them and have been able to build new spaces that can hold artifacts both at dulles and at the campus, and what that allows us to do is allows us to address most Serious Problems and also i a louses us to have the swing space we need, for example, we now move the air some pace museum and have to be able to move art facts away and that will give us the kind of storm we can use down the lied down the road. I want to take advantage of you being the founding directionor of the smithsonians museum of africanAmerican History and culture because im a being supporter of the american and latino. My question is what opportunities do you foresee in establishing the National Museum of the american latinos that we can start working on now to bring this to fruition . If theres one thing i in the how to do its how to build a National Museum, and the challenge for us is to recognize that were going to have to realize that we have to build the my to build the institution, to maintain it to build the collections, but also to make sure that were bringing resources into the smithsonian so that we can handle our deferred maintenance, and i think that there are many issues to think pout. Issues of if youre going to build a Latino Museum, how does the money get allocated . When we built the africanamerican museum, it was no mechanism to be sure when federal money would come and that made it hard to strategize and plan. I think its also crucially important to realize that if were going to build new museums it has a major impact on the Central Services of the smithsonian. Security, maintenance, and so we have to realize that theres got to be resources put in those areas to be able to do a museum that is worthy of the smithsonian. With the right resources and the right commitment, clearly we can do the museums that will make people proud. Thank you. And thank you, secretary bunch, and to the staff of the smithsonian. Thank you for all of the good work, really appreciate it. Thank you. On that topic, were you suggesting if we did another privatepublic partnership, that we could do a better job as youre raising that money, knowing what points you needed to make when public money would then follow . Exactly. I think that even if there was a mechanism that said it was a onetoone match or you knew that at certain points along the construction process that you could counsel on a certain amount of federal money, what we had to do was every year, obviously come back and some years we did well on capital, some years we didnt and that made it difficult to move the museum along as quickly as i would like. 11 years thats correct pretty quick in the federal system put i think there ares thinks i l. A. That we can shortcut that. Thank you. Senator capito. Thank you secretary bunch for being here ahead and your long history in such i think a distinguished field. Kind of along the lines of senator cortezmasto, not on the Latino Museum put we are at the 100 them never a of the ratification of the 19th 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote, and i wanted to highlight efforts we have made here and you mentioned this in your statement on the smithsonian american Womens History Museum act, which im a cofor. Obviously you talked but building a museum from the ground up. I wonder you mentioned the perspectives in terms of financing. I dont know if you have any perspectives here on if this act were to pass, how that would come to fruition . I think a couple of things to think but. First of all, it is so important that if we do a museum on the history of american women, its important to recognize that while it is both a story of individual women, its also a story that is a lens that helps us understand what it means to be an american. So we have to frame it in a broader way so its a story that is shaped everybody. Think that what im very proud of is the fact the smithsonian has this american womens History Initiative which is allowing us to do important work that crosses throughout the smithsonian. It allows us to look at what are issues that could be explored in a museum, how do you build collections, what kind of staff do you need . So in a way, the american womens History Initiative is a commitment that the smithsonian makes regardless of what happens in the future, that we will make sure those stories are told in a way that is meaningful and accessible. Thank you. Im very much interested in that. The other thing coming from a rural state thats not too far away, west virginia, the smithsonians reach is broad into all 50 saids and probably globally as well. Could you talk about the everred the smithsonian is making to make sure you dont have to come to washington, dc, although that would be great, to enjoy the gifts that the smithsonian can give . I think you frame it in the exact right way. The wonders of the smithsonian deserve to be something that touches every school and touches every american home. In order to do that we have to build on the things we do traditionally, even better, and have to think about how to create the virtual smithsonian. How do you take the collections, the expertise of the smithsonian so people come to see the wonders of the smithsonian in ways that help them understand history, art, science, and helps them understand broader issues like identity and globalization and technology and im looking to look at how to create the smithsonian that is virtual. Bring in partners from around the country so we can have the reach, because i think it is important that the millions of people globally who want to come to the smithsonian should have the access. The other side is then to do even a better job with our affiliates program, do a better job with our travel service to make