Doug Bereuter: “I have in my hands an article from The Washington Post of July 15 that says, ``Archeologists on the Block? Park Service…”

“I have in my hands an article from The Washington Post of July 15 that says, ``Archeologists on the Block? Park Service May Ax Its Experts on `OutSourcing' Initiative.'' And that is what this is all about. I have no complaints with the committee. I have come with this amendment as a last resort in stopping something that is mindless and not well considered. I am going to speak about two centers, one located in Tallahassee, Florida, in the district of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd), and one in my district, the Midwest Archeological Center. This center in the Nebraska location is a center which has been in existence for 60-plus years. I have had intimate knowledge of it for more than 30 years. It has 12 FTE, but it has 30 temporary positions, undergraduates and graduate students from universities in five States. The center has developed an excellent reputation of providing professional and technical archeological services for the management of cultural heritage sites in the 13-State NPS Midwest region and to other Federal agencies. I am rather certain that the persons in OMB and the Department of the Interior that determined the process with this out-sourcing activity were not fully aware of the center's mission and history. Mr. Chairman, if you read a study from the National Park Service, it clearly shows that no feasibility study or mission of the center was considered in the decisions made by the Department of the Interior.”