Analyzing President Obama's FY 2011 Budget Request
Budget Request Overview
Save America's Treasures – Zeroed-out from its annual average funding level of $30 million. The program was funded at $25 million last year after we fought hard to increase it from a proposed reduction of $20 million. This is a core program within the Historic Preservation Fund, and its elimination is the first such cut since the National Preservation Account was zeroed-out during the Reagan Administration. See official termination language below.
Preserve America – Zeroed-out from $4.6 million last year. It has been funded through the National Recreation and Preservation Account.
State Historic Preservation Officers – Level-funded from last year at $46.5 million.
Tribal Historic Preservation Officers – Level-funded from last year at $8 million.
Historic Preservation Fund (Overall) – Cut by $25 million (Save America's Treasures) to $54.5 million, down from $79.5 million. It is interesting to note that the Administration proposes increases in the Historic Preservation Fund's sister program, the Land and Water Conservation Fund (both funded as conservation programs through revenue from offshore oil and gas leases). There are House and Senate bills pending that propose full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Budget Request would provide a 31% increase. Total Land and Water Conservation Fund funding for the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior is proposed at nearly $620 million, keeping the Administration on track to fund Land and Water Conservation Fund programs fully at $900 million by 2014.
National Recreation and Preservation – Nominal increase of $2 million for cultural programs, but Heritage Areas cut by about half to $9 million. The White House cites "a need to focus resources on National Parks and lack of management" as the reason for cutting Heritage Areas. There is a reduction of $17 million in the account overall, down to $51 million, including the elimination of Preserve America grants.
National Park Service Construction Budget – Cut by 16% from $233 million to $195.2 million. For construction, improvements, repair, or replacement of physical facilities, including modifications.
National Park Service Operations – Increase by $31.5 million that includes park-based improvements in visitor services and overall funding at $2.29 billion. It would also fund maintenance and operations to preserve historic buildings and grounds such as Sagamore Hill National Historic Site; new parks such as Port Chicago National Historic Site; and initiatives such as the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program.
National Park Service American Battlefield Sites Matching Grants – Cut by $3 million from last year. It would now be funded at $6,000,000.
National Park Service Japanese-American Confinement Sites Grants – Level funding from FY2010 at $3,000,000.
Native American Graves Protection Act Grants – Cut from $2.31 million in FY2010 to $1.85 million.
Challenge Cost Share (CCS) Account – Zeroed-out $19 million for National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Challenge Cost Share funding is matched by non-federal partners to leverage funding for projects. These funds help fund National Park Service projects and Bureau of Land Management academic field work on archaeology, site assessments, and surveys. The National Landscape Conservation System relies on some of this funding.
Land Acquisition for Preservation for National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management – Several sites rich in history/cultural resources will receive Land and Water Conservation Fund money for land acquisition including. They are Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, AZ (1,920 acres at $1,600,000); Santa Rosa San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, CA (160 acres at $500,000); Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, CO (1,800 acres at $2,521,000); Snake River Rim recreation Area/Oregon National Historic Trail, ID (497 acres for $400,000); Chain-of-Lakes Recreation Management Area/Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, MT (1,165 acres for $1,000,000); Sandy River/Oregon National Historic Trail, OR (245 acres at $1,500,000); Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, UT (48 acres at $700,000); Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, CO (680 acres for $259,000); Minute Man National Historical Park, MA (18 acres for $640,000); Natchez National Historical Park, MS (6 acres for $500,000); Pecos National Historical Park, NM (188 acres for $1,171,000); Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, NY (2 acres for $1,575,000); Saratoga National Historical Park, NY (171 acres for $650,000); Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, VA (166 acres for $3,750,000); Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, WA (236 acres for $1,000,000).
Bureau of Land Management – Nominal $2 million increase for National Landscape Conservation System's National Monuments and National Conservation Areas.
BLM Cultural Resources Account – Nominal increase of $600,000 to $16.7 million. Most of the increase to be used to conduct social landscape assessments and inventories.
U.S. Forest Service Recreation, Heritage and Wilderness Program – Nominal increase of $757,000 for Heritage Management providing $34,524,000. The Budget Request did not provide additional clarity in the Forest Service budget how to spend funds in the Heritage Management Account as requested by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Save America's Treasures Termination Language
Below is the justification language for terminating Save America's Treasures and Preserve America. Contrast this with the following Budget Request language from just one year ago that describes these National Park Service programs as "vital." Given the justification language for terminating the programs, the question remains as to why Congress and the Administration supported authorizing the programs for the first time last year.
FY 2011 Budget Request: "The Administration proposes to eliminate the Save America's Treasures (SAT) and Preserve America (PA) grant programs so the National Park Service can focus resources on managing national parks and other activities that most closely align with its core mission. The SAT and PA programs have not demonstrated how they contribute to nationwide historic preservation goals."
Justification: "SAT and PA are National Park Service matching grant programs that support historic preservation efforts. SAT was started in 1999 as a two-year initiative to commemorate the Millennium by restoring historic buildings and collections. PA was started in 2003 to promote heritage tourism. Although SAT and PA programs use merit-based criteria to evaluate annual nominations for projects, the programs have not demonstrated how they contribute to National historic preservation goals. The programs lack rigorous performance metrics and evaluation efforts, so benefits remain unclear. At least half of SAT funding is provided without using merit-based criteria."
