Significant Funding Increases Proposed for NEA, NEH

On May 22, the House Subcommittee on Interior Appropriations approved a $35 million increase for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and a $19 million increase for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) during markup of its FY 2008 Interior Appropriations bill. The significant increases represent a great victory for advocates of the arts and humanities. If approved, the two agencies' budgets would grow to $160 million each and take a step toward recovering their historic levels in the early 1990s of nearly $176 million for NEA and $177 million for NEH.

Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Ranking Member Todd Tiahrt (R-Kans.) were joined by Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) and Ranking Member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) at the markup. In addition to spending for the arts and humanities, the bill proposed increased funding for national parks to help alleviate staffing shortages and maintenance backlogs. The subcommittee, however, approved only $17 million of the $26 million in new funding requested by the Smithsonian Institution. Obey was particularly critical of the Smithsonian, which receives approximately 80 percent of its funding from the federal government, over its recent governance and management oversight problems.