Congress Continues to Negotiate Funding Legislation, Agreement Remains Elusive
Last month, when members of the House and Senate agreed to end the shutdown and fund the government until February 8, the prevailing thought at that time was that a longer-term agreement was within reach. Unfortunately, at the time of publication of this column, members of Congress appear no closer to resolving their differences than […]
Congress Has a Busy Year Ahead
President Trump and congressional Republicans secured their most substantial victory since assuming office last year when they passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the most significant change to the nation’s tax code in 30 years. While passage of that bill is truly noteworthy, there isn’t much time to celebrate as the President and members […]
Congress Works to Pass Tax Reform, Appropriations before Year’s End
After months of frustration, Republicans in Congress appear poised to score their first significant legislative victory of the Trump presidency. Late last week, the Senate, on a narrow 51-49 vote, approved legislation revising the tax code. The chamber has now moved to go to conference to negotiate differences within its bill with the version the […]
Appropriations Process in Holding Pattern, Tax Reform on Agenda
Work in Congress on appropriations is taking a back seat to work on tax reform. Here’s where arts issues fit into the picture …
FY2017 Funding Set—On to ’18
After months of often tense negotiations between Congress and the administration, and the very real possibility of a government shutdown, late last week Congress passed and the President signed a $1 trillion spending bill that will fund the government for the remainder of the fiscal year (through September 30). The bipartisan agreement increases defense spending […]
President Proposes FY2017 NEA Cut
While NASAA and other arts organizations were in the midst of responding to the news that the Trump administration was proposing elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in its fiscal year 2018 budget, details emerged last week that the administration also was encouraging Congress to consider reducing the agency’s budget by $15 […]
Awaiting Trump’s Budget Request
After months of speculation, President Trump and his administration are expected to release their first budget request for fiscal year 2018 this week.The release of any new administration’s first budget is highly anticipated and there is wide-ranging speculation about what budget actions the Trump administration will recommend. As a staunch supporter of the National Endowment […]
Facts: Arts and the White House
Washington is abuzz with activity. After years of gridlock brought on by policy disagreements between the Obama administration and the Republican leadership that controlled both chambers of Congress, that party is now in control of both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Historically, one-party control leads to busy and productive governing periods […]
Arts Advocates Needed Now
With President-elect Trump set to be inaugurated on the 20th, activity in Congress is beginning to ramp up. Already, key committees are planning hearings on issues critical to the incoming administration and Congress. As we look ahead, it is clear that Congress plans to take aggressive action on health care and tax reform. The political […]
Congress Approves Funding Bill
Election predictions were proved wrong last month as Republicans outperformed expectations in the House, the Senate and the presidential race. One of the impacts of this result is that December, which was expected to be a busy period in Washington, was turned upside down. Rather than negotiate with President Obama, Republican leadership in Congress has […]