FY 2010 Budget Request: "The National Park Service plays a vital role in preserving the Nation's cultural history through a variety of programs that address preservation needs nationwide. The 2010 budget for the Historic Preservation Fund is $77.7 million, including $20.0 million for Save America's Treasures and $3.2 million for Preserve America. The budget requests $54.5 million for Historic Preservation Offices in States, Territories, and tribal lands to preserve historically and culturally significant sites. This increase of $5.0 million over 2009 enacted, reflects the added workload the Historic Preservation Offices will have related to Recovery Act funding. Funds are distributed by a formula."
House and Senate Appropriations Committees
When the President sends his Budget Request to the Hill, members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees treat it as a marker or a base from which to develop all the ingredients in the Legislative Branch's budget bill – that is what actually gets enacted into law to fund the federal government. Subsequently, advocacy around items proposed in the Budget Request or any matter pertaining to annual spending measures is the distinct purview of the appropriators. This is a very carefully guarded territory, and within that world, the subcommittees have special jurisdiction over the agencies under them. The battle to restore funding to historic preservation programs proposed for elimination or reduction will unfold almost exclusively in the Appropriations Committee and specifically in the Subcommittees on the Interior.
Senate Committee on Appropriations
- Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI), Chairman Full Committee
- Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS), Ranking on Full, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Kit Bond (R-MO)
- Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Senator Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
- Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Robert F. Bennett (R-UT), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
- Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
- Senator Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Ranking Interior Subcommittee
- Senator Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
- Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator George Voinovich (R-OH)
- Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-LA)
- Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Jack F. Reed (D-RI), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ)
- Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR)
- Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), Interior Subcommittee Member
- Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA)
House Appropriations Committee
- David R. Obey, Democrat, Wisconsin, Chairman, Interior Subcommittee Member
- John P. Murtha, Democrat, Pennsylvania
- Norman D. Dicks, Democrat, Washington, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Alan B. Mollohan, Democrat, West Virginia, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Marcy Kaptur, Democrat, Ohio
- Peter J. Visclosky, Democrat, Indiana
- Nita M. Lowey, Democrat, New York
- José E. Serrano, Democrat, New York
- Rosa L. DeLauro, Democrat, Connecticut
- James P. Moran, Democrat, Virginia, Interior Subcommittee Member
- John W. Olver, Democrat, Massachusetts, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Ed Pastor, Democrat, Arizona, Interior Subcommittee Member
- David E. Price, Democrat, North Carolina, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Chet Edwards, Democrat, Texas
- Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat, Rhode Island
- Maurice D. Hinchey, Democrat, New York, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Lucille Roybal-Allard, Democrat, California
- Sam Farr, Democrat, California
- Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Democrat, Illinois
- Carolyn C. Kilpatrick, Democrat, Michigan
- Allen Boyd, Democrat, Florida
- Chaka Fattah, Democrat, Pennsylvania
- Steven R. Rothman, Democrat, New Jersey
- Sanford D. Bishop Jr., Democrat, Georgia
- Marion Berry, Democrat, Arkansas
- Barbara Lee, Democrat, California
- Adam Schiff, Democrat, California
- Michael Honda, Democrat, California
- Betty McCollum, Democrat, Minnesota
- Steve Israel, Democrat, New York
- Tim Ryan, Democrat, Ohio
- C.A "Dutch" Ruppersberger, Democrat, Maryland
- Ben Chandler, Democrat, Kentucky, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat, Florida
- Ciro Rodriguez, Democrat, Texas
- Lincoln Davis, Democrat, Tennessee
- John T. Salazar, Democrat, Colorado
- Jerry Lewis, Repulican, California, Ranking Member, Interior Subcommittee Member
- C.W. Bill Young, Repulican, Florida
- Harold Rogers, Repulican, Kentucky
- Frank R. Wolf, Repulican, Virginia
- Jack Kingston, Repulican, Georgia
- Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, Repulican, New Jersey
- Todd Tiahrt, Repulican, Kansas
- Zach Wamp, Repulican, Tennessee
- Tom Latham, Repulican, Iowa
- Robert B.Aderholt, Repulican, Alabama
- Jo Ann Emerson, Repulican, Missouri
- Kay Granger, Repulican, Texas
- Michael K. Simpson, Repulican, Idaho, Interior Subcommittee Member
- John Abney Culberson, Repulican, Texas
- Mark Steven Kirk, Repulican, Illinois
- Ander Crenshaw, Repulican, Florida
- Dennis R. Rehberg, Repulican, Montana
- John R. Carter, Repulican, Texas
- Rodney Alexander, Repulican, Louisiana
- Ken Calvert, Repulican, California, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Jo Bonner, Repulican, Alabama
- Steven C. LaTourette, Repulican, Ohio, Interior Subcommittee Member
- Tom Cole, Repulican, Oklahoma, Interior Subcommittee Member
