Washington Watch - Federal Government Budget



President Obama submitted his administration’s budget request to Congress for the fiscal year 2011, on February 1, 2010.

The President’s budget request serves as a starting point for budget negotiations over the next several months -- not only between the White House and Congress, but also between the House and Senate, between Democrats and Republicans, and among myriad, competing interests in Washington, D.C.

The process plays out during the balance of the year.  The goal is to approve final appropriations bills before the start of the next federal fiscal year, which begins on October 1, but the legislation frequently stalls and is not completed for weeks or months into the fiscal year.

The following conveys an overview of the Administration’s budget request for arts and cultural agencies.

For the Smithsonian Institution, the largest of the government’s arts and culture budgets, The President’s fiscal year 2011 budget request to Congress is $797.6 million, an increase from the $761.4 million appropriated to the Institution in FY 2010. This amount covers programmatic funding for national museums and research centers, collections care as well as the design of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
 
President Obama requested $265,869,000 for fiscal year 2011 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The request is the same as the FY 2010 enacted levels for the Institute’s programs and administration. The proposed budget will support museums and libraries as they re-energize the economy, fuel partnerships and knowledge sharing, and provide much-needed services to their communities.
 
The Obama administration's proposal calls for a FY11 budget of $161.3 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities, essentially frozen at the same level of funding the administration requested for the agency in FY 2010. The NEH was funded at $167.5 million for FY 2010.  The President’s request enables the Endowment to fund grants in the study, preservation, public programming, and teaching of the humanities, including $2.5 million for a special initiative –  Bridging Cultures – to enhance Americans’ understanding of their own rich cultural heritage as well as the cultural complexity of an increasingly interdependent world.
 
Included in the budget is $161.3 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, a decrease of $6 million from the $167.5 million enacted for the NEA's FY 2010 budget. This proposed budget maintains NEA's areas of grantmaking – Access to Artistic Excellence, Learning in the Arts, and Partnerships – and it also includes $5 million in proposed "Our Town" funding, in recognition of the role that the arts can play in economic revitalization and in creating livable, sustainable communities.
 
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts saw a slight decrease in the President’s funding request; $39.95 million was enacted for its fiscal year 2010 budget, and the FY 11 request is for $37.42 million. Excluding repairs, the money allocated to operations and maintenance, $23.5 million, represents an increase of $1 million over the amount requested last year, in line with inflation.   The Arts in Education budget, part of the Department of Education, is currently funded at $40 million; however, in the President’s FY11 budget this program is slated for consolidation within a new funding pool called “Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education.”  Proposed funding to support Arts in Education is not indicated exactly as the new program would also include:
  • Teaching American History
  • Academies for American History and Civics
  • Civic Education
  • Close-Up Fellowships
  • Excellence in Economic Education
  • Foreign Language Assistance

For the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the President is requesting:
  • $460 million advance appropriation in FY 2013, a $15 million, or 3.37 percent, increase over the FY 2012 level; and
  • $36 million (FY 2011) for CPB Digital, which helps local public television and radio stations expand their community service in the digital age, the same amount as was appropriated in FY 2010.
Federal funding for the CPB helps to support the operations of more than 1,100 locally owned and operated public television and radio stations nationwide.
 


Washington Watch


Select laws, pending legislation, regulations affecting art, media and culture.

Click on the bill number to find details through Thomas (a legislative search engine maintained by the Library of Congress) including information such as bill status, complete bill text and a summary by the Congressional Research Service.

American Recovery and Investment Act
Broadband Stimulus
Network Neutrality
HR 1
S 1

Performance Rights Act
HR 848
S 379

Local Radio Freedom Act
H. CON. RES.49
S. CON. RES.14

Local Community Radio Act of 2010
HR 1147
S 592

Patent Reform
HR 1260
S 515

Internet Freedom Preservation Act
HR 5353

Orphan Works
HR 5889
S 2913

 

Click here for an overview of the Administration’s budget request for arts and cultural agencies.