_________________________________________________________________ ALAWON Volume 7, Number 135 ISSN 1069-7799 October 28, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (119 lines) [1] GPO AND LC LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS BILLS SIGNED; JCP TO BE DEFUNDED AFTER DECEMBER 31 [2] 105TH CONGRESS ENDS WITHOUT LEGISLATION TO PUT CRS DOCUMENTS ON THE INTERNET _________________________________________________________________ [1] GPO AND LC LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS BILLS SIGNED; JCP TO BE DEFUNDED AFTER DECEMBER 31 Appropriations for the Government Printing Office, the Library of Congress were included in H.R. 4112, the FY99 Legislative Branch Appropriations (P.L. 105-275) omnibus bill signed into law by President Clinton on October 21. Conferees on H.R. 4112 also agreed to defund the Joint Committee on Printing after December 31, 1998. GPO's Superintendent of Documents appropriation will be nearly $29.3 million, the same amount provided for FY98. Conferees (H. Rept. 105-734) agreed to the lower sum passed by the House (H. Rept. 105-595) instead of the $29.6 million approved by the Senate (S. Rept. 105-204). The appropriation covers expenses of the Office of Superintendent of Documents that provide for the cataloging and indexing of government publications and their distribution to the public, members of Congress, federal agencies, and designated depository and international exchange libraries. The Library of Congress will have available FY99 appropriations of $391.66 million, including the authority to spend receipts of $28 million. Highlights include: * Permanent authorization of the American Folklife Center. * Congressional Research Service funding to plan for the anticipated retirement of employees. * More than $3.5 million for an integrated library system. * $2 million for a project to digitize collections for the Meeting of the Frontiers United States-Russian digital library. * $250,000 for the commemoration of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Although the statutory responsibilities of the Joint Committee on Printing will continue, at the beginning of 1999 the JCP apparently will exist as a "virtual" committee, operating from the offices of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the House Oversight Committee. Congress did not agree on a bill (S. 2288) transferring JCP's legislative and oversight responsibilities to its parent committees. Thus, the defunding of JCP after December 31, 1998 may result in no dedicated staff to oversee GPO's programs like the Federal Depository Library Program, the sales program, and the distribution of government publications required by law. Another important JCP responsibility has been the coordination of Congress' own publishing responsibilities for publications like the Congressional Record, Congressional Directory and Congressional Pictorial Directory. _________________________________________________________________ [2] 105TH CONGRESS ENDS WITHOUT LEGISLATION TO PUT CRS DOCUMENTS ON THE INTERNET The end of the 105th Congress also marks the end of efforts to enact S. 1578, a bill that would have required the director of the Congressional Research Service to make accessible to the public, via the Internet, all information available through the CRS web site that is not confidential. In July when the Senate considered the FY99 Legislation Branch Appropriations bill, it ruled out of order an amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that would have required CRS to post its issue briefs on the Internet. Senate Rules Committee Chair John Warner (R-VA) and ranking member Sen. Wendell Ford (D-KY) opposed the amendment on the grounds that the Committee wanted to review the issue more closely. Library supporters may remember that at the end of March, ALA Immediate Past-President Barbara Ford sent the ALA Council resolution on CRS publications to key Senators and Representatives and the Library of Congress. The resolution, passed by ALA Council at its Midwinter Meeting in January, urged action to assure that CRS reports and products are distributed in a timely manner to the general public through Federal Depository Libraries and on the Internet. _________________________________________________________________ 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: Anne Heanue All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. _________________________________________________________________