[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

(FWD) Ncc Washington Update, Vol 6, #21, June 22, 2000



NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE, Vol 6, #21, June 22, 2000
by Bruce Craig <rbcraig3@juno.com> of  the National Coordinating
Committee for the Promotion of History

1.   A Message from the new NCC Director, Bruce Craig
2.   Appropriations Update: Senate Acts on Interior Appropriations Bill
3.   Appropriations Update: House Action on National Archives Budget
Delayed
4.   Update on Declassification of Nazi and Japanese War Crimes Records
5.   "In the News" -- NARA Declassification Final Rule Issued; Woodrow
Wilson Fellowships


1.  A MESSAGE FROM THE NEW NCC DIRECTOR, BRUCE CRAIG
On Friday June 16, former NCC Director Page Putnam Miller and I
completed a multiweek executive director transition by finishing the
chore of culling the NCC files, packing the last of Page's books, and,
in my case, learning the intricacies of NCC's computer systems.  This
week, as Page is busy at home packing dishes into boxes and otherwise
preparing to move to South Carolina, I find myself alone here in the
NCC's cosy office located on the top floor of the Capitol hill Victorian
house that serves as headquarters for the American Historical
Association in Washington, D.C. What follows is the first of what
promises to be many more NCC WASHINGTON UPDATES that I will be preparing
in an ongoing effort to meet your needs for information as a member of
the historical and archival community.

In the coming weeks and months, as the NCC Board of Directors begins to
review the organization's past activities and prepares to meet the
challenges of the future, you probably will notice some modest changes
in the way the NCC conducts its activities and delivers its services.
For example, the NCC's webpage (<http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~ncc>) will be
updated and hopefully will evolve into the cyber center for our advocacy
efforts.  Plans are also in the works for the creation of an "advocacy
network" where recipients of our "Legislative Alerts" may be asked to
take rapid action by calling, emailing, or writing Senators or
Representatives to advance the cause of history.  And, you will notice
some changes in the NCC WASHINGTON UPDATE as well.

In this UPDATE, for example, you will find a new item entitled "In the
News."  Depending on your feedback, this may become a regular feature of
the newsletter. While most of the news items that appear in the UPDATE
take up several paragraphs, "In the News" items are bits of information
that I hope will be of interest to readers, but perhaps do not warrant a
full detailed story or explanation.  You will, however, be informed
where to go to get more detailed information.  Please be assured that I
have no intention of "fixing something that ain't broken" and certainly
NCC's mission is not changing -- it  continues to focus on the support
of historical programs, teaching, research, and public programming; the
promotion of greater access to historical records and government
information, and support for federal humanities programs.  The NCC will
also continue to address issues relating to copyright and historic
preservation. As always, I invite your comments, responses, suggestions
and contributions to this newsletter.

2.  APPROPRIATIONS UPDATE -- SENATE ACTS ON INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL
-- On June 22 the Senate Appropriations Committee took up and passed a
$15.5 billion FY-2001 Interior Appropriations spending bill.  Action by
the full Committee followed closely on the heels of recommendations made
by the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee that
acted on the legislation on June 20.   The Senate recommended funding
levels that are approximately $1 billion less than the President's
request of $16.32 billion.

Both the Subcommittee and full Appropriations Committee approved
legislation which includes modest increases over both the House passed
version of the Interior Appropriations bill and current FY-2000 funding
levels which stand at $98 million for the National Endowment for the
Arts (NEA) and $115.3 for the National Endowment for the Humanities
(NEH).  Over current funding levels, the Committee recommended a $7.4
million increase for the NEA, a $5 million increase for the NEH and a
$0.6 million increase for the Office of Museum Service (OMS) at the
Institute of Museum and Library Services.  The Historic Preservation
Fund (HPF) was pegged at $41.347 -- the same funding level passed by the
House.  While the National Park Service was allotted a $1.5 million
operational increase to help cover expenses associated with the Lewis
and Clark Bicentennial, no funding was provided for the "Save America's
Treasures Program." Historic preservationists, however, vow to attempt
to restore some funding for this program when representatives from the
House and Senate meet in conference to reconcile the differences between
the House and Senate passed measures.

