ALAWON v6n57 (July 17, 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v6n57 ================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 57 ISSN 1069-7799 July 17, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (239 lines) LIBRARY PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS: ACTION NEEDED FUNDING FOR FEDERAL LIBRARY & RELATED PROGRAMS (CHART) ESEA TITLE VI INCREASE: THANKS NEEDED ISTOOK AMENDMENTS: ACTION NEEDED _________________________________________________________________ LIBRARY PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS: ACTION NEEDED On Tuesday, July 15 the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education approved the FY98 Labor HHS-Education Appropriations bill with a $2.8 billion increase for Department of Education programs, just shy of an 11 percent increase over FY97 allocations. Elementary and secondary education programs received increases above the President's request while higher education programs were below the President's request. The Library Services and Technology Act would increase from the FY97 level of $136.4 million for predecessor programs to $142 million for LSTA in FY98. The Subcommittee restored funding to ESEA Title VI, the block grant which allows for purchase of school library materials, to a level of $350 million, $40 million more than in FY97. The America Reads Challenge proposal was included as a "Literacy initiative" with a footnote which states "funding is requested for fiscal year 1998 but is provided on an advance basis for fiscal year 1999." The later Appropriations Committee report will state that funding would be contingent upon passage of legislation by April of 1998. The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on the legislation on Tuesday, July 22, the same day the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to mark up its version of the FY98 Labor, HHS-Education Appropriations bill. FUNDING FOR FEDERAL LIBRARY & RELATED PROGRAMS PROGRAMS FY97 FY98 FY98 (amounts in thousands) Approp. Budget Req. House Subcom. Library Services & Technology Act 136,369(1) 136,369 142,000 (or predecessor) Natl. Commission on Libraries and Info. Science 897 1,123 1,000 Adult Ed. and Literacy 354,551 394,000 349,828 Proposed literacy initiative (ex. America Reads Challenge) --- 260,000 260,000(2) Federal College Work Study 830,000 857,000 860,000 ESEA title VI, Innovative ed. program strategies 310,000 0 350,000 State grants Goals 2000 491,000 620,000 475,000 Technology Literacy Challenge Fund 200,000 425,000 460,000 (1) Includes appropriations for LSCA and HEA Title II (2) Advance for FY99 Subject to enactment of legislation ACTION NEEDED: It may be that the FY98 Labor HHS-Ed Appropriations bill will move quickly to the floor after the full committee meets on July 22. Library supporters should thank House members for support of library programs and contact members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee which will meet on July 22 to ask them to support increases for library and related programs. For a list of the Appropriations Committee, visit http://www.ala.org/washoff/committees.html. _________________________________________________________________ ESEA TITLE VI INCREASE: THANKS NEEDED Thanks to the hard work of school library supporters combined with the strong "Dear Colleague" letter sent by Representatives Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) and Michael Castle (R-DE) and more than seventy others (see names below), the Appropriations Subcommittee gave a major boost to ESEA Title VI at $350 million. At least 40 percent of this block grant is spent by school districts on funding for school library and instructional materials. Staff of both members worked hard to garner additional sponsors quickly and the letter was sent to Rep. John Porter (R-IL), chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services and Education, before the legislation was considered by the Subcommittee on July 15. ACTION NEEDED: Please call your Representative and thank him or her for their support of ESEA Title VI. The Capitol Switchboard number is 202/224-3121, or address correspondence to the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515. St. Dst. Pty. Representative CA 07 D George Miller CA 10 D Ellen O. Tauscher CA 16 D Zoe Lofgren CA 36 D Jane Harman CA 37 D Juanita