The White House announced this week that President Obama will release his FY 2013 budget request to Congress on February 13.
The Washington Office will provide further updates once the President’s budget request has been made public.
President Obama is expected to sign into law a $915 billion budget bill for FY 2012 sometime today. This massive budget bill, that was passed by the House with a 296-121 vote on Friday and cleared the Senate on Saturday with a 67-32 vote, will be the year-long spending for the Military Construction-VA, Defense, Energy-Water, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch and State-Foreign Operations. A FY ’12 budget bill had previously been passed for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, and Transportation last month. This most recently passed FY’12 budget bill contains many library programs including money for school libraries, Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), and the Government Printing Office (GPO).
After Congress zeroed out funding to Improving Literacy Through School Libraries for FY 2011, both the Senate and House recognized in FY ’12 that they cut the primary source of federal funding to school libraries. In the new federal budget, congress appropriated $28.6 million for literacy. A minimum of half, or $14.3 million must go to low income school libraries while the rest of the money will go to national not-for-profits that work for childhood literacy.
This budget appropriates money for the Institutes of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) which includes $185 million for LSTA funding. This is a 2.3 percent cut from the FY ’11 amount of $189 million. Under LSTA; Grants to States was appropriated at $156.6 million, Native American Library Services was funded at $3.8 million, National Leadership for Libraries was funded at $11.9 million, and the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian was received $12.5 million in FY ‘12.
Other library programs that received money in FY ’12 was GPO which was appropriated at $126.2 million; the Congressional Printing and Binding appropriated at $90.7 million; and Superintendent of Documents funded this year at $35 million.
Posted in Funding, OGR, Public Libraries, School Libraries
Tagged Appropriations, GPO, LSTA, School Libraries
Contact: Jenni Terry
Press Officer, ALA Washington Office
(202) 628-8410
For Immediate Release
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed its Labor, Health and Human Services, Education appropriations bill yesterday with at least $15 million designated for school libraries. The bill also level-funds the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $189 million.
The Senate bill sets aside $30 million for national non-profit organizations and school libraries in high-need areas and directs that at least 50 percent of this funding be used for school libraries.
“Last year, funding for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program was wiped from this bill, which left school libraries without any specific federal funding, and the President’s budget request also zeroed out the program,” Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office, said.
“It seems the Senate Appropriations Committee has recognized what a mistake this was, and we thank them for including new funding in the bill that will directly benefit students depending on their school libraries. Yet, we understand that there is a long road ahead and urge House appropriators to safeguard this funding for our nation’s students when they mark up their version of the bill.”
Sheketoff said protecting LSTA funding at its current level in this “slash and burn” Congress is one of the most important federal issues for public libraries.
“This is a very uncertain time for the future of many, many federal programs,” Sheketoff said.
“We knew there was a strong chance the Senate appropriators could choose to further reduce LSTA funding – or even cut it all together. While we take it as a positive sign that LSTA cleared the first hurdle, we know the race is not over yet. In these tough economic times, the public has been using their public libraries more than ever, depending on the library’s computers, Internet access and employment skills training. LSTA allows libraries to continue offering these important services.”
The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee marked up (voted on) its FY 2012 bill Tuesday afternoon on at 10-8 party-line vote. This funding bill, which is scheduled to be marked up in the full Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday afternoon, contains federal support for school libraries.
The report language of this bill sets aside $30 million for national non-profit organizations or school libraries in high-need areas. Furthermore, at least 50 percent of this $30 million must be used for school libraries.
This restoration of funding for school libraries comes as a huge victory since the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program was zero-funded in FY 2011; however, the fight is still not over. School libraries fared better than many other programs, but the next stage of the legislative process will prove critical in securing this funding for FY2012. Please continue to put pressure on your senators and representatives to support school libraries.
More information will be made available after Wednesday’s mark-up.
On the LSTA front…
This bill also level funds (or funds at last year’s level) the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) at $189 million – another victory for libraries during this time when many in Congress are looking to make budget cuts.
Jeff Kratz
Assistant Director, OGR
The Senate Committee on Appropriations will hold a markup of the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill that includes the funding for the Government Printing Office at 2 p.m. today. As we have discussed in previous blog posts, it is important that in this difficult financial time people make their wishes known on how the government should allocate the spending tax dollars.
The Government Printing Office (GPO) is an invaluable resource in ensuring that the public has access to government information. Appropriations for the GPO fund the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), and it is important that we ask for an additional $7 million to be specified for further development of the Federal Digital System (FDsys). FDsys is the gateway to greater access and preservation for government documents, allowing the public to locate documents from any computer with an Internet connection.
Please take a moment today to contact your senators and express the importance of continued and expanded funding for the Government Printing Office. For information on how to contact your senators and talking points, please visit the Legislation Action Center.
Posted in Funding, Government Information, OGR, Washington Office News
