Asa Hutchinson: “I remind Senator Reed, incidentally, the State of Rhode Island would gain $123,000 in additional funds for arts spending…”

“I remind Senator Reed, incidentally, the State of Rhode Island would gain $123,000 in additional funds for arts spending in Rhode Island under the block grant amendment that Senator Sessions and myself have offered. I remind each Senator that they can check on their desks here in the Senate Chamber exactly how much, but 45 States will receive more funds under this amendment to support the arts within their own States. I was interested that Senator Reed spoke of the shriveling of the arts. If we take this pittance, this relative pittance, in view of the Federal budget, of $100 million and we remove that National Endowment funding, that national entity, that somehow the arts in this country would begin to shrivel. I think, in all due respect, the Senator from Rhode Island underestimates the American people, underestimates the arts community in the United States, and underestimates how much the arts flourish today without a huge injection of Federal funds.”