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Senator Reed Introduces Museum and Library Services Act

By: Jack Reed
By: Jack Reed
Date: April 11, 2003
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Technology and Communication K-12 Education Arts, Entertainment, and History

Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I rise to join Senators GREGG, KENNEDY, FRIST, and others in introducing the Museum and Library Services Act.

This legislation, which extends the authorization of museum and library services through fiscal year 2009 and makes several important improvements to current law, is a compromise based on S. 238, bipartisan legislation I introduced with Senators Kennedy, Cochran, Collins, Snowe, and others in January.

Like S. 238, this bill ensures that library activities are coordinated with the school library program I authored, which is now part of the No child Left Behind Act of 2001. It also doubles the minimum State allotment under the Library Program, which will enable smaller States such as Rhode Island to benefit and implement the valuable services and programs that larger States have been able to put in place. It includes an increase in the indemnity limits under the Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Act to ensure continued support for American museums as they facilitate international cultural exchanges through touring exhibitions here in the U.S. and loans of American art around the world.

The bill also updates the uses of funds for library and museum programs and increases the authorization under the Library services and Technology Act, LSTA, from $150 million to $250 million and the Museum Services Act from $28.7 million to $41.5 million. We should meet these funding levels in the appropriations process due to the strong bipartisan nature of the bill we are introducing today. I personally believe that our libraries and museums should be more robustly funded, particularly as these institutions play increasingly important roles in our lives. Indeed, the bipartisan bill that Senator KENNEDY and I put forward earlier this year included even higher funding levels. But, in an effort to move this bill forward, I have agreed to support this compromise.

I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this important legislation and work for its swift passage.

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