Kennedy Center chairman Michael Kaiser defended his organization’s construction cost overruns and fire safety plans before a Congressional committee yesterday, taking issue with a General Accounting Office report which harshly criticized the performing arts complex. “Kaiser argued that the center overhauled its management of construction finances in 2003, after the GAO first found accounting problems.” The Kennedy Center is accountable to Congress rather than to a city entity, because Washington, D.C.’s civic budget is largely controlled by the federal government.