During the June 20 Subcommittee markup, Subcommittee Majority Chair
Slade Gorton (R-WA) and ranking Minority leader Robert Byrd (D-WV)
mentioned their support for increased funding levels for both the NEA
and NEH over the House passed bill.  Chairman Gorton said that the
Subcommittee had considered over 2,000 individual requests by members of
the Senate and Senator Byrd reflected that in many areas "we couldn't do
enough" but the Subcommittee was resolute in their desire to stay within
the 302-(b) allocations which provided only for an approved increase of
$628 million over FY-2000 funding levels.  With this money the
Subcommittee was able to achieve their priorities which first and
foremost was to provide for the "core operating needs of land management
agencies."  During the markup, both Republican and Democrat members
expressed a strong desire to have the Subcommittee provide sufficient
funds to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for the construction of new
schools and renovation of existing facilities that serve Native American
peoples.

When the full Senate Appropriations Committee met on June 22, the
Subcommittee recommendations were adopted unanimously. Several
amendments focusing on BIA needs were offered by Senators but none
impacted the NEH or NEA budgets. The Appropriations Committee
recommendations will now be advanced to the floor of the Senate for
action which is anticipated to take place next week before the July 4
recess.

3.   HOUSE ACTION ON NATIONAL ARCHIVES BUDGET DELAYED -- The awaited
markup by the House Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government
Subcommittee has again been postponed and will probably not take place
until the week of July 10.  The markup will determine the Subcommittee's
recommendations for the FY-2001 budgets for the National Archives and
the grants program of the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.

4.    UPDATE ON DECLASSIFICATION OF NAZI AND JAPANESE WAR CRIMES RECORDS

-- In order to conform with the provisions of the Nazi War Crime
Disclosure Act of 1998, President Clinton issued, in January 1999,
Executive Order 13110 that established the Nazi War Criminal Records
Interagency Working Group (IWG).  The order charged this group with
locating, identifying, inventorying, recommending for declassification
and making available all classified Nazi war criminal records as well as
records relating to war crimes by "any government which was an ally of
the Nazi government of Germany" subject to specified restrictions.  For
the past year the IWG has focused primarily on Nazi was criminals, war
crimes, persecution, and looting, and to date some 1.5 million pages of
documents have been declassified.

On May 23, Dr. Michael Kurtz, Assistant Archivist at the National
Archives and Chair of the IWG announced that the group will take steps
to begin the second phase of implementation of the Disclosure Act by
initiating an examination of records related to Japanese war crimes, war
criminals, persecutions and looting.  To assist the IWG in determining
how best to approach the initiative, the IWG has appointed historian
Linda Goetz Holmes, an expert of Japanese crime of World War II, to its
Historical Advisory Panel.  This panel recommends measures to improve
the effectiveness of the Act by aiding understanding of the historical
circumstances and context in which the records were created.  Additional
information about the IWG and the Historical Advisory Panel is available
at the IWG website at www.nara.gov/iwg

5   "IN THE NEWS"
Item #1: The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has
issued a "final rule" relating to declassification of national
security-classified information in records transferred to NARA's legal
custody. For a copy, see the Federal Register (June 1, 2000; Vol. 65,
#106).

Item #2: The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has opened
its 2001-2002 fellowship competition. Twenty-one residential fellowships
will be awarded to social science and humanities scholars and
practitioners who have outstanding project proposals on national and/or
international issues and topics that intersect with questions of public
policy.  The application deadline is October 1, 2000.  For more
information including an application that can be downloaded from the
Wilson Center website tap into: <http://www.wilsoncenter.org>.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
NCC invites you to redistribute the NCC Washington Updates.  A complete
backfile of these reports is maintained by H-Net at
<http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~ncc>   To subscribe to the "NCC Washington
Update," send an e-mail message to listserv@h-net.msu.edu according to
the following model: SUBSCRIBE H-NCC firstname lastname, institution.

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>