Text of Davis' opening statement:
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to our witnesses for joining us today at our first hearing on the Smithsonian Institution this Congress, which is narrowly tailored to the very specific issue of climate change and how it affects the Smithsonian Institution and the National Mall.
The last time this committee held a hearing on the Smithsonian Institution was on February 5, 2020 – nearly two years ago. The topic of that hearing was the potential creation of new museums. Prior to that, the Smithsonian came before us in September of 2019 for a discussion on the overall strategic plan and management of the Institution - which I also believe was the last time that Ms. Helm joined us. Thank you for being here again.
A lot has happened since then: museums have closed and reopened in response to a global pandemic; two additional museums have been approved by acts of Congress, and long-standing institutional issues have continued, many of which have contributed to an over $1 billion deferred maintenance backlog. Ms. Helm is quite familiar with these issues, having included them in her testimony before this committee three years ago: long-standing management challenges related to collections management, facilities management, information security, and physical security. Unfortunately, that list has expanded to include mission-creep of an increasingly one-sided progressive educational agenda, as well as the shocking and saddening reports of sexual assault at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama.
There are many issues that this committee needs to discuss with the Smithsonian so I'm disappointed that today's discussion has been designed to ignore more pressing issues. The Smithsonian's collections are priceless, but the long-term health of the Smithsonian, its strategic plan, and the care of its employees, as much as its collections, should be part of this discussion.
But the outgoing majority is the one that controls the hearing schedule and topics for this Congress. Since we are here to talk about climate change and its impact on the Smithsonian, I do hope that as part of today's hearing we can get a better understanding and clarity of how the Smithsonian can reconcile its position of needing more resources to mitigate the "imminent" threat of flooding on the National Mall while at the same time actively engage in efforts to build additional museums on or around the Mall. Common sense would tell you that those two things seem to be in conflict.
In closing, I hope that we have the Smithsonian come before this committee again soon so that we can conduct proper oversight of the institution rather than focus on just one report or respond to one New York Times profile.
With that, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses and I yield back. | |