President’s Budget Calls for NEA Elimination–Again
For a third-straight year, the Trump administration has proposed to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB). As misdirected as this proposal is, we are confident that Congress—as it has done in the past two fiscal years—will again reject this short-sighted budget request in a bipartisan, bicameral manner, and increase funding for the Endowments.
Will you contact your member of Congress today to urge them to reject the president’s proposal?
Congress not only dismissed these initial calls for termination, but in fact gave steady increases in funding to several cultural agencies. Check out a brief history of budgetary proposals and final funding for these agencies for the past three years below:
| Key Federally Funded Arts Agency | President Trump’s FY 2018 Budget Proposal |
Final FY 2018 Funding | President Trump’s FY 2019 Budget Proposal |
Final FY 2019 Funding | President Trump’s FY 2020 Budget Proposal |
| National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) | Termination | $152.80 million | Termination | $155 million | Termination |
| National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) | Termination | $152.80 million | Termination | $155 million | Termination |
| Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) | Termination | $240 million | Termination | $242 million | Termination |
| Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) | Termination | $445 million | Termination | $445 million | Termination |
Saving the cultural agencies happened because thousands of arts advocates made their voices heard on Capitol Hill. Use this easy tool to take a few minutes to contact your member of Congress now! Also, be sure to check out Americans for the Arts President and CEO Robert L. Lynch’s statement regarding the president’s budget proposal.
Want to do more? Help us continue this important work by also becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund. Play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today– it’s free and easy to join!