GaPA Thursday

The Committee on Appropriations is an extremely important and powerful committee. This committee is presented with the President’s budget request and is tasked with determining how much funding is made available to different agencies. As previously reported, the President’s current budget proposal cuts funding for National Heritage Areas by 50% and eliminates funding for Save America’s Treasures and Preserve America. GaPA support’s the Coalition for Full Funding and its efforts to fund important preservation programs.

How can YOU help restore funding to these programs?

Immediate action is needed to urge your Members of Congress to sign on to Congressmen Turner and Carnahan’s “Dear Colleague” letter.

Why should they sign?

The more Members of Congress who co-sign this letter, the stronger the letter appears to the members of the Appropriations Committee who determine how much funding programs receive. This letter requests Fiscal Year 2011 funding of:

• $55 million for State Historic Preservation Officers
• $12 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Officers
• $25 million for Save America’s Treasures Grants
• $4.6 million for Preserve America Grants

Why should they sign TODAY?

Today, Thursday, March 18^th, is the deadline for signing on to the letter. Forty-one representatives have already shown their support of this letter, but none, so far, from GA. Contact you Members of Congress now! Send this email to tell them why funding Historic Preservation is important to you AND that Preservation Equals Jobs!

Another letter in need of signatures is the Tonko/Slaughter/Lance Appropriations Letter. This letter urges the House Appropriations Committee to provide $50 million for the Office of Museum Services at the Institute of Museum and Library Services. This money will help protect collections and fund over 17,500 museums nationwide. Send this email to your Member of Congress, asking them to sign on immediately to show their support of museum funding.

TAKE ACTION!

• Email your Member of Congress and ask them to support the “Dear Colleague” letter and the Tonko/Slaughter/Lance Appropriations Letter
• Join the Coalition for Full Funding
• Follow updates from the Georgia Capital on Gold Dome Live
• Read this interesting article about why Historic Preservation is so important in today’s economy and should be funded
• Learn more about the Appropriations Process

For more information about GaPA, contact Kate Ryan, Programs Manger at The Georgia Trust, at kryan@georgiatrust.org