repair the dome. additional information and still photos can be found that www. aoc.gov/media. if the have follow-up questions please contact me. i would like to introduce the 11 architect of the capitol. >> thank you. good morning. thank you for joining us on this cold morning. i'm pleased to announce the scaffold you see behind you is complete. this is a significant milestone for us and our dome restoration project. number ofvide a details on that in just a few minutes. first i would like to introduce senator john hogan. senator hogan is the current ranking member of the legislative branch subcommittee.

thanks to senator hogan and our other congressional partners from the house and senate, we have had outstanding bipartisan support for this critical project, saving an american icon. senator hogan? >> thank you. thank you for coming out on this bracing day. this is incredibly important. it is assembled. the dome is a simple, not just for our country. a symbol of freedom, liberty, for the world. of theranking member subcommittee of appropriations, this has been a priority for me, but i think it is a priority for all americans. when the architect of the capitol said we had on the order of 1300 crack's and other structural type problems with the dome in terms of maintaining

it, not only now, but for future generations, that is a priority. $60 million include in the fy 14 budget to make sure is done. work and to make sure this work is done before the next inauguration. so when the next president is sworn in, the people of america can see their capitol building comfortable, and be , and confident that just like this great nation, it is here for the long-term. ose who do an of incredible job, not just on this dome, but on all of our buildings here in washington. under their supervision.

they are absolutely professionals. again, this isn't just about america. this is about the freedom and liberty, this strength that america represents to the world. thank you for being here. we know it is cold. we will keep it moving. >> thank you senator hogan. support ande your that the congress enabling us to undertake this project. mentioned moments ago, the completion of the scaffolding system you see behind us is a significant milestone for this restoration work. the purpose of the scaffold is a practical one, with its completion, workers are now able to access the dome freely and can use the equipment necessary to begin the restoration work in earnest. weighing in at 1.2 million

pounds, the scaffolding is specially designed to distribute the weight throughout the dome, rather than directly on the roof . you can see behind me that it actually hangs from the dome instead of sitting on the roof. total, 75,000 pieces of scaffolding were used totaling approximately 52 miles of scaffolding. in addition, with flaking is laid down on the scaffolding allowing workers to safely access the dome without wearing safety harnesses. 25total the scaffold has levels reaching up to the base of the statue of freedom. this restoration is the start of constructione its in 1855 to 1866. the capitol dome was constructed

with 9 million pounds of .ast-iron the dome itself is made of cast-iron plates ranging from 3/8 of an inch to half an inch thick. the total surface areas are 100,000 square feet. you will note there are 36 columns around the peristyle, 138 windows on the dome, and thousands of decorative elements, some of which we will show you this morning. much of that restoration work includes repairing more than 1300 cracks, as senator hoeven mentioned.

this is the first time the layers of lead-based paint will be completely removed and remediated. we arest time documenting every crack and defect in the dome. the first time we are using a specially adapted process to repair the cracks in the cast-iron. and the first time we are removing many of the large pieces of ornamentation and recasting them and reinstalling them. this work on the exterior of the dome will be completed by next fall. complexan incredibly

project and it takes a team of employees and contractors to make it happen. now i would like to introduce to reconstructionme manager, and joe will walk us through an in-depth review of the tools and techniques we are using to repair the cost -- the cast-iron dome. joe? >> thank you, good morning. >> spell your name. morning.you, good advanceponsible for the

reconstruction of this project. i will take you through the steps to repair the dome now that the scaffolding is in place. after i provide an overview, we will start the live demonstrations. you may have heard that there are over 1000 cracks in the capital's dome. we will repair every single crack. we begin with the lead-based paint. you see onnclosure the east front today is the first containment to be erected. these containments will be erected around the dome as the work takes place. once the containment is erected, the lead best -- the lead-based be removed using an

abrasive blasting media, which is using compressed air. this is used to remove 14 layers of paint from the dome, some of which are 150 years old. because we're working with the ased paint,lead b the workers must use specialized suits. these suits will protect the workers from the material and allows them to breathe while performing the work. paint and the blasting media is sent through large oses down toes -- h it on the ground. these hoses are visible from the west front. removed, aint is

lyric primer is applied to prevent rusting. rust could form on the surface of the material within eight hours. this is due to the cast-iron's exposure to moisture in the air. could preventust paint from sticking. after blasting and prime painting is completed, they will survey all of the cracks and catalog them. this in a we use specialized -- there are 10 steps in our quality control process and they tablet.mented in a

to identify and determine the extent of the crack, a number of tasks are performed. this will be shown on the table next to me. shavings will be sprinkled over top of the crack in the excess will be blown away. the full process, weight and extent of the crack is measured. this will be repeated at the end of the process. this technology was adapted for repairing engine blocks. been successfully used in 2012 for the restoration of the capitol dome skirts. holes are drilled, then

threaded, to being inserting crack.to the hooked pinse are designed for this. they are specifically designed for the capitol dome to work with the cast-iron. as it is tightened, the head shears off when it reaches a specified torque. once the head is sheared off, it will be flush with the cast-iron. this process is repeated twice with an overlapping pin. pins provide the initial strength for the repair.

