MR. CHAIRMAN: I congratulate you on this, our third Oversight Hearing in as many months. This is a particularly important hearing today.

I want to first welcome Michael Kaiser of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Under his most excellent direction, the Kennedy Center is expanding to provide leadership in a number of areas, including a training program for arts managers and programs to ensure that minority arts organizations have the tools they need to survive and thrive.

Last year Congress approved an expansion of the Kennedy Center, which along with private donors, will help better connect the center to Washington and its visitors and residents. This is an exciting time for the Kennedy Center and I look forward to this Committee continuing its supportive role in ensuring that the arts remain a vital part of our nation’s Capital.

I also want to welcome secretary small of the Smithsonian Institution here today. This most revered institution is literally the keeper of our nation’s history and character and provides not only Americans, but people of all nations, a window onto America’s past, present, and future. From American arts and artifacts to the National Zoo, the Smithsonian is, to quote secretary small, “the guardian of our nation’s greatest historic, artistic, and scientific treasures.”

And it is that very responsibility that makes it imperative that the Smithsonian remain independent of any political influence and be beyond reproach with regard to its policies, procedures, exhibit selection criteria and employment selection.

The leadership of the Smithsonian has faced several challenges in recent weeks with regard to that independence and I thank the Chairman for his willingness to reschedule this oversight hearing which was unavoidably canceled earlier this month.

I look forward to the testimony of our two witnesses and the opportunity to discuss some of the challenges facing these important institutions.