ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 26 March 29, 2000 In this issue: NEH/NEA Appropriations Hearing Held; Action Needed: Ask Congress to Fund NEH and NEA at $150 million Each The Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, chaired by Rep. Regula (R-OH), conducted a hearing regarding the President's FY 2001 budget request for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Bill Ferris, Chairman,(NEH), and Bill Ivey, Chairman, (NEA), testified in support of the President's FY 2001 budget request on March 23. The Administration requested a significant increase for both the NEH and NEA to be funded at $150 million. In 1996 the NEH's budget was cut 40%. Ferris stated that even though the $150 million is a 30% increase over last year's budget it would still fall below the 1997 level of $172 million. In FY 2000 the NEH received $115 million. Ferris testified that the NEH's main mission is to guard against America's "historical amnesia" and detailed to the Subcommittee what the added funds would mean to the Endowment. The NEH is working with other federal agencies, as well as public and private institutions and organizations to advance the humanities. Ferris told the Subcommittee,"the NEH has recently joined forces with the Carnegie Corporation, the American Library Association, and the Library of America to help budget-strapped public libraries place 50 of the most recent Library of America editions in their collections and to expand the opportunities for organized literary discussion within their communities". The NEA received $98 million in FY 2000. Ivey testified that the NEA budget was also severely cut in 1996 and outlined the need for arts funding. While The NEA is also partnering with other organizations, Ivey stated that the federal government has a strong role to play funding the Endowment for the Arts. Action Needed: Please contact your Representatives and Senators and ask them to fund NEA and NEH at $150 million each. Give examples of how you have used a grant from one of these agencies. As soon as the Budget Resolution process is completed, the House will begin its work on appropriations bills. If you need further information regarding Congressional appropriations for library programs, please contact Mary Costabile, at 1-800-941-8478 or mrc@alawash.org. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley.