ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 13, Number 50
July 20, 2004

In This Issue: SENATE PASSES LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS BILL

Last Thursday, the full Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved the fiscal year 2005 Legislative Branch appropriations bill (S. 2666).  S. 2666 would set aside around $2.5 billion for the various agencies that support Congress, which is about $280 million less than the Legislative Branch appropriations bill that passed the House of Representatives last week. 

If enacted, that would represent a decrease of $287 million from the amount appropriated for fiscal 2004 (PL 108-83).  It also would give the legislative branch around $680 million less than what President Bush requested in his budget.

The bill would trim Government Printing Office (GPO) spending by $14,032,000, bringing it to $120.735 million.  This is also around $30.3 million below the President's budget request.  

Within GPO, the bill includes the Public Printer's request of $88,800,000 for the Congressional Printing and Binding (CP&B) appropriation.  However, for the Office of Superintendent of Documents, S. 2666 provides $31,935,000, a reduction of $2,318,000 below fiscal year 2004 level and $1,098,000 below the budget request.

The bill did not approve the $25,000,000 request for the Revolving Fund and separate funding of $4,225,000 for the Office of the Inspector General.

The bill also provides a total of $544 million for the Library of Congress, an increase of $17.7 million over last year. 

Congress is expected to finalize FY 2005 appropriations for the Legislative Branch when it returns in September from its summer recess, which is set to begin this Friday.   

In June, ALA, along with the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Special Libraries Association (SLA) sent a letter to the House and Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittees in support of the Public Printer's FY 2005 budget request of $150,833,000 for the GPO.  



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