****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 3, Number 67 November 13,1994 In this issue: (211 lines) POWER SHIFTS DRAMATICALLY AFTER CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS FOLLOW-UP ON LIBRARIES AS TEST SITES FOR POSTAL SERVICE KIOSKS DEPT. OF EDUCATION CONDUCTS PUBLIC HEARINGS ON ADULT ED REAUTHORIZATION *************************************************************************** POWER SHIFTS DRAMATICALLY AFTER CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS IMPLICATIONS. Voters engineered a dramatic power shift in Congress in the November 8 elections. Party control in both the House and Senate now belongs to the Republicans. Although a few close races are not yet decided, Republicans gained majority status in the House (228-200) and in the Senate (53-47). What does this mean for library and information issues? WHITE HOUSE. First of all, the Clinton Administration will have a very hard time getting any of its initiatives through a Republican led Congress. Republicans took a hard-line anti-Clinton stand in the campaign, and see the results of the elections as a repudiation of President Clinton and the Democrats. This interpretation is strengthened by the fact that not a single Republican incumbent was defeated. The President can exercise veto power, and may emphasize foreign policy or agenda items that can be achieved through administrative actions. In either case, the domestic agenda will be weakened. CONGRESS. In Congress, increased polarization and gridlock are likely to occur due to several factors. First, of course, is that the White House and Capitol Hill are now controlled by different parties. Further, the highly negative nature of most campaigns will leave a residue of bitterness when Democrats return as the minority party; and Republicans, looking toward 1996, will have little incentive for cooperation with the new minority. In addition, each party's congressional membership has shifted away from the center. Remaining Democrats are the more liberal incumbents; newly elected Republicans are more conservative. SENATE. The new political environment is likely to play out differently in the Senate and House. The probable Senate majority leader Robert Dole (R-KS) held that position during the first six years of the Reagan Administration when Republicans controlled the Senate. Many other new Senate leaders and committee chairs also had leadership experience during the early 1980s. Senate terms are longer and relationships between the parties tend to be more collegial. Some of the likely committee chairs, such as Mark Hatfield (R-OR) on appropriations; Larry Pressler (R-SD) on commerce, science, and transportation; and Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) on labor and human resources (including education and libraries); are moderates and supportive of libraries. HOUSE. The House is expected to be more sharply partisan. Likely House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) developed a "Contract with America" signed by more than 350 GOP House incumbents and candidates that called for cutting taxes, strengthening defense, and enacting a balanced budget. This partisan blueprint for the first 100 days takes on added importance since the Republicans will control the agenda next year. House Republicans will be in an unfamiliar role, however. They have been in the minority for 40 years. Gingrich is a tough and organized leader, but achieving unity as the opposition is far easier than achieving consensus as the party in power. The new chair of the House Education and Labor Committee is likely to be Rep. William Goodling (R-PA), a moderate, but the shakeup and realignment in the House makes predictions on most committee and subcommittee chairs pure guesswork at this early date. House and Senate leadership positions and major committee chairs are expected to be named in December, but the full roster of committee and subcommittee leaders and members will not be known until early in the next session. LIBRARY CHAMPIONS. Most recent library legislation sponsors or champions retained their seats, although current House Education and Labor Committee Chairman (and honorary ALA member) Bill Ford (D-MI) retired. Senators Mark Hatfield (R-OR), Claiborne Pell (D-RI) and Paul Simon (D-IL) were not up for reelection. Reps. Major Owens (D-NY, the librarian in Congress), Dale Kildee (D-MI), and Jack Reed (D-RI) were reelected. CONGRESSIONAL STAFF. A major shakeup of congressional staff is already underway. The key subject specialists are staff of committees and subcommittees where the ratio has been about two-thirds Democrat to one-third Republican. Most Democratic staffers who knew and influenced issues of concern to the library community are gone or going. The Democrats are now the minority, plus the new majority has pledged to reduce all committee staff by one-third, and may reduce the number of committees as well. The reduced staff total will still be an increase for the Republicans, but will reduce Democratic committee staff to skeletal status. CLIMATE UNFAVORABLE. Library support in Congress has always been strong on a bipartisan basis; library champions have long been found on both sides of the aisle. However, the sharply conservative