From: Isaac Brown, Legislative Counsel
Vol. 14:01
January 14, 2014

Budget for Remainder of FY2014 Appears Near

With funding for the federal government set to expire tonight, budget leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate announced late Monday that they have reached a compromise on legislation that will fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2014. The bill provides for $1.1 trillion in funding and would reduce the scope of the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, which remains in effect until FY2021.

Under the terms of the legislation, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will receive a funding level of $146.021 million. This figure amounts to what the agency would have received this year had sequestration not reduced the agency’s allocation to $139 million. While this figure is lower than the one proposed by both the president and the Senate ($155 million), it is substantially higher than the dramatic decrease proposed in the House bill last year ($75 million).

To allow members of the House and Senate time to review the legislation before voting, Congress will pass at some point today another continuing resolution before it votes on the budget bill on Thursday or Friday of this week. Should Congress successfully pass the bill, it will be the first time since 2009 that Congress has approved a formal budget bill.

We at NASAA are pleased that advocates for the NEA in both chambers were able to protect the NEA from the destructive cut originally proposed in the House of Representatives. While the legislation is considered final and not susceptible to changes, we would encourage any of our members who live in states represented by members of the House or Senate Appropriations Committees to thank these legislators for their support of the NEA:

Senate Committee on Appropriations
House Committee on Appropriations

If you have any questions or would like more information about a specific issue in the bill, please do not hesitate to give me a call at 202-540-9162.