roundtable: US SENATE APPROPRIATIONS BILL MARKUP

roundtable: US SENATE APPROPRIATIONS BILL MARKUP

US SENATE APPROPRIATIONS BILL MARKUP

Vigdor Schreibman - FINS (fins@access.digex.net)
Wed, 19 Jul 1995 13:51:47 -0400 (EDT) 

Date: Wed, 19 Jul 1995 13:51:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
To: Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>
Subject: US SENATE APPROPRIATIONS BILL MARKUP
Message-Id: <Pine.SUN.3.91.950719134943.25210F-100000@access1.digex.net>


==============================================================================
FINS SPECIAL REPORT                                             July 19, 1995
==============================================================================

US SENATE APPROPRIATIONS BILL MARKUP
Triumph & Disaster

Washington, DC--The US Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Mark O. 
Hatfield released funding allocations for the 13 subcommittees, including
Legislative Branch appropriations for 1996, which were approved during a
markup by the committee yesterday July 18, on a vote of 25 yeas to 3 nays. 
The vote without discussion of legislative branch matters pertaining to
the library and information community was a triumph for that community, in
the midst of an emerging budgetary confrontation between the White House
and Congress. The President has already issued his response with a stark
veto message, attached below. 

During the markup, the Committee decided after heated argument to
terminate the Office of Technology Assessment, rejecting by a vote of 11
yeas to 13 nays, a proposed amendment by Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) that
would have kept the OTA alive under a plan or reorganization.  However,
the Committee agreed to restore most of the funding requested by the
Government Printing Office and the Superintendent of Documents, depository
library program, after a strong lobbying effort by librarians

The Committee recommended an appropriation of $85.5 million for the GPO,
which is $6.1 million below the request, and $2.8 million below the House
allowance.  However, the draft Committee report for Legislative Branch
Appropriations, 1996 obtained by FINS, rejected the House report relative
to constituent copies and bylaw distribution of the Congressional Record;
the distribution of copies of bills, reports, and other documents to
noncongressional recipients; Statutes at Large; paper copies of hearings;
special binding of congressional documents; and the production and
distribution of the bound Congressional Record and the bound serial set. 

The Committee also recommended an appropriation for the SuDocs Salaries 
and Expense fund of $30,3 million, which is $13.9 million above the House 
allowance.  The Committee stated that it "does not agree with the House 
recommendation relative to assumption of costs [by agencies] associated with 
the production and distribution of publication in paper or microfiche 
formats.  The Committee characterized the House proposal as an "amendment 
to title 44 of the U.S. Code [that] more properly falls within the 
jurisdiction of the Joint Committee on Printing."

Finally, this statement affirming the historical information role of 
Congress was included in the draft report:

	  Public access to government information is a basic right of every 
	American citizen.  The Committee recognizes the critically important 
	service that the Government Printing Office and participating libraries 
	in the Federal Depository Library Program provide to citizens
	throughout the country in furnishing timely, equitable access to
	Government information. 

	  The dramatic advances in technology provide new opportunities for 
	enhancing and improving public access.  However, the increasing 
	utilization of electronic technologies in support of dissemination 
	programs by all branches of government requires careful analysis, 
	planning, and probable restructuring of the current program.  Without 
	this analysis, planning, and a strongly coordinated effort,
	improvements to the program will be delayed, costly, and very well may
	compromise the public's right to Government information. 

	  The Committee believes the planning should incorporate the goals of 
	equitable, efficient, timely, and dependable access to Government 
	information.  The Committee supports a strong coordinated effort
	between the respective oversight and appropriation committee, the
	Government Printing Office, executive branch agencies, participating
	depository libraries, and other relevant and appropriate organizations. 

	  To this end, the Committee directs the Public Printer to initiate a 
	study that:
	  -Examines the functions and services of the Federal Depository
	Library Program; 
	  -Surveys current technological capabilities of the participating 
	libraries in the Federal Depository Library Program;
	  -Surveys current and future information dissemination plans of 
	executive branch agencies;
	  -Examines and suggests improvements for agency compliance of relevant 
	laws, regulations and policies regarding Government information 
	dissemination;
	  - Identifies measures that are necessary to ensure a successful 
	transition to a more electronically based program;
	  -Identifies the possible expansion of the array of Federal
	information products and services made available to participating
	libraries; and
	  -Ensures the most cost-efficient program to the taxpayer.

  The Appropriations Committee also recommented that the study "include a 
strategic plan that will assist the Congress in redefining a new and 
strengthened Federal information dissemination policy and program" and 
ordered the study to be available to Congress by March 1996.

  Sen. Connie Mack (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Legislative
Branch Appropriations, provided FINS with a word of caution after the
markup, indicating that "this recommendation remains subject to the outcome 
of a Senate-House conference." 

Vigdor Schreibman - FINS <fins@access.digex.net>

-------------------------------------------------


                            THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary

________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                      July 18, 1995

		       STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT


     The 1996 VA-HUD appropriations bill passed today by the House
Appropriations Committee is unacceptable.

     By abolishing Americorps it would eliminate opportunities for
thousands of young people to serve their communities through the
national service program.  By dramatically slashing resources for the
Environmental Protection Agency and imposing severe restrictions on that
agency, the bill would decimate the government's ability to protect the
American people from air and water pollution.  By cutting assistance for
the nation's homeless in half, it would punish some of the weakest and
most vulnerable in our society.

     We need to balance the budget, and we need to cut spending to do
it.  But there is a right way and a wrong way.  A bill so contrary to
the priorities and concerns of the American people clearly represents
the wrong way.

     I will not stand by as the Republican majority tries to impose this
extreme agenda on the nation.  If this bill is presented to me in its
current form, I will veto it.  I call on the Congress to correct the
appropriations bills now under consideration before they reach my desk,
not after.



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