NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 13, #5; February 9, 2007)
2. ISOO ASKS ATTORNEY GENERAL TO RULE ON CHENEY'S ROLE
3. BITS & BYTES: Clarification on last week’s story on NARA ‘07 budget; National History Day reception on Capitol Hill; History Channel accepting applications for ‘07-‘08 “Save Our History” grants; Nominations being accepted for National Trust’s “National Preservation Awards”
4. ARTICLE OF INTEREST: “SMU Pressed to Fight Bush’s Secrecy” February
5, 2007, “Dallas Morning News"
1. PRESIDENT’S PROPOSED FY ‘08 BUDGET SENT TO CONGRESS
On February 5, 2007, the Bush administration sent its proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2008 to Congress. Generally, programs of interest to the historical and archival communities are either flat-lined, cut, or eliminated completely. A full copy of the President's proposed FY 2008 budget is available at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/
There is one caveat to begin with in considering the fiscal year 2008 numbers. Last week, the House of Representatives passed a continuing budget resolution (H.J. Res. 20) to fund most federal government programs through the remainder of fiscal year 2007 ending on September 30, 2007. In general, federal agencies and their programs were funded, with some exceptions, at the same amount they received in fiscal year 2006. However, the Senate has yet to consider the House-passed version of the continuing resolution. So comparing the FY ‘08 numbers with the FY ‘07 numbers is not completely accurate until a final budget resolution is passed.
The Senate has until February 15 to pass a budget for FY '07 and work out any changes with the House to avoid a partial federal government shutdown.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: The "Teaching American History" grants program at the Department of Education would be substantially cut under the Bush proposal. In FY ‘06 the program received $120 million and the administration would slash that by over $70 million to $50 million in fiscal year 2008. The administration’s rationale is “the number of quality applications for assistance under this program in recent years does not justify the current level of funding.” Senator Robert C. Byrd, the original sponsor of the program, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. So one can assume that the proposed cut will not likely stand.
The Academies for American History and Civics, which supports workshops for teachers and students in those subjects, would be see their $2 million budget zeroed out.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION: The Bush administration’s proposed fiscal year 2008 budget calls for $379.5 million for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). This is an increase of $39.5 million over the FY 2007 appropriations of $340 million which is expected to be enacted as a year-long continuing resolution by the Congress.
Under the President’s FY 2008 request, NARA would receive $312.8 million for operating expenses; an increase of $34.6 million over the FY 2007 expected appropriation of $278.2 million. This includes funds to prepare for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, provide oversight by the agency’s Inspector General of the work to develop ways to preserve electronic records, and to continue work on reducing the backlog of unprocessed text records.
The operating expenses also include funds for the operation of the Richard M. Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, which will become part of the NARA system of presidential libraries this year after being a privately-run institution since 1990.
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) once again had its budget zeroed out in the Bush administration’s FY ‘08 budget request, and our annual battle to restore funding for this vital program begins anew.
The Electronic Records Archives (ERA) program, a key NARA strategic goal aimed at providing a means to preserve electronic records and make them more accessible in the future, is funded in the FY 2008 request at $58 million which is $13 million over the expected FY 2007 appropriation. This higher funding level for ERA will allow NARA to maintain progress on increment 1 of the system, which is scheduled to begin this fall.
For repairs and restoration to facilities owned by NARA, such as the National Archives at College Park, the National Archives Building in downtown Washington, and the presidential libraries, the President's FY
2008 budget requests $8.6 million.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE–HISTORIC PRESERVATION PROGRAMS: Overall, the National Park Service would receive the largest budget increase in its history, an additional $258 million over the amount it received in fiscal year 2006. The centerpiece of the budget is the "National Parks Centennial Initiative," a ten-year effort to improve the nation’s parks prior to the NPS centennial in 2016. In releasing the budget, President Bush announced the “National Parks Centennial Challenge,” which has the potential of providing $3 billion in new funds over the next ten years. It includes a federal commitment of $100 million annually in discretionary funds, and a challenge to the private sector and the public to contribute $100 million, with a match of another $100 million in mandatory federal funding.
The 2008 budget includes $63.7 million for historic preservation programs. The budget allocates $10 million for the "Save America’s Treasures" program, $10 million for "Preserve America," and $43.7 million for historic preservation grants-in-aid to states, territories and Indian tribes. It would also establish a National Inventory of Historic Properties grant program. Matching grants of $4 million would be available to states, tribes, local governments, and federal land management agencies to make inventories more accessible. The budget also provides $10 million for heritage areas. The Heritage Partnership Program provides seed money for congressionally designated, but locally managed, national heritage areas.
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES: The National Endowment for the Humanities would see a small increase of $400,000 over the amount the administration requested last year for total funding of $141 million. The “We the People” initiative that focuses on the teaching and learning of American history and culture would receive $15.2 million. Two new “We the People” programs would be initiated. The “We The People Videoshelf” would distribute American films that focus on historical events and themes to libraries nationwide. The second program would be run in conjunction with the State Department and bring foreign school teachers and humanities practitioners to the U.S. to participate in Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops.
The NEH’s new Digital Humanities Initiative would receive funding of $1.4 million, which will support projects that use, or study the impact of, digital technology on research, education, preservation, and public programming in the humanities.
Funding for NEH’s Federal and State Partnership programs would increase by $133,000, but Education, Preservation and Access, Public Programs, Research, and Challenge Grants would all be cut.
