By Tom McClimon
July 14, 2003

The House Appropriations Committee on June 25 approved funding for FY 2004, and local parks programs did not fare well. Overall, the Conservation Trust Fund took a $400 million reduction, with the Land and Water Conservation Fund taking the brunt of the cuts. Stateside LWCF was maintained at last year's level of $98 million, but $62 million less than what the President had proposed. As was the case in the Administration's budget, the Urban Parks and Recreation Recovery Program (UPARR) was zeroed out.

Arts programs did better than parks, with the Committee allocating $117 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, an increase of $1.3 million over this year's budget. The Committee allocated $137 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which represents a $10.1 million increase over the current year's funding of $126.9 million. The increase will be used for the NEH's new "We the People" initiative.

The Interior Appropriations bill will next move to the full House where it could reach the floor as early as July 14. The Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee may also mark-up the bill with its own funding levels at any time now.