TO:  NHA Member Representatives

Dear Colleagues,

As Washington empties out for the holidays, I write to provide an update on year-end funding.  Congress completed work this week on FY 2008 spending bills and will head home for a three-week break (with the legislative session tentatively scheduled to begin again on January 15).  The House passed final amendments to a Senate-negotiated omnibus resolution on December 19.  The 'omnibus' bill folds together eleven appropriations bills that set spending levels for federal discretionary programs for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2007.  Only one appropriations bill, Defense, was enacted separately.

In the omnibus measure passed on Wednesday, the National Endowment for the Humanities received an increase of nearly $6 million, for total FY 2008 funding of $147 million.  In final amendments to the omnibus, however, this increase was reduced by a 1.56% across-the-board rescission applied to the Interior Appropriations  bill.   Final FY 2008 funding for NEH now stands at $144.7 million.  This constitutes a modest increase of $3.6 million over the previous year, including an additional $2.5 million for program funds, and $1.1 million for administration.  A chart showing NEH funding levels by program is attached.

House and Senate leaders have been at an impasse with the White House for months over an additional $22 billion that Congressional Democrats wanted to spend over the budget caps set by the administration.  In the end, threatened with multiple vetoes by the President, Democrats ceded to many of the White House demands, cutting original spending measures dramatically.  While the final spending measure for FY 2008 comes months into the current fiscal year, it is still an improvement over the FY 2007 process, which the newly-elected Congress wasn't able to complete until February--five months into the fiscal year.  

Next year's appropriations process begins in little over a month with the President's release of the FY 2009 budget proposal in February, 2008.  The Humanities Alliance will be looking to all of its members for input on funding priorities.  Please set aside 10-15 minutes of your time for a short questionnaire in early January.  The NHA Board of Directors will meet January 31st to review the Alliance's FY 2009 funding requests to Congress.

Jessica Jones Irons

Executive Director

National Humanities Alliance

21 Dupont Circle NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20036

202.296.4994 x149 

jirons@nhalliance.org