For Immediate Release

July 18, 2002

INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL BOOSTS NEA, NEH FUNDING

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The interior appropriations bill approved late Thursday by the House of Representatives included another increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks [D-Wash.] said.

            By a vote of 234-to-194 the House approved an amendment sponsored by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Rep. Stephen Horn (R-CA) and Congressman Dicks, increasing the NEA budget for the next year by $10 million to $126.5 million and also boosting the NEH budget by $5 million.

            "This modest, yet effective increase in the interior bill will help continue our commitment to provide access to arts and cultural opportunities for all Americans," Rep. Dicks noted during the floor debate in the House.  He said that "both endowments function as 'challenge' grants -- offering small amounts of federal assistance that leverage a substantial amount of private contributions to support the arts."

            "By providing small increases in these budgets at this time, we can continue to encourage the growth of private contributions to non-profits arts organizations in the U.S.," Rep. Dicks noted.  He said it was his goal to return the arts and humanities endowments to their pre-1995 levels, before they were slashed by 40 percent during an ideologically-driven House debate.

                "Republicans as well as Democrats supported this increase, representing a growing consensus in Congress to provide adequate arts funding," Rep. Dicks said."

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