ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 84 October 27, 2004 In This Issue: 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: CANDIDATES' POSITION ON LIBRARIES In an attempt to provide ALA's membership with information on where the Presidential candidates stand on issues critical to libraries prior to Election Day, ALA's Washington Office has put together a comparison on the candidate's records on library funding and the PATRIOT Act. This material is provided for informational purposes only. It reflects our findings from each candidate's public record on issues that impact libraries and should not be considered an endorsement of any kind of either candidate. While there was no specific mention of "libraries" in either of the candidates' proposals in public sources nor from their campaign materials, ALA has attempted to put together a comparison of the two Presidential candidates for your benefit. We have also included the letters ALA' s Washington Office sent to both candidates encouraging them to include libraries in their domestic policy proposals. With Election Day only days away, we hope you find this information useful. Please visit: ****** Remember: You Can Call Any MEMBER OF CONGRESS Toll-Free: 1-800-839-5276 ****** UPDATE: We have heard, unofficially, that it looks like the plan may be to strip everything from the Conference bill on Intelligence Reform/Reorganization that is not related to intelligence reform (i.e., lots of the House provisions), and vote on that. Everything else would be left for the next Congress. However, we have also heard that the driver's license standards -- which have the potential to lead to a national ID with little protection for privacy -- is still on the table. House Democrats are offering to keep it on the table (we hear), but only the Senate version. The Senate version is preferable to the House version, in that it does not REQUIRE linking of databases, but it also does not prohibit such linking. TALKING POINTS: Briefly, in regard to the conference on the Intelligence Reform/Reorganization bills, the library community is especially concerned with the provisions on driver's license standards. We are concerned that these provisions would create the potential for a national ID card. For many libraries, the driver's license is a primary form of identification for the issuance of a library card. While there is no immediate threat to library patrons' privacy, we know that these provisions are causing consternation and concern that the driver's license will become a de facto national ID to which other identification cards would be expected to conform. In particular, the House provision, which would create a federal database of information from driver's licenses, is deeply troubling in its potential for invasion of privacy and as a tool for surveillance. We think that these provisions -- as with many others in the House bill -- represent complex and difficult issues that need careful consideration, including open hearings. We do not think that this is possible with the short timeframe available and would hope these provisions could be removed from the conference bill. Conferees: Senate Conferees: Susan Collins, R-ME, 202-224-2523 George Voinovich, R-OH, 202-224-3353 Mike DeWine, R-OH, 202-224-2315 Norm Coleman, R-MN, 202-224-5641 John Sununu, R-NH, 202-224-2841 Pat Roberts, R-KS, 202-224-4774 Trent Lott, R-MS, 202-224-6253 Joe Lieberman, D-CT, 202-224-4041 Carl Levin, D-MI, 202-224-6221 Richard Durbin, D-IL, 202-224-2152 John Rockefeller, D-WV, 202-224-6472 Bob Graham, D-FL, 202-224-3041 Frank Lautenberg, D-NJ, 202-224-3224 House Conferees: Peter Hoekstra, R-MI, 2nd, 202-225-4401 Henry Hyde, R-IL, 6th, 202-225-4561 David Dreier, R-CA, 26th, 202-225-2305 Roy Blunt, R-MO, 7th, 202-225-6536 OR James Sensenbrenner, R-WI, 5th, 202-225-5101 Duncan Hunter, R-CA, 52nd, 202-225-5672 Jane Harman, D-CA, 36th, 202-225-8220 Ike Skelton, D-MO, 4th, 202-225-2876 Robert Menendez, D-NJ, 13th, 202-225-7919 ****** Remember: You Can Call Any MEMBER OF CONGRESS Toll-Free: 1-800-839-5276 ****** 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; Carol Ashworth, Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.