On July 1, the National Coalition for History (NCH) submitted testimony to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) on the Fiscal Year 2025 budgets for the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Summary:

• NCH supports the Biden administration’s recommended funding level of $456.3 million for the National Archives and Records Administration’s Operating Expenses (OE) budget in fiscal year (FY) 2025, which is an increase of $29.1 million from the FY 24 level of $ 427.2 million.
• NCH opposes the Administration’s proposed base funding level of $5 million in FY 25 for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission grants program. This would cut the NHPRC’s budget in half, a reduction of $5 million from the FY 24 base level of $10 million. We urge the subcommittee, at a minimum, to return the NHPRC to its FY 2023 funding level of $12 million.

The House Appropriations Committee recently marked up its FY 25 FSGG appropriations bill. It provides level funding for NARA’s FY 25 OE budget at $427.2 million. That would represent the third consecutive fiscal year at that level of appropriations. The bill includes the fifty percent ($5 million) cut from the NHPRC budget in FY 24, for a total of $5 million in FY 25.