On August 2, 2005, President Bush signed into law the FY06 Interior Appropriations Bill, with an increase of $5 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. This is reduced to a net gain of $4.4 million after applying .476 percent across-the-board cut to all programs, putting the arts endowment at $125.66 million for year ahead, says NASAA. The final funding level agreed to by the conference committee represented a compromise between the House-passed bill, which would have added $10 million to the NEA budget, and the Senate's bill, which carried $5 million in new money for the arts endowment. This boosts the NEA to its 1979 funding level. [LINK]