march06c.indd


Ber nadette Murphy W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

Libraries get proposed funding 
increase for 2007 
On February 6, President Bush released a $2.7 
trillion FY 2007 budget request that eliminates 
141 programs but increases federal funding 
for libraries. 

T h e  p r e s i d e n t ’ s  b u d g e t  r e q u e s t s  
$262,240,000 for the Institute of Museum 
and Library Services (IMLS), an increase of 
$15,096,000 or 6.1 percent over FY 2006. For 
the Library Services and Technology Act, the 
budget includes $220,855,000, an increase of 
$10,258,000 over FY 2006. The LSTA number 
includes an increase in the Grants to States 
program, bringing funding for that program 
to $171.5 million. ALA has actively supported 
an increase in Grants to States funding as this 
funding level will allow full implementation 
of a 2003 law to provide a more equitable 
distribution of state formula grants. 

In addition, the budget includes a request for 
$30 million to revitalize the consistently under­
funded Washington, D.C. public library system. 

The budget also includes a proposal to move 
the public library section of the Library Statistics 
Program from the National Center for Education 
Statistics at the Department of Education to IMLS 
by 2008. By moving the program, which col­
lects and analyzes data about America’s public 
libraries, to IMLS, the government can more 
easily apply these statistics and adapt policy to 
changing trends in library services and use. This 
proposal will strengthen federal library policy 
efforts by centralizing library activities in one 
primary agency. 

Even though the president cut his request 
for Reading First funding, the Improving Lit­
eracy through School Libraries program, within 
Reading First, was level­funded. 

The Budget request includes $25 million for 
First Lady Laura Bush’s Twenty­First Century 
Librarian Program, a $1.24 million increase 
over 2006. 

Bernadette Murphy is communications specialist at ALA’s 
Washington Offi  ce, e-mail: bmurphy@alawash.org 

PATRIOT compromise reached 
On February 9, four Republican Senators— 
John Sununu (NH), Lisa Murkowski (AK), 
Chuck Hagel (NE), and Larry Craig (ID)—who 
had joined in the threat to filibuster the House 
Conference Report on the Reauthorization of 
the USA PATRIOT Act, announced that they 
had negotiated a compromise deal with the 
White House. It appears that leadership now 
will be able to garner enough votes to ensure 
passage of the legislation in the Senate. 

The proposed compromise lacks necessary 
strengthening of the standards for obtaining 
a Section 215 order and does not provide the 
recipient of a Section 215 court order meaning­
ful opportunity to challenge the order or the 
attached gag order in a court of law. 

The proposed compromise includes these 
changes: 

• Added language asserting the ability of a 
recipient to challenge the gag order attached 
to a Section 215 order. But the gag will remain 
in place if a judge rules that disclosure “may 
endanger the national security of the U.S., 
interfere with a criminal, counterterrorism, 
or counterintelligence investigation, interfere 
with diplomatic relations, or endanger the life 
of physical safety of any person.” 

• Removal of the requirement that a recipi­
ent of a National Security Letter (NSL) inform 
the FBI of the identity of an attorney to whom 
disclosure was made. 

• Added language asserting that libraries, 
when functioning in their traditional roles (includ­
ing providing Internet access), are not subject to 
NSLs. However, the language states that libraries 
are subject if the services they provide fall under a 
particular defi nition defined in a federal statute. As 
the FBI has repeatedly asserted that all libraries that 
provide Internet access come under this particular 
definition, it is very unclear whether this change 
provides any real protection to libraries. 

ALA continues to call on Congress to pass 
the SAFE Act, which would help cure many of 
the problems that are left unfixed in this new 
proposal. 

March 2006  181 C&RL News 

mailto:bmurphy@alawash.org