Whatever happened regarding the National Archives' Library hours? I'm pretty sure I have an old friend who sits on this committee and, if the issue is still alive, I'd be willing to give her a call. -- Marla Stevens In a message dated 9/7/2006 23:57:30 Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 00:19:35 -0400 From: Mike Wren <[log in to unmask]> Subject: National Archives MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit I said I wasn't going to repost on this so I guess I lied. This is just too important to keep quiet. If these Night & Weekend Hours for research go away it is foolish to think they will ever come back. This is not the time to bash the National Archives but we all need to be respectfully firm in our comments. Besides signing the on line petition take the time to post clear well stated comments through the link on NARA's website. http://www.archives.gov/comment/regulations.html While I disagree with this proposed course of action, this situation exists because NARA is not getting the funding it needs to maintain the status quo much less broaden their services to the public. We all individually should contact our U.S. Senators to lobby for better funding and to bring this unacceptable situation to their attention. Funding for the National Archives is handled by the Appropriations Committee. The Subcommittee that handles the Archives is "Transportation, Treasury, the Judiciary, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies". The Archives falls under the "Related Agencies" catch-all. If my understanding is correct, the oversight of the Archives is with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs. The Subcommittee with specific oversight is "****Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security". On the House side within their Appropriations Committee, the Subcommittee with funding responsibility for the National Archives is "Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, The Judiciary, District of Columbia". I could not determine which House Committee had oversight. While all our efforts are necessary, if your Senator or Representative is on any of the Committees your lobbying efforts are of significant importance. You can go to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov to find out what committee assignments your Senators & Representatives have. Most, if not all, will have websites where you can post comments. To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html