Congress Approves Omnibus Appropriations Bill

The House and Senate both approved an omnibus appropriations bill on November 20, 2004 that will fund the federal government in fiscal year 2005. Congress consolidated the nine remaining spending bills into an enormous appropriations bill. This $388 billion catch-all bill sets overall agency spending limits and incorporates an across-the-board funding cut for almost all non-security related spending.

Considering the budgetary reduction goals, cultural agencies did comparatively well. The National Endowment for the Humanities emerged with a $138.06 million budget—slightly more than last year's $135 million. The National Science Foundation, however, is taking a large cut with a budget of $5.47 billion, down $107 million from last year. The National Endowment for the Arts will get a total of $121.2 million. The National Archives and Records Administration will get about $267 million. The National Historical and Publications Commission gets $5 million for its grant program, down 50% from last fiscal year. The Smithsonian Institution will get $615 million and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars will receive $8.987 million. The Historic Preservation Fund gets $72.750 million while state historic preservation offices get $36 million.

American History and Civics Education Act Moves Forward

The House companion bill to “American History and Civics Education Act of 2004” authored by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) has passed the lower chamber. The bill creates summer academies for outstanding teachers and students of civics and American history. It will also provide authorization and promotion for National History Day. For full information on the bill, visit: www.theorator.com/bills108/hr1078.html.

Report Seeks Stability for Behavioral Sciences

A report calling for a “secure and stable home” for basic behavioral and social science research found a tepid reception from National Institute of Health (NIH) Director Elias Zerhouni in the face of tightening budget constraints. The report, created by a 14-member panel led by University of Chicago sociologist Linda Waite, surveyed NIH's current assets in these fields and found the research vulnerable because it is housed mostly at institutes focused on specific diseases or life stages. The panel's solution: secure funding and a stable home at an existing institute, with the current frontrunner being the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). Zerhouni noted that though basic behavioral research is valuable, such a move would cause NIH to shift existing resources or “scale something back” elsewhere.

Graduate Education Suffers in Final Appropriations

The final spending package passed by the 108th Congress for FY 2005 sees spending cuts for programs supporting graduate education. The Javits Fellowship program continues to lose ground from across-the-board cuts. Funding for supporting graduate students in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, has fallen to below $9.8 million, down slightly from FY 2004.

Despite spending constraints, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) budget received over $145 million in earmarks and congressionally-mandated projects, bringing its total budget to $162.6 million for FY 2005. This is approximately a $5 million boost over FY 2004. The Administration tried to eliminate the earmarks and requested a budget of $32 million. The large amount of earmarked dollars leaves no funding to support new grants in the comprehensive and international consortia programs.

Sources for this column include the National Co or di nat ing Com mit tee for the Pro mo tion of History's NCC Washington Update, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Consor tium of Social Science Associations' Washington Update.

A LOOK AHEAD Perspectives on Politices

Here's an early look at some of the articles you'll see in the March issue of Perspectives on Politics:

Presidential Address The Imperialism of Categories: Situating Knowledge in a Globalizing World SUSANNE RUDOLPH

Articles Homer Gets a Tax Cut: Inequality and Public Policy in the American Mind LARRY BARTELS

Abandoning the Middle: The Bush Tax Cuts and the Limits of Democratic Control JACOB HACKER AND PAUL PIERSON

The Makeup and Breakup of Ethnofederal States: Why Russia Survives Where the USSR Fell HENRY HALE

Writing the Arab-Israeli Conflict: How History Creates International Relations JONATHAN ISACOFF

A Formula for Narrative Selection: Comments on “Writing the Arab-Israeli Conflict” SARI NUSSEIBEH

Still Louis Hartz after All These Years: A Defense of the Liberal Society Thesis PHILLIP ABBOTT

The Sound of Silence: Comments on “Still Louis Hartz after All These Years” RICHARD ITON

Commentary SEAN WILENTZ

Perspectives The Real Lessons of Howard Dean: Reflections on the First Digital Campaign MATTHEW HINDMAN

Regional Markets in Latin American LUISA ANGRISANI

Review Essay Constitutionalism and Political Science: Imaginative Scholarship, Unimaginative Teaching MARK GRABER