Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding. I thank Chairman Calvert for engaging in this colloquy with Mr. Lance and Ms. Slaughter and me. We are highlighting the importance of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities and the importance of robust funding for the work of those agencies. There is no more efficient dollar spent in the entire Federal budget. I will say in a minute what I mean by that. I am very happy to be co-chairman, with Mr. Lance, of the Congressional Humanities Caucus, to be a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus, which Ms. Slaughter and others have led, and proud to support the missions of these two agencies. Federal support for the arts and the humanities affirms America's rich and diverse cultural and artistic heritage. It really is an investment in the quality of life of our people. I think we should see it that way, and we need to be steadfast in our support and our investment. It is one of the most efficient we make, as I said. It leverages private, nonprofit, and corporate dollars. In 2015 alone, for example, Federal NEH museum grants leveraged $104 million in outside funding from only $33 million in Federal funds. That is a pretty good return for the taxpayer. They support millions of jobs, these endowments do, and the projects they fund, hundreds of millions of dollars in direct economic activity, and the American public loves them.…”