The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) would receive $170 million under the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year (FY) 2010 bill that was approved by the House Appropriations Committee on June 18. This represents a $15 million increase over the FY 2009 level of $155 million.

The $170 million is in line with the Obama Administration’s NEH budget request that was released last month. However, the House Appropriations bill, if enacted, would actually result in a more significant increase for the agency than the President recommended.

The Administration had proposed transferring oversight responsibility for the National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program (NCACA) from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts to the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Obama administration’s budget included $10 million in new funding to NEH to administer a redesigned program of competitive grants to arts, historical, and cultural institutions in the District of Columbia.

However, the House Appropriations rejected this proposal and would retain the status quo with respect to the NCACA. Instead, the entire $15 million increase included by the Committee would go to core NEH programs.

A breakdown of the NEH budget at the programmatic level is not yet available.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet considered its version of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies fiscal year (FY) 2010 bill, although it is tentatively scheduled to do so next week.