[AMS-announce] ANNOUNCEMENT: Write your representative in support of NEH funding (deadline: March 16)

[ams-announce-admin at list.bowdoin.edu]

[I forward this note from Erin Smith at the National Humanities
Alliance. It only takes a minute to drop an email to your
congressional representative -- please do so if you can. // Bob Judd]

The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, Rep. David Price
(D-NC) and Rep. Phil English (R-PA), have prepared a Dear Colleague
letter in support of $177 million in funding for the National
Endowment for the Humanities in FY 2009, which is currently
circulating in the House of Representatives.  The deadline for Members
of Congress to sign the letter is soon- Monday, March 17, 2008.


ACTION NEEDED

Please call, email, or fax your Representative and ask him/her to sign
on to this letter today.  A draft message is posted for you to email
or fax your Member of Congress at the Humanities Advocacy Network's
website: http://www.humanitiesadvocacy.org/action_ctr.html.  Please
feel free to customize the message, especially if you have recently
participated in Humanities Advocacy Day congressional visits.

A large number of signatures on the Dear Colleague letter,
particularly if they represent both sides of the aisle, will send a
very important message to the leadership of the House Interior
Appropriations Subcommittee as they begin to work on the mark-up of
the FY 2009 spending bill. All Members of Congress can be reached by
phone through the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121.

Note:  Appropriations Committee members do not typically sign Dear
Colleague letters addressed to their Subcommittee.


SAMPLE MESSAGE TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

I write to ask that you sign on to a Dear Colleague letter currently
circulating by Rep. David Price (D-NC) and Rep. Phil English (R-PA),
requesting $177 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities
in FY 2009, an increase of approximately $30 million over the FY 2008
enacted level and the President's request.

The proposed increase would provide additional resources for important
on-going NEH programs including state humanities councils, research,
education, preservation, and public programming.  It would also allow
NEH to extend the reach of two of its major initiatives: the "We the
People" program and the Digital Humanities Initiative.

The Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee said that
signing this letter does not require certification and will not count
against a Members' earmark requests.

For more information or to sign on to the letter, please contact Kate
Roetzer with Rep. David Price at 5-1784 or Peter Sperry with Rep. Phil
English at 5-5406.  The deadline to sign the letter is Monday, March
17.  You can view text of the letter at:
http://www.nhalliance.org/caucus/house_neh_dcl.pdf.