House Committee Votes to Maintain Current Funding for NEA

From: Isaac Brown, Legislative Counsel
Vol. 14:10
July 15, 2014

In a somewhat surprising development, the House Appropriations Committee voted today to approve a budget for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at its current funding level, $146 million, for fiscal year 2015. The action comes less than a week after the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee voted to reduce funding for the NEA to $138 million.

The decision to restore funding for the NEA was made during a mark-up meeting of the full committee, where an amendment making “noncontroversial changes” was passed. Among those changes to the bill was a provision maintaining funding for the NEA at $146 million. With the bill’s passage out of committee, the legislation will now be considered on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, where it is certainly possible that an amendment could be introduced to once again reduce funding for the NEA. Therefore, NASAA requests that our members take the following steps:

• If you are represented by a member of the House Appropriations Committee (identified below), please call or e-mail their office to thank them for their vote to restore funding for the NEA.
• If you are not represented by a member of the committee, it would still be tremendously helpful if you could reach out to your member of Congress and urge them to support the NEA’s funding at $146 million when the bill goes to the floor.

It is important to note that this development could not have happened without the tremendous outreach conducted by NASAA members, as well as the considerable efforts of arts advocacy organizations. It is a demonstration of the significant impact we have as a community when joining together to work positively with Congress. A special thank-you to Ken Calvert (R-CA), the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee chair, and Jim Moran (D-VA), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, whose leadership was critical.

If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact me at 202-540-9162, isaac@38northsolutions.com.

House Appropriations Committee

Republicans
Harold Rogers, Kentucky, chairman
Robert B. Aderholt, Alabama
Martha Roby, Alabama
Steve Womack, Arkansas
Ken Calvert, California
David Valadao, California
Ander Crenshaw, Florida
Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida
Tom Rooney, Florida
Tom Graves, Georgia
Jack Kingston, Georgia
Michael K. Simpson, Idaho
Tom Latham, Iowa
Kevin Yoder, Kansas
Andy Harris, M.D., Maryland
Alan Nunnelee, Mississippi
Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska
Mark Amodei, Nevada
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, New Jersey
David Joyce, Ohio
Tom Cole, Oklahoma
Charles W. Dent, Pennsylvania
Chuck Fleischmann, Tennessee
John R. Carter, Texas
John Abney Culberson, Texas
Kay Granger, Texas
Chris Stewart, Utah
Frank R. Wolf, Virginia
Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington

Democrats
Ed Pastor, Arizona
Sam Farr, California
Michael M. Honda, California
Barbara Lee, California
Lucille Roybal-Allard, California
Adam B. Schiff, California
Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida
Sanford D. Bishop, Jr., Georgia
Mike Quigley, Illinois
Peter J. Visclosky, Indiana
Chellie Pingree, Maine
Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Nita M. Lowey, New York
Bill Owens, New York
José E. Serrano, New York
David E. Price, North Carolina
Marcy Kaptur, Ohio
Tim Ryan, Ohio
Chaka Fattah, Pennsylvania
Henry Cuellar, Texas
James P. Moran, Virginia