The amazing Congressional outreach efforts by arts advocates last helped produce the following in the FY’24 Senate Appropriations bills passed in the full committee mark-up last week:

• $207 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) (Level funding with last year’s FY’23 appropriations and consistent with the caps of the Debt Ceiling deal). 

• $18.6 billion for Title I-A, which includes funding for well-rounded programs to support Arts Education ($2 billion increase from FY’23).

• $1.4 billion for the Title IV-A block grant which can be used for arts education programs both in schools as well as for after-school programming. (Slight increase).

•  $2.19 billion for Title II-A for professional development for school faculty, including arts educators (Level funding with last year’s FY’23 appropriations). 

Other noteworthy items in the appropriations process include: ;

• $10 million in the House Department of Defense Appropriations bill for community arts engagement for our military service members. The Senate bill did not include this funding. 

• $ 5 million for creative arts therapies within the Department of Veterans Affairs. An additional $5 million was allocated for community partnerships for services such as community arts engagement.

The FY’24 Appropriations Chart below to shows how federal arts and arts education programs have fared thus far in the current budget process. The Senate’s level funding to last year’s FY23 appropriations bill aligns with what the President and Congressional leaders agreed to in legislation that suspended the debt ceiling until after the 2024 election. Unfortunately, the House chose to view that agreement as an appropriations ceiling rather than a floor and initiated deep spending cuts. This overall difference between House and Senate bills amounts to almost $120 billion in spending between both chambers. This will make for difficult conference negotiations that will need to be decided either by the end of the fiscal year next month on September 30th or agree to a Continuing Resolution, to avoid a government shutdown.

Congress has adjourned for the August recess, but our advocacy must continue this month to prepare for upcoming floor votes on these appropriations bills. Unfortunately, members of the Freedom Caucus have been installing non-germane conservative social amendments to various bills when they come to the House floor, most recently the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). These amendments are threats to free expression, choice, identity, and efforts to promote diversity and equity. This trend indicates we must be prepared for similar amendments to NEA and NEH funding when the Interior appropriations bill heads to the floor when Congress convenes again in September.

To that end, we will begin advocacy efforts to request at least $207 million for NEA and NEH funding and NO amendments that threaten artistic expression. The campaign will culminate with one final push several days before the floor vote. This, of course, is subject to change if Congress changes its schedule, but the implications of these possible amendments are not to be taken lightly and deserve our full attention.

Stay tuned for over the month of August to learn how you can reach out to your Members of Congress.

Corrected as of 8/14/23

Key Federally Funded Arts Programs & Agencies	Final Enacted   FY'23 Funding   10/1/22 - 9/30/23	President Biden’s FY'24 Budget    10/1/23- 9/30/24	U.S. House   FY'24 Approved Appropriations in Sub/Full Committee	U.S. Senate   FY'24 Approved Appropriations in Sub/Full Committee	Final Enacted   FY'24 Funding   10/1/23 - 9/30/24
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)	$207 million	$211 million	$185 million	$207 million	________
National Endowment for Humanities (NEH)	$207 million	$211 million	$185 million	$207 million	________
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)	$294.8 million	$295 million	$294.8 million	$290 million	________
Corporation for Public Broadcasting	$535 million	$575 million	$0.00	$535 million	________
Assistance for Arts Education	$36.5 million	$36.5 million	$0.00	$30 million	________
Education: Title IV-A (Student Support & Academic Enrich Grants)	$1.38 billion	$1.4 billion	$1.38 billion	$1.4 billion	________
Smithsonian Institution	$892.8 million	$976  million	$852.2 million	$896.8 million	________
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts	$45.4  million	$48 million	$30 million	$45.3 million	________
National Gallery of Art	$209 million	$221 million	$178 million	$209 million	________
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum	$62.6 million	$67 million	$67 million	$65.2 million	________
Save America’s Treasures	$26.5 million	$53 million	$26.5 million	$26.5 million	________
Commission of Fine Arts	$3.7 million	$4 million	$3.46 million	$3.7 million	________
National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs	$5 million	$5 million	$4.75 million	$5 million	________
Education Title I-A (educ. for disadvantaged kids)	$18.39 billion	$20.5 billion	$3.7  billion	$18.6 billion	________
Education Title II-A (professional development)	$2.19 billion	$2.19 billion	$0.00	2.19 billion	________
Community Arts Engagement DoD	N/A	N/A	$10 million	Not Included	________
Community Arts Engagement VA	$5 million	N/A	$5 million + $5million	Not Included	________