Louise Slaughter: “I want to support this motion very strongly to instruct the conferees to include the Senate level of $100 million in…”

“I want to support this motion very strongly to instruct the conferees to include the Senate level of $100 million in this conference report. This is absolutely essential for us, as part of the most important link that we have in the United States to humanize and to give the opportunity for every child in this country to participate in arts programs. We hear all the time, the debate always centers around where all these grants go. Oh, they say they go to New York City, to Chicago, and to Los Angeles. Yes, a lot of them do. Why do they do that? What do they do with the money in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles? They send out troupes of artists, of dancers, of musicians, of teachers to every nook and cranny of the United States. Those programs that reach into the smallest of schools, to the most deprived of areas in the United States, those will not survive, and they will die. Will it matter? You bet it matters. What do we do with children who have arts programs in school? In the first place, they are going to tell us that these are kids who never drop out, and on art day all those children are going to be there. Absenteeism is cut down.”