Lincoln Library Funding
Stalled in Senate
A bill that would grant $50 million in federal money to the proposed Abraham Lincoln presidential library is facing an unexpected delay in the U.S. Senate: Illinois Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald has threatened to impose a filibuster unless the bill is amended to require a competitive bidding process.
Fitzgerald’s stance has provoked a civil war of words in the Illinois Republican party. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said in a prepared statement, “I find Sen. Peter Fitzgerald’s political grandstanding on the Abraham Lincoln Library outrageous,” the September 29 Chicago Sun-Times reported. Illinois Governor George Ryan has also contacted Fitzgerald with a request to abandon the amendment, reminding him that existing state laws require competition in the awarding of contracts. Fitzgerald dissented, citing his own experience as a state legislator and describing the state regulations as “porous.”
If the bill is amended in the Senate, it must return to the House of Representatives for another vote in its modified form. And since Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the year on October 6, legislators may not have time to approve the funding in the current session.
Posted October 2, 2000.
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