nature of some of the Republican agenda items, while not aimed at libraries, would create a climate highly unfavorable to increased library program funding. Gingrich's "Contract with America" calls for votes within the first 100 days on a balanced budget/tax limitation amendment, a line-item veto, new tax cuts, and increased defense spending. Some analyses of these agenda items estimate that implementing them would require a 20 to 30 percent cut in current spending for domestic discretionary programs such as education and libraries, and would not allow any room for funding of new programs such as the school library resources program in the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Targeted cuts or program consolidations could also affect libraries. Although there is bipartisan support for scientific research and use of technology, the high technology initiatives closely identified with the Clinton/Gore Administration, such as the High Performance Computing and Communications initiative, will have a tough time getting funding. New programs such as the networking applications bills (H.R. 1757 and S. 4) that failed this year are not likely to emerge again. WHAT'S NEXT. For the ALA Washington Office, the next step involves keeping close track of committee assignments, understanding new agendas, and getting to know new staff and educating them concerning library programs and issues. The enormity of the change makes this a much bigger job than after the usual congressional election. We will share information about the organization of the new Congress as it develops. WHAT TO DO. For library supporters as constituents, the first order of business is to get to know the newly elected members, invite them into their home area libraries, show them what services are being provided to their constituents, and why supportive federal programs and policies are important. Let us know of new legislators or new staffers who may be particularly interested in library and related issues. Let us know about library supporters with close ties to new legislators. *************************************************************************** FOLLOW-UP ON LIBRARIES AS TEST SITES FOR POSTAL SERVICE KIOSKS The U.S. Postal Service indicates that they expect to consider libraries as sites in early tests of their citizen kiosk program for delivery of government services and information. Post offices are not the only sites for the kiosks, nor even the primary focus. A detailed study in each test community will determine the appropriate public sites. USPS has put up its own funds for development of the first 112 machines, to be deployed in the Washington, D.C. area and in five test states yet to be determined. And RFP will be issued shortly to developers that have already expressed interest in developing the first machines, to be designed to require not staff assistance. Internet protocols will be used, but access will limited to government services and information. As part of the Administration's Information Infrastructure Taskforce activity, USPS is developing a report on this initiative as a government-wide model. The target date for release of the draft report is November 22. Libraries are expected to be prominently featured in this report. The ALA will participate in a meeting with USPS officials on the kiosk initiative in mid-December. *************************************************************************** DEPT. OF EDUCATION CONDUCTS PUBLIC HEARINGS ON ADULT ED REAUTHORIZATION The Department of Education has been conducting a series of public hearings on the Adult Education Act, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act and the National Literacy Act of 1991 (_Federal Register_, October 18, 1994, 52522). Hearings have already been held in recent weeks in California, Tennessee and Chicago, Illinois. Boston, Massachusetts is the site for two days of hearings scheduled this week on November 16-17. The hearings are intended to provide interested parties with the opportunity to represent their views on current adult education and vocational education programs and to recommend "new and innovative program initiatives that support the President's Goals 2000: Educate America Act," - especially Goals 2 and 6. For further information, please contact Phyllis Dorsey, Department of Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy (fax # 202-205-8973). Persons interested in the Adult Education hearings should call (202- 205- 9868. Written comments were requested by the Secretary of Education in a notice published on September 20, 1994 in the _Federal Register_ (48366). (FYI - Goal 2: by the year 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent; Goal 6: by the year 2000, every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The Secretary is especially interested in public views on the broad program issues identified in the Sept. 20 _Fed. Reg_. The Secretary intends to submit to Congress the Department's proposals to reauthorize these programs in March 1995. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363. Contributing to this issue: Carol C. Henderson (cch@alawash.org); Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (Internet). 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