ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 88 November 4, 2004 In This Issue: ACTION NEEDED: Contact your Members of Congress immediately and ask them to support $223.56 million for Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) programs at the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and $22.842 million for the Improving Literary Through School Libraries program. In This Issue: CONGRESS PLANS TO FINISH FY05 SPENDING BILLS BEFORE THANKSGIVING House and Senate Republican leaders, following Tuesday's sweeping Republican victories in the White House and Congress, plan to make quick work of the planned lame-duck session so they can start with a clean slate and newly invigorated majorities when the 109th Congress begins in January. Republican leaders will press for swift agreement on FY05 appropriations bills soon after Election Day, with an eye toward adjournment by Thanksgiving (Nov. 25). That could make for a long legislative week when lawmakers return on Nov. 16, with nine of 13 spending bills and a must-pass increase in the statutory debt limit left to tackle. While Senate Majority Leader Frist and Senate Appropriations Chairman Stevens have made clear their preference for completing work before Thanksgiving, they will have to overcome $8 billion in differences between Senate and House spending levels. Congress must keep the government funded by either passing an omnibus spending bill or a continuing resolution, known as a CR, that would punt the issue until the next Congress. ALA is urging its members to contact their Members in support of the funding levels approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee for LSTA and the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program. ALA is also urging for increased funding for the Title V education program, the Government Printing Office, the National Agriculture Library, and many other library related programs. Visit ALA's website for more information and talking points on these critical programs: You may call your Senators TOLL-FREE at 1-800-839-5276. Or identify and send your Member of Congress a letter through the legislative action center at: ****** 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; Don Essex, Josh Farrelman, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.