Washington — A U.S. House of Representatives panel approved a bill today that would provide the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities with an additional $15-million each for the 2009 fiscal year.
The increase, passed by an Appropriations subcommittee, would bring spending on each of the endowments to $160-million, a 10.6-percent increase over the current fiscal year, which ends September 30. President Bush had proposed spending $128-million on the arts endowment and $144-million on the humanities endowment.
The full committee is scheduled to take up the bill next Wednesday, along with a homeland-security spending bill that also cleared a subcommittee today. Lawmakers are expected to release a spending figure for the Office of University Programs at that point. The office provides funds for homeland-security fellowships as well as university-based Centers of Excellence. —Kelly Field
