RIF Reauthorized by Congress;
Approval of Funds Is Pending
The nonprofit literacy organization Reading Is Fundamental, which faced the loss of its 2002 federal funding under President Bush’s education budget, has won a five-year renewal after both the House and Senate reauthorized the RIF program.
RIF, which operates the Inexpensive Book Distribution Program through the Education Department, credited the outcome to supporters who had urged their congressional representatives to reject Bush’s plan to consolidate educational funding into one block grant.
Richard Sells, the organization’s chief operating officer, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the next step needed to keep the 35-year-old program alive: Lawmakers will decide later this summer on next year’s funding levels. “We really believe that there is so much grassroots support around the country, as well as congressional support, that we are hopeful,” Sells said in a July 24 Scripps Howard News report.
The Senate reauthorized RIF June 14 as part of the Better Education for Students and Teachers act, which passed 91–8; the House reauthorized it as part of the No Child Left Behind Act May 23 with a vote of 384–45.
Posted July 30, 2001.
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