Senator MONRONEY. There is no construction money in here? Senator MONRONEY. Housekeeping only? Mr. HENLOCK. That is right, Senator; housekeeping and mainte nance. Senator MONRONEY. As I understand, the Architect of the Capitol keeps the center of the building maintained by charwomen and that kind, but the Sergeant at Arms keeps the Senate wing and the Clerk of the House Mr. STEWART. The Doorkeeper. Senator MONRONEY. The Doorkeeper keeps the House side, and this goes clear down to the storerooms, as I understand it. You have three jurisdictions of storage in the Capitol, do you not? One is maintained by you, and the documents are put in various three rooms under three different jurisdictions? Mr. STEWART. That is right. Senator YOUNG. You seem to have good charwomen. I have had no problem with them at all. Senator MONRONEY. The halls, I think, are quite dirty. Senator YOUNG. Yes. Senator MONRONEY. I think that is because they are using old mops. too long. I really do. You go in there early in the morning when they are mopping and it smells like a public toilet in a railroad station. You do not air it out. I am speaking now of the Senate side. I do not know of the House side. I do not want to do them an injustice. You may proceed. MANDATORY INCREASES Mr. STEWART. The first item on page 23, the first three items on page 24, and the first two items on page 25 of the justification are for mandatory increases, totaling $60,704. They are $27,000 for Wage-Board increases; $2,369 for Classification Act increases; $11,500 to cover increased pay costs due to the Federal Employees' Salary Act of 1964; $7,290 for overtime and holiday pay increases resulting from increases in base pay costs; $2,000 increases for Government contribution to retirement fund; $10,545 increase in payment to employees' compensation fund required by Public Law 86-767. Senator MONRONEY. These go to the housekeeping costs of the center part of the Capitol? Mr. STEWART. And the structural and mechanical care of the whole building. Senator MONRONEY. It does not take in the Senate or House Office Buildings? Mr. HENLOCK. No, sir; it takes in the maintenance and operation of the mechanical equipment, the structural care, and the cleaning of the central part of the Capitol Building. Senator MONRONEY. I see. All that is in that item. Mr. HENLOCK. Yes, sir. HOUSE ACTION Mr. STEWART. The House committee actually deleted two items from our budget request-one, $4,846 for an air-conditioning helper and $8,000 for painting the sandstone exterior of the west central section of the Capitol; and $2,154 as a general cut in the appropriation-or a total cut of $15,000. The House committee, however, restored this amount to the budget request to provide for an unbudgeted item for additional costs necessary on the part of the Architect of the Capitol to keep the Capitol Building open from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., daily, from Easter through Labor Day. This action of the House is not appealed. ACCESS TO CAPITOL BUILDING Senator MONRONEY. Don't you think that is a pretty good idea for all the students and people coming through here seeing the Capitol? It closes now at 4:30, does it not? Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. Senator MONRONEY. And the people, when they put signs outside and people think that is as long as Congress works, and they think they cannot get in, and they cannot cross over and see the House in operation if the Senate is busy, and the signs are up, and this is part of-in other words, they cut some of these other funds out for the operation of the Capitol to make it possible for keeping the Capitol open between Easter and Labor Day. Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir. Mr. HENLOCK. $15,000. Senator MONRONEY. I wonder if 10 o'clock, though, is not too late for visitors. Mr. HENLOCK. Congressman Kirwan made the recommendation, Senator, on the basis of the evening hours the Smithsonian and one of the other public buildings are kept open. Senator YARBOROUGH. Archives. Senator MONRONEY. Keep all three of them open so that they can get to see Washington and have something to do in the evenings. Senator YARBOROUGH. Mr. Chairman, I want to commend the Architect, or whoever is responsible for opening the building up, because we have that complaint from people bringing these high school groups in. If they have these places to go, students want to see them, and if they have no place to go, they go out on the town and some of them get mugged on the sidewalks if they are not in gangs, and I have complaints from people who come here and say, "Well, I can get into my courthouse at home and get in the city hall at night, but you come up here and everything is locked up, and what do you do? Don't you