Issued by Americans for the Arts on November 20,2017.

Thanks to you and thousands of Arts Action Fund members, we advanced another big victory today in the United States Senate to #SAVEtheNEA. Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who received our Congressional Arts Leadership Award this year, soundly rejected President Trump’s attempt to terminate the nation’s cultural agencies by fully restoring FY 2018 arts funding to $150 million for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Congress extended its deadline to December 8^th to pass legislation to fund government agencies and programs, including the NEA.  At that time, they will need to either pass or further extend that deadline again in order to keep the government running. Other key factors still in play this fall include possible veto threats from the President, focus on tax reform, recovery funding, money to “build a wall,” and not reaching agreement on increasing the looming debt ceiling caps.

We’re close to the finishing line.  Help keep the pressure on Congress. Watch the above one million-plus viewed video featuring members of our Artist Committee speak out and then please come visit our online Action Center to send a message to Congress. See the Arts Action Fund blog for a detailed chart of the Senate-proposed budgets of the various federal arts agencies.