Norman D. Dicks: “I think this has been a very lively debate today. I want to commend all the speakers who have spoken on support for the…”

“I think this has been a very lively debate today. I want to commend all the speakers who have spoken on support for the arts and I want to even commend the positive attitude of the people who have reservations about this amendment but who also say that they strongly support the arts in our country. I have been on this subcommittee a long time, this is my 26th year. Before that, I worked on the staff of Senator Warren Magnuson, and have followed the National Endowment for the Arts almost from its inception. The point that I want to make is that this investment has caused a tremendous explosion in private funds in support of the arts. Now we see with this newest study that this has become a $134 billion industry, providing 4.5 million jobs in this country, at a time when we are in a recession. I think this is a very prudent investment. We are increasing the funding here by $15 million, $10 million for the arts, $5 million for the humanities. It is completely offset by a very innocuous reduction in administrative expenses. If my friend from Washington finds that onerous, we will fix it in conference, okay? So just to make sure, nobody is being hurt here. This is a positive amendment that will do a lot for our country.”