ALAWON v9n0053 (June 7, 2000) URL = http://hegel.lib.ncsu.edu/stacks/serials/alawon/alawon-v9n0053.txt ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 9, Number 53 June 7, 2000 In this issue: HOUSE TO BEGIN LABOR HHS-EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS CONSIDERATION TODAY The House is scheduled to take up consideration of H.R. 4577, the FY2001 Labor Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill today amidst opposition from a variety of education groups and the President. The Administration has already issued notification of a veto of either the House bill or the Senate measure that does have some higher numbers for a variety of education programs. The Administration points out that many of the areas identified in the Administration's budget for FY2001 as being in need of increased funding, like teacher training and school construction, are either not addressed at all or are funded inadequately. Funding for the Library Services and Technology Act in the House bill would be set at $170 million, $3 million below the Administration's request. Funding for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title VI program would be set at a total of $365,750 with a split of $80,750 for FY2001 and $285,000 funded into FY2002. The Administration 's budget included no funding for Title VI. FILTERING AMENDMENT IN HOUSE BILL Again this year, the House bill includes a filtering amendment added by voice vote at request of Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK)(see ALAWON of 5/26/00). In a Statement of Administration Policy sent by the Administration to the House Rules Committee on H.R. 4577, the Administration outlined its objections to the House bill and specifically noted the following in reference to the filtering amendment added to the House bill: "The bill contains objectionable language that would deny Federal funds for computers and Internet access to schools and libraries that have not installed software on their computers to block Internet access to illegal and inappropriate materials to minors. Currently, schools and libraries use a wide range of technology tools and monitoring techniques to ensure that children do not encounter inappropriate material and dangerous situations while online. Recent studies confirm that virtually all schools that have Internet access have acceptable use policies in place. While the Administration strongly supports efforts to ensure that schools and libraries protect minors from inappropriate materials, the Federal Government should not mandate a particular type of technology, such as filtering or blocking software, in a dynamically changing technology environment. Rather, the Administration would support less burdensome and restrictive language that would require that schools and libraries develop their own acceptable use plans at the local level and certify their implementation." Because of the structure of the rule for consideration of the bill, no amendment can be offered to strike the filtering language. This situation makes the Administration's strong stand against filtering even more important. THE SENATE LABOR HHS EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL The Senate bill S. 2553, while including a higher overall increase for education, does not address all the Administration's priorities and thus could be subject to veto even if the House accedes to the Senate higher numbers during conference. Funding for the Library Services and Technology Act in the Senate bill would be set at $168 million and includes 35 suggested grants in the National leadership projects. The Senate bill would fund ESEA Title VI at a total of $3.1 billion with $515 million in FY2001 and $2.5 billion for FY2002, but the bill language includes hiring of teachers and school construction as two additional choices for spending in the block grant. Apparently, the Senate minority leader has rejected any Senate action on appropriations bills until House passage is achieved, therefore consideration of the Senate Labor HHS Education Appropriations bill will probably not occur until next week at the earliest. LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS Although it seemed that the House would move forward this week on consideration of HR 4516, the FY2001 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill, thusfar the bill is not listed on the schedule. ****** 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; Mary Costabile, Peter Kaplan, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell and Saundra Shirley.