Walter B. Jones: “I rise today to protest the funding levels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Last week my colleague from Indiana…”

“I rise today to protest the funding levels for the National Endowment for the Arts. Last week my colleague from Indiana stood in this well to discuss the play called ``Corpus Christi'' a play that depicts all the Apostles as the homosexual lovers of Christ. While the Government did not directly fund the play, the American taxpayer funded the theater through the National Endowment for the Arts. Last year, this theater received two grants, $50,000 apiece. Many of us in this Chamber believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. It is immoral and reprehensible to us that we must fund a theater that would stage this depraved production that some government bureaucrat considered art. In the name of art, many on the other side of the aisle will suggest this issue be about freedom of speech. But, once again the National Endowment for the Arts has shown it has little responsibility or accountability to the taxpayers. Does freedom of speech not come with a modicum of responsibility? Not if you're the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA has developed a pattern, continuing to this day, of throwing dollars to organizations so that they may promote religious bigotry and pornography. Now, I'm not against the arts. I believe there is an important role for arts in society. But let's have a standard for what should be publicly funded.”