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(FWD) NCC Washington Update, Vol 6, #24, July 19, 2000



NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol 6, #24, July 19, 2000
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig3@juno.com> of  the National Coordinating
Committee for the Promotion of History

1.   Appropriations Update: Senate Passes Interior Department
Appropriation Bill
2    Report on NEH National Council Meeting
3.   News Bits and Bytes - Clinton Declares the President Lincoln and
Soldiers Home National Monument; Minutes of State Department Historical
Advisory Committee Posted

1.   SENATE PASSES INTERIOR DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATION BILL
On July 18 the Senate passed a $15.514 billion Interior and Related
Agencies appropriation bill that includes recommended funding levels for
the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) of $120.26 million; for
the Office of Museum Services, $24.9 million; for the National Endowment
for the Arts (NEA), $105 million; and approximately $44.3 million for
the Historic Preservation Fund. The Senate recommended funding levels
are approximately $1 billion less than the President's request of $16.32
billion but more than the House passed appropriations bill.  The Senate
measure passed by a vote of 97 to 2 (Senators Paul Wellstone (D-MN) and
Russell Feingold (D-WI) both voted against the bill; the ailing Senator
Paul Coverdell (R-GA) did not vote.  As of this writing, should the
House and Senate conferees advance to the White House either the House
or Senate passed versions of the Interior appropriations bill in their
present form, such legislation faces a possible Presidential veto
because both versions contain less than the Clinton Administration
wanted for parklands and for certain Bureau of Indian Affairs programs.

During the Senate debate which stretched over several days, numerous
amendments were offered.  Senator James Inhofe's (R-OK) attempt to
transfer to another Interior agency proposed NEA increase funds was
defeated 73 to 27.  The climax of the amendment debates occurred on the
morning of July 18 when a proposal by Senate majority Whip Don Nickles
(R-OK) that sought to bar the President from protecting any more federal
land by designating new national monuments was defeated by a 50-49
vote.  Had the measure passed, the President would have also been barred
from declaring any historic sites (such as the recently designated
Lincoln and Soldiers Home National Monument -- see related story below)
as national monuments as well.

Passage of the Senate version of the Interior appropriations bill
follows on the heels of many long months of work by the Senate
appropriations staff and supporters of the NEH, the National Park
Service, and other cultural institutions.  The Senate approved
legislation includes modest increases over both the House passed version
of the Interior appropriations bill and current FY 2000 funding levels
which stand at $98 million for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
and $115.3 for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  Over
current funding levels, the Senate recommended a $7.4 million increase
for the NEA, a $5 million increase for the NEH and a $0.6 million
increase for the Office of Museum Service (OMS) at the Institute of
Museum and Library Services. If the proposed increases survive the
House-Senate conference, the NEH budget will become $120.3 million.
According to the Senate report, the $5 million in additional funds
allocated to the NEH would be divided as follows: $1.5 million for state
humanities councils, $1 million to the public programs division,
$800,000 to regional humanities centers, $500,000 for administrative
support and $200,000 for the challenge grant program.

The Senate pegged the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) at $44.347
million some $30.4  million below FY 2000 levels and $27.7 million below
the President's FY 2001 request of $72.071 million.  The House bill
allocates $41.347 for the HPF.  To the chagrin of many,  no funding was
provided in the Senate passed measure for the "Save America's Treasures
Program." Historic preservationists, however, vow to attempt to restore
some funding for this program when representatives from the House and
Senate meet in conference to reconcile the differences between the House
and Senate passed measures. With the passage of the Senate bill,
conferees from the House and Senate will meet - perhaps as early as next
week -  to resolve differences between the their respective
appropriations bills.

2.  REPORT ON NEH NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING
On July 13-14 the 132nd meeting of the National Council on the
Humanities took place at the Old Post Office building in Washington
D.C.  National Park Service Director, Richard Stanton, and President of
the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Richard Moe, shared their
views on the future of history, heritage, and historic preservation with
the Council members; both presenters also fielded a number of questions
from members of the audience.

In his report, NEH Chairman William Ferris announced that Nathan Hatch,
Professor of History and Provost of the University of Notre Dame was
joining the NEH Council and that Nicholas Kanellos had resigned; the
Council passed a resolution recognizing Mr. Kanellos' contributions.
Ferris reported on the support the NEH was receiving from Congress
(including a proposed appropriations increase) and then focused his
comments on the $20 million in "Extending the Reach" initiative grants
which are designed to increase the quality and quantity of cultural
programs in under served regions of the country and institutions of
higher learning that have not benefitted as fully as others from the
Endowments programs.

Several Council members raised the issue relating to long term project
funding; it was decided that NEH staff would prepare a concept paper
that would address the issue and be presented at the next Council
meeting. Ferris reported on  the various awards that "My History is
America's History" (which now has reached some 4.5 million users) and
other NEH publications have received over the last year. Several new
projects were announced including the preparation of a "one book"
compilation of all NEH guidelines; a publication commemorating the 35th
anniversary of the NEH, and Ferris announced that a special signed
limited edition of 1,000 copies of Professor James McPherson's Jefferson
lecture would be published.

Following a series of staff reports, the chairs of the various policy
committees (Research, Education, Federal/State Partnership, Preservation
and Access/Challenge Grants, and Public Programs) reported on their
work; during the two day meeting nearly 900 grant applications were
reviewed by various Council members. During the Jefferson Lecture
report, Council members
learned that this year there were 78 nominations for the prestigious
award and that there were 124 nominations for Humanities medals. Both
candidate pools have been culled down to a short list of individuals
whose names will be advanced to the full Council for action. The next
meeting of the Council is scheduled for November 2000.

3.   NEWS BITS AND BYTES
Item #1: On July 7 President Clinton proclaimed the Lincoln and Soldiers
Home in Washington D.C. a national monument. At this 2.3 acre home in
northwest Washington D.C. - now a part of the U.S. Soldiers' and
Airmen's Home - President Lincoln spent as much as one quarter of his
presidency; it was here that he completed drafting the Emancipation
Proclamation.  For a copy of the President's proclamation see:
http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/7/7/5.text.1

Item #2: Following up on last week's NCC UPDATE that included a summary
of the meeting of the State Department Historical Advisory Committee,
the official minutes of the April 2000 meeting of that body have been
released. Of particular note is the discussion of the status of the
Kissinger records. The minutes are posted on the State Department web
site: http://www.fas.org/sgp/advisory/state/hac0400.html

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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