CAA News Today
Senators Support NEA and NEH
posted by Christopher Howard — Mar 15, 2007
In September, Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) circulated a “Dear Colleague” memo, asking his fellow senators to cosign a letter in support of increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Senator Coleman urged the chairman and the ranking member of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee to consider funding increases of $5 to $10 million for each agency during fiscal year 2007. As of November 13, 2006, forty-three senators had signed this letter, including nine Republicans.
Currently, the NEA is funded at $124.4 million, and the NEH receives $141 million–figures significantly lower than their mid-1990s highs of about $167 million and $177 million, respectively. The House of Representatives approved a budget of $129.4 million for the NEA in June 2006.
To read Senator Coleman’s letter, please see www.americanartsalliance.org/img/an2/nonstandard_files/americanartsalliance/
nea-funding-dear-colleague91906.pdf.