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(FWD) NCC Washington Update, Vol. 6, #34, October 5, 2000



NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 6, #34, October 5, 2000
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig3@juno.com> of  the National Coordinating Committee
for the Promotion of History

1.   Appropriation Update: House Passes and Senate Considers Interior
Appropriation Bill
2.   Deal on Landmark Conservation Program Legislation Gets Mixed Reviews
3.   NEH Seeks Comments on Long-Term Projects Funding "Policy Options Paper"
4.   Moynihan Declassification Bill Update: Measure Passes Senate
5.   News Bits and Bytes: NARA Strategic Plan Released; Suit filed to Block
WW II Memorial; New Volume in State Department FRUS Series Released

1. APPROPRIATION UPDATE: HOUSE PASSES AND SENATE CONSIDERS INTERIOR
APPROPRIATION BILL
On September 29, House and Senate conferees agreed on a $18.8 billion budget
package that wrapped the FY 2001 Interior appropriation bill (H.R. 4578; H.
Rept. 106-914) with a substitute measure for a controversial land
conservation bill (CARA - H.R. 701/S. 2567; see related story below).  On
October 3, after only one hour of discussion, the House approved the
legislation, 348-69.

The Interior bill passed by the House is a 26 percent increase over FY 2000
levels. In addition to providing significant new funds for land conservation
and historic preservation, the FY 2001 Interior appropriation allocates a
total of $105 million to the National Endowment for the Arts (its first
budget increase since the Republicans captured control of the House in 1995);
the National Endowment for the Humanities will receive $120.260 million ($5
million more than FY 2000), the museum portion of the Institute of Museum and
Library Services gets a total of $24.907 million (up $600,000 from FY 2000),
the Smithsonian Institution is allocated $454 million ($16.7
million over FY 2000) and the National Park Service Operations account will
receive a $1.4 billion earmark (some $25 million more than FY 2000).  The
Historic Preservation Fund is approved for $79.347 million; this includes
funding at the Senate bill passed level - $44.347 million ($12 million for
the states, $3 million for the Tribal preservation programs, and $44.347
million for other HPF programs) plus conferees added an additional $35
million during the House/Senate conference to support the President's "Save
America's Treasures" program.

The Senate is currently considering the bill and accompanying conference
report; a vote on the measure is expected sometime on Friday, October 6.

2. DEAL ON LANDMARK CONSERVATION PROGRAM LEGISLATION GETS MIXED REVIEWS
For quite some number of years, conservationists and historic
preservationists have been working toward enactment of legislation that would
create a dedicated trust fund for conservation and historic preservation
programs.  The latest effort centers on the Conservation and Reinvestment Act
of 2000 (CARA; H.R. 701/S. 2567).  It seeks to allocate $3 billion from
offshore oil drilling royalties (deposited in the Land and Water Conservation
Fund) and distribute funds into a wide array of conservation and historic
preservation programs. As envisioned by its crafters, the latest version of
the CARA bill would allocate funds to a variety of programs including $100
million for national park resource protection, $150 million for the Historic
Preservation Fund, $15 million for battlefield protection, and an additional
$60 million for various Federal
Historic Preservation programs. The measure had the support of the White
House and even had passed the Republican controlled House of Representatives
on May 11 by a whopping 315 to 102 vote.

However, during the final rounds of negotiation centering around the
Department of the Interior appropriation bill (H.R. 4578), due largely to
fervent opposition by several Western Republican senators, the White House
backed off of its support of CARA in order to more fully fund the President's
Land Legacy Program and other preservation/conservation programs.
Representative George Miller (D-CA) said the compromise hammered out during
marathon negotiations fell short of what he had sought from CARA, but the new
package (wrapped in as part of the $18.8 billion Interior Department
appropriation bill - see related story above) still represents "a
significant, multi-year dedication of revenues" that "for years had been
severely underfunded."  According to National Wildlife Federation President,
Mark Van Putten, however, "It's a basket of promises...not the guaranteed
investment that CARA is." According to Nellie Longsworth who publishes
Preservation Online News, the agreement reached, "definitely is an
improvement over FY 2000 funding [for historic preservation/conservation
programs] but it is a long way from the guaranteed $150 million [for historic
preservation] promised by CARA."

The compromise proposal, entitled the "Land Conservation, Preservation, and
Infrastructure Improvement Act" (LCPIIA), creates a very complicated
three-tier approach to appropriating funds. Basically, it calls for a
six-year spending program involving $1.6 billion this fiscal year with the
amount growing by $200 million each year for the next five years; CARA would
deliver $3 billion a year for 15 years.

While some in the historic preservation and conservation community are trying
to keep CARA alive by discussing it as part of the Senate's debate over the
Interior appropriation, Western Senators have pledged to block any further
vote on the measure before Congress adjourns.

