================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 62 ISSN 1069-7799 July 25, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (90 lines) NEA/NEH APPROPRIATIONS: ACTION NEEDED NEA/NEH AUTHORIZATION BILL APPROVED BY SENATE COMMITTEE _________________________________________________________________ NEA/NEH APPROPRIATIONS: ACTION NEEDED On July 15 the House of Representatives, in deliberations on the FY98 Interior Appropriations bill, H.R. 2107, reduced funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $10 million, enough to close down the agency, and then later, eliminated all funding for NEA. The National Endowment for the Humanities was funded at $110 million, the same as that for FY97. The House voted down a plan to consolidate funding into a block grant and also rejected an amendment to eliminate the NEH. Authorization for programs must be renewed every five or six years and that has not happened for either of the Endowments. Instead rules have been stretched and funding has been provided, after Congressional battles, on appropriations bills for one year at a time. But this year House appropriators announced at the outset that it would not be business as usual for the Endowments. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted on the Senate version of the Interior Appropriations bill on July 22. The bill includes $110.7 million for NEH, and about $100 million for NEA. The bill must be voted on by the full Senate before it goes to conference. It is not clear whether there is time left before the summer recess to finish voting on the bill. The conference report must be approved by both Houses before it is sent to the President for signature. It is reported that unless there is funding for the National Endowment for the Arts in the final bill, the President may veto the bill. ACTION NEEDED: Supporters of the Endowments should contact Members of Congress particularly during the summer recess expressing their support for the Senate Appropriations Committee funding levels, and asking Members to vote to support the Senate version of HR 2107. _________________________________________________________________ NEA/NEH AUTHORIZATION BILL APPROVED BY SENATE COMMITTEE On July 23 the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee voted on NEA/NEH reauthorization legislation, S. 1020, introduced by Senators Jim Jeffords (R-VT), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and John Chafee (R-RI). The legislation, titled "Arts and Humanities Amendments of 1997," is an improved version of the 1995 bill sponsored by Senators Kassebaum, Jeffords, Kennedy, Pell and others that was reported out of committee but never voted on by the full Senate, according to John Hammer of the National Humanities Alliance, a coalition to which ALA belongs. The proposed bill authorizes both Endowments at $175 million for FY98 and "such sums" thereafter. Introduction of this bill demonstrates support for the Endowments on the part of the sponsors and offers some hope to supporters. It could be that an attempt might be made to add this legislation to the Interior Appropriations bill during action later in the session. _________________________________________________________________ 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 Aleck Johnson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================