1. Senate Votes for $110 Million for NEH
2. Senate Passes Treasury Appropriations Bill
3. National Archives Posts Opening of Deputy/Chief of Staff
4. Debate on Destruction of Records
5. August Congressional Recess
1. Senate Votes for $110 Million for NEH --
In floor action on August 9 on the Interior Appropriations Bill, HR
1977, the NEH lost some money and NEA gained. Going into the floor
debate, the NEH FY'96 budget recommended by the Senate Appropriations
Committee was $114.5 million and the NEA budget was $99.5 million. The
NEH budget for this year was $177 million and was recently reduced to
$172 million by rescission legislation. In the negotiated agreement
with Senators Jeffords (R-VT), Gorton (R-WA), Simpson (R-WY), Bennett
(R-UT), Helms (R-NC), Pell (D-RI), and Kennedy (D-MA) playing key
roles, the Senate leadership reached a compromise which appropriated
$110 million to each of the two endowments. This negotiated
compromise, for which there was broad support, passed on a voice vote
with no role call required.
Repeatedly those who supported funding for the endowments stressed
that these were not programs for the rich but for ordinary Americans
and that often rural states, profited the most. A number of Senators
also stressed the value of the endowments in giving a seal of approval
to projects that then served as leverage in securing private funds.
Other points that frequently surfaced were the importance of the arts
and humanities "in softening the edges of life" and the need to
prevent embarrassing grants. Several Senators made references to the
recent Time magazine cover article on the importance of federal
support for the arts and humanities and to the fact that all major
nations provide financial support for their arts and culture.
During the several hour debate rarely was there any mention of the
details of the compromise and even at the time of the voice vote there
was no explanation of the amendment. The point was never clearly made
during the floor debate that funding for NEH was being reduced from
the level recommended by the Appropriations Committee. Senator
Bumpers (D-AR) did make an impassioned speech on the terrible
underfunding of the endowments, stating that our priorities are all
wrong and noting that while he had little relish for the compromise
that he would vote for it. One positive aspect of the amendment was
that it included no language about the elimination of the endowments,
a major difference from the House bill that calls for a three year
phase out of NEH and a two year phase out of NEA. The amendment does
include language provided by Senator Helms that bans NEA from funding
obscenity and pornography.
In September a House/Senate Conference Committee will work out the
differences between the bills, with one key difference being the House
appropriation of $99.5 million for NEH in FY'96 and the Senate
appropriating $110 million. On the floor Senator Gorton, who chairs
the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, noted that he would
support the Senate amendment in the House/Senate Conference Committee.
2. Senate Passes Treasury Appropriations Bill - On August 5 the
Senate passed H.R.2020, the Treasury Appropriations Bill, which
included the FY'96 budget for the National Archives and the grants
program of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission
(NHPRC). The amount for the National Archives is $199.63 million, an
increase of approximately $6 million over the House amount, with much
of the increase going to special electronic records and finding aid
projects. The Senate increased the NHPRC grants program by $1 million
over the House amount, bringing the Senate figure to $5 million.
3. National Archives Posts Opening of Deputy/Chief of Staff -- The
National Archives has posted the opening of the Senior Executive
Service combined position of Deputy Archivist of the U.S./Chief of
Staff. The National Archives, however, has restricted the recruitment
area to qualified federal employees. The closing date for
applications is August 25. For more information, you may call the
National Archives Human Resources Office (301) 262-5064.
4. Debate on Destruction of Records -- On September 1 during the
Society of American Archivists annual meeting in Washington, the lead
attorneys for the defense and the plaintiffs in the Armstrong v Bush
case, frequently called the PROFS case, will appear together on a
panel. They will focus on such questions as: should electronic mail
be considered records under the Federal Records Act, does the
Bush/Wilson agreement contradict federal records laws, and what are
the government's preservation and access responsibilities with
federal electronic records. The panel will be held on September 1 at
9 am at the Washington Hilton and Towers in the "Military" Conference
Room.
5. August Congressional Recess -- The House adjourned for the August
recess on August 4 and the Senate is expected to adjourn on August 11.
The Senate will reconvene on September 5 and the House on September 6.
It is highly unlikely that there will be any "NCC Washington Updates"
published during the recess.
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