_________________________________________________________________ ALAWON Volume 7, Number 119 ISSN 1069-7799 October 1, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (99 lines) (1) EDUCATION CEREMONY HELD AT THE WHITE HOUSE; ASK FOR JUST ONE DAY AND JUST ONE VOTE FOR EDUCATION (2) ACTION NEEDED: LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL; CONTINUING RESOLUTION FUNDS AGENCIES UNTIL OCTOBER 9 _________________________________________________________________ EDUCATION CEREMONY HELD AT THE WHITE HOUSE; ASKED FOR "JUST ONE DAY AND JUST ONE VOTE FOR EDUCATION" On October 1 education organizations were invited to a White House ceremony where President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Secretary of Education Richard Riley, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), and House Minority Whip David Bonior (D-MI) spoke about the importance of education initiatives, such as lowering class-size, improving school infrastructure and technology and funding education. They asked the Congressional Majority for "just one day and just one vote" for education before Congress adjourns next week. _________________________________________________________________ ACTION NEEDED: LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL; CONTINUING RESOLUTION FUNDS AGENCIES UNTIL OCTOBER 9 Thirteen appropriations bills should be passed and signed by the President before the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1. On September 30 a Continuing Resolution was passed to keep federal agencies funded until October 9. If no agreement on the remaining appropriations bills occurs, a Continuing Resolution for a longer amount of time -- perhaps for six months -- could be passed and set funding at current FY98 levels. An alternative also under discussion is a major omnibus appropriations bill rolling all not-yet-passed appropriations bills into one. When this happened previously, the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill was passed in different forms in both Houses. Strategically, the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill is often one of the last appropriations bills to pass because many large and sometimes controversial areas of keen interest are in it. This year, both H.R. 4274, the House Appropriations Committee reported bill, and S. 2440, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported bill, have not yet reached either House or Senate floor for final consideration. Thus the bills could be conferenced and numbers agreed to in an omnibus bill before floor action. There is an amendment requiring schools and libraries to install filters as a condition of federal assistance attached to H.R. 4274, but not on S. 2440. It does appear at this writing that H.R. 4274, the House bill, may move to the floor for final House action by early next week. ACTION NEEDED: Contact House and Senate members on the importance of passage of the FY99 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. In final passage, the higher levels for education and library programs of both bills should be approved. The U.S. Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121. Another way to contact your members of Congress is through the ALA Washington Office Legislative Action Center at http://congress.nw.dc.us/ala/. THE MESSAGE: The Senate bill, S. 2440, has a higher number for library program appropriations $156.3 million, but some suggested earmarks. The House bill, H.R. 4274, has $146.3 million for library programs, the same as last year's level. Funding should be set at the Senate level without the earmarks and without the House amendment on filtering. ESEA Title VI in the House bill is set at $400 million, while the Senate is set at last year's level of $350 million. Fund Title VI at the House level of $400 million. _________________________________________________________________ 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, go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/ subscribe.html or 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: Mary Costabile All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. _________________________________________________________________