ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 14, Number 56 Date June 9, 2005 In This Issue: HOUSE APPROPRIATORS ANNOUNCES LIBRARY FUNDING LEVELS The House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over several library programs, recommended funding levels for fiscal year 2006 today. The Subcommittee's recommendation included an overall funding level of $249,640,000 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Within that total, the Subcommittee recommended that the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) receive $212,650,000, an increase of $6,699,000 over last year, but $8,675 below President Bush's budget request. Within that total is $165.5 million for Grants to State Library Agencies, $24 million for Librarians for the 21st Century program, $12.5 million for National Leadership Grants for libraries, and $3.5 million for Improving Library Service to Native Americans. For school libraries, the House proposes $19,683,264 for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, the same level as the President's request and fiscal year 2005. Similar to the President's Budget request, many education programs are level funded, some are cut and several programs are eliminated entirely, including the Community Technology Centers. However, some of the programs that the President proposed for elimination in his FY 06 budget were partially restored like the Even Start family literacy program, which was funded at $200 million. Also, Adult Education and Title V funding, which were severely cut, were restored to their FY05 level of $585.4 million and $198.4 million respectively. ALA, along with the 117 Members of Congress, had requested that the House and Senate Appropriations Committees fund the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at President Bush's request of $221.33 million and $100 million for the Improving Literary Through School Libraries program - the level of funding necessary to initiate formula grants to all states. While ALA is pleased with the almost $7 million increase proposed for LSTA, we will continue to work with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to increase funding for America's school libraries. The Subcommittee's recommendations next head to the full Appropriations Committee that will meet sometime next week to consider the funding levels. ****** 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 . To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to . ALAWON archives at . 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; Web site: . Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; 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.