Help Fight the Proposed Elimination of the NEA!
On May 23, the White House made the first full move in the multi-step annual federal budget process by releasing a $4.1 trillion budget blueprint for Fiscal Year 2018 that begins on October 1. This is the President’s wish-list of spending and policy priorities that was sent to Congress for the remaining steps – approval of a budget resolution that sets spending levels, passage of 12 appropriations bills, and enactment of a budget reconciliation.
As announced in the President’s “skinny budget” released in March, the proposal calls for increasing defense spending next year by $54 billion and “paying for it” by taking $54 billion away from many domestic programs. The budget proposes to eliminate 66 programs, including the National Endowments for Arts and for the Humanities, Institute of Museum and Library Services and assistance for arts education through the U.S. Department of Education.
Since our founding in 1985, CERF+ has received numerous grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in support of our emergency relief assistance and for creating resources and educational programs that help artists build strong and more resilient careers. Artists have also benefitted from our relationships with many of our nation’s state and regional arts agencies whose budgets are matched with support from the NEA dollars.
As our friends at the Arts Action Fund report, “Congress is now our only firewall to prevent the President’s extreme proposals from being enacted.” We urge you to contact your members of Congress TODAY.
Here are some tools that make your advocacy simple and effective:
