The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a spending bill Wednesday evening that would increase funds for the National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts by $5 million each in the 2006 fiscal year.

The measure ( H.R. 2361 [1] ), which finances the operations of the Department of the Interior and a slew of smaller agencies, would boost spending on the NEH to $143.1 million, up from the $138.1 it is receiving in this fiscal year. Funds for the NEA would climb to $126.3 million, up from $121.3 million this year.

The legislation, which the Senate approved by a vote of 94 to 0, will now be considered by a committee of lawmakers from both chambers of Congress, who will work to resolve differences between the Senate version and a companion measure passed by the House of Representatives last month.

The House measure would provide $143 million for the humanities endowment and $131 million for the arts agency.

In other developments related to the federal budget and higher education, the House Appropriations Committee adopted a measure [2] last week that would provide $7.5 million in funds for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, on whose behalf historians have waged an intensive lobbying campaign. [3]

The budget proposal put forward by President Bush in February would wipe out funds for the agency, which provides grants to publish works of key documents in American history.