ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 12, Number 62
July 9, 2003

In This Issue: APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE

Legislative Branch
On June 26, the House Appropriations Committee approved the FY04 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill (H.R. 2657), funding the Library of Congress at a level of $522 million and the Government Printing Office at a level of $130 million.  The Superintendent of Document's budget request of  $30.3 million was sustained by the House Committee.  The full House is expected to vote on the bill this week.  The Legislative Branch subcommittee markup in the Senate is scheduled for July 8, and the resolution, CD #20.4 in support of the Superintendent of Documents budget request, passed by ALA Council in Toronto, was forwarded to the Senate subcommittee on July 1, 2003.

Agriculture
On June 25, the House Appropriations Committee approved the Agriculture Appropriations bill for FY2004.

Labor, HHS Education
On June 25, the full House Appropriations Committee voted on the FY2004 budget for Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations (H.R. 2660; H. Rept. 108-188), and the Senate Appropriations Committee voted on June 26 on its version of the bill (S. 1356; S. Report 108-81).  The total amount for the Institute of Museum and Library Services is $238,126,000.  State LSTA grant dollars would be set at $166,246,000. That includes the Native American and Hawaiian native set-asides of $3,225,000.  National Leadership grants under LSTA would be set at $11.6 million.  The House bill includes the President's requested level of $20 million for library recruitment, with $6.3 million for administration of library programs.  The museum side funds would be $33.9 million compared with $28.6 in FY03.

The Senate bill would fund IMLS at FY2003 level of $243,889,000, with state formula grants at $150,435,000.  The Native American and Hawaiian native set-asides would be an additional $3,055,000.  The Senate bill would include $9.9 million for the initiative to recruit and educate librarians.  

For other education programs in the House bill, the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program would be funded at the President's requested level of $27.5 million, while the Senate bill would fund the program at $12.4 million.  The Senate and House bills did restore the $1 billion for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, while holding Pell grants below the President's request at $12,250 million (House) and $12,176.7 million (Senate). 

Neither the House nor the Senate Committee increased funding for NIH at the same level as that of the last few years.  Both House and Senate included funding for the Regional Educational Laboratories under the new Institute of Education Sciences (IES), while the President's budget zeroed out the labs.  Research Development and Dissemination would be funded at $185 million in the House bill and $144 million in the Senate.  Overall allocations for the Senate were lower than those in the House to begin with,  thus the House numbers overall are better in Labor HHS Education than those of the Senate.  In terms of a final compromise on spending, this difference will create problems for conferees on the two bills. 

The House is expected to consider its bill within the next few days, while the Senate may schedule consideration for next week.

Interior
On June 25, the full House Appropriations Committee marked up the FY2004 Interior Appropriations bill, recommending a funding level of $137 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, with $10 million to be used for the agency's "We The People" initiative.  For the National Endowment for the Arts, the committee allocated $117 million.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has scheduled a markup for the Interior Appropriations bill this week.
 




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