Bill Pascrell: “I thank the gentleman from Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for the National…”

“I thank the gentleman from Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities. I want to associate myself with the comments of the gentleman from Rhode Island and the gentleman from North Carolina. As a former teacher, I have seen firsthand how important the arts and humanities are in educating our kids and bettering society as a whole. It has been shown that exposure to the arts stimulates students' learning, their motivation, and their creativity. Those students involved in the arts score significantly higher in the SATs than other students. Now, more than ever, the arts often seem to be one of the first programs cut from a school or a government budget. In fact, this President has proposed eliminating both the Endowments entirely--the first time any President has proposed such a measure. This has been supported by Democrats and Republicans because it is meaningful to the entire Republic. The NEA, the National Endowment for the Arts, has already sustained significant budget reductions. The NEA appropriation is 12 percent lower than it was in 2010. It declined to $19.5 million. And while I understand, when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority, I understand that this priority affects the spirit of the greatest Nation in the world. {time} 1130 The importance of arts and humanities is not something we should even forget, even in the face of tough economic times.…”