To view legislative news for other years, please choose the appropriate year from the drop down menu below.
12-13-2005: President Bush has nominated Anne-Imelda Radice to be the new director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Dr. Radice has served as senior deputy chairman (and then as acting chairman) of the National Endowment for the Arts, and has served more recently as chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education.
11-18-2005: The Senate approved the Tax Reconciliation bill and included the Artist-Museum Partnership Act sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Robert Bennett (R-UT).
11-02-2005: 115 Members of Congress signed a Dear Colleague letter in support of additional Arts in Education funding.
10-27-2005: The Senate approved its version of the FY06 Labor/HHS/ED appropriations bill, including funding for the Arts in Education program at the U.S. Department of Education ($35.7 million) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) would receive $400 million in its regular appropriation, with an additional $35 million to assist with digital conversion and $40 million for satellite technology upgrades.
10-19-2005: The YMCA published a document on government assistance for disaster relief, as well as a one-page brief specific to nonprofits. In addition, they have written a letter to the Small Business Administration requesting that charitable institutions qualify as "small business concerns."
09-27-2005: Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) has included artist deduction language in his new version of the CARE Act. The provision would allow artists to claim an income tax deduction for the fair market value of works that they donate to arts or educational organizations that retain the works for mission-related use.
08-10-2005: President Bush signed the transportation reauthorization bill into law, which includes the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program, after a prolonged battle within Congress.
07-28-2005: Congress finalized FY 2006 funding for the NEA and NEH. NEA funding is increased by $4.4 million, and NEH funding by $4.3 million.
07-19-2005: 135 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, urging them to push for a funding increase of $10 million for the NEA during conference negotiations with the Senate.
07-12-2005: The Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved a bill that offers $35.7 million for the Arts in Education programs in FY 2006, an increase of $100,000 over FY 2005 funding.
07-11-2005: Americans for the Arts has submitted testimony to the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee in support of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
07-09-2005: President Bush signed the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 into law. The bill maintains the "established business relationship" (EBR) exception that allows nonprofits, businesses, and charities to send unsolicited commercial faxes to their members and clients. For more information, visit the Independent Sector’s website.
06-23-2005: The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to restore $100 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which had previously been cut during committee deliberations.
06-17-2005: The House Appropriations Committee proposed a funding cut of over $100 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in FY 2006.
06-09-2005: The Senate Appropriations Committee passed an amendment that would increase FY 2006 funding for the National Endowment for the Arts by $5 million and NEH funding by $5 million.
06-09-2005: The House Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee sent a bill to the House floor that includes no funding for the Department of Education's Arts in Education programs.
06-07-2005: Americans for the Arts' President and CEO Robert L. Lynch sent a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee to detail the concerns of the arts community about proposed reforms to the charitable sector.
05-25-2005: Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) sent a letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee urging them to proceed with caution on reform of the charitable sector.
05-19-2005: The U.S. House of Representative approved a $10 million increase for the NEA in the FY 2006 Interior Appropriations bill.
05-06-2005: The Congressional Arts Caucus Co-Chairs sent a letter signed by 123 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Interior Appropriations Committee urging increased FY 2006 funding for the NEA.
05-04-2005: The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved a bill today that offers no funding increase for the NEA or NEH in FY 2006. The bill now goes to the full House Appropriations Committee.
04-28-2005: On behalf of Americans for the Arts, Dr. Catherine Richmond-Cullen testifies before the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee in support of increased funding for the Arts in Education programs.
03-08-2005: The Congressional Research Service has published a report titled Arts and Humanities: Background on Funding, which provides details on how federal arts programs are funded as well as recent funding history.
