Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, the National Endowment for the Arts is the Federal agency that funds, promotes, and strengthens the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation. This small but mighty agency supports arts organizations and artists in every congressional district in the country and these investments yield enormous economic benefits. This amendment would cut the NEA by nearly one-third. That would result in a reduction of an estimated 900 awards. These funds are one- to-one cost-share matched, which means that funding from 56 State and jurisdictional art agencies and 6 regional arts organizations would also be cut by nearly one-third. That would be a reduction of roughly $20 million. This means that there would be nearly one-third cuts across the board to each and every State art agency. The arts have an incredible value as a positive tool for economic development, education, and community building, and deeply cutting this important agency would cause catastrophic harm. Mr. Chair, I oppose this amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.”