Lois Capps: “I have to rise today in opposition to the amendment. I do so from a background in the humanities. In fact, as I…”

“I have to rise today in opposition to the amendment. I do so from a background in the humanities. In fact, as I mentioned yesterday, my first exposure to Congress was when I chaired the California Council for the Humanities and was national president of the Federation of State Humanities Councils, and I had the privilege at that time to meet the committee that was chaired at that time by my congressman, the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Sidney Yates. I think I am here because of the background that I have had with the humanities. I have profound respect for the work that has gone on under the sponsorship of the National Endowment for the Humanities. I have to say that I resent the accusation that the work of NEH is conducted primarily by and for the benefit of academic elites and bureaucrats. My own background is in the University of California, and I have sometimes been described as an academic elite, but the situation with NEH is that they stand as the one clear agency in the country that is dedicated to overcoming that kind of gap. Most of the programs that NEH sponsors have a very definite and required public dimension.”