(House of Representatives)

Updated February 2025

Request

We urge Representatives to lift the unreasonable and unfair ban that makes museums ineligible for House Community Project Funding (also known as earmarks) in the annual appropriations process.

Talking Points

• In 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives named museums as ineligible for Community Project Funding (also known as earmarks) in Appropriations Committee guidance.

• This deprives museums of needed support and is in direct opposition to the 96 percent of Americans who favor funding support for museums.

• Museum earmarks serve critical needs in communities including K-12 education, improvements to energy-efficiency, and increasing tourism and economic development – projects that support communities’ health and vitality.

• The total economic contribution of museums in 2016 amounted to more than $50 billion in GDP, 726,200 jobs, and $12 billion in taxes to local, state, and federal governments. (Source:  Museums as Economic Engines, researched and prepared in partnership with Oxford Economics and with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.)

• Nationally, museums spend more than $2 billion yearly on education activities, and the typical museum devotes 75% of its education budget to K-12 students. They are essential community infrastructure that have the support of the 96 percent of Americans who think positively of their elected officials who take legislative action in support of museums.

• Communities across the country—rural to urban—rely on the services museums of every type provide and their significant educational and economic impact.

• We urge the House to lift the ban and allow museums to compete on their own merits, as they always have, for Community Project Funding in the annual appropriations process.