Digital Promise Passed by Both Houses of Congress

AMIA has been a member of the DO-IT coalition since 2005.

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Digital Promise Passed by Both Houses of Congress
President Expected to Sign it into Law!

On Thursday, July 31, 2008, Digital Promise was passed by both the House and Senate as part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. It is expected to be signed into law by President Bush within days.

Congratulations to all members of the Digital Promise team and thank you to all of our loyal and enthusiastic supporters and coalition members! It could not have been done without you! And special thanks to those members of the Education Committees of the House and Senate whose leadership made the National Center happen: Representative John Yarmuth, of Louisville, Kentucky and Senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, and their dedicated staffs.

The new program is entitled the "National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies." It is a Congressionally originated 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation located within the Department of Education. It will have a nine-member independent Board of Directors appointed by the Secretary of Education from nominations by members of Congress. Grants and contracts will be awarded on merit, and policies will be developed following the tested procedures of NSF and NIH. Given its status as a non-profit, independent corporation, the Center will be able to receive grants, contracts, and philanthropic contributions, as well as federal appropriations. See the National Center section of the bill ( http://email.fas.org/listman/users/link.php?UserID=18523&Newsletter=418&List=2&LinkType=Send&LinkID=2059 ).

Our next challenge is to secure FY09 appropriations for the Center. Because of the delay in passing the Higher Education Act, it was not possible for appropriations of the, until now, unauthorized National Center to be included in the Labor, HHS or Education funding bills that were passed in Committee in June. It is widely expected that final appropriations for FY09 will not be enacted until early next year. We are working hard to have funding for the National Center included in final appropriations legislation. We are requesting $50 million for FY09.

Again, congratulations and thanks to all for our success in making the Digital Promise a reality!

Sincerely,

The Digital Promise Team