ever work up here?" It is the Capitol of the Nation, and some people come by late in the day with automobiles on a trip, it is a one-time, one-night, maybe, and they do not have a whole day in their lives, in their lifetime, to ever get to see the Capitol, and they drive around and see the exterior of the Capitol. That is a good expenditure of money. Senator MONRONEY. I think so, too. This was not to include the Senate and House Office Buildings, only the Capitol. It would not include the subway trains? VANDALISM IN CAPITOL BUILDING Mr. STEWART. It would not include the subway trains. In the discussion at the House hearings, it was only the Capitol Building itself that was proposed to be kept open-specifically, the first floor and the second floor, and admission to the Senate and House galleries. But I would like to say for the record that one thing that disturbs me about night openings and has disturbed me for a good many years is that there be provided adequate protection against the vandalism that takes place in the Capitol building, whether it is by the visitors or anyone else. Recently, on the Senate side, someone tried to pry off the two small bronze flags from the Hanson statue. We have recently had to renew the sword on the Sam Houston statue in Statuary Hall. We have had other acts of vandalism; in fact, for awhile we had an epidemic of souvenir hunters. We had difficulty in keeping the tiebacks on the draperies in the East Front, which were removed and taken away by someone. We have had some evidently acrobatically inclined individuals who wanted to hang onto some of the arms of the ornamental lights, the urns we had on the Senate steps, and we found a few years ago that some of the bronze on the bronze doors of both the Senate and House side had been defaced. Senator YARBOROUGH. They even broke the marble trigger guard that Stephen Austin, father of Texas, had. Somebody strong must have tried to break that marble off. Mr. STEWART. That is right. I hope that sometime in the near future some committee or committees of the Congress may see fit to help organize the conduct of people in an orderly way in the Capitol. Senator MONRONEY. You mean the employees of the Capitol?" Mr. STEWART. NO; I hope the general public will acquire a little bit more respect. We have had occasions where they have run rampant in the halls. Senator MONRONEY. You think these are employees who do this? Mr. STEWART. No; it is outsiders, who come in off the street. The doors are wide open. Senator MONRONEY. The doors are closed at 4:30. Mr. STEWART. That is true, but much of the vandalism takes place during the hours that the building is open to the public. Senator YARBOROUGH. Do not we need more guards and more policemen? Senator MONRONEY. Maybe not any more guards, but better guards. I think you have so many now they are running out of your ears, but I do not think they are trained in police work. I think all policemen we use should be given a course of training by the FBI or something to be at least as effective as police officers. If they cannot qualify for that, why find them jobs on the elevators or something of that kind? VISITOR VOLUME Senator YOUNG. Mr. Chairman, how do the number of the visitors now compare with past years? It seems to me right now it is at an alltime high. Mr. STEWART. We have had by an estimated count as many as 53,000 persons in 1 day, visiting the Capitol. That would include you and me and all the tourists and others coming into the Capitol. We have not tried to segregate them. I would say on an average we are running somewhere between 35,000 and 38,000 people using the U.S. Capitol 7 days a week for every day of the year, except 3 days when the building is closed. Senator YOUNG. Is part of that due to the World's Fair? As far as my constitutents are concerned, a great many of them go to the World's Fair and then come down to the Capitol. Mr. STEWART. It could be. But we have some attractions here, too. The ride on the subway is one of them. The exhibit of statues throughout he Capitol and other historic items attract the people who come here. It is hard to determine exactly what is the magnet that draws the most of the people here. I would say that it is more that they want to visit the Capitol itself, and since the publication of the book "We, the People" by the Capital Historical Society, it seems the number of visitors have increased, and there has been an increase in the interest on the part of visitors to see the statues, portraits, and other items of interest they have read about in the book. It has created additional interest. Senator YARBOROUGH. Mr. Stewart, if we average 30,000 people a day, that would be in the course of the year, 365 days, about 10,950,000 people. I have that in a