The following is a reposting of an action alert emailed out by the National Humanities Alliance.

Action Alert
The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, Rep. David Price (D-NC) and Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), are circulating a Dear Colleague letter urging appropriators to retain higher, House -approved funding levels for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in upcoming House/Senate negotiations on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Interior spending bill (H.R. 2996). The letter urges House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) and Ranking Member Mike Simpson (R-ID) to support the House approved level of $170 million for the NEH, which includes a critical, $15 million increase for national and state programs. The Senate bill provides $161.3 million for NEH, $8.7 million less than the level approved by the House.

The House passed its version of the FY 2010 Interior appropriations bill in June. The Senate began floor debate on its version of the bill last Thursday, and is expected to pass the spending measure before the end of the week.

Action Needed: Please contact your Representative today and ask him or her to join Congressmen Price and Petri in sending this Dear Colleague letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. The deadline to sign the letter is Monday, September 28. To reach your Representative by phone, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.A web form to write your Representative is available at: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml. You will need your zip code and 4-digit zip code extension. A sample message is available below. You can edit this message and paste it into the form.

Message to Representatives
I request that you join the Co-Chairs of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, Rep. David Price (D-NC) and Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI), in sending a sign-on letter to Chairman Dicks and Ranking Member Simpson of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee in support of increased funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The letter requests that they support the House-approved level for NEH when the FY 2010 Department of Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill (H.R. 2996) enters conference negotiations.

The House version of the FY 2010 Interior Appropriations Bill provides $170 million for NEH, a critical $15 million increase over the FY 2009 level. By contrast, the current version of the Senate bill would provide only $161.3 million for NEH, which would prevent the agency from keeping pace with the high demand for its programs at the national and state levels.

As you know, NEH is the single most important source of federal support for the humanities and plays a vital role in the preservation and promotion of our national identity. All sectors of our country’s higher education enterprise ­ research universities, small private institutions, state colleges, and community colleges ­ use NEH grants to conserve and nurture America’s heritage,bring the humanities to our communities, and educate new generations of Americans about the generations that came before.

For more information or to sign onto the letter, please contact Kate Roetzer with Rep. David Price (5-1784) or Lindsay Punzenberger with Rep. Thomas Petri (5-5406). The deadline to sign the letter is Monday, September 28.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.