By Alexandra Klein
Over the past week, the House appropriations subcommittees have begun releasing bills and passing them out of subcommittee. Yesterday, the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee passed its FY 22 appropriations bill containing $201 million each for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. This reflects an increase of $33.5 million for each agency. When the President’s Budget Request was released a few weeks ago, it included a more robust increase for the NEA than the NEH. We have spent the past several weeks working closely with our Hill allies to ensure that the NEH receives the same increase and are pleased to see that it did in the House bill.
The bill also includes increases for the Woodrow Wilson Center and the National Park Service National Recreation and Preservation program and Historic Preservation Fund.
Additionally, last Friday, the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill was passed out of subcommittee with $403.6 million for the National Archives and Records Administration, an increase of $26 million, and an additional $9.5 million for NHPRC, an increase of $3 million. These proposed increases match the amounts in the President’s Budget Request. If passed into law, these increases would be particularly welcome after years of budget stagnation.
Both bills will come before the full Appropriations Committee later this week. In the coming weeks, we expect to see a draft bill from the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee, which will include funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Department of Education’s Title VI and Fulbright-Hays programs. The Senate has yet to announce when they will begin to release their versions of the FY 22 appropriations bills.
Posted on June 29, 2021
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Thumbnail image: Photo by Morrison Photography.