ESEA UPDATE: March 28,1994

[Tom Hart <hart@LIS.FSU.EDU>]

   Thursday, March 10, 1994, the U.S. House of Representatives, by a voice
vote, defeated an amendment to delete Title II, Part C (School Library
Media), from the revised HR 6-ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act)
proposal.  The week of March 14th, the House is considering the "Balanced
Budget Amendment."  The ALA Washington Office has been told that HR 6 won't
be brought up until the week of March 21.
   Carol Diehl, from Wisconsin, made a video copy of the C-SPAN coverage of
the debate on ESEA, Title II, part C.  AASL will show the video in Miami
(look for time and place).   She says Representative Reed was spectacular.
   We are now nearly one-fourth of the way through the legislative process
and must CONTINUE EVERY EFFORT POSSIBLE TO OBTAIN THESE FUNDS.   I
personally have written several times to my member of the House, "Pete
Peterson" from Marianna, Florida and have encouraged others from Marianna to
contact him.
   My first letter received the usual response, that he was aware of the act
and would give it every consideration possible (I had asked him to be a
cosponsor of the Act).
   I sent another letter back, telling him how disappointed I was that he
would not agree to cosponsor the School Library Media Act and supplied him
with research examples of the importance of school libraries to the
educational enterprise.  I just received a response from him:
      "Thank you for contacting me in support of library media services.
 Although some elementary and secondary school education proposals have
 overlooked the importance of library media services, this is not an issue
 that we can afford to ignore.  I agree that it is imperative that students
 have access to the most up-to-date and accurate information available
 in this ever-changing world.  Neglecting library media services is
 certainly not going to achieve that goal...
      "Although I am not a member of the Education and Labor Committee, I
 strongly support library media services enhancement, and you can be assured
 that I will closely monitor this or any similar legislation as it makes its
 way through the legislative process.
      "Your involvement on this issue thus far is commendable, and I urge
 you to continue to lobby your colleagues and elected officials as to the
 importance of library media services as an integral prt of the education
 process.  In the interim, please stay in touch with me about this or any
 other issues that concern you."           ........Pete Peterson, M.C.

As you can see, it pays to keep corresponding with legislators.

NEXT STEPS
   1.   Get more cosponsors for Senator Simon's Bill S.266.
   2.   Encourage the subcommittee to incorporate it into their version of
        ESEA reauthorization.
   3.   If all this happens and the bill is signed into law, we then have to
        work on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to put the
        money in FY95.
   In May or June, the Senate will begin considering reauthorization of
ESEA.  WE MUST WORK HARD ON GAINING MORE COSPONSORS IN THE SENATE!!!!!

            SUBCOMMITTEE - EDUCATION, ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES
   MOST REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS DO NOT WANT TO HAVE E-MAIL ADDRESSES!

Address all correspondence as:  Honorable...
                                United States Senate
                                Washington, DC (zip code as listed below)
DEMOCRATS:
State      Name                   Phone             Fax          Zip Code
RI   Claiborne Pell, Chair    (202) 224-4642        n/a         20510-3901
OH   Howard Metzenbaum        (202) 224-2315        n/a         20510-3502
CT   Christopher Dodd         (202) 224-2823      224-1083      20510-0702
IL   Paul Simon               (202) 224-2152        n/a         20510-1302
MD   Barbara Mikulski         (202) 224-4654      224-8858      20510-2003
NM   Jeff Bingaman            (202) 224-5521        n/a         20510-3102
MS   Edward Kennedy           (202) 224-4543      224-2417      20510-2101
                    E-MAIL: senator@kennedy.senate.gov
MN   Paul Wellstone           (202) 224-5641        n/a         20510-2303
PA   Harris Wofford           (202) 224-6324        n/a         20510-3808
IA   Tom Harkin               (202) 224-3254      224-9369      20510-1502

REPUBLICANS:
VT   James Jeffords           (202) 224-5141        n/a         20510-4503
KS   Nancy Kassebaum          (202) 224-4774        n/a         20510-1602
IN   Dan Coats                (202) 224-5623        n/a         20510-1403
NH   Judd Gregg               (202) 224-3324      224-4952      20510-2904
SC   Strom Thurmond           (202) 224-5972      224-1300      20510-4001
UT   Orrin Hatch              (202) 224-5251      224-6331      20510-4402
MN   Dave Durenberger         (202) 224-3244      224-9931      20510-2301

               SENATE LABOR & HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE
MA   Edward Kennedy, Chair
          All other members are the same as the sub-committee
.
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| Tom Hart              <__    _ * \ -  /      Tom Hart               |
| <hart@lis.fsu.edu>       \--/  \     |       2610 Mayfair Rd.       |
| Professor, School of Lib        |     \      Tallahassee, FL 32303  |
| and Info Studies,               /      |     Home (904) 385-7550    |
| Florida State University,       |      /                            |
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| Fax 904/644-9763                   \ /                              |
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Internet:  hart@lis.fsu.edu