The Congressional Arts Caucus, co-led by Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ), is one of the largest and most active on Capitol Hill, and is central to supporting the arts and arts education in the U.S. House of Representatives. Recently, 10 new members of Congress have signed up!
On Wednesday, May 14, U.S. Senators serving on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to advance the nomination of Dr. Jane Chu to chair the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Her nomination will now advance to the full U.S. Senate for an anticipated speedy confirmation vote.
The annual congressional letters to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees saw boosted support; the bipartisan House letter led by Congressional Arts Caucus co-Chairs Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ) received 134 signatures! Last year, the letter yielded 95 signatures. In the Senate, 29 Senators signed a similar letter led by Sen.
Pamela Hogan, Executive Director of the Fender® Museum of the Arts Foundation in Corona, CA and member of Americans for the Arts, testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives Interior Appropriations Subcommittee on Capitol Hill in support of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Read her written testimony sharing her story about the Kids Rock Free® School of Music and her support of $155 million in funding for the NEA.
Congressional Arts Caucus co-Chairs Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ) are co-leading a letter requesting $154.466 million for the NEA in FY 2015. In the Senate, Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) is circulating a letter in support of NEA/NEH funding at the $155 million level for FY 2015.
Museum champions in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate are circulating bipartisan letters in support of “robust” funding for OMS in the coming fiscal year. In the House, the letter is led by Reps. Paul Tonko (D-NY), Michael Grimm (R-NY), and Arts Caucus co-Chairs Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Leonard Lance (R-NJ). In the Senate, it is led by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Roy Blunt (R-MO).
Today the Obama Administration released its FY 2015 budget request to Congress, which includes funding for the nation's cultural agencies and programs, such as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Office of Museum Services, and the Department of Education's Arts In Education program. The Administration’s FY 2015 request is level funding of $146 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, a decrease of $8 million from the Administration's previous year's request.
After more than three years of work, House Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) released comprehensive draft tax reform legislation on February 26, 2014 for review and comment. Measuring nearly 1,000 pages, the proposed Tax Reform Act of 2014 contains changes to the Charitable Tax Deduction, a longstanding tax incentive important to the nonprofit sector and charitable giving.
Americans for the Arts joins nearly 500 organizations from across the country in sending a letter to Congress in support of the IRA Charitable Rollover and legislation to make the provision permanent. December 31, 2013 saw the expiration of more than 50 different tax provisions that require congressional renewal.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, will present the 2012 National Award for Congressional Arts Leadership to Representative Todd Platts (R-PA). The award, which recognizes distinguished public service on behalf of the arts, will be presented on Tuesday, April 17 at the Congressional Arts Kick Off during Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill.
