ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 11, Number 69 August 30, 2002 In This Issue: CONGRESSIONAL RECESS TO END ON SEPTEMBER 3—WHAT'S THE MESSAGE? The House of Representatives and the Senate will be back in session on September 3. If you haven't contacted them yet, please do so before they return to Washington, or call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121 next week. This is an election year, so there will be some opportunities for you to visit with them and discuss issues of great importance to libraries and their users when they are home campaigning. A face-to-face meeting, even though only lasting a short time, has a great impact. Follow up those meetings by faxing letters reiterating your points to the local district office. ? LSTA REAUTHORIZATION—The Museum and Library Services Act, H.R. 3784, which includes reauthorization of library programs, has been introduced in the House, passed by subcommittee and full committee, and is now waiting for the entire House to vote on the bill. Since the end of the fiscal year is October 1, there is strong reason why the bill needs to be voted on quickly in the House. MESSAGE: Please ask your Representative to request that House leadership schedule a vote on the bill as soon as possible. There are 94 sponsors on this bill. ? The Museum and Library Services Act in the Senate, S. 2611, is waiting for full Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee action. Senator Edward Kennedy is Chair of that committee. There are 21 Senate sponsors of the bill. MESSAGE: Please ask your Senator to ask Senator Kennedy to schedule a committee vote on the bill as soon as possible. ? The "TEACH" Act (S. 487 Technology Education and Copyright Harmonization Act)—The bill updates the Copyright Act to provide for distance education in the information age. This bill was passed by the Senate and has now been voted on by the House full Committee and reported out. It too needs to be put on the schedule for a full House vote. MESSAGE: Please ask your Representative to request that House leadership schedule a vote on the bill as soon as possible. (See details on the bill at www.ala.org/alawash/disted.html) ? APPROPRIATIONS—An ALAWON dated July 25 alerted you that the Senate Labor HHS Education Appropriations Committee had voted on its appropriations bill (see www.ala.org/alawash/ click on ALAWON for details) and many appropriations bills are moving. When the House returns in September, the House Labor HHS Education Appropriations Subcommittee has scheduled its mark up for September 5. MESSAGE: Please stress the importance of funding for library programs and the new Literacy Through School Libraries program. The Senate bill would fund library and museum programs in IMLS at $214 million, while the Literacy Through School Libraries program would be funded at $25 million. The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science would receive $1 million in the Senate bill. (Note: Both of the authorizing bills listed above would authorize library programs at higher levels than the Senate numbers). ? LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS: The House marked up its bill H.R. 5121 ( H. Rept. 107-576) and cut the Government Printing Office's budget in its Salaries and Expenses account by $2.6 million below the requested amount. These funds are needed for an upgrade of GPO Access and for additional staff to help manage the Federal Depository Library program's electronic collection. The Senate restored the funding to the requested level in its legislation S. 2720 (S. Rept. 1207-209). Both bills will be conferenced early this fall, with members of the conference committee drawn from the Senate and House Legislative appropriations subcommittee. Now is the time to fax letters to each Legislative Branch Subcommittee member. The subcommittee's fax number is (202) 225-8044. The Representatives that need to be contacted are Charles Taylor (R-NC), Chair; Jerry Lewis (R-CA); Zach Wamp (R-TN); Ray LaHood (R-IL); Don Sherwood (R-PA); James Moran (D-VA), Ranking Member; Steny Hoyer (D-MD); and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH); MESSAGE: The House should recede to the Senate bill's higher amount for funding for the Government Printing Office. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell, Claudette Tennant. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.