Budget for Remainder of FY2014 Appears Near
The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies sends notice that with funding for the federal government set to expire tonight (January 14), budget leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate announced late on January 13 that they have reached a compromise on legislation that will fund the federal government for the remainder of fiscal year 2014. The bill provides for $1.1 trillion in funding and would reduce the scope of the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester, which remains in effect until FY2021.
Under the terms of the legislation, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will receive a funding level of $146.021 million. This figure amounts to what the agency would have received this year had sequestration not reduced the agency's allocation to $139 million. While this figure is lower than the one proposed by both the president and the Senate ($155 million), it is substantially higher than the dramatic decrease proposed in the House bill last year ($75 million).
To allow members of the House and Senate time to review the legislation before voting, Congress will pass at some point today another continuing resolution before it votes on the budget bill on Thursday or Friday of this week. Should Congress successfully pass the bill, it will be the first time since 2009 that Congress has approved a formal budget bill.