President Approves $470 Million Budget for National Archives

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has received a
Fiscal Year 2010 budget of $469,870,000 under the Consolidated
Appropriations Act signed by President Barack Obama on Wednesday,
December 16.

The overall appropriation of $469,870,000 is an increase of 2.31
percent over last year's funding of $459,277,000.

"Given these difficult economic times, we are extremely grateful to
the Congress and the President for the generous FY 2010 appropriations.
We will be able to continue to fund our core programs, offer the same
high standard of services to our researchers and the public, and
complete much-needed repairs and renovation of the Franklin Roosevelt
Library," said David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States.

"We are particularly pleased with the historic increase in the
allocation for the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission," he added. "This will allow us to further support the
nation's network of archives at a time when there is a critical need
to make the materials available to all Americans."

For NARA's Operating Expenses for FY 2010, the President and Congress
have provided $339,770,000, an increase from last year's appropriation
of $330,308,000. The increase will cover the costs of inflationary
increases in rent, energy, security and staff costs for NARA facilities
at 44 locations around the country.

The Operating Expenses account also includes funding for 12 new
entry-level archivists who will enter NARA's Archivist Development
Program, as well as for personnel for the new Office of Government
Information Services and the new Controlled Unclassified Information
Office, which is part of the Information Security Oversight Office.

For continued development of the Electronic Records Archives (ERA),
Congress appropriated $85,500,000, up from last year's appropriation
of $67,008,000. This will allow further progress toward providing public
access to the ERA, which eventually will allow anyone, anywhere, at any
time to access electronic records held by NARA. This budget will also
allow NARA to begin to establish the preservation framework for the
system.

For repairs and renovations at NARA-owned facilities, the lawmakers
appropriated $27,500,000. This includes $17,500,000 as the last
installment for repairs and renovations at the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York. The Roosevelt Library is
the oldest of the 13 Presidential libraries administered by NARA.

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC),
the grant-making arm of the Archives, will receive $13,000,000, up from
last year's $11,250,000. In the FY 2010 appropriation, $4,500,000 is
set aside for providing online access to the papers of the Founding
Fathers, as was requested in the President's budget.

The appropriations legislation also directs NARA to report to the House
and Senate appropriations committees within 30 days of enactment on
"information security improvements made or planned" and "to
promptly inform relevant committees of jurisdiction when any formal law
enforcement investigation is commenced into alleged theft of electronic
or other materials which may contain personally identifying
information."