Obama Proposes $21M NEA Cut for 2012
(2-14-2011) From AFTA News:
Today the Obama Administration released its much anticipated Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request to Congress which includes funding for the nation’s cultural agencies and programs including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the Smithsonian Institution.
The administration request of $146.255 million for the National Endowment for the Arts is a decrease of $21 million from the $167 million that Congress appropriated last year. The arts community recognizes the shared sacrifice being asked of all federal agencies to help reduce our national debt and is willing to do its part. President Obama had acknowledged in his State of the Union that it was time to prioritize and identify the programs and agencies that work and invest in them to “win the future.” The NEA is one of those agencies. It helps create jobs and drive economic activity by leveraging modest but critical funds at the state and local level and is part of the solution to returning our economic vitality.