Earlier this year SCS President Georgia Nugent issued a Presidential Letter on the Trump administration's budget blueprint that proposed elimination of many educational and cultural agencies including the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The administration's full budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, published yesterday, is in line with the earlier blueprint. It calls for the shutdown of the NEH and other agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. This is still only a proposal. We can expect a long and contested appropriations process. All those in the US who are concerned about these cuts and eliminations can take action by contacting their representatives in Congress.
You can contact your representatives in the House and Senate in the following ways:
1. Make a phone call directly to Congress: All members of Congress can be reached through the US Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.
2. Write email messages to your representatives: You can find your representative by going to the House website at house.gov. The system allows you to search using your zip code, which will take you directly to a link to your representative’s website and contact information. Congressional offices allow you to send an e-mail if you are from their district. You can also find and contact your senators by going to www.senate.gov.
3. Use this form, created by the National Humanities Alliance, to send an email message directly to your representatives or connect with them by phone.
Appended below is a brief report from the National Humanities Alliance on the timeline and procedures for federal budget appropriations.
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Report from the National Humanities Alliance (5/23/17) Presidential Budget Request Released This morning the Trump Administration released its Presidential Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2018. This document expands on a budget blueprint released by the Administration in March that called for the elimination of funding for most of our budget priorities. As anticipated, this detailed request reiterates the earlier calls for the elimination of the NEH, IMLS, NHPRC, and Title VI and Fulbright Hays. The Administration requests a small amount of funding for the NEH and IMLS for FY 2018—$42 million for NEH and $23 for IMLS. For NEH, this amount represents the salaries and expenses required to shut down the agency and the amount required to honor pre-existing grant commitments (specifically matching funds). For IMLS, the money is designated for an “orderly close out.” The request also calls for the Woodrow Wilson Center to transition to exclusively private funding and requests $7.5 million in FY 2018 to facilitate that transition. For the other funding priorities, the budget requests no appropriation for FY 2018. You can view our complete funding chart here. Next Steps in the Budget and Appropriations Process Now that the Administration has issued its formal request, Congress will set an overall level of discretionary spending through a Congressional Budget Resolution. The Appropriations Committee will then assign spending levels to its twelve subcommittees, and then the subcommittees will draft individual bills. We anticipate that this work will extend through the summer. It is important to remember that the Administration’s budget request is only advisory, and Congress will ultimately make decisions about funding. In recent years, the NEH has received strong bipartisan and bicameral support from the appropriations committees, including the increased funding for FY 2017 announced just three weeks ago. While the overall fiscal constraints that the subcommittees will face are still unclear and the budget is likely to be tighter than last year, we are encouraged by this bipartisan support. |