Well, it looks like CRM has some company.  The Republicans just gutted the
American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.  I can only imagine the
long-term ramifications of this wave of cuts.
 
The recent events call for action beyond just the CRM community and folklore
and folklife community.  Folks (no pun intended), the cuts are damaging
anthropology as a whole and these include the moves to eliminate the BLM as
well as the cuts proposed to the National Endowments for the Arts and
Humanities.  Forget the esoteric boundaries and get moving on trying to
wake-up Congress.  If some brakes aren't applied pretty soon, we're going to
find ourselves in a drastically changed discipline with amputated limbs.
 
 
>Thursday, 6/23, the US House of Representatives voted on (and approved) an
>amendment to the Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill that stripped funding
>from the American Folklife Center for the fiscal year beginning October 1.
>That's the bad news.  AFC staff reported to me that in the debate over the
>amendment, no shots were fired at the AFC itself, only that they needed the $$
>to fund a study of unfunded mandates to be carried out by the Congressional
>Budget Office.  Apparently there were comments that the AFC is good at private
>fundraising.  V. Fazio (D from CA, I believe) countered that without the
federal
>appropriation, it is impossible to raise private monies.
>
>Now the bill moves to the Senate.  More information will soon be available
about
>how to approach (and whom to approach in) the Senate to register concern over
>the continuation of the AFC.  If Senate support can be obtained, then the AFC
>funding could be reinstated in a House-Senate conference committee.
>
>So it's not over yet.
>
>I understand that there is an article in today's Washington Post about the AFC;
>you might be able to find it at your news stand.  I'm going to check for it
>on-line, and if possible, I'll circulate it as a file.
>
>More details to come, and please share this information broadly.
>
>Shalom
>
>