The National Endowment for the Arts would receive $128.4 million or a $4 million increase.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION: The budget request for the Smithsonian is $678.4 million. Of that amount, $571.3 million is for salaries and expenses and the facilities capital budget is $107.1 million. Included in the request is nearly $10 million for planning and staffing of the new National Museum of African-American History and Culture, which will eventually be built on the National Mall. The capital budget will help fund the continuing renovation of the National Museum of American History-Behring Center, which is scheduled to reopen in 2008.
INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES: The President’s budget request for the Institute of Museum and Library Services is $271 million, which is
$24 million or almost 10 percent more than it received in 2006. Library grants would be funded at $214 million and museum grants at almost $40 million. These amounts reflect nearly $8 million in new funding for each grant program.
Both the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation would be flat-funded at $9 million and $6 million respectively.
2. ISOO ASKS ATTORNEY GENERAL TO RULE ON CHENEY'S ROLE
The publication “Secrecy News,” authored by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists, revealed this week the story of an intergovernmental effort to force the Office of the Vice President (OVP) to release records concerning its handling of governmental materials.
The Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO) has formally petitioned the Attorney General to direct the OVP to comply with a requirement that executive branch organizations disclose statistics on their classification and declassification activity to ISOO.
For the last three years, Vice President Cheney's office has refused to divulge its classification statistics to ISOO, despite a seemingly explicit requirement that it do so. Prior to 2002, such information had routinely been transmitted and reported in ISOO's annual reports to the President.
The disclosure requirement appears in ISOO Directive 1 (at section
2001.80): "Each agency that creates or handles classified information shall report annually to the Director of ISOO statistics related to its security classification program."
Such ISOO directives "shall be binding upon the agencies," President Bush wrote in Executive Order 13292 (section 5.1). Significantly, an "agency"
here means not only a statutorily-defined executive branch agency (which would not include the OVP), but also refers to "any other entity within the executive branch that comes into the possession of classified information”
(which would include the OVP).
Last May, the Federation of American Scientists urged the ISOO to press for the Vice President's compliance. A copy of the FAS letter to the ISOO can be accessed below.
"Since the Office of the Vice President has publicly staked out a position that openly defies the plain language of the executive order, ISOO now has a responsibility to clarify the matter," FAS wrote at that time.
"Otherwise, every agency will feel free to re-interpret the order in idiosyncratic and self-serving ways."
This week ISOO indicated that it was actively pursuing the matter in a response to an inquiry from the FAS concerning the status of the situation. "With respect to the question you raised, I was unsuccessful in achieving a common understanding with OVP," wrote ISOO director J. William Leonard in a February 5 email message.
"Accordingly, in early January, pursuant to section 6.2(b), Executive Order 12958, as amended, I wrote the Attorney General requesting that he render an interpretation on the issue," he said.
(Section 6.2(b) of the executive order states that "The Attorney General, upon request by the head of an agency or the Director of the Information Security Oversight Office, shall render an interpretation of this order with respect to any question arising in the course of its administration.")
"I have not received a reply to this request as of yet," Mr. Leonard wrote. He declined to provide a copy of his January letter to the Attorney General, on the grounds that it is pre-decisional.
3. BITS & BYTES:
ITEM # 1 Clarification on last week's story on NARA FY '07 budget: In our story in last week's edition of the Washington Update, we reported that an earmark of $1.98 million related to moving staff and materials to the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library in California had been stricken from the FY '07 continuing budget resolution (H.J. Res. 20) in the House because of the moratorium imposed on earmarks. We have now learned from officials at the National Archives that the money allocated for the Nixon Presidential Library was removed from the FY 2007 budget because NARA had already received the amount in the FY 2006 budget and was not meant to receive it again as a renewed allocation in the FY 2007 budget. This also applies to the nearly $2 million we reported had been removed from the '07 budget for repairs to the Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy Presidential Libraries.
To summarize these funds were not removed because they were earmarks, but because NARA had already received the funding for these presidential library projects in FY '06 and the specific funding levels were not intended to be carried forward into the next fiscal year.
ITEM #2--National History Day reception on Capitol Hill: This week, National History Day (NHD) hosted a congressional breakfast reception on Capitol Hill to showcase the projects of some winners of the annual competition. NHD is a year-long nonprofit education program dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of history in elementary and secondary schools. Among the dignitaries attending the ceremony were Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein and Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Ben Cardin (D-MD). Those interested in learning more about the program should visit National History Day’s website at www.nhd.org. The History Channel, a member of the NCH, is a major sponsor of the program.
ITEM #3–The History Channel begins accepting applications for “Save Our History” grants: The History Channel has begun accepting applications for its annual “Save Our History” grant program. Under the program, museums, historic sites, historical societies, preservation organizations, libraries, and archives partner with local school or youth groups to help preserve the history of their communities. Each year, The History Channel awards $250,000 in grants of up to $10,000 for these projects. The application deadline for 2007-2008 grants is June 1, 2007. Applications, and more information, are available at:
http://www.saveourhistory.com
ITEM #4–National Preservation Awards: Nominations for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s National Preservation Awards are now being accepted. The awards recognize individuals and organizations whose contribution demonstrates outstanding achievements in historic preservation. More information can be found at:
http://www.nationaltrust
4. ARTICLE OF INTEREST: “SMU Pressed to Fight Bush’s Secrecy” February
5, 2007, “Dallas Morning News." The article details efforts by archivists and historians to urge Southern Methodist University to refuse to house the George W. Bush presidential library unless the administration revokes Executive Order (EO) 13233. The EO gives the sitting president or the former-president and his heirs the authority to deny access to selected records of the former-president. Bush issued Executive Order 13233 in November 2001. Mark Greene, president-elect of the Society of American Archivists, is quoted in the article.
http://www.dallasnews