NCH WASHINGTON UPDATE (Vol. 12, #24; 19 May 2006)
2. ENDOWMENTS GET BUDGET BOOST IN THE HOUSE
3. THE HOUSE HISTORIAN -- A LOOK TO THE FUTURE
4. AHA RESPONDS TO SECRETARY SMALL'S LETTER DEFENDING THE SHOWTIME DEAL
5. BITS AND BYTES: NARA Proposed Rule; SI Arts and Industry Building Endangered
6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST:"Historic Preservation: An Unfinished Agenda in the West" (NTHP webpage)
1. HOUSE APPROVES $2.8 TRILLION BUDGET PROPOSAL Based on a largely partisan vote of 218 to 210, on 17 May the House of Representatives approved a $2.8 trillion budget blueprint for federal agency spending in FY-2007. Had the House
failed to reach agreement it would have
been the first time since 1975 that the lower chamber would have failed to pass a budget resolution. It would have been particularly embarrassing to the GOP leadership since the Republicans control the House.
Though the spending blueprint is non-binding, it helps set the framework for upcoming tax and appropriation bills. Several weeks back differences between Republican conservatives and moderates led some Hill watchers to conclude that their positions were, in the words of one observer, "irreconcilable." But an agreement was forged after the leadership decided to moderate Republican member calls for adding additional funds for health, education, and related programs.
While the GOP leadership managed to placate Republican moderates, the bill satisfies conservatives as well because it embraces President Bush's recommended $873 billion cap on discretionary spending -- a target that if reached is likely to impact all domestic spending. Conservatives were especially pleased to see spending for defense and homeland security increased while domestic spending was frozen at present levels. Because of mandatory agency personal and administrative costs, for most domestic agencies, this translates into a funding cut. According to Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) the plan "strengthens our efforts to control spending and coupled with a robust economy fueled by tax relief, is making real progress in driving down the deficit."
Democrats disagree. They contend that the GOP House embraced plan mandates a $653 billion increase in the national debt to $9.6 trillion. They also note that the plan both fails to take into account the long-term costs of war in Iraq, and it does not offer any plan for bringing the budget back into balance. Republicans dismiss these arguments and state that they hope to keep the deficit in check to about $1.1 trillion which they assert can be realized, provided all the policies outlined in the budget measure are strictly adhered to.
The Senate has its own budget resolution that exceeds President Bush's and the House's spending proposal by $16 billion -- and that's good news for history/archives, education and the humanities as funding levels for domestic programs may well be accorded higher numbers in the Senate than the House.
As is always the case, differences
between the two bill versions will have to be reconciled in conference committees where higher numbers sometimes prevail.
Most observers believe that the House and Senate will not be able to reconcile the differences in their contrasting budget proposals. With spending parameters now in place the key question is whether Congress will have the discipline to stick to them.
2. ENDOWMENTS GET BUDGET BOOST IN THE HOUSE On 17 May the U.S. House of Representatives agreed to an amendment that added $5 million dollars to the budget recently approved by the House Appropriations Committee for both the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Under the terms of a spending bill that the House passed the NEH will receive $146 million and the arts endowment a lesser amount of $129 million in FY 2007.
The floor amendment was introduced by the bi-partisan leadership of the Congressional Humanities Caucus and the Congressional Arts Caucus. A particular thanks is due to Humanities Caucus leaders Representatives Jim Leach (R-IA) and David Price (D-NC) and to the leaders of the Congressional Arts Caucus, Representative Louise Slaughter
(D-NY) and Christopher Shays (R-CT).
3. THE HOUSE HISTORIAN -- A LOOK TO THE FUTURE
With his book "The House: The History of the House of Representatives" now off his desk and available in bookstores across the country, Historian of the House Robert Remini is turning his attention to building an historian's office that he hopes one day will mirror the Senate's in terms of recognition, staffing, and budget.
Remini, who was asked to take the position by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL), has now headed the House history office for about a year. Prior to Remini's appointment, the position had been authorized by the House Rules Committee but it had been left unencumbered for nearly a decade. In 1995, when Newt Gingrich (R-GA) became Speaker, he politicized the position and dismissed then House Historian Raymond Smock, who had been appointed by a bi-partisan commission. Gingrich replaced him with an historian of his own choosing, Kennesaw State University professor Christina Jeffrey. She, however, was fired shortly after her appointment because of controversial remarks relating to the Holocaust.
Burned by the entire affair, Gingrich opted not to fill the position at all and merged what was left of Smock's operation into the House Clerk's office. He made the curious decision, however, to retain funding control for the historian position. In recent years, under the guidance of Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl, the history operation grew and became part of the Legislative Resource Center where it once again began to provide the type of assistance to Members and researchers that for years the Senate Historical Office has been performing. An Office of History and Preservation (OHP) was eventually formally established and charged to concentrate its activities in the realms of archives, curatorial services, and publications. Many hoped that the present Speaker would see the logic and cost savings to be achieved if he were to transfer funds for the position to the Clerk and empower Trandahl to fill the vacant "historian" position within the framework of the OHP. Had that happened, the House operation would have more closely resembled the Senate's.
