The committee of House Administration will come to order. I note that a quorum is present. Without objection the chair may declare recess at any time. Also without objection the meeting will remain open for 5 legislative days and members can submit any materials they wish to be in. Thank you members of the committee, secretary bunch for joining us for todays hearing. The Smithsonian Institution is the Worlds Largest educational complex comprised of museums, Educational Resources and research services. The smithsonian preserves heritage and history while sharing knowledge with the world. 21 museums and roughly 137 million objects in this collection visitors have abundance of history and heritage to explore. The smith oh onian receives 1. 14 billion from the federal government in the last fiscal year. Twothirds of its total budget and 4,000 fulltime employees. Today the committee on House Administration which is charged with conducting oversight of the Smithsonian Institution will discuss the institutions operation and longterm goals. Its been 3 years since the committee has held wideranging oversight hearing on smithsonian and a variety of issues have come up during that time. In the last three years the institution has frequently been in the news on hot button cultural topics. We have seen the smithsonian in handful of headlines. The committee will explore how the materials reflect americas diversity of opinions. As taxpayer funded institution the smithsonian must ensure work is not politically partisan or bias. Our job is to ensure smithsonian is acting as responsible steward of taxpayer dollars, the committee will explore two new museums congress authorized and the institutions vision for the facilities. In 2020 congress authorized the creation of National Museum of the american latino the and the Smithsonian American History Museum while placement of the museum looms. Annual plans and congressional budget request outline a robust and complex enterprise but do not articulate a longterm strategy for the two new museums. Without a clear longterm strategy the museums find it hard to balance longterm visions with more mundane daily operations which are critical for success. Today hearing will look at daytoday while looking at longterm goals certainly welcome mr. Secretary for being here as our witness. As the chairman said, since founding more than 175 years ago the smithsonian has become the most visited Museum Complex on the planet. It has grown to 21 museums Numerous Research centers, library system, network of hundreds of affiliates and the national zoo. Its one of the worlds entities, arts and humanities. Smithsonian partnered with nasa to unveil fragment of asteroid currently orbit around the sun, its really remarkable. Smithsonian scientists are studying the asteroid samples to provide insights in how water and organic molecules reached earth billions of years ago. Anyone can go look at this the piece of asteroid for free. Its truly remarkable that we are able to do it. But closer to home, while sad to say goodbye to national zoo giant pandas, americans should take solace that smithsonian expert observation and researching over the next several decades has played significant goal in moving giant pandas off of the endangered species list despite smithsonian many successes it is without challenges and the challenges must be address so the smithsonian can continue Great Mission for the next 175 years and beyond. This year i requested an update from you, mr. Secretary on the smithsonian response to allegations of swallow misconduct from more than a dozen female scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Institute in panama, deeply unsettling and the conduct completely unacceptable. Im grateful for the secretarys thoughtful response in the civil program, a centralized resource for employees to report harassment and other inappropriate behavior and look forward continued updates this morning. In addition, while i am thrilled congress authorized the National Museum of the american latino and american women History Museum, i remain frustrated that the original house passed legislation was amended to make the law conflict with itself after the house passed legislation declaring Congress Intent that the museums be on the National Mall and even requiring certain locations on the mall be considered the senate added language prohibiting the museums from being built on the National Mall. Obviously that makes no sense, especially since the language expressing Congress Intent and requiring a sign on the mall be considered stayed in the bill. Im hopeful we can Work Together to fix the law to ensure the important new museums take the rightful place on americas front yard. In the meantime, im interested in learning about the progress made in developing exhibitions and programs for the museums. Im especially interested on how the smithsonian ensures it remains curtorial independence as many look for score political points. There arent words in the english language sufficient to capture just how repugnant the and dehumanizing a practice this was earlier this year. I said secretary sent letter asking for details on the smithsonians plan to repatriate and return human remains to victims families and i again appreciate secretarys response detailing the work of the smithsonian new human retains task force as well as, sir, your public apology on behalf of the institution. Im looking forward to hearing more this morning about the work of the task force the and any headway that has been made and repatriation effort and finally i am interested in learning about efforts to strengthen the smithsonian infrastructure and facilities, hope