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Forwarded message:
Subj:    Help Still Needed on ACHP $$
Date:    96-09-26 15:42:23 EDT
From:    LNeumann
To:      CMNIQUETTE,TomWheaton
 
 
UPDATE ON CONGRESS & THE
ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION
 
        Your help is still needed!
 
        Yesterday was a tumultuous day, and without going into too much detail, we
had a series of steps forward and backward.  At one point it looked hopeful
that the massive Presidio/Omnibus Lands bill (H.R. 1296) had been cleaned up
enough by the House-Senate conferees that it could get passed and signed by
the President.  However, it generated some bitter battles, ending in -- thus
far -- a stalemate.  Although it is on the House floor schedule for action
today, the President has threatened a veto over a number of
anti-environmental provisions that remain in the bill.
 
        Thus we are back to where we started, and to the message I sent out a couple
days ago.
 
        Our best hope remains getting the Council's reauthorization included in the
omnibus appropriations package, which is an entirely different bill.  (It
doesn't even have a bill number yet.)  It will contain funding for the
Interior Department and other agencies, including the Advisory Council, and
may even include funding for the Defense Department.  It may also contain
several other provisions from the Presidio/Omnibus Lands bill, such as the
Presidio legislation itself, acquisition of the Sterling Forest in New
York/New Jersey, and the establishment of the Tall Grass Prairie in Kansas.
 
        We want the Council's reauthorization included in the appropriations bill
too. Despite what you may have heard, it is not there yet, although its
inclusion is tacitly supported by the White House. I've been told, however,
that key Members of Congress don't consider it "important" enough, and it did
not get mentioned in the White House letter that listed several measures the
President would support in the bill..
 
        Remember -- what we are seeking is not just the APPROPRIATIONS for the
Council, but its BASIC AUTHORITY TO RECEIVE FUNDING.  The Council's funding
authorization expired this year. Congress can, of course, fund agencies
without an authorization.  But it's a VERY risky proposition, and we were
just lucky to have supportive Members of Congress this year who were willing
to do it. We have NO guarantee that they would do it again next year.
 
        Note that the compromise that was reached in the Presidio/Omnibus Lands
authorization bill (H.R. 1296) would allow funding at $4 million per year
through the year 2000. It also contains some technical provisions that the
Council itself requested to improve its authorities. That's what we now also
want included in the appropriations bill.
 
        The bottom line is that we STILL NEED SUPPORT from Members of both the House
and the Senate to get the reauthorization of the Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation included in the appropriations bill. Phone calls, faxes and
e-mail messages are the best way to reach Members now.  The phone number to
reach any Member of Congress through the Capitol Switchboard is 202-224-3121.
 The phone number to express your views to the White House is   (202)
456-1111.  And please let me know what you've done and what response you get.
 
        And if you think all of this isn't worth it or that you won't make a
difference, I have a motto I live by:
        You may never know if what you did mattered, but you'll always know that
what you didn't do didn't!
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