National Coalition for History

During this holiday giving season, the NCH Board of Directors urge you to make an end-of-the-year fully TAX DEDUCTIBLE contribution to the NATIONAL COALITION FOR HISTORY (federal tax ID #01-0688590 for federal income tax purposes). Your contribution will help ensure the continuation of our important education and advocacy activities that advance the interests of the historical and archival communities here in Washington. Read the full article »

On December 19, 2007, Congress cleared an omnibus funding package (H.R. 2764, Caution: this file is 1,443 pages long) that incorporates the eleven fiscal year 2008 appropriations bills for non-Defense Department agencies. The overall total for the bill is $555 billion. On December 26, 2007, President Bush signed the bill into law. Read the full article »

As we have reported since September, Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) has been blocking a vote in the Senate on the “Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007″ (H.R. 1255, S. 886). On December 18, 2007, without explanation, Senator Bunning finally lifted his hold. The next day, it was expected that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would bring the bill to the floor under the Senate’s unanimous consent rule that allows non-controversial legislation to be considered on an expedited basis. However, another unnamed Republican apparently placed a hold on the bill, preventing floor consideration. Read the full article »

Legislation (S. 2488) to implement the first reforms to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in more than a decade has been sent the President’s desk for his signature after Congress passed the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act (OPEN Government Act) on December 18, 2007. Read the full article »

Before recessing for the year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) tried to bring the “Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2007″ (H.R. 1254) (S. Report 110-202) to the Senate floor under unanimous consent. However, a Republican senator placed an anonymous hold on the bill. The legislation would require presidential library fund-raising organizations to disclose to Congress and the Archivist of the United States the amount and date of each contribution, the name of the contributor, and if the contributor is an individual, the occupation of the contributor. Read the full article »

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) and the National Park Service (NPS), recently jointly announced the awarding of $7.6 million in federal competitive Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grants to 31 organizations and agencies. The grants are made in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Read the full article »

This week, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced 62 awards totaling more than $1 million to support We the People projects providing funding for programs to enhance the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. Over the five years since its inception, the NEH We the People program has provided support to 1,377 projects undertaken by scholars, teachers, filmmakers, museums, libraries, and other individuals and institutions. Read the full article »

On December 20, 2007, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) issued a proposed regulation seeking to clarify the Presidential Libraries Act (PLA) amendments of 1986. The law requires the Archivist of the United States to promulgate architectural and design standards for Presidential libraries and to report to Congress before he accepts title to or enters into an agreement to use land, a facility, and equipment as a Presidential library. The Archivist must also report to Congress before accepting a gift for the purpose of making any physical or material change or addition to an existing library. Read the full article »

During this holiday giving season, the NCH Board of Directors urge you to make an end-of-the-year fully TAX DEDUCTIBLE contribution to the NATIONAL COALITION FOR HISTORY (federal tax ID #01-0688590 for federal income tax purposes). Your contribution will help ensure the continuation of our important education and advocacy activities that advance the interests of the historical and archival communities here in Washington. Read the full article »

On December 7, 2007, the National Coalition for History and thirty other organizations sent a letter to four U.S. Senators currently running for president urging them to cosponsor the S. 886, “The Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007.” The joint letter was sent to Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and John McCain (R-AZ). Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) is currently the only presidential candidate who has endorsed S. 886. Read the full article »

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) this week asked the National Archives to determine whether the CIA’s destruction of two videotapes of interrogations of terrorism subjects violated provisions of the Federal Records Act. Read the full article »

The Office of the Vice President is not an “agency” for purposes of Executive Order (EO) 12958 on security classification. Therefore its classification and declassification activity no longer need be reported to the Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), the Justice Department finally informed ISOO Director Bill Leonard in a newly disclosed letter. Read the full article »

Senate Rules and Administration Committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein (D-CA) this week proposed a $45 million public/private matching program for the Smithsonian Institution that would be dedicated solely to facilities maintenance and revitalization projects. Under the new Legacy Fund proposal, if the Smithsonian raised $30 million in private funds, the federal government would match those donations with $15 million additional federal dollars. Read the full article »

This week, the Congress and the White House remained deadlocked in their annual game of chicken over the passage of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 federal budget. The Democratic leadership in both houses will attempt next week to pass omnibus spending legislation that includes all eleven remaining appropriations bills. Congress recently passed another continuing resolution that funds federal agencies at last year’s spending levels through December 21. Read the full article »

The National Archives and Records Administration announced this week that the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) system has passed a significant milestone, with the successful completion of government testing of the first delivery of software from the developer, Lockheed Martin Corporation. When completed, the ERA will provide the means for preserving virtually any kind of electronic record, free from dependence on any specific hardware or software. Read the full article »

Citing “reduced resources” the Central Intelligence Agency anticipates declining productivity in its declassification program, according to a newly disclosed declassification plan. Between 1995 and 2006, CIA reviewed nearly 97 million pages of 25-year old documents and released 30 million pages, the Agency reported. But that level of activity is unlikely to be sustained. Read the full article »