Millender-McDonald CA 38 R Stephen Horn CA 42 D George E. Brown, Jr. CA 51 R Randy "Duke" Cunningham CO 01 D Diana L. DeGette CT 06 R Nancy L. Johnson DE AL R Michael N. Castle HI 02 D Patsy T. Mink IL 01 D Bobby L. Rush IL 03 D William O. Lipinski IL 04 D Luis V. Gutierrez IL 05 D Rod R. Blagojevich IL 07 D Danny K. Davis IL 12 D Jerry F. Costello IL 17 D Lane Evans IL 19 D Glenn Poshard KY 06 D Scotty Baesler MA 01 D John W. Olver MA 02 D Richard E. Neal MA 03 D James P. McGovern MA 06 D John F. Tierney MA 07 D Edward J. Markey MA 08 D Joseph P. Kennedy, II MA 10 D William D. Delahunt ME 02 D John E. Baldacci MI 03 R Vernon J. Ehlers MI 09 D Dale E. Kildee MI 10 D David E. Bonior MI 13 D Lynn N. Rivers MI 14 D John Conyers, Jr. MI 15 D Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick MN 02 D David Minge NC 02 D Bobby R. Etheridge NC 10 R Cass Ballenger NJ 06 D Frank Pallone, Jr. NM 01 R Steven H. Schiff NV 01 R John E. Ensign NY 04 D Carolyn McCarthy NY 09 D Charles E. Schumer NY 12 D Nydia M. Velazquez NY 23 R Sherwood L. Boehlert NY 25 R James T. Walsh NY 26 D Maurice D. Hinchey NY 30 R Jack Quinn OH 06 D Ted Strickland OH 10 D Dennis J. Kucinich OH 14 D Thomas C. Sawyer OH 17 D James A. Traficant, Jr. OR 01 D Elizabeth Furse OR 03 D Earl Blumenauer OR 05 D Darlene Hooley PA 02 D Chaka Fattah PA 04 D Ron Klink PA 08 R James C. Greenwood PA 13 R Jon D. Fox PA 19 R William F. Goodling RI 02 D Robert A. Weygand TN 05 D Bob Clement TN 09 D Harold E. Ford, Jr. TX 01 D Max Sandlin TX 18 D Sheila Jackson-Lee TX 20 D Henry B. Gonzalez TX 24 D Martin Frost TX 27 D Solomon P. Ortiz TX 30 D Eddie Bernice Johnson VI AL D Donna M. Christian-Green WA 07 D Jim McDermott WV 03 D Nick J. Rahall, II _________________________________________________________________ ISTOOK AMENDMENTS: ACTION NEEDED It is expected that Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK) will introduce a series of amendments at the full Appropriations Committee mark up on July 22, and one of those amendments will be comparable to last year's Istook amendment reported previously by ALAWON. The amendment prohibited use of federal funds for lobbying by non-profit groups and failed to pass the Congress, but this year's permutation would extend the prohibition to "any activity designed to influence legislation or appropriations pending before the Congress, any State legislature, or a legislative body of any political subdivision of a state." Current law prohibits the use of federal funds for lobbying federal and state legislation. In a memorandum on the proposal circulated by OMB Watch, the following example illustrates difficulties for local organizations if the proposal is accepted: the PTA that might receive federal drug prevention funds could not use such funds to encourage the local school board to consider an after-school program. OMB Watch contends that because less clarity exists about distinctions between executive and legislative functions at the local level, the proposed amendment could either prohibit or chill virtually all policy communications with local governmental entities. According to individuals who attended the Appropriations Subcommittee markup, amendments of any kind to the appropriations bill are being discouraged. However, Rep. Istook was able to garner support for his idea in the last Congress. ACTION NEEDED: Currently, lobbying with federal funds at the local level is allowed only under certain specific conditions--when the activity is necessary, reasonable and related to the purpose of the grant. Since the Istook proposal would significantly change this, it could impact and limit the rights of charitable or nonprofit groups that receive federal grants to advocate with local governments. This is a controversial amendment which if adopted could cause a problem with the passage of the FY98 Labor HHS-Ed Appropriations bill. Library supporters should urge Appropriations Committee members to resist such amendments. For a list of the full Appropriations Committee, visit http://www.ala.org/washoff/senateapprop.html. _________________________________________________________________ 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, 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: Carol C. Henderson Mary Costabile Claudette Tennant All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================