sure we reach out in very direct ways to communities, small and large. We had the karla hayden the librarian of Congress Last year, believe, and lot of the direction theyre moving is digitization of their collection, all collections, and youre talking but a virtual sort of museum. Are you working with the library of congress . Because its got to be a lot of intersection there of all kinds of not just history but documentations and other things. We have started to work more effectively with he library of congress. I par partnered with them when i was the director of the museum and tomorrow the librarian and congress and the archivist of the United States and myself are sitting down to look at what are things we can do commonly. The National Archives has an exhibit on the ratification of the 19th amendment that is very good and they put a lot of resources into that. Im not going to ask youll the resource question because theft the big question. You can do anything if you have enough time, money and resources so i appreciate what youre doing with the resources you have and thanks so much for being here today. Senator udall. Thank you, i chairman blunt for the recognition and welcome again. Im going to focus and follow up a little bit on senator Cortez Mastos question on the Latino Museum. Latinos have made an Important Role in the history of our nation for over 500 years niksch my home state of new mexico that history and ongoing influence is celebrated. It is time for our National Institutions to also recognize and lift up the important contributions made by latinos and latinas in our country. Our heritage, our history, our culture tapestry. Selfidentified hispanics and latinos make up nearly a fifth of our population and represent the Largest Ethnic Group in the United States. Cosponsored the bill to establish the smithsonian american Latino Museum. And i also supported an amendment during Floor Consideration of the interior build which would provide at additional 1. 5 million for the lat teen to center and expand programming for existing museums. If the final bill includes that increase, what do you plan to do with the additional funding and, more broadly, what steps are you taking to ensure the smithsonian is including the latino experience in all museums. One thing im proudest of has been the fact that during my entire career at the smithsonian, we have created the Latino Center, and what that center has done has transform the smithsonian. Also youll in the real power in the smithsonian are not Museum Directors secretaries its curators, people who do the research and bring the checks and what the Latino Center has allow evidence to us is imbed curators with the expertise in the museum of American History, the art museum, the africanamerican museum, so we want to build on that and that my sense is that any support we get will allow to us continue to hire people that will help the center do its work, and also as you know one thing that is really important for us is the Latino Center is following the pattern with did at the tim africanamerican museum, which is to create a gallery in the museum of american hoist that would allow you to do exhibitions, allow you to hire staff and build collections. Any resource we have good into that because i think its important for us to be able to demonstrate in very concrete ways, here is a space where that important story is always told. Thank you, secretary bunch. Obviously i hope that the work that the Latino Center is doing well now lay the groundwork for the pastage of the legislation to create a new latino human. I i think its critical that congress to build this new museum. When you and i last met we talked but the importance of you meeting with the museum lazy also vote indicate museums advocates, the National Counsel of la was a and friends and the Friends Group working in support of the museum creation and many others. Have you had the opportunity to meet with this groups groups and whatre hearing from them. Ive had opportunities to talk to individuals, not collective groups. Im meet withing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus very soon. What im hearing is, one, a commitment for people to realize and recognize that the smithsonian cares about this subject and wants to do even more, and theres a great deal of interest in having me come talk to people about how we build the africanamerican museum. What are the steps and challenges. What im hearing is great excitement. And i think that what i want to make sure is that as we share that excitement, we also make sure that were doing very concrete things that people can see today, that lay a foundation for the future. The interior subcommittee bill funds the womens History Initiative at 3. 7 million. What is the smithsonian doing with its current resources to celebrate and deepen the publics understanding of the contributions of american women, how would the additional 1. 7 million be used to expand that and prepare for a Permanent Museum . Again, much like the Latino Center, being able to explore this history of american women, really allows us to build collections which are key to building a new museum and also allows us to do exhibitions that cross boundaries, so im very excited about were about to do an exhibition on girlhood which will allow people to toward the lens throughed a lessens and women. Its through adolescence and will. Its important to say i want to be sure that curators throughout the smithsonian have the guidance and the resources to make sure that issues of gender are explored in eave of our museums. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Thank you, senator udall. Secretary, i think there have been 12 billed filed in the congress for bills filed in the Congress Looking at the potential for different museums or emphasis in museums. Today you mentioned asianamericans, asianpacific americans. Latinos, latinoamericans and womens museum, all thats been part of this discussion. Assuming those would happen, are they enreasonable to think out of them would happen or any of them would be in place within a decade . Maybe we learn enough from at the 11year evident with we got started wed be ten done years from New Hampshire thats too long to wait to tell all the story as effectively as we can. Are you giving consideration to more prominence of those stories in the existing facilities, which of cures would mean telling less of other stories in the museum. What would the plan be on all areas form the coming decade, no matter what we decide to do in terms of a facility for one or more of those other important components of who we are . My career has been about expanding the cannon, making sure we understand the rich diversity of america, not to explore just the particular community but to help us understand who we are as americans. Im bringing that commitment to the rest of the smithsonian. It is my expectation that we will build on the work of the asiaamerican Pacific Center thats doing important work, helping us find new checks and new stories. Im thinking but how also we create the virtual smithsonian, these issues should be at the heart. So people will be able to tap that virtual presence and understand latino issues, africanamerican issues, asiaamerican issues, issues oven gender. Were not waiting on any museum to be built. Were committed to making sure the smithsonian represents america, and gives all itself visitors a better understanding of who we are by looking at us through different lenses. The park service, as they enter the second century of the park service and were getting very close to beginning of the third century of the smithsonian, theyre looking more at publicprivate efforts. We got to watch this closely at the arch, which after 60 years would need a number of things done. Became a huge local and individual donor effort. Involved some naming rights that had not been part of the park service in the past. But it really produced a result that we wouldnt have been able to produce otherwise. Are you thinking about that potential and then i know there are parts of the smithsonian already that are have had a sponsor when they were built or an exhibit that has a sponsor. There is any capacity there for us to do some fundraising that would allow maintenance in return for recognition in parts of some of these facilities. There is always a great opportunity to built and expand on the Public Private partnership. The truth of the matter is its very difficult for us to fine philanthropic support for the behind the scenes, maintenance, but i think the notion that the smithsonian has done very well in fundraise over the last decade has been able to find new partners who have brought resources to allow to us tell different stories and more important stories. So my goal is to continue to build that Publicprivate Partnership to do the fundraising and also where there are opportunities for example. Were looking at what can be the philanthropic support for fixing the castle and arts and industries ump such historic buildings. Mary theres more notifyic philosophic support. Nowants to give mow for the electrical system, on the other hand if you get money for the electrical system and part of the understanding is one of the things well do he rewire the theater, which is currently has no patron, i just think thats a it is something we ought to be thinking about and when you think but that, the Publicprivate Partnership cant be, we just have now with this private partner a new source of rev enough but there has to be some co lab practicetive discussion as collaborative discussion as to what the partner would hope to have happen and our commitment. Something to think but and i know im confident based on your past experience, you are giving that some thought and im telling you i think youd find support for that and encouragement of that in the congress if you go in that direction. Senator capito. Time. Senator udall. Thank you for the recognition, mr. Chairman. Secretary bunch, as vicechairman of the Senate Committee on indian affairs, i strongly support the tribes inherent right to exercise selffirefighter which includes theyre ability to protect and maintain Tribal Cultural patri moany such as ceremonial and religious event recordings, Many University including the smithsonian hold the recordings their directions. Under current law its possible that those culturally sensitive recordings could be released to be Public Domain which is a major concern for tribe s across the country. Last week i brought this issue up with the librarian of congress in a hearing before the committee and was told that the library is working with the smithsonian on tribal engagement. Ick get to your commitment to working with the library of congress and to engage with tribes on this important issue . Not onlywe working with the library of congress but we have already done a lot of work in this particular area. One of the things we have done at the center for folk life and Cultural Heritage is created what we call a shared stewardship collections policy, which allows to us look testify native holdings we have to mange sure that native communities shape our collections policies, shape our access, we actually communicate and consult with those communities to make sure that were not letting sacred music or issues that shouldnt be in the broad public sparks so were doing the best we took ensure that we are honoring the intangible