House Draft Bill to Set NEA Funds at $135 Million in 2012

July 6, 2011
From: Thomas L. Birch, Legislative Counsel
Vol. 19:11

In advance of the scheduled markup session of the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives set for July 7, documents have been posted with the draft fiscal year 2012 Interior Appropriations Bill setting spending for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at $135 million, a decrease of $20 million from FY2011 funding that puts the arts appropriation somewhere between levels last seen in 2007 and 2008.

There are no details yet on how the Subcommittee intends to treat the issue of guaranteeing that states receive the mandated allocation of 40% of the NEA’s program funds. The administration had proposed holding $5 million for the Our Town initiative exempt from the allocation to state arts agencies. More details on the bill and the committee’s position will become available after the markup session.

The Interior Appropriations Bill proposed by the House subcommittee would cut from programs under its jurisdiction more than $2 billion in discretionary funds compared with 2011 spending levels. The only notable increases would occur in funding for wildfire control and the Indian Health Service.