****Begin File******************Begin File*******************Begin File**** *************************************************************************** ISBN 1069-7799 ALAWON ALA Washington Office Newsline An electronic publication of the American Library Association Washington Office Volume 4, Number 82 September 15, 1995 In this issue: (256 lines) OVERVIEW OF CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITY AFTER THE AUGUST RECESS ACTION NEEDED ************************************************************************** OVERVIEW OF CONGRESSIONAL ACTIVITY AFTER THE AUGUST RECESS Activity in Congress has reached a feverish pitch as House and Senate push to meet the deadline for the 13 annual appropriations bills to be completed before October 1, the beginning of the new 1966 fiscal year. Thus far, two weeks into the month, seven bills have reached the conference stage and the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill (H.R. 1854) conference report has been approved by the House. The Senate version of H.R. 2127, the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill, was approved by the Senate subcommittee on September 13, with full Appropriations Committee action scheduled for Friday, September 15, and Senate floor action expected next week. H.R. 2076, the Commerce, Justice, State, Judiciary Appropriations Bill, was approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee on September 12. If all 13 bills are not completed by the deadline, it will be necessary for Congress to pass a continuing resolution to keep the federal government operating. Also of concern are several Presidential statements about vetoes of some appropriations bills, including the Labor-HHS-Education bill that includes library funding. Many commentators are contemplating a possible stand-off between Congress and the President and calling the resulting government shut-down a "train wreck". An enterprising D.C. law firm is even offering seminars on how to deal with the possible train wreck. Other large measures to be dealt with are a budget reconciliation bill designed to cut costs in programs where doing so requires changes in eligibility rules; a controversial welfare reform bill, and several reauthorization measures. LSCA REAUTHORIZATION The status of H.R. 1617, the CAREERS Act, which includes a library block grant adaptation of the proposed Library Services and Technology Act, is changing. On September 15, a new bill number will be issued and H.R. 1617 will be merged with H.R. 1720, a bill on Sallie-Mae and student loans. Watch for this new bill to move onto the House floor on September 19. The Senate bill, S. 856, reauthorizes the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and includes the Library Services and Technology Act administered by a new Institute of Museum and Library Services. The bill has now been reported out of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee as S. Report 104-135. The report includes an excellent summary of the LSTA proposal and a rationale for the placement in an independent institute. (See also earlier ALAWONs.) LABOR, HHS, EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education reported out the FY96 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill on September 13. The Subcommittee restored $1.9 billion above the House-passed level. Goals 2000, not funded in the House-passed version, was restored to $300 million. Library programs fared well in the Senate version, thanks to strong Senate subcommittee support. Several programs zeroed out by the House would be funded. See table below. PROGRAM FY95 FY96 FY96 Approp. House Senate (Amounts Passed Subcom. in Thousands) Passed *************************************************************** LSCA I- $ 83,227 $ 83,227 $ 83,227 Public Library Services LSCA II- 17,792 -0- 16,369 Library Construction LSCA III- 23,700 18,000 18,000 Interlibrary Cooperation LSCA VI- 8,026 -0- 7,384 Library Literacy Programs HEA II-B- 4,916 -0- 4,523 Library Education & Training HEA II-B- 6,500 -0- 2,000 Library Research & Demonstrations NCLIS 901 450 829 NLM 125,748 141,439 134,858 School Improvement 598,548 550,000 550,000 Programs (Chapter 2 and Prof. Dev.) ESEA Education 22,500 25,000 25,000 Technology Educational 86,200 101,578 90,000 Research Educational 80,910 80,910 76,818 Assessment & Statistics The Senate full committee has acted, but numbers are not yet available. The Rep. Istook (R-OK), amendment referred to in the August 4th ALAWON, which prohibited the use of federal funds for political advocacy was not included in the Senate bill. Apparently Rep. Istook is attempting to attach it to the conference report of the FY96 Postal Treasury Appropriations Bill. ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters should thank Senate Appropriations Committee members for their efforts on behalf of libraries and urge all Senators to support these amounts for library programs when H.R. 2127 reaches the Senate floor. NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Humanities supporters gathered on Capitol Hill on September 12 to discuss appropriations for NEA/NEH and make Congressional visits asking members to recommend that conferees on H.R. 1977, the FY96 Interior Appropriations Bill, vote for the Senate version which would appropriate approximately $110 million for NEH and include no phase-out language. The House-passed version would fund NEH at $99 million and assumes a three-year phase-out for both Endowments. Sheldon Hackney, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, suggested that participants were engaged in "evangelism for civic virtue." Rep. Pat Williams (D-MT) said the group should not take "no" or "maybe" for an answer. Williams said, "This place is about choices and options and there are a million different ways to move towards a balanced budget." Rep. Peter Torkildsen (R-MA) and Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) both made presentations in favor of the Humanities, with Torkildsen saying when you "see something that's the right thing to do you should do it." Sen. Bennett described the significant investment by the private sector because of the leveraging ability of endowment grants. The day was sponsored by Americans United to Save the Arts and Humanities, an umbrella group including the National Humanities Alliance to which ALA belongs, the Association of American Universities, and the Federation of State Humanities Councils. ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters should contact conferees and their individual Senators and Representatives asking them to vote for the Senate version of the Interior Appropriations Bill (H.R. 1977). Likely conferees are: HOUSE: Rep. Ralph Regula (House Subcommittee Chair) (R-OH); Rep. Joseph McDade (R-PA); Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ); Rep. Joe Skeen (R-NM); Rep. Barbara Vucanovich (R-NV); Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC); Rep. George Nethercutt (R-WA); Rep. Jim Bunn (R-OR); Rep. Robert Livingston (R-LA); Rep. Sidney Yates (D-IL); Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA); Rep. Tom Bevill (D-AL); Rep. David Skaggs (D-CO); Rep. David Obey (D-WA). SENATE: Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA); Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-OR); Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK); Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS); Sen. Pete Dominici (R-NM); Sen. Connie Mack (R-FL); Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT); Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT); Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV); Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC); Sen. Bennett Johnston (D-LA); Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-AR); Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV); Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILLS Thus far, names of House and Senate conferees on the telecommunications bills, H.R. 1555 and S. 652, have not been made public although it is expected that the conferees will be named in the next few days. Conferees are usually selected from the committees with jurisdiction over the bills and published in the Congressional Record. In order to preserve the Snowe-Rockefeller-Kerrey-Exon amendment, a provision allowing "discounted rates for schools and libraries" in S. 652, ALA and other groups in the educational coalition have been sending letters and lobbying potential conferees and supporters to keep the SRKE amendment in the final bill. There is a weaker K-12 school related provision in H.R. 1555 though it does not include public libraries. ACTION NEEDED: Library and education supporters should contact their congressional representatives and senators (even if they are not expected to be on the conference committee) and ask them to contact the conferees to retain the Snowe-Rockefeller-Kerrey-Exon amendment as they negotiate the final legislation. Conferees should also be asked to remove the Exon-Gorton amendment from the Senate bill. Though there remain problems with the Cox-Wyden amendment in the House bill, it is considered somewhat less intrusive into First Amendment rights that the Exon alternative. None of these censorship-related provisions are endorsed by ALA. It has been reported that the President may veto the legislation unless some concessions or changes are made. This may be another of those collision-courses issues. More information on this issue after the conferees are named. COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE, JUDICIARY APPROPRIATIONS This week the FY96 Commerce, Justice State Appropriations Bill was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Senate Report (S. Report 103-139) on H.R. 2076, details the information referred to in ALAWON, September 7. TIIAP (community information infrastructure) grant funding would be eliminated in FY96 and rescinded from FY95. The bill is scheduled for floor action September 18. ACTION NEEDED: Library supporters should call Senators immediately to reinforce the message of the importance of TIIAP grants and the value of NTIA. All current applicants for TIIAP grants are strongly urged to contact their Senators to protest this elimination of funding for the TIIAP program. Zeroing out a modest information infrastructure program when thousands of applicants have already, in good faith, devoted time and resources to developing applications, securing community partners and matching funds, is both unfair and not cost effective. *************************************************************************** *************************************************************************** ALAWON (ISBN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004. Internet: alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-628-8410; Fax: 202-628=8419. Contributing to this issue: Mary R. Costabile and Carol C. Henderson; 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). 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