With some prompting by historians who knew Hastert personally, and through the quiet but persistent multi-year effort by several history organizations including the National Coalition for History, a drive was launched to convince Hastert to transfer the funds and fill the Historian of the House position. After several years of advocacy it became clear that Speaker Hastert would not authorize the use of his funds for the position unless a prominent, well respected historian was willing to take what the Speaker envisioned as largely an "honorary" position -- a position that he envisioned as being similar to the Library of Congress's Poet Laureate. Historians working to re-establish the position wanted the House's history operation to mirror the Senate History Office in which all history- related activities would be concentrated in one non-partisan office, headed by a qualified, professional, non-partisan historian with a knack for building collegial relationships with members of both major political parties.
Remini seemed the perfect selection for the position as he met the desires of both the Speaker and the historical community. He was a National Book Award-winning historian with solid credentials, a professor emeritus of the University of Illinois at Chicago with a world-wide recognition as a scholar of Jacksonian America, and he had been engaged by the Library of Congress to write the definitive history of the House. Remini recalls that the offer "came out of the blue" but after some negotiating he agreed to serve as House Historian. Though Hastert insisted that Remini's position be retained in the Speaker's office, Remini, at the time he took the position had hoped, as he still does today, that in time his office as well as the Clerk's OHP will be merged into one operation.
Remini brought on as his D.C. based deputy Fred Beuttler, a University of Chicago trained history Ph.D. who had been working with Remini as Associate University Historian at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Beuttler brought to the operation ten years experience in teaching political history and other skills needed in a history office -- oral history expertise as well as other history-related skills that are generally viewed as essential for success in a non- academic history position.
Unlike the Senate operation, the House historical activities are fragmented. Though it seems to make little sense rather than merge the House Historians Office with the OHP under the overall supervision of the Clerk, Speaker Hastert wanted to keep Remini's operation separate from the OHP. Though the physical location of offices the OHP and the House History Office are separate, their programmatic responsibilities though theoretically different in reality they somewhat overlap.
A turf battle has thus far been avoided as both Remini and the acting head of the OHP are making a concentrated effort to coordinate activities -- in general Remini and Beuttler seek to fill in the gaps of those activities not covered by OHP which includes a greater emphasis on oral history and documenting the history of the House, on public outreach and on interpretation (a fellows program, for example, is in the works), thus leaving the OHP to focus more on records and archival management, museum collections, and publications.
What lies in the future? It is generally thought on Capitol Hill that after the next election Hastert may step down as Speaker. Should that happen, because the Historian of the House is not protected by Civil Service rules, Remini could be dismissed or be given a new boss depending on what the new Speaker would like to do with the position.
The same fate awaits Remini if the Democrats recapture control of the House. At that time a new Speaker would be selected, who (like Gingrich) may want to put his/her own person in the slot. In either case, early next year there most likely will be a window of opportunity in which Remini's and the historical communities goal of depoliticizing the position of Historian of the House could be achieved and a merger of it into the OHP could be the result.
4. AHA RESPONDS TO SECRETARY SMALL'S LETTER DEFENDING THE SHOWTIME DEAL
Linda Kerber, President of the American Historical Association (AHA), has responded to a recent letter from Lawrence Small, Secretary of the Smithsonian that took issue with the views expressed by the AHA about the contractual arrangement between the Smithsonian and Showtime
network. Kerber's letter praised recent
congressional intervention on the issue. It also supported the recent actions of its affiliate, the Society of American Historians, which objected to the Showtime deal, suspended the Smithsonian Press from membership in the Society, and, in addition, took issue with a second the SI contractual agreement -- one between the SI and HarperCollins publishers.
The AHA response was unanimously endorsed by the Association's governing Council. It notes a "lack of a clear response from the Smithsonian" and states that in spite of the recent statements from the Smithsonian, "The fundamental issues remain unanswered....What constitutes a "commercial" entity subject to these provisions? What constitutes a "significant use" of materials and staff?" And who at the Smithsonian or Showtime will make those assessments?"
To read both letters visit the Association's webpage at http://www.historians.org/press/2006_05_10_SmithsonianResponse.cfm .
5. BITS AND BYTES
Item # 1 -- NARA Proposed Rule: On 12 May 2006 the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) published in the Federal Register an announcement in which NARA proposes to revise its regulations on the locations and hours of NARA facilities. The changes reflects the relocation of two facilities that have taken place in the past fiscal year. Comments are due by 12 June 2006. The proposed rule is available in the Federal Register, page 27653, which may be viewed at:
http://a257.g.akamaitech.net
Item #2 -- SI Arts and Industry Building Endangered: The National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed the Smithsonian Institution's historic Arts and Industries building in Washington D.C. an "endangered historic place."
The structure, the second oldest on the Mall (built between 1879 and 1881) and located just east of the 19th-century
Smithsonian "Castle," was designed by architect Adolf Cluss. Reportedly,
the National Register and National
Historic Landmark-listed red-brick building is plagued by leaks; it was closed to the public because of its deteriorating condition in 2004. At present, the SI is moth-balling the structure and moving the remaining employees out. Estimates of the cost for renovation are pegged at as much as $415 million. The National Trust's designation seeks to raise public visibility to the buildings plight. For additional information on this and other National Trust for Historic Preservation listings of "endangered" historic properties, visit the organization's webpage at http://www.nationaltrust.org
6. ARTICLES OF INTEREST
One posting this week: In "Historic Preservation: An Unfinished Agenda in the West" (NTHP website 16 May 2006) a copy of an address by National Trust for Historic Preservation President Richard Moe outlines the preservation issues facing natural and cultural resources on the public lands entrusted to the Bureau of Land Management. For the article, to:
http://www.nationaltrust.org