Date: Wed, 9 Aug 1995 12:11:41 -0400
From: Allan Metcalf AAllan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM
Subject: NEH funding update
Once again, for those interested in prospects for funding the National
Endowment for the Humanities, a report from our Washington contact, the
National Humanities Alliance. - Allan Metcalf
*********************************
8 August 1995
TO: NHA Members & Friends
FR: John Hammer
RE: NEH and other Cultural Agencies in FY-96 Interior
Appropriation will go to Senate floor before August break
__________________________________________________________________
In July, the Senate Appropriations Committee decided on a FY-96
budget that provides the following for NEH and its sister
agencies:
NEH $114.5 million
NEA 99.5 million
IMS 21.0 million
NEH is $15 million higher than the House-passed bill. Senate
allotments for NEA and IMS are the same as the House bill. NEH
and NEA are about 40% below their current funding levels (but
above the Senate Budget Committee recommendation of a 50% cut);
IMS is about 25% lower.
TIMING: The Senate Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations
Bill (H.R. 1977) in which the cultural agency budgets reside, may
go to the floor anytime between August 8 and the recess. Earlier,
Majority Leader Robert Dole (R-KS) said the Senate would recess on
August 9 and did not include Interior on the list of bills to be
completed. Yesterday, Mr. Dole said that Interior would go to the
floor before recess, even if that did not begin until August 17.
The Senate is presently engaged in welfare reform, which could
take several days or could be pulled until a clearer consensus can
be developed behind the scenes. Individuals wishing to contact
senators on the NEH issue can:
(a) telephone Washington offices [all can be reached through
the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121], and
(b) telephone in-state offices for messages and/or to
arrange meetings.
AMENDMENTS: Several amendments involving the cultural agencies
are floating around. All amendments involving funding increases
must indicate an offset of an equal amount from another item in
the Interior budget. There is only one amendment that we are
quite certain will be offered (but we are not sure who the
sponsors will be):
o Patrick Leahy [D-VT] (with at least one co-sponsor from
among Robert Bennett [R-UT], Dale Bumpers [D-AR], and James
Jeffords [R-VT]) to bring both NEH and NEA to $120 million and
increase IMS by perhaps $2 million. The offset may come from the
Naval Petroleum Reserve. This amendment (minus IMS) only failed
by one vote in the full Appropriations Committee. Bipartisan
sponsorship would seem to have the best prospects.
o Other more ambitious amendments (e.g., to bring all three
agencies to 15% below current budgets -- 15% being the reduction
in the overall allotment to the Interior subcommittee). The
problem these amendments face is finding an offset which is large
enough but not strongly defended.
MESSAGE: Senators should be urged to:
(a) Support the Appropriation Committee numbers; and
(b) Support amendments that would increase appropriations to
these agencies; but
(c) Defeat amendments that would seek to decrease funding or
further restrict the agencies' ability to operate.
KEY TARGETS:
A - Swing votes (Highest priority): Conrad Burns (R-MT), Hank
Brown (R-CO), Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Robert
Dole (R-KS), J. James Exon (D-NE), Bill Frist (R-TN), Bob Graham
(D-FL), Rod Grams (R-MN), Charles E. Grassley (R-IA), Judd Gregg
(R-NH), Mark Hatfield (R-OR), Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC), Daniel K.
Inouye (D-HI), J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA), J. Robert Kerrey
(D-NE), Richard G. Lugar (R-IN), Connie Mack (R-FL), John McCain
(R-AZ), Frank H. Murkowski (R-AK), Sam Nunn (D-GA), Richard Shelby
(R-AL), Ted Stevens (R-AK), Strom Thurmond (R-SC), and John W.
Warner (R-VA).
B - Likely to support NEH et al (Good to reinforce): Max Baucus
(D-MT), Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE), Richard Bryan (D-NV), Kent
Conrad (D-ND), Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY), Mike DeWine (R-OH), Pete
Domenici (R-NM), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Howell
Heflin (D-AL), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), Nancy Kassebaum
(R-KS), Herbert H. Kohl (D-WI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Patty Murray
(D-WA), Bob Packwood (R-OR), David Pryor (D-AR), Harry Reid
(D-NV), Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
C - Signers of the 7/10/95 Simpson/Dodd letter calling upon
Senator Gorton "to recommend the highest possible levels of
funding for the [NEA, NEH, and IMS]": Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Robert
Bennett (R-UT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Barbara Boxer (D-CA),
Bill Bradley (D-NJ), John Breaux (D-LA), Dale Bumpers (D-AR),
Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), John Chafee (R-RI), William S. Cohen
(R-ME), Thomas Daschle (D-SD), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA), Wendell Ford (D-KY), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Orrin
Hatch (R-UT), Jim Jeffords (R-VT), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), John
Kerry (D-MA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Carl Levin (D-MI), Joseph
Lieberman (D-CT), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Carol Moseley Braun
(D-IL), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), Claiborne Pell (D-RI),
Charles Robb (D-VA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), William Roth (R-DE),
Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Paul Simon (D-IL), Alan Simpson (R-WY),
Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Paul Wellstone (D-MN).
--
National Humanities Alliance
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Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 296-2994
Internet: nhainfo[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cni.org