Senate Releases FY 2021 Appropriations Bills

Last week, the Senate released all 12 of its FY 2021 draft appropriations bills. The bills included level funding for many of our priorities, with a few key exceptions.

• The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill included level funding ($162.25 million) for the NEH.

• The Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies bill included level funding for Title VI ($68.1 million) and Fulbright-Hays ($8.1 million). It also included an increase of $5 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which would bring its budget to $257 million.

• The Financial Services and General Government bill included level funding for the National Archives ($359 million). It also eliminated funding for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, as the subcommittee also proposed last year.

The House released all of its appropriations bills and passed several of them in the summer. Those bills included: $170 million for the NEH, matching our request for a $7.75 million increase; an increase of $2.7 million for Title VI and $1.5 million for Fulbright-Hays; an increase of $5 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services; a $2.5 million increase in operating expenses for the National Archives and a $500,000 increase for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Please see our funding chart for the House and Senate numbers on all of our priorities.

The House and Senate will now begin working to conference their bills and reconcile their numbers. We will continue to keep you updated and continue to advocate for the House numbers. We will alert you when there are opportunities for advocacy.

Posted on November 16, 2020