Department for Professional Employees Applauds House Appropriations Approval Of NEA And NEH Funding

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee voted to approve the FY2022 Interior Appropriations Bill, which includes $201 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) each for FY2022.

The bill now moves to the floor for consideration by the full U.S. House of Representatives. Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO President Jennifer Dorning released the following statement in response to the approved federal arts funding levels:

"We applaud the House Appropriations passage of $201 million in funding for the NEA and NEH, respectively, for FY2022. These two institutions help put union creative professionals to work in small towns and big cities all across the United States, and are critical to sustaining the arts, entertainment, and media industries as engines for our economy. The inflation-adjusted historic high water mark for NEA funding is $331 million, or one dollar per taxpayer, and the House's proposed funding level provides a pathway to that goal.

We look forward to swift passage of NEA and NEH appropriations on the House floor and in the Senate, so we can start building back better."

The Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO is a coalition of 24 unions representing over four million professional and technical union members. DPE affiliate unions represent professionals in over 300 occupations in education and healthcare; science, engineering, and technology; legal, business, and management; media, entertainment, and the arts; and public administration.