****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISSN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 4, Number 29 March 27, 1995 In this issue: (109 lines) SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE RESTORES LIBRARY FUNDS - ACTION MOVES TO SENATE FLOOR NII SECURITY FORUM SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 28 *************************************************************************** SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE RESTORES LIBRARY FUNDS - ACTION MOVES TO SENATE FLOOR On Friday, March 24, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported out S. 617, (S. Rep. 104-117), its version of the FY95 rescission bill. Report language states the total rescissions to be $13,323,068,976. The report further details that the bill is being reported out as a Senate bill in order "to expedite Senate consideration." Calling the bill a "work in progress", the report further states that reduction in discretionary spending will be necessary in the consideration of FY96 appropriations. "These actions will continue a steady decline in discretionary funding which has decreased from 14.4 percent of GDP in fiscal year 1968 to less than 7.7 percent of GDP in fiscal year 1995." The Senate Appropriations Committee restored Library Services and Construction Act title II--Library Construction, and did not concur with House action. The Committee restored $2,000,000 for the Higher Education Act title II fellowship program, providing funding for continuation of doctoral students. The Committee also did not concur with House cuts in HEA II-research and demonstrations. The Senate committee sustained the House cuts in the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities at $5 million each and recommended a rescission of FY96 funds of $26,360,000, and for FY97, $29,360,000, for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Many of the education programs cut severely by the House were also cut by the Senate, but in a less severe manner. The bill is scheduled to be voted on in the Senate this week, and conference may occur either before or after the Easter holiday which begins after April 7. Library supporters should continue to let their senators know about the importance of maintaining the library program funds and explain why such funds should not be rescinded. ALAWON will report more as information becomes available. *************************************************************************** NII SECURITY FORUM SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 28 The March 21, 1995 _Federal Register_ announced a public meeting of the National Information Infrastructure Security Issues Forum to be held on March 28, 1995. The meeting has been titled "The NII: Will It Be There When You Need It? Will It Be Safe To Use." The location will be Room 4830 of the Department of Commerce. Two panels from the public will be assembled to address specific issues during the meeting. While the March 20th deadline for requesting to appear as part of one of these to panels had passed before this _Federal Register_ announcement was made, the Forum will accept written statements through April 21, 1995. Statements should be sent to the National Communications Systems, 701 South Court House Road, Arlington, VA 22204 to the attention of Mr. Mark Centra. Position statements may also be submitted via fax to (703)746-4960 or through E-mail to centram@cc.ims.disa.mil. Text sent electronically should be in unencoded, unformatted, ASCII text. The first of the two panels, "Experiences and Expectations," will be asked to address questions such as the following: 1) What are your expectations and needs regarding the availability of services and information on the NII? 2) How does your organization plan to ensure that information and underlying systems are available to legitimate users? 3) How should government support the reliability and availability of the NII? What government policies or guidance would bolster you confidence in the NII? The second panel will be called "Current State of Affairs and Future Challenges," and will consist of communications providers of all types; cable, wireless, satellite, Internet. This panel will address the following questions: 1) What are the security risks faced by industry providers of communications services today? As networks evolve from a closed status to a more open one, how will the interoperability of systems and the expansion of universal access affect availability and reliability? How so you plan to address potential threats such as network disruptions and outages or degradation of services as new services are implemented? 2) Do you feel that end-users are aware of the level of availability and reliability associated with various components of the NII? What steps have you taken to educate or meet the expectations of the user in the areas of availability and reliability of the NII? 3) How should government support availability and reliability in the NII? For further information on the meeting or submitting a position statement contact Mark Centra of National Communications System at (703) 607-6183 or centram@cc.ims.disa.mil. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 110 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC 20002-5675. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-547-4440; Fax: 202-547-7363. Contributing to this issue: Mary R. Costabile and Anne A. Heanue; Editor: Lynne E. Bradley (leb@alawash.org). ALAWON is available free of charge and is available only in electronic form. To subscribe, send the message "subscribe ala-wo [your name]" to listserv@uicvm (Bitnet) or listserv@uicvm.uic.edu (Internet). Back issues and other documents are available from the list server. To find out what's available, send the message "send ala-wo filelist" to the listserv. The ALA-WO filelist contains the list of files with the exact filename and filetype. To get a particular file, issue the command "send filename filetype" to the listserv. Do not include the quotes in your commands. All materials in the newsletter subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. For other reprinting or redistribution, address requests to the ALA Washington Office (alawash@alawash.org). *************************************************************************** ***End of file******************End of file******************End of file***