NEA and AmeriCorps Among Programs on White House Budget Hit List

President Trump’s budget office is targeting several programs with significant nonprofit constituencies for termination, including the Corporation for National and Community Service, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, according to The New York Times.

A memo circulated within the White House Office of Management and Budget this week and obtained by the newspaper proffers nine programs that could be eliminated, collectively saving about $2.5 billion a year, as the Trump administration reorders the budget to boost spending on infrastructure and the military. Congressional conservatives have long sought to dismantle several of them, notably the cultural and public-broadcasting bodies.

Building the new administration’s first spending plan has been delayed as the president’s pick for budget director, former Representative Mick Mulvaney, was only confirmed Thursday. A person familiar with the process told the Times that budget officials plan to finalize the list by March 13.

Robert Lynch, head of the nonprofit advocacy group Americans for the Arts, said his organization would vigorously oppose eliminating the NEA. “There is always a debate, but there has been agreement among Republicans and Democrats that funding for the arts is a good thing, and it has been kept in place,” he told the Times.

Read Chronicle articles on federally funded nonprofits bracing for budget cuts and on political battles over the Corporation for National and Community Service, which operates AmeriCorps.