****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 95
                        November 14,1995
                                
In this issue: (108 lines)
     UPDATE ON RESTRICTIONS ON NONPROFIT POLITICAL ADVOCACY
          ACTION NEEDED: CONTINUE TO URGE CONGRESSMEN TO OPPOSE
               ISTOOK AMENDMENT  

*****************************************************************

     UPDATE ON RESTRICTIONS ON NONPROFIT POLITICAL ADVOCACY

In fast-moving legislative action during the week of November 6-
10, the restrictions on nonprofit political advocacy known as
"the Istook amendment", were passed by the House, somewhat
watered down in the Senate, and then finally dropped when the
stop-gap Continuing Resolution (H.J.Res. 115) was sent back to
the House.  As a result of this action, the CR must go back to
the Senate.  The President has said that he will still veto the
CR for other reasons, almost insuring a shutdown of major
government operations.  The current CR expires at midnight,
November 13.

On November 8, the House passed H.R. Res. 115, funding federal
agencies until December 1 at the lowest of three levels: 1995
funding level, the House appropriated level for FY96 or the
Senate FY96 levels.  In addition to the appropriations language,
the CR included the Istook Amendment which denies groups and
organizations their ability to fully participate in community and
national affairs using their own money, just because they also
receive funding or anything else of value from the federal
government.   

When the Senate began consideration of H.R. Res. 115 on November
9, Senators Larry Craig (R-ID) and Alan Simpson (R-WY) offered a
17-page amendment that was a revised, and somewhat less
restrictive, version of the Istook amendment.   The Simpson-Craig
alternative passed on a narrow vote (after being defeated once
and brought back a second time on a parliamentary move by Senator
Robert Dole (R-KS)).  

The CR then was sent  to the House where the controversial rider
was dropped from the short-term spending bill.  House moderates
opposed the measure and some of the proponents withdrew their
support after the Senate watered it down.   Representative
Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-NY) was quoted in the press: "Once people
were exposed to the details of the plan, all hell broke loose. 
Many members didn't focus on it until the last minute."

Proponents of the Istook amendment made it clear that they  are
not giving up.  They intend to try to add the Istook  amendment
to H.R. 2020, the Treasury, Postal Service, and General
Government Appropriations bill very soon.  The Treasury-Postal
bill was reported out of conference in late October with a
Simpson-Istook compromise amendment in disagreement.  The
Simpson-Istook compromise would need to be voted on separately in
the House and Senate when the conference report on H.R. 2020 is
considered.   The lobbying reform bill, H.R. 2564, is another
potential vehicle for proponents of restricting nonprofit
political advocacy.

ACTION NEEDED:   We expect another vote on the proposals to
restrict nonprofit political advocacy as early as next week, but
probably the following week.  Continue to urge Senators and
Representatives to oppose the Istook amendment (and the Simpson-
Craig amendment in the Senate) on whichever legislative vehicle
it may appear. Calls, letters, faxes and electronic mail messages
from constituents have had a major effect on legislators. 
Details of the Istook amendment can be found in several previous
ALAWONS.

The Washington Office has a compilation of voting records for
action taken on restrictions for nonprofits.  If you would like
more detail on how your Congressmen voted in the last actions
taken by the House and the Senate, please contact Anne Heanue, 
e-mail:  ahh@alawash.org.  
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************

ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is an irregular publication of the
American Library Association Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania
Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20004.  Internet:
alawash@alawash.org; Phone: 202-628-8410; Fax: 202-628-8419. 
Contributing to this issue: Anne H. 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 listserv 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 File****************End File*****************End File****
*****************************************************************