Asa Hutchinson: “on behalf of the rural States in mid- America, I speak in favor of the Ehlers-Hunter amendment for a number of reasons.…”

“on behalf of the rural States in mid- America, I speak in favor of the Ehlers-Hunter amendment for a number of reasons. First, the status quo funding of the NEA results not in art education, but in art arrogance. Do we really need a centralized, federalized ministry on the arts to tell the people of America what is good and what is not good art, what does and does not deserve funding? Second, the present philosophy of the NEA does not accomplish its original mission of providing art education to underserved areas; not the big cities, but underserved areas. Rather, Washington control results in mismanagement and a lack of common sense in art funding. The Ehlers amendment gets the money to the State art agencies, which do a good job, and it also for the first time provides funding for art programs in schools. I urge my colleagues to support a commonsense approach to arts by voting for art education and not art arrogance.”