================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 58 ISSN 1069-7799 July 22, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (74 lines) ACTION NEEDED ON SENATE AMENDMENT TO ADD FUNDS FOR TIIAP GRANTS _________________________________________________________________ ACTION NEEDED ON SENATE AMENDMENT TO ADD FUNDS FOR TIIAP GRANTS Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) will offer an amendment to restore $10 million in funding for the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program. This amendment could be taken up on the Senate floor as early as Wednesday, July 23; it is more likely to be taken up late in the week or early next week. The TIIAP program, administered by NTIA in the Commerce Department, provides matching funds to promote the widespread availability of advanced telecommunications technologies. Many community networking projects, some involving libraries, have been funded through this small but effective program. The current funding for TIIAP is $21.5 million. The Administration requested $36 million, but a House funding subcommittee approved level funding at $21.5 million. However, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved only $11 million. The Dorgan-Snowe amendment, to be offered to S. 1022, the FY98 Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary Appropriations Bill, would restore $10 million to the TIIAP program to bring the Senate level to $21.5 million. ALA is joining in a letter in support of the amendment from an informal coalition of constituencies interested in the TIIAP program. ACTION NEEDED: Contact your Senators (the U.S. Capitol Switchboard phone number is 202/224-3121) to urge support for the Dorgan-Snowe amendment to S. 1022 to restore $10 million to bring the Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program to the FY97 level of $21.5 million. If your Senator's office is supportive of TIIAP, urge his or her staff to contact Jim Morhead, Senate Appropriations staff on this issue, at 202/224-0856 to urge that the amendment be included in a possible manager's amendment (the Appropriations committee's own amendment). This would increase the likelihood of the TIIAP restoration of funds being included in the Senate-passed bill. _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Carol C. Henderson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================