by Page Putnam Miller, Director of the National Coordinating
Committee for the Promotion of History <pagem@CapAccess.org>
1. Senate Subcommittee Recommends $114.5 million for NEH
2. Senate Subcommittee Increases Funding for National
Archives and NHPRC
3. Senate Supports Folklife Center At Its Current Level
4. Rescissions Bill Cuts $5 Million from NEA and NEH
5. Update on Historic Preservation
1. Senate Subcommittee Recommends $114.5 million for NEH --
The Senate Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations
Subcommittee meeting on July 26 recommended $114.5 million
for NEH in FY'96, which is a 33% cut for NEH compared to the
42% cut passed by the House. Although the original
Senate subcommittee mark called for $99.5 million for NEH
(the House amount), Senator Dale Bumpers' (D-Ark) amendment
calling for a $15 million increase for NEH passed on a voice
vote with no nays. Besides Bumpers three other Senators --
Leahy (D-VT), Burns (R-MT), and Cochran (R-MS) -- spoke in
favor of the amendment. In introducing this amendment,
Bumpers said that he would have liked to have included a
provision for increasing NEA, but he knew that wouldn't
pass.
To provide this additional money for NEH, Bumpers
called for a reduction in the Energy Information Office,
which was funded at $79 million in the original mark.
Bumpers noted that as a nation we spend less to enrich
peoples' appreciation of culture than any other developed
nation. At a time when we as a nation are becoming less
civilized, Bumpers said there is an increased need for
funding NEH. Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA), the Chair of the
Subcommittee, immediately responded that he would oppose the
amendment and that such a cut would cripple the Energy
Information Office. With considerable force and conviction,
Bumpers argued that the Energy Information Office had been
created in the 1970s at the time of the energy crisis and
the need for this office had diminished. He said that the
office now sends out forms by the millions, the information
from which is never used, and furthermore, he said most of
the energy information one needs can be found in the Wall
Street Journal. Senator Burns noted that since the House
has $79 million for the Energy Information Office, this
amendment could realistically be negotiated in Conference
Committee.
Senator Gorton in his opening remarks stressed the
difficulties in coming up with a bill that was $1.1 billion
below last year's level. He noted that 29% of the total
Interior bill went for Indian activities, 37% to other
activities of the Department of Interior, 18% for the Forest
programs, 10% for Energy, and 6% for all the cultural
agencies. In setting priorities, he ranked the National
Park Service as first in importance and said that this bill
provided level funding for the National Park Service. In
cultural activities he said that in his view they should
give priority to those cultural agencies that are the
primary responsibility of the federal government. He put
the Smithsonian, the National Gallery, and the Holocaust
Museum in this category and said all would receive level
funding. Gorton urged that all controversial amendments be
left for floor action.
Senator James Jeffords (R-VT), who is not a member of
this committee but who chairs the oversight subcommittee for
the endowments, attended the meeting and asked permission to
recommend language for the appropriations bill. To assist
in answering critics of NEA, he asked that the appropriation
bill include language similar to that in the authorization
bill which specifies that preferences will be given in NEA
grants to underserved communities and that grants would be
prohibited that provide funds for individuals, seasonal
programs, or subgranting programs. The amendment passed.
Individual fellowships at NEH are not effected by this
language or by the language in the authorization bill. The
NCC Update on July 19 incorrectly stated that the
elimination of individual fellowships also applied to NEH.
S. 856 does require matching funds of 50% for all NEH
research grants, which includes individual fellowships.
However, NEH leadership believe that there is flexibility in
the language of the bill and that a creative way may be
found for handling matching grants for individual
fellowships.
Of the 15 members of the committee, only three -- Mack
(R-FL), Hollings (D-SC), and Bennett (R-UT) -- were absent
from this basically congenial two hour mark-up in which
Gorton and Byrd's (D-WV) remarks about bi-partisan
cooperation set the tone for the day.
2. Senate Subcommittee Increases Funding for National
Archives and NHPRC
-- The Senate Treasury, Postal Service, and General
Government Appropriations Subcommittee met on July 25 and
recommended $199.63 million for the National Archives, an
increase of approximately $6 million over the House amount
-- and $5 million, an increase of $1 million over the House
figure, for the grants program of the NHPRC. Senator Bob
Kerrey (D-NE) introduced an amendment providing $4.5 million
in additional funding for the National Archives. This money
is earmarked for several electronic records projects, with
$2.7 million for the development of an electronic finding
aid that would link the finding aids of the Presidential,
Regional, and Washington archives, $800,000 for the
development of the National Archives' World Wide Web
initiative, and $1.1 million to digitize key documents for
use in classrooms and over the Internet. The bill also
provides $1.5 million in repairs and alterations to
Archives I and the Regional Archives buildings.
3. Senate Supports Folklife Center At Its Current Level --
The Senate Appropriations Committee in Report 104-114,
issued on July 18, recommended funding for the American
Folklife Center at the same level as provided in FY'95. The
report stated: "The Committee believes this vibrant element
of the Library provides a benefit to the American people
that is far greater than its relatively low costs, and
strongly supports its activities." On July 20 the Senate
passed the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill which
included this provision. The House Legislative Branch
Appropriations Bill zeroed out all funds for the Folklife
Center.
4. Rescissions Bill Cuts $5 Million from NEA and NEH in
FY'95--
The Rescissions bill, first considered during February
and finally passed after some modifications last week,
included a reduction of $5 million each in FY'95 money for
NEH and NEA. Since the NEH had been anticipating passage of
this bill, this amount had been deducted from money
available for education and preservation grants.
5. Update on Historic Preservation --
Although the numbers have not been made available to
the public in printed form, it appears that in the
markup on July 26 the Senate Interior Appropriations
Subcommittee recommended $5.6 million for the National Trust
for Historic Preservation. The House Appropriations bill
had provided only $3.5 million, which is a 50% cut for the
Trust. The Senate subcommittee funded the Advisory Council
on Historic Preservation at $2.5 million -- it is currently
funded at $3 million. During the subcommittee mark-up today
there was discussion of the National Park Service but no
references to historic preservation.
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