ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 13, Number 96 November 22, 2004 In This Issue: CONGRESS COMPLETES FY 2005 OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS BILL; LSTA FUNDING $13 MILLION BELOW THE PRESIDENT'S REQUEST, BUT $9.5 MILLION ABOVE LAST YEAR On Saturday, November 20, Congress passed H.R. 4818 (H.Rept. 108-792), the FY 2005 Consolidated (Omnibus) Appropriations bill. The Senate voted to clear the 3,016-page conference agreement on a 65-30 vote, but that did not bring the 108th Congress to a close as many had hoped. Democrats were outraged to discover a provision that would allow the chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, or their staff, to view taxpayers' individual tax returns. In addition, GOP leaders decided to keep open the option of having Congress return in December to try to complete the intelligence overhaul bill. Republicans agreed the tax return provision should go, but that was not good enough for Democrats, who kept up the fight against the omnibus until Republican leaders agreed to pass a resolution to strip the provision. The House must clear that measure before the omnibus can proceed to the president's desk. The House is expected to act on the correction Nov. 24 by unanimous consent, which would not require all members to return for a vote. The Senate also cleared a new continuing resolution (HJ Res 114) to keep the government operating through Dec. 3. The $388.4 billion omnibus package wraps together the nine stalled fiscal 2005 spending bills, and was adopted by the House, 344-51, a few hours before the Senate voted. The bill keeps FY 2005 non-discretionary spending at $821.9 billion, which represents a freeze or zero percent growth in non-defense discretionary spending. All additional spending in the bill is paid for by an across the board cut of .83% in ALL non-defense and non-homeland security spending, $300 million rescission in non-war, non-emergency defense funds, $283 million from limitations on expenditures from the Crime Victims Fund. The appropriations bill includes an overall funding level of $282,827,000 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an increase of $20,587,000 over last year. However, this total includes around an estimated $40 million in Congressionally-directed projects. Library programs at IMLS would receive $207,760,000, an increase of $9.5 million over fiscal year 2004, but $12.7 million below the President's request and $15.8 million below the Senate approved level. As a result, the State Grants program would receive $162,000,000 ($8.4 million below the President's budget); the Native American Library Services would receive $3,500,000 ($175,000 less than the President's request); the National Leadership Grants would receive $12,400,000 ($4.1 million below the President's request); and the Librarians for the 21st Century program would receive $23,000,000, a $3 million increase over FY 2004. With the across-the-board cut, Congress cut the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program by funding it at $19.8 million, the same level as FY 2004. This is also $3 million below what the Senate had approved. At this level, the Department of Education would only be able to fund around 200 awards for the approximately 3,000 eligible local education agencies. The Omnibus restored funding for two critical programs - Even Start and Title V. Even Start, which the President had proposed eliminating, received $226,910,000 in funding. For the Innovative Education Program Strategies (Title V), the Omnibus provides $200,000,000 in funding. Previously, the House of Representatives and the Senate had proposed either drastically cutting or completely eliminating funding for this program, which provides flexible funding to states and localities for innovative educational programs, including support for library services and instructional and media materials. For Adult Education & Literacy, the Omnibus provides $590,127,000 -- $106,000 below the President's request and FY 2004. For the Government Printing Office's Office of Superintendent of Documents, the Omnibus provides $31,953,000 -- $ 2.5 million below the President's request. It is important to note that ALL the program numbers above, as well as most in the bill, are subject to a .83% cut that was placed on all non-defense and non-homeland security spending. We are still going through the bill, but as more information becomes available we will put it on our website: ****** 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.