ALAWON v6n83 (September 25, 1997) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v6n83 ================================================================= ALAWON Volume 6, Number 83 ISSN 1069-7799 September 25, 1997 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (137 lines) FY98 LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS CONFEREES APPOINTED FIRST MEETING SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 26 -- ACTION NEEDED _________________________________________________________________ FY98 LABOR-HHS-EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS CONFEREES APPOINTED FIRST MEETING SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 26 -- ACTION NEEDED On Tuesday, September 23 the House of Representatives appointed House conferees for H.R. 2264, the FY98 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill. Senate appointees had been made the previous week. The first meeting of the joint conference committee is scheduled for Friday, September 26. There are a number of differences in funding in the education portion of both bills. The Senate bill, S. 1061, includes the Gorton amendment which consolidates a large number of education programs into a local block grant. This amendment included ESEA Title VI, currently a block grant which includes as one of its allowable uses school library and instruction materials. The Senate bill also includes provisions for voluntary national testing while the House bill precludes spending money on any national test. The amount for the Library Services and Technology Act in the Senate bill is higher at $146.3 million than the House bill at $142 million. The FY97 level for LSTA predecessor programs is $136.4 million. However, the Senate bill increases LSTA only in specific projects with the unintended result that the state-based program might be cut below the current funding level. President Clinton, in his September 20 weekly radio address, said although he was pleased that the Senate did not vote against a national test for 4th grade reading and 8th grade math, he was against the Gorton amendment which "would throw all of our education funds into a pot and distribute it in an arbitrary way..." The President added that any bill "that denies our children high national standards or weakens our national commitment to stronger schools, I'll have to give it the failing grade it deserves, and I'll veto it." The Committee for Education Funding, an education coalition to which ALA belongs, circulated letters to all Representatives and Senators asking that budget allocations be adjusted to enable conferees on the Labor-HHS-Education bill to adopt to the maximum extent possible the education funding priorities of the House, the Senate and the Administration. CEF urged Congress to approve a $4 billion increase in FY98 comparable to the 15 percent increase adopted for FY97 in the final bill. The letter asked conferees to settle in every case on the higher number in the bills. Since only two of the 13 appropriations bills have been approved and sent to the President, there is discussion of a continuing resolution to extend the time period for conferees to finish work after October 1. It is expected that such a resolution if enacted would only allow for a brief period of extra time, perhaps a week. ACTION NEEDED: By Wednesday, October 1 library supporters should urge the Senate and House conferees (below) to provide the highest possible total for LSTA ($143.6 million as in S. 1061), and to ensure a significant increase for the state formula grants so that every state would benefit from an increase. ESEA Title VI funding should be set at the House level of $350 million (as in H.R. 2264), as should the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund at $435 million. The Senate Gorton block grant strategy should be abandoned. The Senate and House conferees are appointed as follows: Senate Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee St. Pty. Senators Phone FAX AR D Dale Bumpers 224-4843 224-6435 HI D Daniel Inouye 224-3934 IA D Tom Harkin, ranking member 224-3254 224-9369 ID R Larry Craig 224-2752 228-1067 MO R Christopher Bond 224-5721 224-8149 MS R Thad Cochran 224-5054 NC R Lauch Faircloth 224-3154 224-7406 NH R Judd Gregg 224-3324 224-4952 NV D Harry Reid 224-3542 224-7327 PA R Arlen Specter, chair 224-4254 228-1229 SC D Ernest Hollings 224-6121 224-4293 TX R Kay Bailey Hutchison 224-5922 224-0776 WA D Patty Murray 224-2621 224-0238 WA R Slade Gorton 224-3441 224-9393 WI D Herb Kohl 224-5653 224-9787 House Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee St-Dst Pty. Representatives Phone FAX WI-07 D David Obey, ranking member 225-3365 TX-23 R Henry Bonilla 225-4511 225-2237 OK-05 R Ernest Istook, Jr. 225-2132 226-1463 OH-11 D Louis Stokes 225-7032 225-1339 NY-18 D Nita Lowey 225-6506 225-0546 MS-01 R Roger Wicker 225-4306 225-3549 MD-05 D Steny Hoyer 225-4131 225-4300 KY-03 R Anne Northup 225-5401 225-3511 IL-10 R John Porter, chair 225-4835 FL-13 R Dan Miller 225-5015 226-0828 FL-10 R C. W. Bill Young 225-5961 225-9764 CT-03 D Rosa DeLauro 225-3661 225-4890 CA-08 D Nancy Pelosi 225-4965 AR-04 R Jay Dickey 225-3772 225-1314 _________________________________________________________________ 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: Mary Rae Costabile All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================