3. NEH SEEKS COMMENTS ON LONG-TERM PROJECTS FUNDING "POLICY OPTIONS PAPER"
During recent meetings of the National Council on the Humanities, various
members of the Council have raised concerns about the National Endowment for
the Humanities' (NEH) support for long-term humanities projects such as the
production of scholarly editions of important historical and cultural
documents, the creation of dictionaries, encyclopedias, databases and other
major reference materials in the humanities. Constrained by budget cuts over
the last couple of years, the NEH has been exploring a variety of means of
relieving the funding pressures, hopefully without sacrificing the agency's
ability to continue its support for a broad array of projects. Nevertheless,
as the cover story states in the October 6, 2000 issue of the Chronicle of
Higher Education (see "Scholars Fear Humanities Endowment is Being Dumbed
Down" in October 6, 2000 issue;
<http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i06/06a02901.htm>), to many scholars cutting
scholarly projects (such as editorial projects relating to important
scholarly papers) represents "a shift in priorities."

Over the past several years, NEH staff have engaged in ongoing discussions
about the issue of funding long-term projects.  The latest round of
discussions between staff and members of the National Council has led to the
preparation of an "options paper."  That paper seeks to document "the nature
and extent of NEH support for long-term projects and outlines a number of
issues and policy considerations that have surfaced during the course of the
policy review."

Comments on the issues and options are currently being solicited from
interested parties by the NEH.  Following the Endowment's review of comments
received, the NEH will develop specific policy recommendations for the
consideration of the National Council on the Humanities. A discussion of
those recommendations will occur during the public session of an upcoming
Council meeting.

Please note, the DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS IS OCTOBER 16, 2000. Copies of the
options paper may be obtained on the Web at
<http://www.neh.gov/news/editionssupport.html> or by calling the NEH Office
of Strategic Planning at (202) 606-8428.

4.   MOYNIHAN DECLASSIFICATION BILL UPDATE: MEASURE PASSES SENATE
On October 2, with minimal debate or deliberation, the Senate passed its
version of the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2001 (S. 2507) -
legislation that includes the establishment of a new advisory board on
declassification matters, a measure strongly supported by retiring Senator
Patrick Moynihan (D-NY).

The Public Interest Declassification Act (PIDA - S. 1801), the last vestige
of Senator Daniel P. Moynihan's once ambitious effort to reform the national
security classification and declassification system, has been incorporated
into the Senate version of the Intelligence Authorization Act.  It creates a
nine-member "Public Interest Declassification Board" whose charge would be to
promote openness, to support Congress in its oversight of declassification,
and to make recommendations to the President on classification and
declassification policy, practices and procedures. While the Intelligence
appropriation bill has yet to be voted up or down by the House, that body is
expected to approve the PIDA provision as it has the
strong support of Congressman Porter J. Goss, Chairman of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence.

The Senate bill also contains a controversial provision (Section 303) that
would make it a crime for government employees to disclose classified
information to the public. According to recent policy papers released by the
National Security Archives, the language in the bill is probably
unconstitutional.  Among other things, the provision would stifle informed
public debate on a wide range of topics such as matters of national defense
and American foreign policy. For more on the pending "leak" statute, see
<http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2000/09leaks.html>

5.   NEWS BITS AND BYTES:
Item #1: NARA STRATEGIC PLAN - As reported in this newsletter (see NCC
WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 6, #25, July 27, 2000) on July 17, 2000
representatives of the historical and archival community, as well as other
organizational stakeholders, met with Archivist John Carlin and other NARA
officials to provide comments on NARA's most recent update of the strategic
plan entitled "Ready Access to Essential Evidence: The Strategic Plan of the
National Archives and Records Administration, 1997-2007."  Updating the plan
is mandated by law every three years. That plan has now been reviewed and
finalized by NARA officials. The 57-page updated plan may be downloaded from
the NARA web site: <http://www.nara.gov/nara/vision/nara2000.html>

Item #2: SUIT FILED TO BLOCK WW II MEMORIAL - Continuing the saga of the
proposed World War II Memorial slated for construction on Washington D.C.'s
National Mall (see NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol. 6, #33, September 29, 2000),
on October 2, 2000 opponents filed papers in federal court requesting an
injunction be issued to prevent the groundbreaking scheduled for Veterans Day
(November 11, 2000).  The suit claims that in approving the project the
government violated provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, the
Commemorative Works Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. For
additional information, see The Washington Post ("Lawsuit Filed to Derail WW
II Memorial," October 3, 2000, p. B-1).

Item #3: NEW FRUS VOLUME - The Office of the Historian, Department of State
has released volume XXVII of the Foreign Relations of the United States
(FRUS) series entitled: "Foreign Relations, 1964-1968, Mainland Southeast
Asia, Regional Affairs."  The volume documents U.S. policy toward countries
on the periphery of the war in Southeast Asia. The volume (ISBN #
0-16-048817-6) is for sale for $54 through the Government Printing Office,
Superintendent of Documents (call (202) 512-1800); for further information,
contact David S. Patterson, General Editor of the Foreign Relations series at
(202) 663-1127 or e-mail: history@state.gov

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

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