NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 12, #14; 31 March 2006)

1. HOUSE APPROVES HIGHER EDUCATION REAUTHORIZATION
2. NCH CALLS FOR NARA OVERSIGHT HEARING
3. NEH "DEAR COLLEAGUE" LETTER "SIGN-ON" EFFORT DEADLINE IS TODAY!
4. GRACELAND GIVEN LANDMARK STATUS
5. BITS AND BYTES: Archivists May Day Call to Action!; DOE Report on"inadvertent releases"; History Teacher Nominations
6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST: "America's National Parks: No Longer Ad-Free Zones" (Christian Science Monitor)

1. HOUSE APPROVES HIGHER EDUCATION REAUTHORIZATION After several days of active debate, on 30 March 2006, the House of Representatives concluded over three years of work and approved its version of the College Access and Opportunity Act (H.R. 609), legislation that serves as the House vehicle for a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA).

The HEA reauthorization was approved by the House by a largely partisan vote of 221 to 199. In order to get the bill passed, lawmakers removed a controversial provision in the original bill that would have altered the formula the government uses to distribute funds to colleges and universities student aid programs (for example, the Federal Work-Study and the Perkins Loan programs). Lawmakers also significantly weakened provisions designed to prod colleges to curb tuition and related fee increases.

Several proposed amendments advanced by Democrats were defeated, including an amendment designed to lower interest rates that borrowers are charged on student loans. A Republican sponsored amendment that would have required colleges to submit to the Education Department a report on how colleges take "race" into account when making admissions decisions also went down to defeat.

While the Senate version of the HEA reauthorization contains a provision that seeks to award three-year grants to institutions to establish or strengthen post-secondary academic programs focusing on Western civilization and American history, the House bill contains no similar program authorization.


2. NCH CALLS FOR NARA OVERSIGHT HEARING On 22 March 2006, the National Coalition for History hand-delivered a letter to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Susan M. Collins renewing the history coalition's previous requests for the Senate to conduct general oversight hearings on the management, programs, and activities of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Both before and following the confirmation of Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein last year, the coalition advanced to Collins's committee a request that a general oversight hearing be conducted. With the exception of Weinstein's hour-long confirmation hearing, it has now been over a decade since the Senate paid any attention to the operating programs under NARA's administration and jurisdiction. During his confirmation hearing, Weinstein welcomed the opportunity for the Senate to scrutinize NARA's program and, according to inside NARA sources, his attitude has not changed since then.

The letter, signed by NCH President Arnita Jones, points out a number of issues that make a Senate hearing at this time especially timely. Added to the list of concerns mentioned in earlier requests -- i.e.
concern over stolen documents, and improperly handled documents by high government officials (most recently National Security Advisor Sandy Berger) -- the letter notes the need for Senate investigation into the alarming "secret" reclassification program that the Archivist recently ordered a moratorium on pending completion of an ISOO audit. The letter also points out the need for a progress report and a discussion of the long terms needs of the Electronic Records Archives project; discussion of administrative aspects of the Presidential Library system (including the recent agreement between NARA and the Nixon Library foundation); the need for scrutiny over the implementation of the Presidential Records Act; as well as the need to consider a proposal for a higher authorization for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). All these, the letter states, are deserving of Senate's "scrutiny and serious consideration."

NCH staff anticipate meeting with Senate staff on the letter in the near future.

3. NEH"DEAR COLLEAGUE" LETTER"SIGN-ON" EFFORT DEADLINE IS TODAY! Once again this year many National Coalition for History member organizations are supporting an effort by Congress to obtain a higher appropriation than the one advanced by President Bush for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). One way supporters of the NEH may assist in this effort is to urge their members of Congress to"sign on" to the"Dear Colleague" letter being circulated by Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA) and David Price (D-NC) supporting a $15 million increase for NEH in FY 2007. The deadline for members to sign-on to the joint letter has been extended to this Friday, March 31.

There are currently 78 signatures. The goal of humanities supporters is to meet or exceed last year's list of 110 Members.

The National Humanities Alliance has posted a draft message for readers who wish to communicate this request to members of Congress at the Humanities Advocacy Network website: . All members of Congress can also be reached by phone through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

According to Jessica Jones Irons, Executive Director of the National Humanities Alliance,"A large number of signatures on the Dear Colleague letter, particularly if they represent both sides of the aisle, will send a very important message to the leadership of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee as they begin to work on the mark-up of the FY2007 spending bill."

To sign on to the letter, Congressional offices should be informed of the need to contact Naomi Zeff with Rep. James Leach (R-IA) at (202) 225-6576, or Susan Howard with Rep. David Price (D-NC), at (202) 225- 1784. Remember -- the deadline to sign the letter is TODAY Friday, 31 March.

4. GRACELAND GIVEN LANDMARK STATUS The Federal government has now granted Elvis Presley's home -- Graceland mansion -- National Historic Landmark status. The designation was announced 27 March during a ceremony at the 14-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee.

The designation declaration was made by the Secretary of the Interior, the federal official empowered to make such declarations. Secretary Gail A Norton said,"In recognition of Elvis Presley's achievements and contributions to American culture and musical history, today we designate his home, Graceland as a national historic landmark." In attendance was Presley's former wife Priscilla Presley, and Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of the"King of Rock 'n' Roll."

According to Priscilla Presley, Graceland"was a tangible symbol of how far he [Elvis Presley] had come from his very humble beginnings." The home is a currently a museum where Elvis fans flock to learn about the life and career and exhibits of Elvis's personal mementoes and clothing.

5. BITS AND BYTES Item #1 -- Archivists May Day Call to Action!: As part of its"Save Our Archives" campaign, the Society of American Archivists has issued a"Call to Action" in which on May Day (1 May) individuals and organizations are being urged to take action to advance efforts relating to emergency response planning. For more information on this May Day event, visit the SAA site at: http://www.archivists.org .

Item #2 -- DOE Report on"inadvertent releases": The Department of Energy has released a redacted version of its twentieth report on inadvertent releases of classified nuclear weapons information found in declassified records at the National Archives. Upon examination of nearly 300,000 pages of public records, DoE reviewers found a grand total of 47 pages which they said should not have been released. The documents had been embedded in over a thousand pages of records, all of which were removed from public access. Thanks to the Federation of American Scientists, the report can be found at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/inadvertent20.pdf

Item #3 -- History Teacher Nominations: Know a great history teacher? Nominate him or her for the Gilder Lehrman Institute's"History Teacher of the Year" contest. For more information, visit: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/teachers/student8.html .

6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST: One posting this week: In Mark Clayton's"America's National Parks: No Longer Ad-Free Zones" (Christian Science Monitor; 31 March 2006) there is a discussion over the controversy that has erupted over a National Park Service plan to let corporate donors display their names and logos at national parks and historic sites throughout the nation. For the article go to: http://www.csmonitor.com .