By Tom McClimon
July 18, 2011

The House Appropriations Committee passed their initial FY 2012 Interior funding bill, which contains a $20 million cut in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This cut is the largest budget reduction for the NEA in nearly 16 years. If enacted, NEA’s budget would be reduced from $155 million to $135 million. The cut to NEA is 13 percent below the current funding level, while overall funding in the bill, which includes agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department and the U.S. Forest Service is reduced by only seven percent.

It is unclear when this bill will go to the House floor for final consideration. It is believed the Senate will not act until sometime in the fall.

At The U.S. Conference of Mayors 79th Annual Meeting in Baltimore, the mayors adopted a resolution in support of funding for the NEA at $167.5 million which was the agency’s full funding for FY 2010 before the budget reductions process began.