Cliff Stearns: “This is about a reduction to the National Endowment for the Arts. I rise today to offer this amendment to H.R. 1977. It…”

“This is about a reduction to the National Endowment for the Arts. I rise today to offer this amendment to H.R. 1977. It cuts an additional $10 million from the fiscal year appropriations for 1996 for the NEA. I want to recognize, of course, my colleague on the other side of the aisle, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Yates]. Both he and I have discussed this in the past for a number of years, and I have great respect for him and great respect for his opinion. But I think the time has come now to bring this debate forward to a higher level. I know that people on both sides of the aisle have different opinions on this, but I think we are now at a point of not only fiscal responsibility, but we are talking about good stewardship. So as I said before, I have offered reductions to the NEA funding for many years and I believe that at this time, in this time of fiscal crisis, we must put each and every Federal program under the microscope. And so my colleagues bear with me, let us take a good look at this program.”