June 23, 2008
Last week, Congress and the White House reached a compromise on a fiscal year 2008 supplemental spending bill which covers the ongoing operational costs related to the Iraq War, as well as other programs.
Over the past six months, Chancellor Hemenway and KU government relations staff spent time on Capitol Hill lobbying in support of adding additional science funding in the supplemental.
Last week, the House approved the supplemental measure. The bill provides a total of $400 million for science agencies, including:
The two steps that must be completed are Senate passage and the President signing it into law. While the funding does not reach the level of sought by higher education institutions, we are grateful to be included in this bill and hope it returns research to a course of increasing budgets.
Additionally, on June 11 the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee finalized its fiscal year 2009 annual appropriations bill. While the bill funds agencies like the National Park Service and portions of the National Forest Service, it also carries funding for agencies critical to the humanities. The subcommittee directed that $160 million be provided both to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. This is a $15 million increase for both important endowments and KU faculty and administrators support these increases.
Visitors to the Smithsonian American Art Museum can see firsthand the value of the National Endowment for the Arts, as it helped underwrite the Aaron Douglas exhibit assembled by KU's Spencer Art Museum.
For more information, visit http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/aam_freepublicprograms.htm
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