communities and this the most important thing we do because well now take that shared stewardship motion and have a policy that shapes the entire smithsonian. That covered my he was looking ahead and covered my other question there, with that answer. So i dont i just would say, in summary, that im really a stand, in here for the Ranking Member, senator klobuchar and she is very proud of this collection and the idea that the prince guitar and the items from minnesota are displayed here today, and so we will i know that chairman is also very proud of what is happening with missouri. So thank you for bringing those today, and really appreciate it. I think i had my mic on as we welcome talk but the original bunt panel. I think i have that same thing. I think we all did. Gee decided everybody has a bunt pan where used or not. I have a couple of quick wed. The senator moyer appropriations bill that senator udall is very familiar with, included a provision that would permit you to move forward with your proposal to purchase a building to serve as a console adapted administrative headquarter. Does the language do what you need to do to get that done and as i recall we have talked about that and theres a foundation involvement, too, which might circle back to my Public Private partnership every times. So how will that work and do you feel like the language as you see it is adequate for you to do what you another like to do there. I think the language is adequate. I will sort of ask my staff to go become and make sure that there arent any issues i dont know about but i think its crucial to be able to think in an innovative way, unorthodox way to solve problem wed have, and by consolidating all these leases we have, by being able to use the federal rent support to basically help us pay down the debt it will allow us ultimately to save awful lot of money for the federal government as we move forward, and so were very excited about doing that. And i really appreciate the language you have put in to help us do that. All right. The last thing ill ask would be in terms of the plan that secretary work on and you were a director to that plan contributor to that plan youve feel like the plan is headed in he right direction and are there any modification that you may want to make. What i think is to powerful about that man is the notion of reach, relevance and impact. Ike taking those words and really making sure theyre at the heart of what i want to do. So by focusing on the educational piece, by looking at the virtual smithsonian, but also by looking, realizing we cant be the institution for the 21st century we want if we dont fix the problems we have with our processes, hr, and contracting and the like. So for me, the framework of the Strategic Plan is something i will build on, and im just tweaking it to focus on education and the virtual smithsonian. Any other comments from the senators here . Secretary bunch, thank you for joining us this morning. We look forward to your leadership at the smithsonian, you come with unique background and unique gifts for this job and i hope we can continue to be in communication about that. The record will be open for one week from today. The committee is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] installed [inaudible conversation] block. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] this week the House Intelligence Committee held five impeachment inquiry hearings over three days. This weekend the key moments, saturday, testimony from Lieutenant ColonelAlexander Vindman and kurt volker. Then on sunday remarks from gordon sondland, followed by fee fiona hill and david holmes. Sunday morning at 10 35 eastern on cspan, and you can stream the hearings anytime online at cspan doering during slash impeachment. Cspan 2020 has live coverage of upcoming president ial Campaign Even vens, saturday on cspan, Elizabeth Warren speaks with voter as a town hall meeting in New Hampshire. On sunday at 5 00 p. M. Eastern, senator Bernie Sanders has a roll in New Hampshire. On monday, democratic president ial candidate and former massachusetts governor, patrick will speak at the politics and eggs breakfast in manchester, New Hampshire, and on tuesday at 7 30 eastern, President Trump holds a Campaign Rally in sunrise, florida, first there since changing hi residency from new york no florida in late october. I think that a National Primary is probably one of the worst reforms we could implement. I would, if we were doing it in sort of a rational way, have a rotating regional primary, so that we basically in different elects had different sort of groups of states go together, which would allow kind of focused retail campaigning. Learn about the president ial nominating process, sunday night on q a. Lara brown, director on the Political Management School at George Washington university discusses how we nominate president ial candidates and was reforms to the process may be in the offing. Watch sunday night at 8 00 eastern on q a. Coming up and a quarter federal bureau of prisons director Kathleen Sawyer testifies on the operations of her agency before thed . Judiciary committee and talk nows ongoing investigations and death of jeffrey epstein, Hedge Fund Manager charged with sex traffic. He dialed at the meant Correctional Center in new york city while awaiting trial. Other topics include federal prison staff shortams the treatment of female prison farreds. This is two hours. We have aing here young. I have the a very brief opening statement. Dr. Sauer, thank you for coming. Get you porn in here. Its important halt be have this oversighting here. I the think would below a couple of areas of inquiry. All things jeffrey epstein. And hope any about tll