ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 15, Number 71 Date: July 21, 2006 ****** In This Issue: Senate Appropriations Committee recommends funding levels for FY 2007 Labor-HHS Bill To read this ALAWON in HTML, please visit: http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/washnews/2006ndx/071jul21.htm ****** On Thursday, the full Senate Appropriations Committee recommended funding levels for the FY 2007 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY 2007 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill in June. *** Funding for Selected Programs Library State Grants FY 2006 Final $163,746 FY 2007 President's Request $171,500 FY 2007 House Committee $171,500 FY 2007 Senate Committee$165,000 Native American Library Services FY 2006 Final $3,638 FY 2007 President's Request $3,675 FY 2007 House Committee $3,675 FY 2007 Senate Committee $3,759 National Leadership Grants for Libraries FY 2006 Final $12,375 FY 2007 President's Request $12,930 FY 2007 House Committee $12,930 FY 2007 Senate Committee $12,500 Recruitment of Librarians for the 21st Century FY 2006 Final $23,760 FY 2007 President's Request $25,000 FY 2007 House Committee $25,000 FY 2007 Senate Committee $25,000 *** The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee met on Tuesday and the full Appropriations Committee's numbers reflect the Subcommittee's recommendation. For the Library Services and Technology Act, the Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $165,000,000 for Grants to State Library Agencies. The House Appropriations Committee recommendation for the Library Services and Technology Act included $171,500,000 for Grants to State Library Agencies, which will enable the implementation of the new formula. For the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program, the Subcommittee recommended that the program be flat funded at $19.486 million, the same level as FY 2006. Reading First State Grants and Early Reading First both received a cut from FY 2006. The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $1 billion for Reading First State Grants and $100 million for Early Reading First. The House recommended $1.29 billion for Reading First State Grants and $103 million for Early Reading First, the same levels as FY 2006. Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $35 million for the Striving Readers Initiative. The President had requested $100 million for this program. Similar to the President's Budget request, many education programs are level funded, some are cut and several programs are eliminated entirely, including Dropout Prevention Programs and Even Start. The Senate Appropriations Committee also recommended zeroing out Title V funding. The House recommended an increase to $150 million for Title V funding, which has been severely cut over the last few years. Congress is set to adjourn for the August recess on July 28. When Congress returns to Washington, DC on September 5, there will be only 3 weeks left before adjourning to return to their districts to campaign for the midterm elections. Neither the House nor the Senate is expected to vote on the bill before the midterm elections. If both the House and Senate are unable to pass the appropriations bill before the November elections, it is likely that it will be wrapped up into an omnibus-spending bill with other unfinished appropriations. It is expected Congress will return for a lame-duck session in November or December to finish work on appropriation bills. We will update you as soon as we have further information. ****** 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, 1615 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., First Floor, Washington, D.C. 20009-2520; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff ; Contact the Washington Office: alawash@alawash.org ; Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Don Essex, Melanie Anderson, Erin Haggerty, and Miriam Nisbet. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Carrie Lowe, Kathy Mitchell, Carrie Russell. Bernadette Murphy, Communications Director. ALAWON Editor: Andy Bridges.