Official Congressional Record
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 10204, the Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act. Apart from a few technical corrections, as my friend has described, this bill is identical to H.R. 6028, which passed the House in June. It updates the appointment process for the heads of two legislative branch agencies: the Library of Congress and the Government Publishing Office. It also creates a new Presidential appointment, subject to Senate confirmation, for the Register of Copyrights, and makes clear that the United States Copyright Office, which is currently part of the Library of Congress, will remain in the legislative branch. I thank the bill’s author, Representative Griffith, as well as Chairman Steil, and their staff for working with us to improve prior versions of this legislation. It did, indeed, take many months, but I appreciated the openness and willingness of the majority to entertain some of the suggestions we made, which I do think make the bill stronger. In addition to ensuring the Copyright Office remains a legislative branch entity, the bill protects the Copyright Office’s workforce, who will enjoy the same rights, privileges, and protections they hold today as Library employees. I do think that is very important. I have long said the Library of Congress should be appointed by Congress, and this bill achieves that important goal. Still, we must make this change thoughtfully and be mindful of the consequences, particularly for the Copyright Office. Copyright authorities are enshrined in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the Constitution, and the Copyright Office has resided in the legislative branch for well over a century. It should remain there, and that is the intent of this bill. The copyright economy, I might add, contributes more than $2 trillion annually to our economy and supports more than 11 million American jobs--but only with a stable, reliable, and apolitical copyright system. This bill helps to preserve it at a critical moment for copyright stakeholders and millions of Library users. The Library and Copyright Office have operated in partnership for more than 150 years, and the Copyright Office depends on the Library’s infrastructure. The Library builds its collections through the copyright deposits, so severing that relationship would harm both institutions. The bill recognizes this: It establishes a significant transition period. It allows the Copyright Office to continue Library support services. It requires the Register to consult with the Librarian before taking any action affecting the Library’s access to copyright deposits. It safeguards the rights of Copyright Office employees. For too long, Congress has allowed its own authority and capacity to atrophy. The Library, Copyright Office, Government Publishing Office, and other support agencies we rely on are funded from a legislative branch budget that amounts to roughly four-tenths of 1 percent of all Federal discretionary spending. If we are serious about legislating on questions as complex as AI and copyright, we must be serious about sustaining the institutions that make that work possible. Mr. Speaker, the bill is not perfect. I don’t know of a bill that has passed this House that has ever been deemed perfect, but it does ensure that the Librarian of Congress can be hired and fired only by Congress and does so while preserving both the Library and Copyright Office as the preeminent institutions in their fields. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend, Mr. Griffith, for his hard work and that of the staff and Chairman Steil. For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,’’ and I reserve the balance of my time.
