Last week, committees in the House of Representatives voted on recommendations for Fiscal Year 2018 budget allocations. Historical works takes place in, or is funded by, a wide variety of federal agencies; the National Coalition for History (NCH) tries to keep track of as many of these as possible. The National Humanities Alliance (NHA) and Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) complement this work with their focus on agencies with broader focus in the humanities and social sciences, but of central interest to historians. The AHA and American Political Science Association are the only organizations that are members of all three of these vigorous advocates for the work of our members. 

When the White House released its budget proposal in May, the AHA asked members to contact representatives in Congress because of the striking amount of history-related work slated for elimination. This year more than 150,000 individuals sent messages to Congress urging full funding for the NEH, and the chart below suggest that House committees were listening. But the federal budget process is complicated and prolonged. The AHA tries to limit its “Action Alerts” to those moments when we can be most focused and most effective. You will be hearing from us again, most likely soon. 

Proposed allocations for agencies doing historical work in the FY 2018 House draft budget

This post first appeared on AHA Today.