blocks will be installed. , acreate the proper cavity series of holes will be drilled into the cast-iron. aing this specialized jig, series of specialized holes will be drilled for each lock that gets installed. is created, two locks will be hammered into every repair. both the surface lock and the bottom lock will be installed. skinajority of the dome is a have benched 387 inch in

is a half inch to 3/8 of an inch in thickness. willis point, the repair be inspected using the same particle test that was used to check the cracks in the beginning. after inspection is approved by be aoc, each repair will catalogued with the tablet, catalogued in our control process. inspection, there will be a layer of prime paint. in addition to repairing cracks on the dome, we're also removing ornaments.

there is an example to my left of the ornaments that have been pulled off. will behese ornaments blasted off as well and repainted. any damage will be recast and attach to the dome. once all of the repairs are made , we will be repainting from the top down. as they are completed, there will be a file for completion later next year. we will start the demonstrations. the station one, far to my -- they are going to put on the equipment they use for the blasting and painting. left.s on the

he has the equipment for the blasting. on the right, he has the equipment for the prime painting.

all right, thank you, gentlemen. next we will move on to station two. .his is larry young he will demonstrate a magnetic particle test. rods,these two magnetic crack,es these at the and he will sprinkle the steel shavings over the crack, which helps us identify the depth of .he crack thank you, larry. station three to my immediate

he will be demonstrating the drilling and tapping. the first step was to drill a , and now he is going to tap it. thank you, gerald.

to my immediate left, station for, this will be performed by chris nutter. this is going to be the finish station, the finish grinding. the pen is inserted. the head will be torqued off when it reaches the correct torque level. r inch of five pins pe

repair. now he is going to demonstrate the grinding the heads off. then at station five, we have ryan. ryan is going to show a show how 18jig, to

holes are drilled to create that special dog bone cavity. after all 18 holes are drilled, it will get hammered into place. once the lock is in place, it will be ground smooth.

thank you, ryan. that concludes the demonstrations for how the stitching is performed. at this point we will turn it over to mr. harris. >> thank you so much, joe. thank you for that demonstration. we will open it up to questions.

anybody have any questions? go ahead. >> [indiscernible] that in termswer of working in temperature. >> you mean, do they work in days that are not just nice days like today? we will be working on this all winter. in all temperatures, this work .ill be performed we have not gotten surprises on this. on the skirt restoration, which behind on the lower part me -- that is called the skirt

and we refurbished that a year and a half ago, and all of the surprises that came up came up in that phase and we have incorporated that in this work. there have not been any surprises yet. >> [indiscernible] >> the question is how long will this extend the life of the dome? the last restoration was 1950. it has been 60 years. ink coating and our repair techniques, we hope to years out of this restoration.

>> and you will be covering that. >> [indiscernible] >> joe? >> yes, we're still on schedule. >> thank you. and the other question you wanted to ask, are we still on or under budget? is that the question you wanted to ask? >>. >> yes the question is how much work is already been done? yes. joe? >> we have been moving parts in l,vance of the paint remova and we are getting started removing the lead-based paint shortly. the windows have not been .emoved

else?body >> [indiscernible] >> did we have to change the lights of the dome? >> we did not change the exterior lights. lightsre 750 led attached to the scaffolding and this is what allows the workers .o see at night >> [indiscernible] >> there are several cast-iron domes in the country. cast-ironworked on domes and besides as well. it is not new work.

>> the columns are cast-iron and they are hollow. ok, thank you, everybody. you guys are fantastic. way to go. thank you, guys. appreciate it. you. [indiscernible]

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> passing a budget, responding to questions, and considering

the president's immigration action. these are just some of the issues facing congress when it returns on monday. congress returns on monday, for the finish of the 113 congress. of's talk about the deadline december 11 to get that budget bill done, that spending bill. where do we stand on the? we head into and through the thanksgiving weekend, negotiations are ongoing between the house and senate. chairmany between the and the ranking members on getting various bills completed. last i heard, there was a meeting scheduled for december 1 .f the top level negotiators i am trying to get the final details ironed out on some of

those bills. the potential problem is even if the work product of the committee gets completed, then there are political considerations that need to be not thatr whether or bill makes it to the floor of the senate. that may be particularly completed in the house. the committee is trying to create a product that is separate from the political association hope it actually makes it to the floor. >> i understand the house minority leader, nancy pelosi, has said the republicans in the house should not count on democrat support in getting a spending measure passed, especially if it includes something dealing with immigration? >> yes, this