your updates on renovation to air and space museum, my alltime favorite place in the world, status of the deferred maintenance backlog and actions taken to protect against effects of Climate Change. Mr. Secretary, thank you for not only for being here today but for your continued Public Service to the country and with that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. The gentleman yields back, without objection all of the Opening Statements will be part of hearing record if theyre submitted to the city clerk 5 0. Witness will please stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony that youre about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do. Let the record show that the witness answered in the affirmative and may be seated. I will introduce our secretary, lonnie bunch, assumed role on june 16, 2019 as secretary mr. Bunch oversees 21 museums, 21 libraries, the national zoo, Numerous Research centers and several educational units and centers. Previously mr. Bunch served as the founding director of the smithsonians National Museum of africanamerican history and culture. Secretary brunch we appreciate you being here today and look forward to your testimony. As reminder we have read your written statement and appear in full in written record. Under Committee Rule 9, theres limit oral presentation of summary unless extended. Please remember to turn on microphones so members can hear you and i recognize you secretary bunch for five minutes. Thank you so much. Chairman style, Ranking Member morelli and all members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I hope you do take time to see artifacts, the original cheese head to be able to look at a morning watch from Mary Todd Lincoln and pins in the Suffrage Movement. I want you to spend time looking at that today. Since i became secretary in 2019 ive been impressed and gratified by support of congress and the American Public. We hope to advance the civic scientific life of this nation. The support we receive enables us to engage with and educate people on important topics likes the essence of the american experience, the diversity of world cultures, the sustainability of the planet and the nature the of the universe. One of my goals as secretary is to reach every home and every classroom in the country sharing our content to celebrate our achievements and help grapple with contemporary issues and work towards a better shared future. Our Educational Programming is becoming more crystallized as we establish strategic collaboration with organizations like the 4 age clubs, boys and girls clubs of america and pbs. We hope to watch with smithsonian educators centered around civic engagement. At the same time we are brig our content to others through the partnerships, for example, we are currently developing a Pilot Program into the boys and girls clubs focusing on civics and history which we hope to take nationwide in 2026. As you mentioned worldclass scientific endeavors also continue with efforts helping the first image, capturing first image of a black hole to running century long reforestation project. Not only does our science provide incredible return on investment to the American People but can only happen at the smithsonian and work that researchers around the world rely upon and as i look ahead to the future of this institution, im excited about what lies ahead for the Worlds Largest museum, education and research complex. The nations 250th anniversary, we launching point of transformation of the smithsonian into an institution that better meets the needs of the nation. That pivotal event will not only serve as celebration of what weve been but also give us a glimpse at a more nimble and Effective Institution proving that smithsonian matters today, tomorrow and every day and in every part of the country. To coincide with that the event, we are programming that we will both celebrate and contemplate who we are as a nation and smithsonian place in it and invite americans to explore all corners of our complex histories and find ways of moving Forward Together in our shared future. The renovated air and space museum should be fully open to the public in time for the innovation and ive asked my team to work towards temporary opening of the castle so the public can exemployer and celebrate for the 250th. The world is rapidly changing and with it so are the needs and expectations of the American People. As we look ahead to the next 250 years the smithsonian will need to adapt. We want to become more digital institution that uses tools like ai in the a responsible way. We want to provide resources to help communities understand challenges like the challenge of Climate Change. We must help our citizens become more engaged and help them become better informed and have civil discourse on important topics that affect us all. And building this smithsonian and american womens History Museum and latino will tell a robust story. As impressive that the museums will be when they rise to the National Mall, they will only represent a fraction of of the institutions transformation years to come. We will take advantage of technology and partnerships to reach more people than ever and we will charter bold new course for smithsonian that strengths our shared future. