Budget Recognizes Needs

Allen Weinstein

The Fiscal Year 2008 budget for the National Archives and Records Administration has important implications for NARA customers and stakeholders. NARA has been allocated $411.1 million for FY 2008 under the omnibus appropriations bill approved by Congress and signed by President Bush. This funding represents an increase of 20.5 percent over FY 2007’s level and recognition by congress and the president of the importance and urgency of our needs—some of which affect customers and staff directly.

The legislation provides $2.1 million to restore some important customer services. Foremost among them is $1.3 million to reinstate public research hours that had been curtailed, which begin the week of April 14. The $2.1 million also includes $800,000 to hire staff archivists to replace those who have left the agency in the past few years. Congress has asked NARA to report on progress in these two areas in the next thirty days, and we plan to move quickly to bring activities back to normal.

Elsewhere in the budget is $315 million in operating expenses for NARA. These funds must cover expenses such as energy, where costs are soaring, as well as rising security and staff costs for thirty-seven NARA facilities around the country. For continued work on the Electronic Records Archives (ERA), the legislation provides full funding of $58 million. This spending measure requires NARA to submit to Congress a spending plan before any multi-year funds are obligated.

For FY 2008, $28.6 million has been allocated for repairs and restorations at the Nation Archives’ presidential libraries, including $8.6 million for general repairs. In addition, $7.4 million is slated for construction of an archival addition to the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California. Once the archival addition is completed to NARA specifications, Nixon presidential records will be moved from College Park to Yorba Linda, so all the records of Richard Nixon’s career in public life will be under one roof. Also included is $3.7 million to complete the repairs and restoration of the plaza at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, TX, $8 million for the first steps of acquiring land and building a new addition to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, and $750,000 for design work on desperately needed renovations at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission, which makes grants to nonfederal entities to preserve and provide access to important and significant nonfederal historical records, will receive $7.5 million for grants under the spending bill.

In a related matter, the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation has been granted, in the Department of Education budget, $718,000 for the Presidential Timeline, an interactive Internet feature that allows visitors to explore each of the modern presidents’ lives and administrations. The LBJ Foundation provides support for the Johnson Library.

While I want to emphasize that this budget, with its significant increases, recognizes NARA’s important mission and urgent needs, I also want to commend the quiet dedication of the National Archives staff during this difficult period of fiscal uncertainty. Even with limited resources, we have maintained essential access to the records of our country and even expanded that access by releasing many records that previously were not available to the public. I also want to thank the members of OAH for their support of our mission and our programs over the years.