rough calculation, it might be erroneous. Do you think that that many people are visiting the Capitol a year now? Mr. STEWART. The last estimate we made was 7 million, but it has increased this year. Senator YARBOROUGH. If you took the peak season it would average out 10 million or 11 million? Mr. STEWART. That is right. Senator YOUNG. How many more could you handle at this time of year? It seems to me there is a limited number that can be handled. through here? Senator MONRONEY. If you make the time from 4:30 to 10 you can double the time that they can visit here, fewer at a time. Mr. STEWART. That is true. You may get a different class of visitors after 4:30. Perhaps there would not be quite as many children, but it is problematical until it is tried. No one can definitely say what it would be or what effect the night opening would have on the number of visitors at this time. Senator MONRONEY. The Capitol is kept open on Sundays now, is it not? Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir, the same hours as on week days. You may continue. PAINTING Mr. STEWART. An increase of $23,000 is requested on page 25 of the justification, and was approved by the House, to provide funds to paint, with two coats, the ornamental ceiling, window frames, window linings, doors, jambs, trim and painted surfaces of the gallery walls in Statuary Hall, last painted in 1959. This work should be done for purposes of preservation and appearance. The cost of scaffolding forthis work is estimated at $3,000; of labor for painting, $16,000; of paint materials, $4,000. On page 26 of the justification $75,000 is requested to paint the exterior of the cast iron dome of the Capitol, the exterior sandstone of the west-central section of the Capitol, and the exterior doors, windows and frames, and exterior ductwork on the roof, ladders, and runways.. This work was last done in 1960, when repairs to the dome were completed under the extension of the Capitol program, and should be done next year for purposes of preservation and appearance. The House allowed $67,000 for this item-deleting $8,000 for painting the exterior sandstone of the west-central front, deferring this portion of the work until a decision is made as to what is to be done about the west front. We accept this cut, without appeal. It is important that the other areas be painted in the fiscal year 1966. MISCELLANEOUS REQUESTS Three other items of increase requested under this appropriation were also approved by the House-$4,800 to replace the existing air filters in the air-conditioning system which filter the air supplied to the House and Senate Chambers, which have become deteriorated after 15 years of continuous use; $6,000 to provide an annual allotment for the maintenance of the new electronic clock and legislative signal systems, sound systems, and other electronic equipment in the Capitol, Senate Office Buildings, and Rayburn House Office Building-to provide for miscellaneous repairs and replacements, detailed on page 27 of the justification; and $4,100 for replacement of existing fire hoses which have been in service for many years and for replacement of existing straight stream nozzles with fog nozzles which can be used with better control and will extinguish a fire in a shorter period of time. CAPITOL GROUNDS We requested, and the House allowed, under this heading for 1966 a total of $638,000-which is $102,000 less than $740,000 appropriated for 1965. The first six items, on pages 44, 45, and 46 of the justification, cover mandatory increases, totaling $27,600. They include $22,840 for wageboard increases; $960 for within-grade promotions under the classification Act; $1,100 for increases under the "Federal Employees' Salary Act of 1964"; $600 for increased cost of 1 day's pay above the stated annual rate; $1,200 for Government contribution to retirement fund; $900 for Government payment to employees' health benefits fund. A $2,000 increase is asked under the general annual repairs allotment to meet current cost. There has been no increase provided under this allotment for the past 5 years. CAPITOL LANDSCAPING AND GARDENING Senator MONRONEY. Before you leave the grounds, have you still got the same landscape gardener as last year? Mr. STEWART. Yes, sir; he is present here. Senator MONRONEY. We appropriated extra money, I think, trying to beautify the grounds, and it does not appear to be much more beautiful than it was when we started. Mr. STEWART. Well, Senator, several of the ladies of the Senate have visited with me out there Senator MONRONEY. I hear from the Senate ladies that they are very unhappy with the situation, lack of imagination, lack of any landscape gardening and artistry of the Capitol Grounds, and a general weedy condition of the gardens. |