Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and John Thune (R-SD) led a letter to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, co-signed by 31 additional Senators, urging the protection of the full value and scope of the charitable tax deduction during comprehensive tax reform consideration.
A bipartisan group of 35 U.S. Senators and Representatives called for immediate action to advance a nearly two-year old stalled process and finally end confusion over rules for musical instruments as carry-on luggage. Social media viral interest, petition efforts, and a congressionally mandated deadline have so far failed to speed agency rule-making. All the while, preventable damage to instruments continues to occur.
On February 11, Robert Lynch, Americans for the Arts' CEO and President, co-authored a Letter to the Editor with arts advocate and award-winning actor Robert Redford on arts' potential to open doors for the less fortunate in response to an article pubished on February 4 by Patricia Cohen: N.E.A Benefits Both the Rich and the Poor, Study Finds.
On Monday, February 3, the arts world lost cultural maven and lifetime arts advocate, Joan Mondale. As the wife of Walter Mondale, vice president to President Jimmy Carter, she used her public position to place a bright spotlight on the vital role that artists and arts organizations play in strengthening American communities.
Every year, grassroots advocates from across the country join Americans for the Arts and 85+ other co-sponsoring organizations for Arts Advocacy Day - a two-day event where atendees learn the tools and talking points they need to make an impact when they visit their members of Congress in support of issues like arts education policy, charitable tax deduction, and funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Appropriations leaders in Congress release the Fiscal Year 2014 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which includes $146 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
A new report was released today, profiling the state of the arts in one of the country’s largest school system – Chicago Public Schools. Ingenuity, an arts advocacy organization in Chicago, works closely with the school system to reinstate arts education in every school for every student. The report, is the first of its kind in Chicago, and will be the first in a set of longitudinal reports by Ingenuity which will track student access to the arts in schools.
Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, and the National Conference of State Legislatures today announced South Carolina State Senator Robert Wesley (Wes) Hayes as the recipient of the 2013 Public Leadership in the Arts Award for State Arts Leadership, which honors a public official who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the advancement of the arts at the state level. Senator Hayes will receive his award today at the National Conference of State Legislatures Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.
Though traditionally released in February, the administration has announced that it will likely release its FY 2014 budget proposal the week of April 8 due to ongoing federal spending negotiations. It is expected that the president's funding level request for the National Endowment for the Arts will mirror last year's proposed level of $154.3 million.
Last week, U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor circulated a memo to House offices outlining the chamber's proposed work schedule for June, including starting work on four FY14 appropriations bills.
The U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan amendment to the comprehensive immigration bill, which included a provision sponsored by Senators Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) known as the Arts Require Timely Service (“ARTS”) Act.
Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) has reintroduced the Artist-Museum Partnership Act (H.R. 2482) for the 113th Congress. This legislation would allow creators of original works to deduct the fair-market value of self-created works given to and retained by a nonprofit institution. It would encourage gifts of visual art such as paintings and sculptures, as well as original manuscripts and supporting material created by composers, authors, and choreographers.
Representatives Frankel (D-FL), Lynch (D-MA), O’Rourke (D-TX), and Titus (D-NV) have all recently joined the Congressional Arts Caucus, which is currently co-chaired by Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ). The caucus now has 163 members.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has been elected to the position of Ranking Member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction over education issues including reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Sen.
Americans for the Arts is pleased that the "American Taxpayer Relief Act" avoided specifically eliminating, capping, or reducing the value of tax deductions that support nonprofit arts organizations. A summary of the legislation’s tax provisions is posted on the Americans for the Arts ARTSBlog, including more information on extending the IRA Charitable Rollover, another key tax issue we supported.
Last week, Chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities Jim Leach announced that he is resigning from his position effective the first week of May. Prior to his time at NEH, Leach served as a U.S. Representative, and had received the Congressional Arts Leadership Award in 2006. NEH Deputy Chairman Carole Watson will be the acting head of the endowment until a permanent replacement is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Since National Arts Advocacy Day on April 8-9, Senator Angus King, Jr. (I-ME) joined the bipartisan Senate Cultural Caucus. The Caucus is co-chaired by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and currently has 33 members.
The Senate Appropriations committee has released its draft version of the FY 2014 spending bill which would fund the NEA and NEH at the president’s request level of $154 million for each agency. This is a major departure from the House version, which seeks a 49 percent cut to the cultural agencies.
Congress returns from its August recess this week to a busy legislative agenda. The U.S. House is scheduled to be in session only nine days this month, and have a packed agenda with decisions looming over the outstanding funding legislation and potential default on the national debt. To allow for more time, they are expected to pass a short term funding measure called a Continuing Resolution to keep the government operational by maintaining current funding levels.
After the 16 day shutdown, Congress voted late last night to reopen federal agencies, raise the $16.7 trillion debt limit, and call hundreds of thousands of civil servants back to work. An agreement struck by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ended a stalemate created last month when conservative GOP members used the threat of a shutdown in an attempt to block Obamacare.
It's the 16th of October, and also Day 16 of the government shutdown.
The House discharge petition (the Miller/Van Hollen effort mentioned in our last update) that would provide a “clean Continuing Resolution” now has 196 signatures, short of the 218 needed to move to a vote on the House floor. No Republicans have signed.
On October 3rd, top White House economic advisors expressed the seriousness of getting a short term Congressional appropriations resolution passed to re-open the federal government immediately. They also confirmed that October 17th remains the deadline for when the executive branch of the government will have exhausted all of the “extraordinary measures” available to them to secure credit, borrow from various accounts to pay interest on the government’s debt, and to keep all parts of the government fully running. They anticipate that by th
The congressional debate has officially led to a government shutdown as of 12:01 a.m. this morning, after the House and the Senate were unable to come to an agreement over legislation for the 2014 Fiscal Year Budget over the weekend.
President Obama issues a White House Proclamation declaring October National Arts and Humanities Month.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, in conjunction with The United States Conference of Mayors, presented the 2014 National Award for Congressional Arts Leadership to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. James P. Moran (D-VA).
Academy Award nominated actor Stanley Tucci and Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education, will testify before Congress on March 22 in Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to increase funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $155 million.
President Obama signs the American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012 making permanent the Bush-Obama tax cuts for earners making below the income threshold of $400,000 (individuals) and $450,000 (families). While not the large grand bargain that would have established comprehensive tax reform and changes to dramatic sequester spending cuts, the legislation averts marginal tax rates being raised on 98% of the taxpayers.
A bipartisan team of members of Congress have launched the Congressional STEAM Caucus. The STEAM Caucus, a popular acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, which "aims to change the vocabulary of education to recognize the benefits of both the arts and sciences—and their intersections—to our country's future generations.
Congress has passed the "No Budget, No Pay" Act (H.R. 325), which extends the nation's debt ceiling through May 18. As part of the legislation, each chamber is required to pass a budget by April 15 or have its members face a suspension of pay.
The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing to examine the itemized deduction for charitable contributions as part of the Committee’s work on comprehensive tax reform. More than 40 witnesses provided examples of the community benefits that the charitable deduction supports. The full witness list and testimony is available here.
