ACTION ALERT
The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, Rep. David Price (D-NC) and Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), are circulating a Dear Colleague letter urging appropriators to retain higher, House-approved funding levels for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in upcoming House/Senate negotiations on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Interior spending bill (H.R. 2996). The letter urges House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) and Ranking Member Mike Simpson (R-ID) to support the House approved level of $170 million for the NEH, which includes a critical, $15 million increase for national and state programs. The Senate bill provides $161.3 million for NEH, $8.7 million less than the level approved by the House.
The House passed its version of the FY 2010 Interior appropriations bill in June. The Senate began floor debate on its version of the bill last Thursday, and is expected to pass the spending measure before the end of the week.
Action Needed: Please contact your Representative today and ask him or her to join Congressmen Price and Petri in sending this Dear Colleague letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. The deadline to sign the letter is Monday, September 28. To reach your Representative by phone, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. A web form to write your Representative is available at: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml. You will need your zip code and 4-digit zip code extension. A sample message is available below. You can edit this message and paste it into the form.
MESSAGE TO REPRESENTATIVES
I request that you join the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, Rep. David Price (D-NC) and Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), in sending a sign-on letter to Chairman Dicks and Ranking Member Simpson of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee in support of increased funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The letter requests that they support the House-approved level for NEH when the FY 2010 Department of Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill (H.R. 2996) enters conference negotiations.
The House version of the FY 2010 Interior Appropriations Bill provides $170 million for NEH, a critical $15 million increase over the FY 2009 level. By contrast, the current version of the Senate bill would provide only $161.3 million for NEH, which would prevent the agency from keeping pace with the high demand for its programs at the national and state levels.
As you know, NEH is the single most important source of federal support for the humanities and plays a vital role in the preservation and promotion of our national identity. All sectors of our country’s higher education enterprise – research universities, small private institutions, state colleges, and community colleges – use NEH grants to conserve and nurture America’s heritage, bring the humanities to our communities, and educate new generations of Americans about the generations that came before.
For more information or to sign onto the letter, please contact Kate Roetzer with Rep. David Price (5-1784) or Lindsay Punzenberger with Rep. Thomas Petri (5-5406). The deadline to sign the letter is Monday, September 28.
TEXT OF HOUSE SIGN-ON LETTER TO SUPPORT HUMANITIES FUNDING
September xx, 2009
Dear Chairman Dicks and Ranking Member Simpson:
As strong supporters of the humanities, we are writing urge you to provide $170 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which will be under consideration during the upcoming conference negotiations.
We appreciate your support of the NEH. As the single most important source of funding for the humanities, NEH plays a vital role in the preservation and promotion of our national identity. With your leadership, the House approved $170 million for the agency, a $15 million increase over the current year. This level of funding provides much-needed increases for national and state programs and expands the agency’s capacity to support high-quality projects and programs throughout the country, including:
- collaborative research and digital humanities projects;
- fellowships for college/university-based scholars and independent researchers;
- professional development workshops for teachers and faculty;
- public programs and exhibits at museums, libraries, and historical societies;
- film, radio, and TV programs;
- preservation of historically significant collections;
- capacity building for humanities institutions and programs; and
- the 56 State humanities councils located in every U.S. state and territory
As you know, the current Senate Committee-approved bill includes only $161.3 million for NEH. With $8.7 million less than the level approved by the House under H.R. 2996, the agency would struggle to keep pace with the high demand for its programs. The Senate bill would provide an increase of only $1.3 million for national programs, which represents the pool of funds available to support competitive grant programs relied on by scholars and eligible non-profit institutions across the country, including: colleges, universities, libraries, museums, scholarly societies, research centers, state humanities councils. In FY 2008, only 16% of competitive, peer-reviewed NEH project proposals were funded, compared to a 26% funding rate for merit-reviewed project proposals at the National Science Foundation.
At a time when non-profit associations and education institutions at all levels are already under significant pressure for resources, it is even more important that we invest in the humanities, to advance the nation’s study and understanding of history, literature, foreign language, and other subject in this diverse and essential field of study.
We are aware of the many difficult choices your Subcommittee faces in conferencing its FY 2010 bill, but we believe that strong federal support for the humanities is an important investment in the lives of our fellow citizens, the well-being of our democracy, and our nation’s continued status as a world leader. We appreciate your past support of NEH and hope that you will be able to retain the robust House figures in conference.
