Advocacy Alert – July 7, 2025
In this Alliance Advocacy Alert:
- Free Training: Become an Effective Advocate
- Last Chance to Sign Up for Invite Congress 2025
- Federal Funding Update
- Tax Policy Update
- GAO Report
- Advocacy Tip of the Month: Increase the Impact of Your Message
Free Upcoming Advocacy Webinar
Year-Round Advocacy: Being an Effective Advocate
July 24 at 2 pm ET
Effective advocacy is not a “one and done” activity. It is a continuous process, rather than something you do only when an issue is urgent. Join Brandy Dillingham, AAM’s Director of Advocacy and Alexandra Coon, Executive Director of the Massillon Museum to learn more about year-round advocacy, building relationships with your lawmakers and their staff, and how to be a more effective advocate.
Last Chance to Sign Up for Invite Congress 2025
Members of Congress are in their home districts the entire month of August, visiting local businesses and meeting constituents. Make sure museums are on their August agenda by inviting your members of Congress to visit your museum.
Do not wait! Their schedules fill up quickly, so get your invitations out now. For details and tips, visit the Invite Congress webpage.
By signing up, you will receive:
- Exclusive tips and guidance for Invite Congress participants,
- Access to special virtual office hours with AAM’s advocacy staff to help you organize the visit,
- And virtual meetings with the museums participating in Invite Congress to connect and share experiences with each other.
Federal Funding Update
FY26 Appropriations
As mentioned in the June Advocacy Alert, Congress has begun the Appropriations process to fund the federal government for FY26.
The House Appropriations Committee is currently scheduled to consider the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill (LHHS) the week of July 21. This is the appropriations bill that contains funding for IMLS.
Action: Send another message to your members of Congress in support of IMLS, and make sure to personalize the message.
The House Appropriations Committee was originally scheduled to consider the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill (Interior) the week of June 23; however, it was pulled from the schedule, and a new date has not yet been set. The Interior bill includes agencies such as the NEA, NEH, and the National Park Service (NPS).
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the more than 80,000 messages sent to lawmakers this year in support of IMLS, NEH, and NEA utilizing AAM’s letter-writing system. Keep it up!
Tax Policy Update
Last week, the Senate passed its version of the tax package in a narrow 51-50 vote. A few days later, the House also passed the Senate version and sent the bill to the President to be signed into law. The final version of the bill makes permanent a non-itemizer tax deduction of $1,000 for single filers and $2,000 for joint filers. One of AAM’s top legislative priorities has been the Charitable Act (S. 317/H.R. 801), which allows a non-itemizer tax deduction of up to 1/3 of the standard deduction. The deduction would allow the more than 90% of taxpayers who do not itemize to deduct charitable gifts.
The final bill also contains provisions that we oppose, including expanding the excise tax on investment income of university endowments, which could impact resources for college and university museums and galleries. The final bill did not include a provision from the original House bill that would have increased foundation excise tax which would have reduced availability of grant funds. Provisions of concern in the final bill that disincentivize charitable giving include a floor on contributions by corporations and taxpayers who itemize as well as placing a limit on the benefit of overall itemized deductions for the highest income taxpayers. The National Council of Nonprofits and Independent Sector have charts of the provisions impacting nonprofits.
AAM works with our coalition partners in the Charitable Giving Coalition, Independent Sector, and National Council of Nonprofits to protect and advance the interests of museums, preserve and expand the charitable deduction, and to defeat and reverse anti-charity provisions.
GAO Finds Trump Administration Violated Law by Withholding Museum/IMLS Funds
In case you missed it in Aviso (AAM’s member newsletter), the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a decision on June 16 that the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) violated the Impoundment Control Act (ICA) by withholding funds from spending as Congress intended.
- Congress had appropriated funds to IMLS to carry out authorized activities for fiscal year 2025.
- An executive order then directed IMLS to reduce operations.
- The GAO found that IMLS ceased performing agency functions and withheld from obligation and expenditure funds that Congress appropriated for such functions.
While GAO has the authority, at this point it appears unlikely that it would sue if the Administration continues to refuse to release funds enacted by Congress. However, the GAO’s decision could bolster arguments against the Administration’s actions in IMLS lawsuits. Read more about the IMLS lawsuits and other advocacy updates.
GAO’s role includes supporting Congress’s exercise of its constitutional power of the purse. The ICA was enacted to ensure that legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President is faithfully executed.
Advocacy Tip of the Month: Increase the Impact of Your Message
While AAM provides you with template messages to use for contacting lawmakers, it is important that you take a few extra minutes to edit those templates to make them unique to you and your experience. Lawmakers want to hear how the laws and policies they pass impact the constituents they were elected to represent. Template letters are drafted for a wide range of audiences to use. Without personalizing those messages, your lawmaker will not hear your story and understand how the policies specifically impact you and your museum. Whenever you use a template message, if it allows you to edit it, take that opportunity to do so and increase the impact of your message.
