ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 14, Number February 17, 2005 In This Issue: [1] House Appropriations Committee Approves Appropriations Reorganization While Senate Considers Alternatives; [2] Grant Announcement from the Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education [1] House Appropriations Committee Approves Appropriations Reorganization While Senate Considers Alternatives The House Appropriations Committee approved Chairman Jerry Lewis'(R-CA) sweeping reorganization plan by a 36-24 party line vote on Tuesday. The plan cuts the number of subcommittees from 13 to 10, eliminating the Veterans Affairs-Housing and Urban Development, District of Columbia and Legislative Branch subcommittees. Under the plan, the full committee will handle the Legislative Branch bill. For his part, Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, (R-MS) continues to consult with his colleagues on creating a subcommittee structure. On two separate occasions, Senate Republican Appropriators have rejected the House plan. The moves by the House appear to set up a mismatch among the jurisdictions of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, a situation that lawmakers worry could make it enormously difficult to complete appropriations bills this year and could likely lead to another year-ending omnibus spending bill. ALA sent a letter to Chairman Lewis expressing our concern about the proposed elimination of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee and the negative effects it could have on the oversight duties of the Appropriations Committee, particularly on such agencies as the Government Printing Office (GPO). To view ALA's letter to Chairman Lewis, click on the following link, or past the complete link into your browser's address bar: http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/washfunding/appropsreorg.pdf You may view the complete PRESS RELEASE from Chairman Lewis by clicking on the following link, or by pasting the complete link into your browser's address bar: http://appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Detail&PressRelease_id=439&Month=2&Year=2005 II. Grant Announcement from the Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Even Start Family Literacy Programs--Grants for Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations Applications Available: February 18, 2005. Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: April 11, 2005. Eligible Applicants: Federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Applicable definitions of the terms ``Indian tribe'' and ``tribal organization'' are in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 25 U.S.C. 450b. Estimated Available Funds: $4,975,000. Contingent upon the availability of funds and quality of applications we may make additional awards in subsequent years from the list. Purpose of Program: The William F. Goodling Even Start Family Literacy Programs (Even Start), including the grants for Indian tribes and tribal organizations, are intended to help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational opportunities of low-income families by integrating early childhood education, adult literacy or adult basic education, and parenting education into a unified family literacy program. These programs are implemented through cooperative activities that: build on high-quality existing community resources to create a new range of educational services for most-in-need families; promote the academic achievement of children and adults; assist children from low-income families to meet challenging State content and student achievement standards; and use instructional programs that are based on scientifically based reading research and on the prevention of reading difficulties for children and adults, to the extent such research is available. A description of the required fifteen program elements for which funds must be used is included in the application package. The full text of this announcement is available at: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2005-1/021705a.html. ****** 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; Carol Ashworth, Don Essex, Joshua Farrelman, Erin Haggerty, Patrice McDermott and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.