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify before you today and im happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank you very much secretary bunch, thanks for being here today. I will recognize for five minutes for the purpose of asking questions. I would like to drill down into the broader spending request of the smithsonian in particular balancing the backlog of maintenance with the two new museums that are coming online in not too distant future. As i understand it with smithsonian, theres 2 billion in backlog for maintenance of current facilities, is that accurate . Thats correct. Weve done a new program that gives more assessments but its a little bit more than 2 billion. Inside of that is smithsonian request for funding to congress, seems half of the broader recommended range of 2 to 4 of the physical plans aggregate current meaning are we falling further behind on maintenance if we fulfill the smithsonians request. The plan would be if we utilize all the resources that you give us and part of what im trying to do now is be more strategic in terms of how we utilize our capital budgets as well as maintenance budget and so therefore, we have done things like we have built the air and space museum it allowed us to reduce our current backlogs but i think the reality is we need the support that you will give us and any dollars that you give us we do use towards building to make sure we handle backlog as effectively as we have. The amount of funds requested is sufficient to in the fall further behind in the backlog or you feel thats sufficient amount to not fall behind . I think itll help us move forward but we are going to continue to ask for more moving forward in the future. Okay, the reason i ask is we have the two new museums that we are looking to bring in line, uniquely qualified in that role of your previous work on africanamerican museum and we look at that, the broader focus here on the Strategic Planning and your efforts to bring that forward and whether or not we are prepared to move that forward. Could you give color as to where youre at in the broader Strategic Planning process for the two new museums in particular, the location of the two new museums . The challenge with the two new museums are that we have to make sure that we get the Site Selection resolved because theres very little we can do without the Site Selection. We have been very successful with fundraise and we have raised over 60 million for each museum already, but that will really only grow once we can point towards here is where the museums will be, part of what we have done, though, recognize that we dont want to wait until these museums are up. There may be 10, 12 years away. So we have begun to do things like more online work to do history about women or the latino community. Weve also created a new latino exhibition gallery that will allow us to demonstrate to the public here is the stories we can tell and get people excited about it. The bottom line is that we are ready to move forward. We are going to need, however, more support to be able to build the staff for those museums, to be able to make sure that we can get the ultimate decisions about site and ultimately construction. What i will say, though, based on my experience is that we are able to as we build the new museums, we are able to get funds to pay for construction, hvac and a lot of things that we normally have to ask congress for and its really a crucial movement in the history of these museums to see where we are going to be over the next year. In the time that i have left. They got to see pandas before they departed. For our kids, love the pandas but as we di in and we think of panda diplomacy, theres a policy side to this as well. One is i understand it the the national zoo paid china 10 million to loan the giant pandas for ten years, is that accurate . Thats correct. And then that loan was extended throughout that Time Beginning from from 2000 all the way through this year . We negotiate every year to extend the loan. If the pandas came back then, is that on going negotiation . We would like to have the pandas back and we would like to negotiate with the chinese to do just that. Any time has the smithsonian ever compromised any public content to appease or accommodate china or Foreign Government . Definitely not. Do have policies in place that that would happen during the negotiation . We do. We make sure that the as part of the negotiations the staff recognizes that this is really about the science and the pandas and not basically compromise our status in working with the china. Thank you very much. I now will reck needs the Ranking Member for five minutes for the purpose of asking questions. Thank you, mr. Chairman, thank you, mr. Secretary for being here. I do want in my testimony focus for a moment or two on the smithsonians past practice that i mentioned of taking human brains from deceased black and Indigenous People without their study or consent. You mentioned in your testimony the formation of the Human Remains Task force which has been tasked with determining the best way to return and repatriate human remains. Whether or not representatives from those impacted communities are part of the task force and can give us timeline for what you think is a reasonable period when the remains will be repatriated and sort of how you measure the success of this effort and given that timeline and given the task in front of you. Like you, i was very upset when i learned about the human remains and my goal was very quickly to the really have a new policy that allows us to understand how we would return remains and researching we could do. I put together committee of people, the best scholars, community people, both internal and external to the smithsonian to help us think the issues through to ask fundamental questions, whats the difference between human remains, do we have consent versus that we didnt have consent. How do we return the human remains, how do we work with communities . My goal is to get this report and to use that